SVCD with jpgs and wav

[gkma01]

Apologies if the forum has covered thi salready.

I am using VCD easy ver 3 to author SVCD. It converts my jpgs to mpgs.Then I use AUDIO2VCD to convert my wav file to mpg (which plays OK in RealPlayer).
The autoring seems to go OK (no nasty comments in the log file BUT the svcd does not play the audio ; video loooks fine. I am using my dvd stand alone player.

Can anyone point me in the right direction ?
Thanks

[jman98]

Your title is somewhat misleading as since you admit to converting your WAV file to MPEG audio, you aren't trying to play SVCD with WAV audio.

DVD standalone players do not always fully support SVCD. Also, trying to have a slideshow (it appears this is what you are doing) with background music isn't really supported by the SVCD spec (to the best of my knowledge) and while such things MAY work anyway on some players, they may not work on others. Heck, Philips wrote the spec for SVCD and they don't even fully support it on their own DVD players. Finally, SVCD audio needs to be at 44.1 KHz. I am assuming that this is what you have, but you'll have to use a program like GSpot to verify this.

By the way, SVCD offers ZERO advantages over VCD for slideshows. None at all. There is no difference in the resolution supported. In fact, given the sometimes poor support (and even non-support) for SVCD on some DVD players, I'd recommend you instead make VCDs for slideshows as you have a better chance of correct playback on a DVD player with VCD than SVCD.

[redwudz]

Though it's not obvious, we still have information on the SVCD structure, format and specification available: https://www.videohelp.com/svcd

You might want to check your file to see if it's compliant with this. Gspot or MediaInfo should be able to give you information about your SVCD.

And SVCDs aren't compatible with all DVD players. But you can sometimes use this method to make them compatible: http://www.vcdeasy.org/modules.php?name=_Guides&id=VcdTrick

[Cornucopia]

You may also want to consider following the guide that allows you to combine the stills with audio using SVCDSTL.

But I would agree with those above saying you don't gain ANYTHING by doing slides in SVCD vs. VCD.

Scott

[tomlee59]

And I would go so far as to say that you can lose by going to SVCD in this case, precisely because of the compatibility issue. Far more standalone DVD players support VCD than SVCD. You will probably have much better luck doing your slideshow in VCD form instead.

[gkma01]

many thanks for all these replies.

My dvd player claims to support vcd and svcd.So I assume that's not an issue

A couple of years ago I did get audio working but maybe I was lucky with the settings. I used vcd easy to encode the jpgs and the audio was something very easy , some simple conversion.

But the move to ver 3 of VCD Easy may have messed me up . Also I may have lost some codecs on the way but Gspot says my audio is OK.

I'll have another look at settings. If any one has further thoughts I would be grateful.

Thanks again

[Cornucopia]

Assuming you have the registered version, v3.1 of VCDEASY is certainly the best, most compatible and most power version.

I've done just what you are attempting to do, so I know it's possible. I created a Coldplay compilation "AVCD" with albumcover or web art as the pix for the songs (and menu as well w/ hotspots for selection). Works correctly in every DVD player I've tried (hardware or software), which is at least ~30.

Scott

[tomlee59]

Just check that you've selected 44.1kHz sampling rate (instead of DVD's 48kHz), and a constant bitrate (CBR) of say, 224kb/s (again, the official spec allows for some latitude here, but 224 is very safe). Although SVCD allows for variable bitrate, CBR provokes fewer incompatibility problems.

[jman98]

many thanks for all these replies.

My dvd player claims to support vcd and svcd.So I assume that's not an issue

That's a rather interesting assumption given that I told you...
1) That background music on slideshows isn't part of the standard.
2) That DVD players that claim to support SVCD sometimes don't fully support it. Example 1 - the format allows for multiple switchable audio tracks and subtitles, yet some Philips DVD players will NOT allow you to switch audio tracks when playing SVCD and if they find a subtitle on the disc, they will play the first one and it CANNOT be turned off! The format allows for at least 4 (I don't remember if it's up to 6 or 8 or if 4 is the limit) switchable subtitles. Example 2 - Pioneer DVD players in the past refused to play VCD/SVCD slideshows unless every photo in them was resized to 720 (it might have been 708 - again I don't remember for sure) x 480/576. Many players would tolerate some deviations here, but not Pioneer.

You never mentioned your DVD player make and model. Why? Did you not realize that we might know about playback quirks for it. But of course since the player can't be the problem, why bother to tell us what it is?

[Cornucopia]

Actually, jman98, my reading of the spec is that it DOES allow for stills+audio (specifically and explicitly). It's just that VERY FEW authoring solutions have ever been available to make use of it, so it becomes rare, so it becomes less supported (downward spiral)...

Scott

BTW, there are max 4 subs in SVCD spec. And the Pioneer glitch had more to do with expecting a specific (non-standard?) streamID in the mux.
The spec (for Hi-Rez pix) has always been 704 x 480/576 for both VCD and SVCD (720 not included).

[gkma01]

[quote="jman98"]

many thanks for all these replies.

My dvd player claims to support vcd and svcd.So I assumed that's not an issue

I should know better than to make assumptions in an area I know very little about !

That's a rather interesting assumption given that I told you...


You never mentioned your DVD player make and model. Why? Did you not realize that we might know about playback quirks for it. But of course since the player can't be the problem, why bother to tell us what it is?

I felt that since my player had produced VCD and SVCD that hardware was not my problem .
I have a Samsung-E235D.

I am still having to follow up some of the forums suggestions . For me this is a pretty steep learning curve.

Thanks for your help