Best VCD auhoring program

[Puneet]

Which is the best for making VCDs?

[Sefy]

Out of those you mentioned, TSCV is the best, it gives you the best compatibility, the best flexibility, and the best features! oh and did i mention it's free too ?

[vitualis]

Although TSCV is a proggy in its own right, it should be noted that it is a GUI of VCDImager ( http://www.vcdimager.org ).

Regards.

[deltaboy]

where is VCDEasy???

[Sefy]

VCDEasy and TSCV (and propably some others) are "just" GUI's for the VCDImager/CDRDao programs, VCDEasy is more basic at the moment, and TSCV gives the most options (Chapters/Menus...).

[KingJohn]

Roxio VideoPack 5

[Sefy]

A few words for Roxio's VideoPack 5 - Costs a Fortune, Huge in Size compared to ANY of the other products, doesn't have half the features that the free tool VCDImager has, oh, and I believe I mentioned it costs a huge pile of money

[KingJohn]

Great program, so easy to use... drop and move, burn... so easy vcd, maybe they should have called it that. So your going to exclude it based on costs then ? If it was free would you recommend it then ? I guess so.

As for the others, just toys


-----------------
Loads-a-money

[deltaboy]

to tell you the truth:

ive never EVER had a working (s)vcd out of VP5. im very simple. all i do is compliant (s)vcds. i dont do menus, just chapter/entypoints. when it writes the image file, it always has errors. must be the way the routing is? i have no clue.

just my 2 cents...

[Sefy]

Interesting, and here I thought I was the only one who thought VP5 sucked
and even if it was for free, I wouldn't use it, did you check out the size of it ? The largest of all programs! and for absolutly no good reason too!

[deltaboy]

yep, 225 beautiful MBs!!! of crap! im sure its ALL for that mighty ever so fancy commercial GUI. you gotta love those software venders.

[monarc_2000]

roxio vp5 is the best!...at least for me when in comes to making vcds

[KingJohn]

Well I guess some people don't want the complexities available from this program, they just want to watch the movie, and are prepared to put up with the sudden end. I guess if you make simple VCD's that come to a halt at the end of disk 1, and then switches on the DVD to logo, then anything will do.

But if you want something a bit more professional, animated buttons, mixed pictures and audio. Auto replay and a lot more, and have it all so easy to set up, modify and "test" before making the disk. Then VP5 is cool.

Most people on this forum convert a lot of films from AVI/DVD to VCD etc, and would regard a 200Mb file as tiny, If fact I see many posts on the subject of 2Gb limits, so 200Mb + would not even enter into peoples heads as being cumbersome. However for those people who are worried, there is nothing stopping you from removing the components you don't need.

"and for absolutly no good reason too! "

Sorry I have to disagree, but there is a good reason why its so large, they don't use DivX

VPGuide.chm (41Mb)
vpquick.chm (31Mb)
images 15Mb

I guess Roxio, spent a lot of time putting together the help file, unlike simpler programs with only basic help, VP5 has a very extensive help database. The reason why these help files are large is because they contain video clips demonstrating the use of the program. Visually describing the function will naturally be a lot better than a few lines of text, that was written mostly in Greek, or by a part time Japanese student learning English (Pun, No offence to Japanese)

The program performs faultlessly on prepared mpeg files, However like most burning software (Including Nero) it does fall over if it needs to change the mpeg to make it VCD compliant. That said most people will prepare the mpeg for use anyway, the program suppose to be an authoring package and not a converter, but it tries anyway....

Using this program on the PlexWriter 40/12/40 from the moment I hit record, I have a VCD ready to be played less than 5 minuets.

(Until I run out of these disks) ... The program taking just under a minuet to prepare the files.

[Rigo]

:o Videopack a good choice????
please go to the link:


http://www.zdnet.co.uk/reviews/rstories/0,3040,e7111434,00.html

[Rigo]

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/reviews/rstories/0,3040,e7111434,00.html

[Rigo]

I am glad the I didn't buy this videopack,read:


Unfortunately, we found ourselves still unclear about how this process works -- even after completing the tutorial. When you drag files into the Navigation window, they become linked in a hierarchical fashion that dictates how the menu structure and navigation controls of your DVD title will work.

This is quite unlike the step-by-step approach taken by most other authoring programs. Admittedly, VideoPack provides more freedom to create complex, customised menu and navigation controls, but this is compromised by the program's poor ease of use.

The real problem lies with the software's documentation. Neither the Quick Start guide nor the more detailed Reference guide properly explain how these menu structures work. The online help system is no help either. To find out how to import footage from a DV camera, we clicked the 'DV' entry in the help index, only to see a FAQ about audio compression codecs.

VideoPack might be more powerful and versatile than any of its low-cost rivals, but even experienced users are likely to be daunted by its unintuitive approach to authoring. In addition, with such a high price tag, VideoPack 5.0 could struggle to attract an audience.

[KingJohn]

I am glad the I didn't buy this videopack,read:


Unfortunately, we found ourselves still unclear about how this process works -- even after completing the tutorial. When you drag files into the Navigation window, they become linked in a hierarchical fashion that dictates how the menu structure and navigation controls of your DVD title will work.

This is quite unlike the step-by-step approach taken by most other authoring programs. Admittedly, VideoPack provides more freedom to create complex, customised menu and navigation controls, but this is compromised by the program's poor ease of use.

The real problem lies with the software's documentation. Neither the Quick Start guide nor the more detailed Reference guide properly explain how these menu structures work. The online help system is no help either. To find out how to import footage from a DV camera, we clicked the 'DV' entry in the help index, only to see a FAQ about audio compression codecs.

