VCD problems - Desperate!!!

[JordanLee]

Im gonna make this short.....
I have a film (avi format) that i wanna put on a VCD. Now i have nero burning rom, and know how to make one, but theres a problem...Nero says the movie is too big! In my folder, the movie is 698mb (700,000,000 bytes or sumthin) and im tryin to fit it onto a 700 mb disc, so it should fit.....but on the bottom bar of nero it exceeds the 750mb barrier. I really need to get theses films onto vcd as i want them to play on my dvd player (atm i can only watch them on my pc and i dont wanna be doin that).
So if anyone can tell me how to compress the movie file to fit on a 750mb cd could u plz help.
Thanks to anyone who replies,
Jordan

P.S If you could leave an msn hotmail adress i could get in touch just in case i get stuck? hehe cheeers

[Tivo Homer]

What version of Nero are you using? Take a look at:

http://www.nero.com/en/index.html#c1022499813328

This is the Nero Update History page. In Changes From Nero 5.5.9.14 to 5.5.9.17 they show the following update:

Used space of Video CD is now shown correctly

The latest version of Nero can be downloaded from: http://www.nero.com/en/index.html#download

Hope this helps. Good Luck.

Tivo Homer

[Donny661]

Are you trying to burn the AVI as a VCD? If you are then there's your problem. Nero will try to convert it to a MPEG-1 movie file that is vcd compliant and you get 74min or 80min of video per 74/80 min CD respectively. Take a look at this guide which will tell you how to better convert your file using something other that nero and it'll tell you how to put you movie on more than one cd if need be. http://www.vcdhelp.com/tmpgenc.htm

[JordanLee]

I checked out what u said donny, downloaded tmpgenc, followed the tutorial, but im confused.....
Its encoding now, but i dont get the part when it tells me to make a start point and an end point for the film (it asks me to practically cut the movie in half)........

[Nelson37]

No, you don't know how to make one. READ the GUIDES to the left.

1st, VCD does not use AVI.

2nd, VCD will hold 800 MB on 700 MB CD.

If this is a DivX, which you did not specify, it probably won't fit on one disk after the necessary re-encoding, hence the need to split.

[JordanLee]

Well i cannot remember whether it is a divx file or not.....it opens with windows media player, its 688mb, therefore it is a windows media file right? also
i have a 700mb cd, i DONT see a tmpgenc guide "to my left" so could you tell me where one is and which one would be the easiest for a newb? Im plannin to watch these movies in my bedroom tonight in bed, so please.....help!

[Tivo Homer]

I assumed you converted the file to a VCD compliant MPEG already, my mistake.

Try the following guide to get started:

http://www.vcdhelp.com/tmpgenc.htm

Conversion guides can be found at this site, by clicking on the greenish CONVERT listing in the left column of the main page for VCDHELP.COM or by jumping to:
http://www.vcdhelp.com/convert

Good Luck.

Tivo Homer

[JordanLee]

tivo have u got msn mate?

[JordanLee]

Right heres the deal, im so confused its unbelievable, ill try and do this simple:

What i want to do:

get a 688mb avi movie onto a vcd so that i can play it on my dvd player

What i got:

Nero burning rom (which i was told not to use)
TMPGenc

Questions i dont know the answer to:

1) Is TMPGenc a Converter that will convert my avi file into something that will fit on one VCD?

2) If the above it correct, do i follow the tutorial on TMPGenc?

3) If the above is true, do i need to cut the movie in half, if so how do i do so?

4) Can i fit this 90 minute or so movie on one cd?

[double7007]

First of all mate, VCDs and SVCDs use MPEG, not avi. MPEG1 for VCD, and MPEG2 for SVCD. Second, the number of megabytes you can store onto a cd is ten times the number of minutes. So on a 80 minute cd-r you can store 800 megabytes, and on a 74 minute cd-r you can store 740 megabytes.

answers to your questions

1) TMPGEnc will encode your avi file to MPEG so it can be compatible to burn as a vcd.

2) I haven't looked at the tutuorial, but its probably correct to follow it.

3) You can only cut the movie in half after encoding (at least, to the best of my knowledge). Once its an MPEG, go to File --> MPEG Tools --> Merge and Cut (merge and cut is a little tab on the top of the window in MPEG Tools). There you can select the encoded MPEG and select a starting point (put the slider their and press the { ). Now select an end point by putting the slider at the part where you want the section to end and hit the } button. Now hit ok. Select a spot to save the segment, a name for it and hit RUN. It will do everything and will return to the MPEG Tools window when its done. Repeat this until the movie is in burnable segments.

I hope that helps, good luck.

[double7007]

Oops, forgot your fourth question!

4) Always multiply the number of minutes by ten. So 90 x 10 = 900. So 900mb is the file size you will have, and the most an 80 minute cd-r can hold is 800 mb. There might be a way out there, but i'm not sure. So you might only be able to fight about 80 minutes on one cd-r and the other 10 on another. I recommend (if this is the case) to just split it in half and stick 45 minutes on one cd-r and 45 minutes on another, but that's just me.

See ya!

[JordanLee]

HOLD UP! so i encode the avi with TMPGenc, then burn it onto a vcd with nero burning rom, and this sould fit?

The movie it 700mb, i have a 700mb 80min cd.......

[JordanLee]

OK so so far all im doin is encoding the avi file into a compatible VCD mpeg format right? if im all clear on that ill at least be a little bit happy.......

Now the movie is 688mb (the bytes exceed 700 million or however many it is by a bit). i have a 700mb 80 min cd......... the basic question is:

WILL THIS MOVIE THAT IS 90 MINS LONG, 688MB LARGE FIT ON MY 700MB CD WITH 80MINS. At the mo it cant, so how do i fit it on one cd?

[Scar]

the basic question is:

WILL THIS MOVIE THAT IS 90 MINS LONG, 688MB LARGE FIT ON MY 700MB CD WITH 80MINS.

The basic answer is : NO !........not if you wanna play it on your standalone DVD player

Your AVI will probably be an Divx, to put it simple Divx gives smaller files, and can't be played on a standalone DVD.

You can burn it on a CD as a video but it just won't play on your DVD player, you really need to convert to MPEG1 or 2 for that.

And after converting your movie will probably be bigger then 688 Mb, and won't fit on your pressious CD.

When u convert your movie to MPEG1 you can get +/- 1 HOUR movietime on a cd, hence the need to split your movie, since your movie is 90 minutes.

The simple fact is that u can't compare movietime and size in MB's the way u do it.

Scar

[Nelson37]

Your current filesize is irrelevant as it is in the wrong format. If I have a document that is 10 pages in Japanese how long will it be in English? You could convert that to almost any size imaginable in an MPEG-1 format, the only predictable one is VCD which gives 1 min per 10 MegaByte.

If you convert to VCD, you will get 80 minutes on an 800 MB CD. Read up on bitrate. Lowering the bitrate slightly may fit 90 minutes on a CD, at slight quality loss. Using Variable Bitrate may be the best answer. However, both of these create a non-standard VCD which, while it may fit the movie on one CD, may or may not play in your player.

There are many variables for you to consider, and a lot of things you are unfamiliar with. I would strongly recommend reading up on the guides until you are more familiar with some of the basic concepts involved.

For instance, if you are forced to split to 2 disks, then using SVCD format would make sense unless the original resolution of your DivX file is 352x240, or less, as many are. Now, if you have no idea what this means, that underlines the need to read more. Then I could explain that frameserving and splitting based on filesize, particular scene, or time each have advantages and disadvantages.

[Scar]

Well said....... 8)