Is there a cheaper way to convert media?

[fdlozano]

JohnnyB: I don't know about you. But, I've been using Toast 5 to create VCDs. I import my video into iMovie, edit, and then let Toast's iMovie plug-in convert to mpeg1 and then burn to CD (in VCD format) in one step. I've had NO problems whatsoever (i.e. dropped frames, audio, etc.) Just make sure that you have a DVD player that can play CD-Rs/CD-RWs and that support VCD. As to the quality question, quality is such a subjective thing. I would try it out just to see for yourself if you can live with 352x240 mpeg1 video and the digital artifacts that are inevitable with compressed video. I've been fairly happy with the results. But, then my eyes aren't as critical as others. I believe it is worth a try. Toast 5 has plenty of other features that make it worth buying at ~$75.

I've been wanting to make SVCDs as well since you're talking 480x480 (almost twice the resolution as VCD) and mpeg2 video. NOTE: You won't be able to fit as much video on a CD as you would with VCD though. But, the quality is better so there's your trade off. I'm about to venture down this road. Also, currently the steps to create a SVCD are more involved than for VCD.

Check out http://members.home.com/babymac/ for info on creating a SVCD on the Mac with a little help from a PC or Virtual PC. A few parts of the info is a little old. The good news is is that now (with Toast 5 and a new VCDImager) you'll only need a PC for one step (step 4) which is NOT processor intensive so that it would run almost as fast via VirtualPC than a real PC. I've made a few addendums in the summary below:
1. Import video into iMovie,FCP, or Premiere etc.

2. Edit footage

3. Save as uncompress Quicktime movie

4. Convert to SVCD-compliant video stream
(mpeg 2, 480x480, etc. See http://www.vcdhelper.com/svcd.htm for more info.)
You can use any mpeg2 encoder you wish: Cleaner, Astarte M.Pack, or something else. But, these are expensive. :^( You could also use TMPEGEnc (free) to encode you footage into mpeg2 format thereby skipping step 4. But, you'll need a REALLY fast PeeCee to get decent encode times. Also, you'll need to convert you QT movie to AVI format first.

4. Combine (multiplex) audio & video mpeg streams into 1 (TMPEGEnc--PC only)

5. Convert unified mpeg stream into a .BIN/.CUE files
(VCDImager/VCDImagerGUI-- VCDImager is the command line version. It is a GNU app and just recently became available for Mac OS X. So, unlike the instructions listed in the babymac link (step 2 in the "PC Needed" area, you no longer need to do this on the PC side.). I hope to write a Cocoa gui wrapper around this tool to match the functionality of the PeeCee VCDImagerGUI tool.

6. Convert .BIN/.CUE files into .ISO files
(Binchunk--PC only) Note: This step and 6a is only neccessary with Toast 4 or lower only. I read somewhere else on this forum that with Toast 5 you no longer need to conver the .BIN/.CUE files to .ISO files. I haven't tried this so I can't verify.

6a. Burn .ISO files with Toast

7. Drag that .BIN file to Toast 5 (CD-ROM XA mode)

8. Burn it and you'll have a working SVCD.

[blips]

JohnnyB,

You need Toast 5 or Toast 4 Delux to burn the images but if you have Virtual PC I would use TMPGEnc to convert your movie files to VCD. Toast 5 VCD quality is just not very good, IMHO. TMPGEnc is fee and is in beta right now but I have not had a problem converting anything to VCD. I recommend reading the post "My recipe for creating awesome-looking VCD's". It is located here.

[JohnnyB]

fdlozano: wow thanks for the info- if I were you, I would save the info you typed here and use it again in another post because most people ask the same question. Since my last posting here I have tried to make SVCDs and my friend tried to make them with cleaner and it was going to take him almost 100 hours to convert the movie to mpeg 2. So I wasn't willing to wait that long to try it.

blips: I was trying to follow that form to create the "best vcd" but TMPGEnc did not recognize the avi file that was created, it kept saying "invalid filename" or something like that. Did you experience any problems like that?

Thanks again for the help
JB

[blips]

I must confess I did it on a PC. I know many people on this forum say they use VPC but TMPGEnc states that it needs Win 98. My VPC is Win 95. But I have a PC so I thought I would use it.

On my PC I used uncompressed AVI exported from Quicktime PRO. I didn't have problems with TMPGEnc recognizing the file but I had problems with the way QT Pro translated the file (it was all jerky and pixellized) I also used AVI compressed as DV and AVI compessed as some other format through QT Pro. Both those worked great. But I was editting movies with I movie and exporting it as DVD. Importing into QT Pro. Then translating to AVI. Then I realized that TMPGEnc could read the DVD export from iMovie (.mov) and I did not have to translated it to AVI with QT Pro.

In summary:
-It work on a PC with AVI files with some compression. -It did read the AVI file with no compression but QT Pro did a bad job of translating.
-You don't need a AVI file to use TMPGEnc. A .mov file will work. What are you using to get to AVI? You might be doing a translation you don't need

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: blips on 2001-07-12 07:01:42 ]</font>

[markpith]

TMPGEnc should work with a special quicktime plugin for Beta12a (don't know about other versions), but it didn't work on my VPC with win95 (the rest was ok). You can download it from vcdhelp.com.

Mark

[JohnnyB]

My VPC has Win 98 SE on it. I used QT to convert the mov to avi with no compression. Thats as far as I got. When you say u used "some compression" what compressor do you use?

Thanks again-
JB

[Pepzhez]

For what it's worth, I think that Toast 5 VCD quality leaves a lot to be desired. I have tested it extensively and I find the results to be very inconsistent. I have gotten a few nice looking videos using this codec but most have been unacceptable.

Or maybe I have just been spoiled by using Cleaner 5's VCD codec. Yes, it takes forever and then some (upwards of 24 hours for a 65 minute video) but the results are GORGEOUS. I don't see how a VCD can look any better than this.

My advice is to forget about SVCD. I've never bothered messing with Virtual PC et al. to make SVCDs. Who wants to do all of that? I switched to Mac in order to get as far away from Windows OS as possible; I am not about to run it on my Mac. Besides, by the time SVCD on Mac is a true reality, 3ivx will be more developed. So for now I'm content to stick with high quality VCD and will wait until 3ivx is truly accesible (and that should be very soon).

[JohnnyB]

I feel the same way pepzhez, forget the SVCDs and all the PC work. In a few years DVD burners will be common and im sure there will be encoders for them. Cleaner 5 does an awsome job of making mpegs. In fact because i use my computer as a dvd player, I prefer to keep my movies in mpeg format and not put them in vcd format because u can pause the movie and rewind easier with quicktime than i with a vcd player

JB