Newbie Help

[cold_hac]

I'm very new to vcd's and svcd and xvcd's. I have read all the posts and things on how to do it. I was wondering the though my girlfriend has a pioneer dv-525 dvd player I searched the dvd players to see if it plays but I got the pioneer dv-525(k) but I'm guessing there both the same. I want to know what I should use. vcd/svcd/xvcd. It said on the chart that it supports it all I think. I really didn't understand the chart to good. What should I use vcd/svcd/xvcd and what program is best to make these things and what program is best to burn it with. What bitrate and size of the screen and shit like that. I also think that I have a pal movie but I want to convert it to ntsc is there anyway to do it. Or will the pal work in the dvd player.

[Vejita-sama]

Ok, first teh PAL vs NTSC thing. NTSC is the video standard for the USA, Canada and Japan. PAL is the standard in Europe and parts of Asia. Look on the back of the DVD to check.

The guide here is pretty good but the ones at http://www.felxion.org/vcd have more screen shots, so you might want to look there too.

Read ALL the links on the left (it's takes some time but there's a lot of good info). Basically:

VCD MPEG1 352x240
SVCD MPEG2 480x480
xVCD MPEG1 non-standare bitrate, encode method or resolution
xSVCD MPEG2 " " "

Normally you want encode to the highest quaility that your standalone player will support. However, a lot of people want to but a whole 2hr movie on 1 80min CDR disc. This lowers the quaility but some don't care. Others will make cDVD/miniDVD with 20min per disc.

If you're really a newbie and don't want to do anymore than necessary you might want to try DVD2SVCD. It's a front end program that (in theory) will allow you to place in a DVD, configure everything, hit go and walk away.

http://www.doom9.org look under VCD/SVCD Guides and read the online help.

[cold_hac]

If I make a svcd is there anyway I can put it on 1 cd and it will look pretty good on the tv. I don't want to have to do more then 2 cd's for 1 movie. SO should I just make a svcd and put it on two cd's or should I make a vcd and have it on 1 cd.