AUTORUN FOR VCD IN DVD PLAYER UNIT ! How?

[lafamar]

Is there a way to play/show the VCD's menu automatically (without remote or key control) when I put it in my DVD Player Unit? I use Nero to make menu and burn my VCDs.
Tks all.
Lafamar

[JimJohnD]

I use CD Motion to make my VCD/SVCD discs. I place a video track as the first item. My menu is the second item followed by the remaining video tracks. The menu is programmed with hot-spots for access to each of the video tracks. Each video track is programmed to "Next" to the next video track looping to the first at the end. "Previous" is programmed as you would expect dropping to the last track in you are on track 1. "Return" points to the menu.

With this setup I can put my disc in the player and it starts playing from the beginning all the way through and loops. At any time you can "Return" to the menu to navigate to a specific track.

If Nero may let you do the same type of thing. Hope you have good luck...

[lafamar]

JimJohnD,
Tks so much and I'll try with Nero.

[AntnyMD]

Nero will laugh at you.

I thought you wanted your VCD to autorun when inserted in a DVD player. The short answer is this won't happen. VCDs are rather like audio CDs in this regard. I have never encountered any player outside a computer that autoruns CDs.

Lets just resolve to push the PLAY button, and not try to force VCDs to be DVDs.

[lafamar]

AntnyMD,
Tks too.

[JimJohnD]

I got looking around, under the "TOOLS" section (at left) there is a freeware propram called "VCDImager" that supports menus and looping. I havn't tried it but the help pdf file says it supports it.

You would need a CD burning program like Golden Hawk's CDRWin that can use Bin/Cue file sets.

AntnyMD: When I put a disc I created in my DVD/VCD player(s) (Jaton)/Panasonic DVD-LV60, they start playing without hitting play, it CAN be done... I've done it

[Vejita-sama]

Where can i find CD Motion? I didn't see it under tools, download.com, or doom9.org. Thanks in advance, it sounds like a cool program.

[next]

I seem to remember that the Pioneer 343 would auto play VCD's. The same VCD's that would not auto play in another player. I wonder if this is machine specific as well. Perhaps in the firmware of the machine.

[P@iNKilleR]

A dvd player built by a company called eclipse also autoruns vcd's & no software whatsoever is required. No matter what disc U put it it runs straight away but my poor old alba dvd 103 cant do that so I'm gonna cry now!!! Yes by the way the eclipse plays vcd/svcd/xvcd & dvdr/w aswell plus mp3 & basically whatever U put in it along with a good function that everyone wants MACRO off!!!


Kev!

[AntnyMD]

From JimJohnD's post, it seems clearer now that autorun for CD (VCD or CDDA) is machine-specific. If someone can attest to an authoring program that makes autorun-on-standalone CDs, let me at it ... I wanna test it.

Purely out of curiosity of course.

[DBG]

I checked out info on CD Motion because it sounded kinda cool. It's this old program that is for 3.x/NT, and it cost like 20k!! Ouch.

[JimJohnD]

Actually, the company I work for bought the DVDMotion SE Version 4 package. It was an online download purchase for about $450.00 or so, If I remember correctly. It was put out by a company called MTC2000. The guy’s name is/was Rick Hallock. They were bought out by somebody, I have an alternate WWW address here “somewhere” for the company that bought them. We got the program about Dec 2000. They don’t seem to be around anymore. ZD-Net still had a download page for the CE version at http://www.zdnet.com/downloads/stories/info/0,,66923,.html but even this link doesn’t go anywhere. Hummm, they seem to have had a descent product from what I have used so far, I wonder where they went.

I also use Media Studio Pro 6.0 with the DVD plug-in. It’s discs also start on their own if you don’t do scene selection, but they don’t loop and start over at the end. It’s OK if you have one big file but you can’t “program” individual tracks (files) like in DVD Motion.

