Tip: VCDImager and SVCD compatibility

[CornelisJ]

Tip for all who want to author an SVCD disc with VCDImager:
When building an SVCD with VCDImager, make sure that an (empty) folder SEGMENT is included on your disc! Without this folder the disc is not recognised as SVCD by software players like WinDVD (I don't know about standalone DVD players, because I don't own such a device yet).

It took me some time before I found this out, and for a moment I even thought that VCDImager did not work at all. That is why I post this tip here. I would very much appreciate it if the author of VCDImager could change his program, so that folder SEGMENT is included by default!

How to add an empty folder to the XML description of the SVCD is illustrated below:

<filesystem>
<folder>
<name>SEGMENT</name>
</folder>
</filesystem>

[digvid]

CornelisJ -

I think you may be right. As near as I can tell, the SEGMENT folder is mandatory in the SVCD specification. The "ITEMnnnn.mpg" files in the folder are optional, but the folder itself is not.

- digvid

[hvr]

...I'm sure almost nobody dared to take a look at the manual, where the SEGMENT compatibility issue is mentioned...

(it's written in Appendix A 'SVCD Player Compatibility'...)

the reason this dir isn't created by default has to do with the SVCD verifier which gives an error if that SEGMENT dir is existent, but empty..
and since it's possible to add that dir with the generic filesystem facility of vcdimager, I don't bother to add it by default... hope you understand my reasoning...

[CornelisJ]

Thanks for your response hvr, it is nice to have a reaction from the maker of this nice piece of software himself.

I did read the appendix in the VCDImager manual, that is why I included the SEGMENT folder eventually. It took me some time however to find out...

I still think that it would be better to include the SEGMENT folder by default, as this can prevent a lot of trouble in practice, especially for newbies like myself. I almost gave up VCDImager and returned to Nero, despite it's limited functionality... I do respect your reasoning, but in my humble opinion better compatibility in daily practice is more important than an error in the verifier.

BTW, SVCD verifier, is that a public domain program that can be downloaded from somewhere?