would I use a VCD Type project for this?

[januaryx5th]

Wow, Let me start off by saying this site is amazing. But anyways, I am new here and I use Sony DVD architect for my dvd authoring. I work for In The Mix productions for printing a graphic design, I was recently put onto an assignment that asked for me to make something that sounds like a VCD. Im not too familiar with VCD other than it's a "DVD Like" menu style CD, obviously. My client has 2 discs. a CD with music and a DVD with video (I believe). I dont actually have the disc yet but that is beyond the fact, He wants them combined onto a single "VCD" so that when the cd is placed into a CD player (not a computer) it just plays the music, But when placed into a DVD player or computer, it opens a menu and plays either 1. video clips, or 2. the music. If anyone has any ideas on how to do this, I do have nero but havent tried it yet so I may just have to do that, But If anyone knows what I can use for this project please let me know.


PS. (please dont reply with things like you cant use the dvd for video because it is converted into a certain format that is too big for a cd, I know what I'm doing with that, I use programs that uncoverts DVD format.) Thanks!!


Drew

[Baldrick]

Yep, you can make a mixed vcd with both vcd video and audio cd. See this very old topic, https://forum.videohelp.com/topic221776.html#917910 .

[januaryx5th]

I'm not really following you to well, but mainly because I read it too fast, So what you are saying is that in order for it to be a VCD that has to be on the first session, so I have to burn a multisession disc. In which I will have to include the menu and video files into the first VCD session. Would I also include the music files to the vcd menu in that session if i want them to play on a computer also from the menu, or would I somehow refrence them later to the 3rd audio session? I will obviously have to try this out, Also what I wanted to share, is the ones that I have seen this done to previously, I believe to be done in flash, so it keeps the video file size down. If this seems to be a better way and a more compatible way then maybe I will have to learn flash real quick... maybe just do an audio session and then an "autorun.bat" for the computer that boots the flash exe. what do you think?

[Nelson37]

You said a CD player, NOT a computer.

Unless this requirement has changed, Flash is a NO GO. This will require a PC. If PC playback is the goal, then the low-quality standards that are MANDATORY for VCD can be ignored, and video and audio quality dramatically improved. But then it will NOT play on a CD player, only a PC. BTW, standard "CD Player" will not provide video whatsoever. DVD player does this.

Nero is useless for anything but burning, and even that is best done with something else.

How long is the Video? In minutes? What are your compatibility requirements? Is less than 50% of available players good enough? Is the quality of the video at all important to the client, or is video that looks like crap acceptable as long as it almost always plays?

VCD menu is nothing like DVD menu, other than it looks similar. Menu creation software ceased development years ago. Not all players support all menu features.

Is there a reason DVD is not being used for this project? What kind of distribution numbers are you looking at?

[Nelson37]

Sorry, missed the two different playback modes desired.

Basically, first track audio, second track video. Similar to music video CD's.

[David K]

The only program that could do what you want here is VCD Easy, which is a great program that allows for menu creation and all sorts of other sophisticated manipulation of the VCD and SVCD format. Go check out the homepage and he may have a guide for what you are trying to do.

All that being said, I might look for a way to diplomatically suggest to the client that he should go for a DVD project if he wants anyone to see the video. Even if you manage to produce a technically correct mixed VCD/CDA (which will take hours and much trial and error) the chances that there will be compatibility problems with stand-alone DVD players is very high. VCD is a dying format, so support for it (especially in its advanced form such as menus) is spotty. Same problem for computer DVD player software. Odds are the software will only see it as an audio CD.

[Cornucopia]

DavidK is close on this. I'm very familiar with what your client is wanting and what to do...

1 You could go Enhanced AudioCD.

This is: All audio track(s) in 1st session, Data (usually ISO9660/Joliet) track in 2nd session. If done according to BlueBook specs, the 2nd session can possibly see and access the audio tracks (even in a menu). BUT this is all done on a PC. Not a DVD/VCD player. You could do it in whatever authoring system you're used to--Flash, Director, iShell, Quicktime, etc. You could even do it in standard MPEG/MP4/Divx/AVI/WMV where it would be readable on DVD players that support such things. That might be a way to go...
(I wonder what would happen if the 2nd session was UDF/miniDVD???)