We use it mainly for putting together in-house training videos. We can go to VHS tape, or VCD because they can be viewed on a computer or many/most home DVD players these days. SVCD has limited support in the home DVD players that we have, they might play but don’t try to do anything “FF” or “REW” or it will freeze. We do some DVD quality pieces but they have to be short to fit on a CDR and they can only be viewed using a computer. HP has a DVD RW drive that is reported to be priced at $599.00 to start off, available next month. When the prices of these come down we’ll be looking to make to move to them.

The VCD Imager program looks like it would be quite capable, if you took some time to learn all the options. I have it installed, so I’ll check it out and see how to reproduce the programming in it. It would be nice to simply make a new video using a template as most of our videos are the exact same structure with different source material. The author’s web page also points to a GNU application called CDRDAO that supports the BIN/CUE combo for burning to disc. For being FREE tools they look like they do quite a bit.

Now that you’ve got my interest tweaked I’ll have to try these tools out and see what I get. I’ll post back either to this thread or start one called “VCD Programming” or something to that effect. If anyone knows there MTC2000 went please let me know.

[wildcatfan]

This is a machine specific thing I am sure. My apex 703 doesn't autorun, but my old samsung would however.....

Michael

[supercrew]

Must be machine specific,

My Philips 825at autoplays, but my pioneer 525 does not.

Supercrew

[vitualis]

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On 2001-08-22 15:47:13, AntnyMD wrote:
From JimJohnD's post, it seems clearer now that autorun for CD (VCD or CDDA) is machine-specific. If someone can attest to an authoring program that makes autorun-on-standalone CDs, let me at it ... I wanna test it.

Purely out of curiosity of course.
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

That's right. It is completely machine specific. There is no "autorun" flag for VCDs (as far as I know).

Some players will automatically start interpreting the PBC as soon as you put the disc in (my stand-alone VCD player does this) and some require you to press "Play: (my stand-alone DVD player does this). Neither is more "right" than the other.

Regards.

[JimJohnD]

Well, I got a change to work with the VCD Imager program last night. Wow, the XML idea is a nice touch. You basically make a “script” using XML for the definition of your VCD’s layout and programming. I created a VCD that had one track with no menus. It plays as soon as my DVD player sees it. When you use the “Next”, “Prev” or “Return” buttons, it starts the video over. When it reaches the end it loops back to the start and will play this way until stopped.

The VCD 2.0 spec for “Auto-Playing” a VCD is to program it with a “Play-Item” tag. This points to either a “menu” or “video”. Mine points to the only “video” on the disc. I de-compiled a VCD I had done with a menu. It seems a “Menu” is a one frame mpg video.

I’ll be taking some time this weekend to see if I can recreate the full blown VCD layout. I also found that different DVD players have varying support for PBC. This would explain why some use the “Play-Item” to start up the VCD and some don’t. I can post the XML, it’s not that long, for the simple looping VCD if anyone is interested. All you would have to do is change the name of the mpg source file. I guess you’d have to burn a disc you knew had the “Play-Item” tag on it and use it to test players. This might be an interesting item to note on the reviews of the DVD player compatibility list.

AntnyMD: If someone can attest to an authoring program that makes autorun-on-standalone CDs, let me at it ... I wanna test it.

Valid Source Files + VCD Imager + CDRDAO = Anything you want in VCD/SVCD

These are DOS prompt programs but the VCD Imager does have some GUIs available. You can't beat them for the price...free

[vitualis]

I'm not entirely sure what you mean with "Auto-Playing" and "Play-Item" but I think that you are misinterpreting their significance. Varying levels of support for all the possible functions of a VCD is not involved in whether or not a disc will automatically start playing. Rather, the functions that some players don't support include: audio-only SPIs, <autowait>, the "jump-timing" setting in <loop>, etc.

When you put a VCD in a player, it is up to the player to whether or not it will start playing it. If it doesn't, it will just sit there until there is some form of user interaction (e.g., you have to press "Play".

If it does start automatically, then it will start interpreting the PBC (if the disc has PBC authored) and play the first item; which can either be a <selection> or a <playlist>.

If the disc doesn't have PBC authored AND the player will automatically start playing the disc, then it should play the first video track.

