SVCD Authoring - which software?

[emmelleff]

Now that I'm beginning to get some worthwhile footage I'd like to try creating SVCD's which I can either view on my Samsung DVD709 standalone or Matshita DVD-ROM SR-8583 or that others could view on either their PC ( with appropriate software ) or whatever standalone device they own ( subject to known limitations of course.

I have an Panasonic DV in / out camcorder and a Pinnacle DV500 card used in conjunction with Adobe Premier 5.1 for capture. Minerva Impression was supplied with the DV500 and Adaptec Easy CD-Creator ( pre v.4 ) with the CD-RW's ( one is a Philips CDD3600 SCSI and the other is an IDE of unknown origin ). I also have a version of Tmpgenc ( 'a', I think )

Projects are unlikely to exceed 30 minutes running time, either as a single file or a series or shorter ones and, especially in the case of the latter, I'd like to use menu buttons to direct to a particualr scene / track.

Anyone know if my existing software, specifically Minerva as I'm confident Adaptec will be useless ( isn't it always? ), will do the job for me? If so, how?

Failing that, anyone recommend a package that will achieve my aims and guide me through the steps to create an SVCD beyond the capture / edit stage ( reasonably au fait with that aspect, thanks )?

[JJamez]

Well, #1, the Samsung 709 for all intents and purposes doesn't play CD-R or CD-RW. Supposedly, there are certain brands that the 709 will recognize, but even then playback is sketchy at best. You can check out http://www.709online.com, maybe there have been some new developments, I haven't looked in a while (since I gave my 709 away and got a player that reads recordable media).

I know EasyCD does VCD menus (quite nicely I think), but I don't think it does SVCD... Never heard of Minerva - probably because I don't use DV.

Depending on how far you want to go with it, Nero may work for you. All you will get is a VERY basic, one page menu from which you can select clips. The clips have to be separate files, and if played consecutively will stutter when switching from one clip to another.

If you want to get more involved, I like IAuthor, but its a bitch to find a copy. Its not made anymore, but as with most software, if you look around hard enough on the web you can find it. IAuthor gives you multipage menus which can be either bmp files (mpg stills) or regular mpg movie clips. It also allows for selecting different entry points into a single mpg clip, meaning you can create 'chapters' in a single movie file without dividing it up.

Then there is VCDImager, which I haven't had time to fool around with yet, so..

Click the link to the 'Tools' section to the left and the 'Author' link as well for tutorials and info.

JJ