VCDs backup

[lankor]

I have a hugh collection of video cds and will like to convert them to mpeg or avi so that I can store the vcds in the storage room and can play movies directly from my computer.

What is the easiest way to go about doing it? Quality is essential and a smaller size will be helpful.

I understand there are alot of guides here but they all seem to be trying to convert a mpeg file into a vcd, but i am trying to convert a vcd into a smaller digital file so that i can play it directly from my computer without the physical vcd.

please advise

Thank You

[vitualis]

Firstly, convert the DAT file on the VCD back into a standard MPEG on your HDD (the "conversion" takes no longer than copying as it is simply removing some headers). You don't want to be doing the real conversion off the CD anyway.

For this, you can use VCDGear or CDXA2MPEG (part of VCDImager -- or can use GNU VCDImager Tools GUI -- http://www.michaeltam.com/vcdimager_tools_gui.html ).

Now, you could simply just keep this MPEG file, or, if you want to get it to a smaller size, then I suggest that you further convert it into DivX.

You can do this with either VirtualDub or FlaskMPEG (or the DivX minded version of FlaskMPEG called "XMPEG").

You will obviously need to install the relevant DivX codecs first. For more comprehensive and detailed guides on DivX creation, the guides at http://www.doom9.net are highly recommended.

Regards.