2. You could go AVCD.

This has already been mentioned, but not very thoroughly.
This is: A STANDARD VCD, but with additional audio tracks appended to the end.
THIS IS ALL DONE IN ONE SESSION, even the audio tracks. Goes like this:
Track1=ISO9660 MixedMode CDXA track with VCD info & pointers to other tracks
Tracks2...N=MPEG1 Video tracks (with accompanying soundtrack in MP2 muxed in)
Tracks(N+1)...end=AudioCD tracks
To be true to the spec, there should be a 2sec pregap between MPEG tracks, a 3sec pregap between the last MPEG track and the 1st AudioCD track, and then whatever is appropriate for the remainder of the Audio tracks, plus a 2sec Postgap at the end.

I've made discs like this. There are compatibility problems, but they do work. They DON'T usually allow seeing the choice for audio tracks in the VCD menu (you just have to skip to them manually), unless you were to author with Philips VCDToolkit or the old Cequadrat (aka Adaptec aka Roxio aka Sonic) VideoPak or WinOnCD. Good Luck with any of those!
Even if you get these to work, the VCD/MPEG tracks will have to be skipped over in CD players (most new ones at least won't give you digital noise/hash!)

or

3. Maybe it's time to convince your client to do things a different way???..

Scott

[jman98]

VCD is a dying format, so support for it (especially in its advanced form such as menus) is spotty.

Not to detract from an otherwise worthwhile post, but DavidK is showing his Western bias here. VCD is STILL alive and well in Asia. Even places like Hong Kong and Taiwan, which are certainly not Third World backwaters, VCDs are still being made and sold along with DVDs. VCD provides a cheaper alternative. I order Asian movies all the time and I sometimes get VCDs because I just want to see the film, I don't want to pay $30+ US for a DVD with one or two bonus features discs that most likely won't be subtitled in English anyway and which I wouldn't want to watch even if it was subtitled in English.

I have a few mixed mode VCD/audio CD hybrids that were commercially produced and they appear to have been made in the AVCD method described in Cornucopia's post right above this post of mine.

[BinaryJustin]

I've made a step-by-step tutorial with images. Just click here.

[mikk]

2. You could go AVCD.

This has already been mentioned, but not very thoroughly.
This is: A STANDARD VCD, but with additional audio tracks appended to the end.
THIS IS ALL DONE IN ONE SESSION, even the audio tracks. Goes like this:
Track1=ISO9660 MixedMode CDXA track with VCD info & pointers to other tracks
Tracks2...N=MPEG1 Video tracks (with accompanying soundtrack in MP2 muxed in)
Tracks(N+1)...end=AudioCD tracks
To be true to the spec, there should be a 2sec pregap between MPEG tracks, a 3sec pregap between the last MPEG track and the 1st AudioCD track, and then whatever is appropriate for the remainder of the Audio tracks, plus a 2sec Postgap at the end.

I've made discs like this. There are compatibility problems, but they do work. They DON'T usually allow seeing the choice for audio tracks in the VCD menu (you just have to skip to them manually), unless you were to author with Philips VCDToolkit or the old Cequadrat (aka Adaptec aka Roxio aka Sonic) VideoPak or WinOnCD. Good Luck with any of those!
Even if you get these to work, the VCD/MPEG tracks will have to be skipped over in CD players (most new ones at least won't give you digital noise/hash!)

Ahhh the joys of Philips Video CD 2.0 Toolkit and all that old stuff. Anybody remember by old guide?

http://www.geocities.com/mikk999/VCDStills.htm

I just did a little update to it so that if anyone really wants to use it then the option is there. The link at the bottom goes to a 2nd part which explains mixing stills with audio.