Anyone used the Philips SVCD designer?

[zed]

I managed to aquire a copy of this from a friend who worked at Philips and was wondering if anyone has used it. It looks very good and has all the features of VCD toolbox and more - even has a simulator so no more burning to cd to test

Zed

[gsashok]

Why don't you ask your friend who gave the software?
Can you send the software to me. I will try and tell you how it is.

[Greg12]

Can u give a link?

Can this program burn or just produce an Image?

[disturbed1]

This software is available from Philips for download.

You need to have NT4 installed.

The verifier (free) checks to make sure your mpeg is compliant with SVCD specs.

The designer (free) is what you use to author your SVCD script.

The toolset (not free) is needed to create an image from your script.

I just read the included help file and didn't have any problems using the software. There should of been .pdf files included with back ground information on SVCD too.

If you didn't get the whole package you download it again here http://www.licensing.philips.com/cdsystems/cdsupervcd.html

[zed]

Yeah I read the manual however it does not appear to work correctly in win2k as it crashes when I attempt to open the sequence editor - also does it support jpegs etc as the manual just refers to bitmaps.

Has anyone used it and managed to produce a svcd from it?

I have the designer and the toolset and I have checked the zips and they are the same as from the link you supplied - you say the toolset is not free - how come its there for downloading?

Zed

[disturbed1]

Sure have, you need NT4. It will create a lovely .cif file.
I tried with 2kpro, and got as far as you did. Reinstalled NT4 and it worked fine. BTW, the verifier will run on WIN ME, go figure

Your better off with VCD Imager or I-Author IMO.
VCD Imager is more capable than Philips. Plus you don't have to mess with EZCD/CDMAGE.

[zed]

Yeah but VCD Imager is too unuser friendly - It looks real time consuming and a steep learning curve just to learn the program (unless there is a gui or editor that I have not spotted), where can I get I-Author from? does it support menus etc cause what i want to be able to do is have a main menu with say 6 choices on that each link off to a new menu displaying thumbnails of my photos each with a number underneath that when selected shows the full photo on screen - while viewing the photo I want to be able to step back and forth to the next and previous image (preferably without having to create an mpeg sequence of all the pics.)- to do this in VCD toolbox is going to take ages the way im going about doing it!

Any help appreciated

Zed

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: zed on 2001-08-02 00:58:21 ]</font>

[disturbed1]

Video Pack (or is it Win On CD PE?) has a great photo/slide maker for VCD's.
Nero can do what you want also, but Video Pack is defently better.

I like Nero 'cuz it's simple, drag n drop your jpegs and your done. But I don't believe it can do menus for slide shows.
Win On CD allows for different folders, and music. The slide show with music doesn't work on all DVD players though.

Search these forums for Video Pack and Win On CD. If you have Win On CD but not the PE version, you can upgrade it here,
http://cequadrat.com/driver/
there's drivers and other stuff too.

I-Author is considered to be the best solution for SVCD. Advanced menus, entry points, chapters you name it.

Enreach, the makers, are no longer offering it, they don't even have any info for it. There is a company in Singapore? that may be still selling it ($6995.00 for the deluxe). Most people find it from other places though.

[JJamez]

I'd say try VideoPack first - I haven't used it, but from what disturbed says it may be the easiest solution, although I doubt it will do the multilevel menus you want.

IAuthor will definitely do what you want, but #1, you WILL have trouble finding it, although it is out there - just keep looking (I don't have a working link). #2, although its GUI based and seemingly much easier than VCDImager, its not without its own learning curve and share of quirks. Once you get it down though, it is VERY easy to use. #3, I don't know how many photos you're planning on putting to CD - I'm not sure if IAuthor has a track limit either. You'll have to convert all your images to bmp files and I believe IAuthor will convert them to mpg. I haven't done this personally - I don't know if it displays these still movies at 720x480 or at SVCD res.

Maybe I'll give this a shot later and let you know.

JJ

[zed]

cool, i look forward to hearing how your tests go. As to how many picture I will be putting on the disk it should be around 150 and hopefully a 8 minute mpeg - should be ok shouldnt it? (im new to this). Now all I gotta do is find I-Author....

cheers

Zed

[Greg12]

Oh, I have 98FE

[JJamez]

I played around with it a little and I've got to revise what I said. It's doable in IAuthor, but I really wouldn't recommend it - there are numerous reasons for this. Basically, it would be a BIG pain in the a$$.

Nero will do everything you said, EXCEPT you can't do multilevel menus and you're limited to 99 files. It's incredibly easy though - it generates the thumbnails and menus itself, resizes everything, etc. - all you do is drag and drop the jpg's (or whatever).

Try and pick up VideoPack, it sounds like the best option (especially if you don't want to deal with the Nero restrictions listed above).

[zed]

Where can I get I-Author so I can try it - or even Videopack. I have tried Nero but it not up to what I want

cheers

Zed