Issues with horrendous artifacts in VCDs I make lately...

[essentials]

I've been having this problem with my VCD burns as of late. The artifacts are terrible. Its basically unwatchable. This doesn't happen with every CD I burn, but my good disc to coaster ratio is much lower than it has ever been before. My programs of choice for VCD burning have historically been Nero 6, one of the most recent versions of TMPGenc and sometimes MainConcept MPEG Encoder. I've used these programs for a long time without any real issues at all.

My DVD player is a 5 disc changer from Panasonic, model number CP-72. I thought at first that perhaps my laser was just getting a little clogged with dust, but this can't be the case as I can still play all my older VCDs with no problems at all.

The main media I use has always been Memorex, but I have sampled almost every brand out there. Memorex was always been the best for me, but now even they are starting to come out with problems. I have had problems with Sony media, Imation media and Verbatim media as well.

My CD burner itself is a generic OEM that came with my PC when I first bought it. It tends to run a little hot, but that is really the only issue I have ever had with it. One of the stranger things about the bad VCD burns I am making is that they play fine on my CD Burner. Also, I have tried lowering my burning speeds to the lowest possible level, but they are still coming out garbled.

Where do you think my issues are coming from? Outdated versions of software? A cd burner on it's last legs? A DVD player dying? The sharpie markers I use for labeling? Could it be that CD-r manufacturers are just releasing more shoddy product to cut costs?

Thanks for any help.

[reboot]

I would first suspect a burner going south. I doubt it's media, if you've got the same results on all those different brands.

[jtoolman2000]

You have not said what it is you are trying to convert to VCD. If it's rips from DVD, I don't see the point to go the VCD route. Specially since the quality is dismal to begin with. DVD burners and media are dirt cheap now and so it's no longer a reason to go the VCD route for most cases. I'll knock off a quick VCD if i have somthing 10-15 min long and I just need a quick throw away disk to show someone before I do it right.

[jman98]

Check your video on a PC before burning and see if it looks bad there. You need to figure out if maybe the problem is with your conversion or the discs. I think Memorex discs are crap, for what it's worth. I had some problems with a PC where my disk drive started getting fragmented and any video I copied to the disk drive started having artifacts. You might try to defrag your disk drive and see if that helps.

[omicron]

Just my 2 cents, and it may be perfectly useless for you.

One VCD in particular has given me similar trouble - clear downgrade in quality, with partial freezes, horrible artifacts etc, esp. as the VCD reaches the end of the recording.

My diagnosis went as follows:

check MPEG as coming from TMPGEnc, using the "old" Windows Media Player (version 6.4.07.118): all OK
check ".dat" file as coming from VCDeasy (loading the image file in Daemon Tools 3.32) with WMP: all OK
burn a CD-RW with Nero 5.5.9.2 and check the CD-RW's ".dat" file with Daemon Tools / WMP: all OK
play on stand-alone DVD: caramba ! Not OK !!!!

At this stage, I suspect either my DVD player, or the medium

burn CD-R with Nero 5.5.9.2 BUT use disk-at-once and check the CD-R's ".dat" file with Daemon Tools / WMP: all OK
play on stand-alone DVD: yessssss! OK !!!!

Now I suspect either my burn process or my DVD player. As to suspecting the medium frankly I start to doubt it, but it is still a possibility.

So investigations still underway, but if you are interested, I will let you know how I am getting along.

All the best

[omicron]

My further 2 cents.

My diagnosis method has evolved, involving checkin, with the "old" Windows Media Player, the file at each step of the process (from Virtual Dub to TMPGEnc to VCDEasy to Nero to my DVD). This has convinced me that the problem lies with burning - the "dat" file from VCDEasy (loaded through Daemon Tools) is OK whilst the "dat" file on the CD (be it R or RW) is no good. So, first conclusion: time to buy a new burner (hardly 2 years old).

So having made up my mind that I was going to have to spend money on a new burner, and not having anything to loose, I decided to take the burner out of the PC, unscrew it open and see what gives.

Well, here is what gives: lots (I mean, lots) of muck (delaminated CD coating). Now that should give me burning trouble in any case, so I cleaned the mess up, reassembled the drive and on to further testing - sofar, so good.

I think I am on to something. Opening a CD drive isn't too difficult, it only requires guts. Hopefully that will do the trick...

Just my 2 cents....

[zergling]

omicron, are you still there? Was that it? Was it simply a matter of cleaning out the CD burner? When you cleaned out all the muck, did you get consistently good burns after that?

[omicron]

yes, that was it. Good burns since...

[DereX888]

...
One of the stranger things about the bad VCD burns I am making is that they play fine on my CD Burner. Also, I have tried lowering my burning speeds to the lowest possible level, but they are still coming out garbled.

What you just wrote above is a nonsense (no offense please).
If the CD is burnt bad, obviously it won't play fine on any player or drive.
Since your CDs play fine on one drive (your cd writer) but they don't play or play bad on another one (your dvd player) then its a logical explanation that your dvd player has become sour puss and don't want to read CDs properly anymore, right?

Test those 'bad' CDs that play fine on your CD burner on some different/another dvd player, Im rather sure they will play fine as well.

[Cole]

[ ... ] I don't see the point to go the VCD route. Specially since the quality is dismal to begin with. DVD burners and media are dirt cheap now and so it's no longer a reason to go the VCD route for most cases. I'll knock off a quick VCD if i have somthing 10-15 min long and I just need a quick throw away disk to show someone before I do it right.

It is very easy to dismiss something like VCD, when one gets used to better quality with DVD. But VCD still has a limited market as not everyone may be quite ready to start afresh with a new format or have the confidence to open up their PC to install a new DVD burner drive if their PC doesn't already have one. Heaven knows, I broke other bits of my PC with my first ham fisted attempts at upgrades.

When I moved over from VCD to DVD, there was also an extra cost of paying for the encoding and authoring software; way back when, VCD encoding software was easier to find free and the VCD itself much quicker to produce on lower spec. PCs.

[dcsos]

Whenever i had this problem with vcd, it was the burn or the media
like you essentials, I could play the file at all times ok before burning it!

i've decided on burning VCD's at a slower speed than the burner and media is usuallly rated for, and this has ALWAYS resulted in a good result
(no macroblocks, or stutter)
8X is the max i will use here

also: remember vcd has less error correction than any normal data burn has...you know like how else could you get 799MB on a 700MB media?!

[the * dude]

humm... you said you could play ur older vcds on the dvd player... well were they burnt in the same way.....

if so it a mix of both old stuff... your burner isnt buring as well as it should & ur dvd won't read these as well as it should....

as said clean both,,, if it still dont work get a mate (with a nu cd bruner).. to burn an image & check if it works on the dvd if so invest in nu cd/dvd burner....