XVCD Creation

[KazigluBey]

I've spent my waiting period reading the tech guides and am ready to propose what I plan to do and would appreciate if any of you folks can point out the flaws in my thinking as I go.

I want to create some xvcd disks so that I can play anime episodes on my DVD player. I have virtualdub and TMPGEnc and read the section on authoring and converting so I have a little better understanding as to how these programs work.

First off, since the episodes are individual files, do I need to join them into a single file? And if so what aspects of each file must be identical in order for them to play successfully?

When I right click the video file and go to the summary I see the following sub-categories under the audio and video folder icons:

Audio-
Audio Format:
Average data rate:
Sample rate:
Channels:

Video-
Stream Name:
Frame Width:
Frame Height:
Play Length:
Frame Count:
Frame Rate:
Data Rate:
Video Sample Size:
Video Compression:

Now which of these sub-categories must match between the individual files in order for them to play successfully as a joined file? And if some of the files are different, can I use a program like virtualdub to convert them so that they are the same?

I guess I'll start with that. I'd appreciate any advice.

[hwoodwar]

KazigluBey:

My own preference would be to leave the files separate. Then without any additional effort you "should" be able to use the chapter advance to move between episodes.

Some additional things you may, or may not have considered. Have you verified your DVD player can play XVCDs and XVCDs at the resolution and bitrate that you want to use?

As far as your overall list, resolution and bitrates would be changed in TMPGenc.

[KazigluBey]

I have a Toshiba - SD3750 which according to this site plays XVCD, but not SVCD. Under the XVCD it lists 5000kbit/s which I'm assuming is the bit rate. I'm not sure about the resolution.

[hwoodwar]

KazigluBey:

Yes, 5000 kbits/sec would be the maximum video bitrate for XVCDs. In my opinion that is in the mid-high range as far as the maximum video bitrate DVD players can handle for XVCDs. I dont think you'll have any resolution problems. I suspect your DVD player will work out fine.

Just from my own personal experience, if this is something important to you, or if it is going to take you a while to do this, I would suggest you do some test burns (maybe 10mins) on CD-RW disks to help you find the best quality and procedures, before you take on the whole project.

[KazigluBey]

How long does it take to encode let's say a 25 minute long episode?

[KazigluBey]

After I click start, and the encoding process is done, do I just select output to .mpg and then I'm done?