2 questions - audio, VCD bitrate

[urbabysgotrabies]

Hello.

My first question is about VCD audio. I was wondering if it is possible to use MP3s as the audio for a VCD-compatible MPG file (without re-encoding). I find that the audio of a MPG file converted using MPG encoders is not as good as some MP3 encoders at the same bitrate. So, I exported the audio of my AVI file and converted it separately with LAME (the best MP3 encoder I know of) at 224kbps. Then I encoded just the video with Panasonic MPEG Encoder. Then I used TMPGEnc to put the two files together. The process was successful, but when I try to burn the file as a VCD with Nero, it says the audio is not compatible. Is this because I used an MP3 as the audio source? Is there any way to fix this?

My second question is about VCD bitrate. Standard video bitrate for VCDs is 1150kbps, right? What if the video I want to burn is only 35 or so minutes long? Can I double the bitrate (or increase it by as much as possible, as long as it fits on the CD) and have the VCD still play in standalone DVD players, or does the VCD have to be at 1150kbps to play in standalone DVD players?

Thanks for your time.

[alucard2050]

first question, i don't know. never tried it. second question, the bitrate can be adjusted. check your player in the compatability list to see what the max is. my player can handle up to 1650 bitrate for a vcd. anything higher and it won't play correctly...........

[urbabysgotrabies]

Thanks for your help. I found a template for TMPGEnc that gives me satisfactory results with 1150kbps, so I'll just stick with that.

Anybody have any clue as to my first question? Thanks again

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: urbabysgotrabies on 2002-01-14 15:57:00 ]</font>

[Truman]

VCD requires MPEG-1 Audio Layer-2 (.mp2)