Clueless Newbie with a bunch of questions!

[budgirl357]

I am a serious newbie, and I have visited this forum a number of times. A lot of the stuff discussed here is incredibly foreign to me, but I am very eager to learn as much as I can. I just recently got a new computer that can burn cds. My old one could not even do this, thats how clueless I am. Ok, so I got my hands on some vcds, and I used Nero to make copys of them for friends. Now I would like to move on to bigger things, and I know that understanding various concepts associated with authoringand burning,etc. begins with understanding all the complicated details dealing with different formats. Am I right? so excuse my ignorance, here are my questions:

How do I send my vcds over the net like sending a document file?

Can I watch vcds on my computer that does not play dvds?

can I make vcd copies of my dvds?

what is the difference between a svcd and a vcd - and can I make an svcd from a vcd movie copy or dvd?

what are the different types of formats (AVI, MPEGAV, CDI, EXT,WAV) and what are their differences? What are their uses?

I know that these questions probobly seem silly, but I think I heard here:

"we were LL newbies once"

I really need help, I have alot to learn and I want to get started.
Peace,
budgirl357

[vcd4me]

BUD GIRL HOW YOU DOIN'

Using my line huh -go head it's the truth we were all newbies once!

Not to sound mean but if you read the FAQ page some of these questions you have can be better explained there

How do I send my vcds over the net like sending a document file?
>I don't know

Can I watch vcds on my computer that does not play dvds?
>yes

can I make vcd copies of my dvds?
>yes- but It's time consuming

can I make an svcd from a vcd movie copy
>not a good idea svcd is better quality but you starting with a lower quality(vcd)

As for the rest of you questions there a little more difficult to explain.

GOOD LUCK- VCD4ME

[TheInformer]

>> How do I send my vcds over the net like sending a document file?

Use one of the P2P programs such as KaZaa, WinMX, etc.

>> Can I watch vcds on my computer that does not play dvds?

Yes! Basically all computers in the past 5 years can play MPEG-1 files, which is how the video on VCDs is encoded.

>> can I make vcd copies of my dvds?

There are guides on the left side of this page for doing this.

>> what is the difference between a svcd and a vcd - and can I make an svcd from a vcd movie copy or dvd?

SVCD = Super VideoCD (generally better quality, more features)
VCD = VideoCD

Making a VCD from an SVCD makes no sense in most cases, but the other way around works well.

>> what are the different types of formats (AVI, MPEGAV, CDI, EXT,WAV) and what are their differences? What are their uses?

Different files contain different types of data:

WAV = audio
MP3 = audio
AVI = video + audio

etc etc

[Shabubu]

Last question might be a bit confused.

MPEGAV, EXT AND CDI are directories on the VCD. VCD's must had a certain "Structture" so that they can be recognised. MPEGAV is the directory on a CD where the video is stored (i.e. MPEG Audio Video, MPEG is the name of the file format. the file is given the extension .DAT, but its still and MPEG or .MPG, same thing). EXT is the directory where EXTRA stuff goes (depends what you want to put in therE). CDI is where the CDI program goes that allows the ancient Philips CD Interactive system to play VCD's. Required by the specs but nothing uses it anymore.

AVI: Audio Video Interleave, a windows file format that uses codecs to compress video (ASF, DivX, XviD, Indeo, SMR, WMV, Mpeg4, HuffYuv, PicVideo, the list is endless)

MPEG: Motion Picture Experts Group, as set of standards and compression methods set out by the aforementioned group on how to compress audio and video. MPEG1 is VCD's (cam out first), MPEG2 is SVCD's and VCD's (same as MPEG1 but with some mild updates and interlace support). MP2 and MP3 mean MPEG 1 Layer 2 and Layer 3 respectively (audio formats). And MPEG4 is at the moment an AVI format ASF, WMV, DivX, XviD are all flavours of this)

Wav is "pure" audio format, as in there's no compression. It's the windows audio format.

[bugster]

vcd4me said

Making a VCD from an SVCD makes no sense in most cases, but the other way around works well.

I am sure this was a slip of the finger and that actually you meant the opposite, making VCD from SVCD is worthwhile, making SVCD from VCD is not!

[vcd4me]

Bugster,
the informer said that not VCD4ME

[bugster]

ooops sorry, now whos slipping!

[vcd4me]

Its ok seeing as your helpng me out wih my problem with the avi's

[TheInformer]

LOL!


Thanks for pointing out the slip bugster!

SVCD ---> VCD - is good
VCD ---> SVCD - why?

Is that better?

[loyd]

Yes, the guide here is unbeliveble, and yes, i wouldnt be anything without vcdhelp, the kind people and the informative system, its all good!

I have learned to make vcds, i have learned how to make svcds, and i love it!

but i still have a question i still am eagore to have answared ;

1. its a trend now, to have divx-files in two files, both on 700 megabytes,
the question here is, what quality, or calculation is best for me, if i want these to files into one 700 mb file, like i have all my rest divx movies in?
(these also goes for making mpg files into divx)

2. this is mabe a easy question to answare even!
is it any difference if i make the files in 29.9 or 25 frames? i mean, do all dvd-standalones still play them? or do i have to reencode them to 25 frames to be sure? what program is best?

3. i wrote this when i was drunk (still am, since im typing it), that means that this is bothering me very much, since im thinking of it while im drunk, instead of partying like i should, so , is there any way i could convert myself into a "happy party person", instead of "bothered nerd person"?
or HHP to BNP if you may?

[bugster]

loyd, if a divx movie is split into two 700Mb files instead of being contained in just one, I can think of two possible reasons for this.

1) It is along movie
2) It has been encoded at a high bitrate.

In fact it can be a combination of the above. Remember this simple guidline and you cant go far wrong: More data equals more quality.

With regards to framerate, when converting from one format to another it is usually advisable to keep the same framerate as the source.

23.97fps is NTSC film standard, played at 29.97fps by DVD players, often requires 3:2 pulldown flags to be set in the video (use 3:2 pulldown on TmpGenc advanced settings tab)

25 fps is PAL format

29.97fps is NTSC format

If your DVD player & TV can handle both, do not convert. Converting from one format to another is a difficult and time consuming process with lots of issues esp regarding audio sync.