For more XML examples, you should go to the XML repository on the VCDImager site: http://vcdimager.hvrlab.org/pub/vcdimager/examples/xml/

For a guide on how to use XML for VCDImager, there is an article here: http://www.geocities.com/medinotes/vcd/general_xml_structure.html

Regards.

_________________
Michael Tam

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: vitualis on 2001-08-24 07:04:53 ]</font>

[lafamar]

THANKS EVERYBODY TO SPENDING GOLD TIMES.
GREAT PARTICIPATION!!!
We're always learnig and this is more important.
lafamar

[WillVideo4Food]

JimJohnD,
I'd love to see some of the XML ripped using vcdxrip from the auto-play VCDs that you created using CD Motion.

Thanks,
Will

[vitualis]

CD Motion doesn't create "Auto Play" VCDs for the reasons I mentioned above (i.e., auto play is a function of the player).

I VCDXRIP CD Motion images all the time (to extract mpeg still images). The XML is completely unremarkable (as it should be).

Regards.

[AntnyMD]

I grew disheartened with VCDImager because I dont like command-line programs ... The GUIs are nice, but I've never been able to make a successful VCD with them (it won't even compile the XML for me)! During the time I started to experiment with VCDImager, I finally found a working link to download VideoPack4, and I havent gone back!

[WillVideo4Food]

Apologies vitualis, I meant to put "auto-play" in quotes. That said, I'd still like to see his examples with the hot-spots and all. If nothing else for the sake of comparison.

Thanks,
Will

[vitualis]

VCDImager will make hotspots too... but I agree it's somewhat hard to work out what goes where when you're just editing the XML. I believe one of the newer GUIs for VCDImager allow the creation of hotspots graphically!

You may want to check it out and see how they're done (they involve putting co-ordinates in the <select> tags). I believe that some of the XML examples in the XML repository may contain hotspots...

Regards.

[hvr]

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just to confirm you, and maybe put some weight on it since I'm the author of vcdimager ...

there is nothing like an autoplay flag defined in the core (S)VCD specs...

but actually there is a toggable autoplay feature available for CD-i players... but first of all, this is not an official feature of the VCD specs, but a feature of the CD-i VCD-on-CDI application... and second, the CD-i config file is only interpreted by those aging CD-i players.... and third, it applies only to VCD's...

[fun6]

Congrats on such a great program. I have only one question. How would you write <endlist> tag so that the vcd doesn't loop back to the first chapter or to the inroduction. Rather the dvd player STOP at that point (end playing). This is pretty useful for dvd changers. One can program the dvd changer so that all the discs can play one by one when the previous vcd ends.

I would appreciate your reply.
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On 2001-08-24 08:51:22, hvr wrote:
<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>That's right. It is completely machine specific. There is no "autorun" flag for VCDs (as far as I know).</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

just to confirm you, and maybe put some weight on it since I'm the author of vcdimager ...

there is nothing like an autoplay flag defined in the core (S)VCD specs...

but actually there is a toggable autoplay feature available for CD-i players... but first of all, this is not an official feature of the VCD specs, but a feature of the CD-i VCD-on-CDI application... and second, the CD-i config file is only interpreted by those aging CD-i players.... and third, it applies only to VCD's...


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[hvr]

if PBC hits a plain <endlist> playback should stop...
players with disc changer might take this as a hint to switch to the next volume, if the <volume-number> is less than <volume-count>...

for SVCDs there are some extended sub-elements defined, with which one can set explicitly which volume # to switch to...

[fun6]

What do you mean by plain <endlist>. I tried to put empty <endlidt> tag but vcdxbuild gives me parsing error.

Would you be please more spesific? Thanks.
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On 2001-08-24 10:32:29, hvr wrote:
if PBC hits a plain <endlist> playback should stop...
players with disc changer might take this as a hint to switch to the next volume, if the <volume-number> is less than <volume-count>...

for SVCDs there are some extended sub-elements defined, with which one can set explicitly which volume # to switch to...

</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>