Possible to author DVD format to CD

[tns1]

I am working with a small mpeg2 clip that could easily fit on a CD. I downloaded DVDStyler for authoring, and it has a CD selection option, but it still seemed to require a DVD for burning. I know some PCs and players will play VCD, but I understand this is less likely to be a compatible format going forward. Is possible to author DVD formatting onto a CD?

[El Heggunte]

Yes, it's possible, just create the VIDEO_TS folder, then record with ImgBurn.

[hech54]

I've tried several on a whim. My older players played them with no problem but I always bought weird players that played almost anything...

https://www.videohelp.com/glossary?M#miniDVD,%20cDVD

[Cornucopia]

This format is often informally called "Mini-DVD" (there is no "official" name).

One thing you should make sure when creating such a disc:
Since CD data readout speed is NEVER as fast as what DVD is capable of, you should not maximize the bitrate to the usual 9.8Mbps, but rather 1/2 to 1/3 of that. Going beyond will cause stuttering (due to buffer underflow errors) on most/many players. Just like a web streaming where your DL speed is not good enough.

BTW, the same can be said of DVD vs. BD.

Scott

[johns0]

Just use a dvd,they are cheaper than cds now a days.

[El Heggunte]

Just use a dvd,they are cheaper than cds now a days.

Very true

[tns1]

Sounds like there is no point in using a CD formatted as a DVD unless it were more robust.

If all my writers can do +-R, is there any advantage to using +R media vs -R media?
Are there DVD players that can only read +R or -R ?

[Cornucopia]

Many older players ONLY read -R type, but that was LONG ago. Since '04-05, I doubt if there are any decent hardware players, and fewer PC drives, that DON'T read both equally well.

Scott

[CobraPilot]

I've authored a few "min-DVDs" with so-so results:

o Most *will* play in a PC CD/DVD burner, especially in the unit that burned it.

o Most *will* play in *some* of the standalone DVD players I have, mostly older models. (Haven't had the need to buy a new one in 4-5 years and have not gone the BD route as yet.) The same disc may work well in one player and stutter/pause like crazy on another I have, if recognized at all. (It may be because I didn't know of Cornucopia's recommendation above.) I haven't researched as to why one will, one won't play a "mini-DVD," I just know which ones work and rely on them for playback.

o Given the low price of DVDR discs (typically not that much more than a CDR), it's not all that cost-saving vs. DVDR. It sounds like your motivation has been not to waste all that unused space on an actual DVD, which was mine; arguably false-economy when playback is of primary concern.

o If you *do* make a mini-DVD (CD) and you don't get playback results to your liking (or just want to archive the files in DVD format on a CD), the files are easily moved to an actual DVDR disc if/when you need to.

Alternate: SVCD

o While a dying format (as is VCD mentioned above) which may not be playable on newer standalones, SVCD has the advantage over VCD of producing MPG-format files of potentially far higher quality than VCD, although a really short VCD can have decent quality.

DVD+R vs. DVD-R:

o Early on, manufacturers tried to avoid the VHS vs. Beta mess of VCRs and made most standalone DVD players compatible with +R and -R. (That lesson was lost on the HD-DVD vs. BD situation.) Some standalone *recorders* are one or the other, but not both, but such devices are fading from the scene.

o I have an old DVD+R-only burner for which an upgrade to DVD-R was made available. Upgrade produced poor results from -Rs, so, in those rare instances I use that burner, I use +R only. My other burners (non-BD) don't care which I use, nor do my standalone players.

As always, when experimenting using others' advice, "your mileage may vary."

[tns1]

I am not seeing much price difference, and the +R is supposed to be the newer, more robust format.

[CobraPilot]

From the "What Is" section on DVD:

https://www.videohelp.com/dvd

Not sure how current this is about those percentages of compatibility.

[jman98]

If all my writers can do +-R, is there any advantage to using +R media vs -R media?
Are there DVD players that can only read +R or -R ?

If you search a lot, you can find some old (10+ years ago) articles on the +R vs. -R subject. The majority them claim that +R is superior for a variety of reasons such as wobble tracking and error correction. A few old articles pushed for the superiority of -R usually stating that only DVD-R truly adhered to the DVD specifications. While this was technically true in the past, after many years the DVD spec was eventually broadened to make +R officially accepted. Consumers found no practical difference between using DVD-R and DVD+R and since only very old players have a preference for one over the other, today with any modern burner and player there's no reason to favor one over the other. DVD+R does have a slightly larger amount of data space, so for those who must push the boundaries of using 100% of their discs (not a recommended practice), the extra space might be useful. But that extra space is small - maybe 1% larger at most. If you know people who are proud of using DVD players for 10+ years, some of those old players might care about +R vs. -R.

There actually is some practical difference between DVD-RW and DVD+RW and DVD-R DL and DVD+R DL. In both cases the +R versions are cheaper and technologically superior to the more expensive (because they are much harder to manufacture) -R equivalents. The -R versions seem to have lower compatibility than the +R versions. The original DVD spec never foresaw the need for RW or DL media, so getting these working under -R discs required a bit of forcing a square peg into a round hole whereas the +R spec was designed from the ground up to support RW and DL media. Should you be curious. there actually were attempts in the late 2000s to produce DVD+/-RW DL discs. I don't remember which, but either the - or + ones actually got produced in very limited quantities, mostly just for technology writers to demo. Burners were released that added support for the format (standard burners didn't support the discs) but in the end the cost to manufacturer proved to be too high to be practical and the whole idea was abandoned. This is just a wild guess, but I speculated that errors on the production line were likely so high that the vast majority of -/+RW DL discs were rejected outright as defective and it was probably going to cost between $10 and $15 (US dollars) per disc, which consumers would probably never pay, especially with having to get brand new burners to even use them at all. At that kind of cost it would be far cheaper to simply use write once DL discs, even the more expensive DVD-R DL variant, and just throw them away if you had a problem than to fool with RW DL discs.

[SWBisbee]

I found this guide a few years ago and tried it out, I also have a few dvd players that will play minidvd, seemed to work ok, just a bit time consuming to make. The guide shows how do 2cd's I took it one step more to just one cd, quality not to bad.

http://www.dvd-guides.com/guides/dvdrip/39-how-to-rip-a-dvd-to-minidvd-using-dvd-shrink

[tns1]

BTW,
That DVDStyler (2.7.2) program I mentioned is bundled with a bunch of malware I am still trying to clean from my PC.
I should have read the comments on the SourceForge page before I downloaded it. Beware.