VideoPack might be more powerful and versatile than any of its low-cost rivals, but even experienced users are likely to be daunted by its unintuitive approach to authoring. In addition, with such a high price tag, VideoPack 5.0 could struggle to attract an audience.

Sounds like this person used something completely different, another of those people who review software without even loading it. Even a child could work this program.

The real problem lies with the software's documentation. Neither the Quick Start guide nor the more detailed Reference guide properly explain how these menu structures work.

So he missed the video presentation showing the step by step procedure then ?.

Not worth commenting further.

[NeWcS]

My vote goes to VCDImager

[Sefy]

I found it pointless to argue with "letmeinforgodsake" as he seems to be a genius in everything, also has a Super Computer (good for him!) and every thing works for him, even if it doesn't work for absolutly anyone else.

My Vote goes to the hard working freeware writers, they made a much better and more compliant program then any of the large companies out there, and heck, their programs are so small in size it's amazing!

[patsym1]

My vote goes to WinOnCd full stop its never let me down.


Regards: Patsym1

[KingJohn]

I found it pointless to argue with "letmeinforgodsake" as he seems to be a genius in everything, also has a Super Computer (good for him!) and every thing works for him, even if it doesn't work for absolutly anyone else.

My Vote goes to the hard working freeware writers, they made a much better and more compliant program then any of the large companies out there, and heck, their programs are so small in size it's amazing!

Well my problem is, seeing posts from you with a signature declaring your suppose to know something about computers and software in general, but reading your posts lead me to believe your trying to fool someone, as evidently you really don't know what your talking about.

Then when you are told so, you resort to a "Slanting match" something I don't normally lower myself to get involved in, but since your remarks were quite blunt and deliberate I find I am compelled to tell you that you really should not give up the day job.

You suppose to know something about this software but continue to pass it of as useless, based on its foot print on someone's hard drive ?. Or even its lack of help within, I am lead to believe that you probably not even seen it, not alone used it.

"Super Computer", well I think so, I built it myself with the best parts available at the time, and yes a Pentium 4 does work rather well, although I would not argue there are better.

As for software working for me and not anybody else, I don't see the point of that message, there have been a few others in this thread that state that Video pack 5 works for them, However there are going to be many more people using freeware than there are using expensive packages, and this forum will not reflect on how good or our bad a package is with just a small amount of people using the more expensive packages.

In future I suggest you post your replies with common sense without lowering the tone of this forum with insults !

[Sefy]

I do wish you would just stop conflicting yourself for once, here you go in one post you say "Great program, so easy to use... drop and move, burn..." and then you say "Well I guess some people don't want the complexities available from this program".

Well, i've never declared myself a VCD wiz or anything, you'll never find in a single post that i've said that about myself, I never even said I was the best Computer Technician in the whole world! i'm 100% positive there are better then me around!

But atleast I don't contradict myself every second post, I stick to what I say! you are one of those that if Microsoft said something for example, you'd go buy it, not cause it's better, but because they said you should!, which is why you got a P4, not cause it's better, but because you are so locked up that you won't open up to anything else.

I'm on the other hand, one of those who will try everything atleast once and then decide what is good or not, and just cause the program is over 200mb size and is slow and pathetic isn't what makes me decide if it's good or not, I try it, I find it to be complicated for no good reason, and I find simpler programs which do exactly the same thing and more, and for some reason, they take what, 8mb ? 10mb ? and are faster, and don't trash the system registry, or conflict with other programs.

And who am I trying to fool by the way ? my signature, and what I do on VCDhelp are two completly diffrent things, and what am I told exactly ? you haven't said anything new since the P4/XP argument, you just changed the subject you argue about without any proof or reason for your selection, you can't even make up your own mind about if it's easy or complicated!

I'm also curious to what remarks were blunt ? those that you consider yourself as a genius ? I think i'm pretty much accurate, after all, you did assume I never even used the program, or seen it or tried it, you jump to conclusions too fast.

And yes, i'm quite sure a small few will agree with you, and as i've said, good for you! but fact remains, the options the program gives the newbie user and even advanced users, is too complex to understand and takes alot of time, while using other simpler, more user friendly programs such as TSCV or VCDEasy (VCDwizard now too maybe) are more justified.

Oh, and if anywhere in my previous post I somehow insulted you, then you have my apologies if it means anything to you, but I can give just as much as I can get.

[Puneet]

How do you guys compare VCD Composer and VCDEasy with TSCV?

Whaich is the best of the three and reasons please.

[chung_chang]

Out of the choices given and those mentioned in this thread, I've tried NERO, Ulead DVD MovieFactory, TSCV and VP5. My vote goes to TSCV for now.

I started using VP5 shortly after it came out until about a month ago when I switched to TSCV. To get quick results and ease of use, I thought VP5 accomplished that. But it doesn't produce predictable routing points especially when doing chapters within the same MPEG stream. It also does not create precise chapter entry points. I had to use the built-in muxer to create MPEG stream or it will force re-encode. It supports (x)vcd but only up to certain bitrate. It does not officially support (x)svcd although it will accept it up to a very high bitrate. But I think this is a bug within the prog since it falsely reports the bitrates. The muxer produces larger MPEG sizes especially for low-bitrate VCDs. I have not used it for DVD authoring yet but I believe this is where Roxio did most of the work after VP4 and it probably works very well in that area.

TSCV (latest version 0.84) does not exhibit any of the issues above and still does eveything I need it to do. Plus it can create cue/bin files so I can burn with any prog that supports them.

I am sure many of the issues in VP5 can be fixed by Roxio. I would go back to it when that happens because it is very easy to use (it was very hard to get started at first. But after going through the excellent built-in tutorials, it was extremely easy)