Tricks of the Trade

[josh182]

Ok, fairly new to VCDs here. Would like to know some tips and answers to these questions from first hand, experienced users!

1) Is there such thing as the best media? Are some brands better than others? I'm using Memorex 80mb Cd's

2) What about burn speed? Does it matter if I go 16x vs. 4x? I use Nero 5.5, but would i be better off making a .bin/.cue before I burn? The reason I ask that, is Dark Angel/Simpsons/Futurama eps I burn come in different forms. Dark Angel comes in .bin/.cue and displays nicely on my DVD Player. Simpsons/Futurama are in normal .mpg format, but are *very* blocky. Is this just because they are animation?

3) I've read around that VCD Imager is the program to get for doing chapters? Everyone agree?

4) After i burn my vcd and pop it into my player, i can pause... but cannot do slo-motion. Do you guys have this problem? Is it specific to my DVD Player, or is it something I'm doing wrong in my encoding? (Looking back i should've tested that out with a dvd first on my player, I'm at work otherwise i'd do it )

5) I am capturing from vhs through Sony DVMC-DA2. Basically, that converts my vhs into DV AVI. I take that AVI and convert to 352x240 .mpg file (I am using TMPGenc with the built in VCD Template).
There are some really fast scenes (breakdance video) that give me marco blocks (dope headspins).
I know VCD has a constant bit rate of 1150, but can I up the bitrate? Or would that be stupid becuase it would no longer be VCD compliant? Basically, how do I get rid of those macro blocks!? I've tried the Noise Filter that TMPGenc offers, experimented around, tried max and moderate settings (4,100,4 or 2,50,2 or 2,20,2) but they didn't make a difference at all!

Thanks in advance, this site ownz!

[vitualis]

<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>
On 2001-08-31 11:21:59, josh182 wrote:
1) Is there such thing as the best media? Are some brands better than others? I'm using Memorex 80mb Cd's </BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

Despite what many people claim, the answer is NO. If your DVD player was designed to read CD-R media it will read all sorts and common sense applies (i.e., good brand name media are probably better, but cheapos will most likely work too).

If your DVD player WASN'T designed to read CD-R media, you will have to experiment to find one that works. There is no one brand that is more likely to work. CD-RW is more likely to work in these situations however.

<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>2) What about burn speed? Does it matter if I go 16x vs. 4x? I use Nero 5.5, but would i be better off making a .bin/.cue before I burn?</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

If your DVD player was designed to read CD-R media and both your CD-R/W drive and media can handle high speeds, there is no reason not to. If your DVD player just "sort of" reads CD-R media, burn speed can make a difference.

There is no particular reason to make CUE/BIN images before making a VCD. If you are using VCDImager, however, you must output a CUE/BIN image first as otherwise you have nothing to burn

Nero is not a good program to burn CUE/BIN images as it doesn't burn them properly. I strongly suggest CDR-Win or Fireburner.

<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>3) I've read around that VCD Imager is the program to get for doing chapters? Everyone agree?</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

I agree! However, you can also make "chapters" (in so much as the entrypoints method) with Videopack 4 and VCD Toolkit.

<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>4) After i burn my vcd and pop it into my player, i can pause... but cannot do slo-motion. Do you guys have this problem? Is it specific to my DVD Player, or is it something I'm doing wrong in my encoding? (Looking back i should've tested that out with a dvd first on my player, I'm at work otherwise i'd do it )</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

It probably is due to your player. Slow-motion playback is not a feature of VCD specs and whether or not your player can do it is a hardware thing (e.g., slow-mo on DVD playback or even VHS playback).

I'm not a frequent user of TMPGEnc so I'll leave that to someone else.

Regards.

[thxkid]

You can go outside the VCD compliant 1150 bitrate, I have made a template that allows me to go at 2520, which is the same bitrate as a SVCD. I really like the picture quality better, I can't stand the standard 1150 bitrate. Keep in mind at 2520 you only get about 39min. on one 80min. CD-R.
Also your DVD player would have to play the non compliant VCD's also.
If you have DV, why don't you make SVCD's instead
VCD's give you 250 lines of Resolution
SVCD's gives you 350 lines of resolution
I now record more SVCD than VCD because its a much sharper image.