Most Compatible Format for PC Playback

[rbautch]

I'm capturing footage from an old VHS tape, and would like to transfer it to a CD (not DVD) with menus to autoplay on a PC. I'm mainly concerned with compatibility, since this video will go to several people and I won't know what CODECs they have, or if they have a DVD player. I originally thought SVCD, but was unsure about compatibility. Any recommendations for format or software to create this?

[cd090580]

The most compatible format should be VCD or WMV (codecs are installed on all windows with MediaPlayer version 6.4 and higer).

[rbautch]

Do they both support menus?

[cd090580]

VCD support menus with a vcd authoring program (like VcdEasy)

[guns1inger]

Use mpeg-1 and create your menus with HTML. VCD menus are rudimentary, and player dependent. WMP doesn't use them, for example.

[Nelson37]

If you are going for PC playback only, then MPG-1 with full D1 resolution and a correspondingly hi bitrate would be your best bet. Virtually any PC that still works will play it. Menu compatibility dependent on playback software. Suggest use seperate video files, clearly named. Windows Explorer ALWAYS works. No need for VCD structure.

If you wish to mix PC and DVD player compatibility, then the MUCH lower quality VCD would be the best bet.

[jimmalenko]

MPEG-1 is a definite and would be my choice.

Here's two samples (one is a single movie only, the other is a set of three movies and a HTML menu) that should autoplay using the bundled Media Player Classic on the CDs:

http://members.dodo.com.au/~jimmalenko/Autorun_Movie_Only.zip
http://members.dodo.com.au/~jimmalenko/Autorun_With_Menu.zip

[rbautch]

Thanks. Those samples are just what I was looking for. I'm not much of an html writer, but I can at least modify your html script to suit my needs. Can you direct me to other samples or even I guide to how to customize my own menus in html?

[thecoalman]

http://www.htmlhelp.com/ is a good place to start.

http://www.coffeecup.com/html-editor/ is a fairly priced html editor with a lot of features. Has both text editing and WYSIWYG, using the WYSIWYG you can create webpages like you would a wor document. It will create the code for you. You would probably have to switch to the text editor to insert code such as embedding video files etc.

[rbautch]

Thanks. I'll give coffeecup a try...

[jimmalenko]

Thanks. Those samples are just what I was looking for. I'm not much of an html writer, but I can at least modify your html script to suit my needs. Can you direct me to other samples or even I guide to how to customize my own menus in html?

Those two examples I posted I actually just whipped up in about 10 minutes for someone else here quite some time ago. It certainly shows in the simplicity of the menus. You could do some nice things like put a background picture in, design your own buttons, have sound playing through the menu, throw some animation in there ...

Depends how much HTML you know, how much you're prepared to research (read: goooogle), and how complex you want to make it ....