Why Do It?

[JGDupontMC]

I am extremely new at this. I am contemplating learning how to encode divx, avi, mpg, mpeg, etc. to vcd. A friend of mine says it takes hours to do this and is not worth the effort. I know (from seeing visually) that divx is better quality when watching on the computer. I can't turn my whole family on to a new movie with the comp. I don't have tv out on my video card. I have a home dvd player that will play vcd's, so is there an easy way to encode or not. I don't wanna waste my time or yours, so please give me the straight poop and not some bullshit...Thanx
ARI-X

P.S. catch me on Irc at #Cable-Iso, Dalnet, give me the real scoop and we'll discuss maybe a trade of information..Thanx again
the Newbie...lata

[vitualis]

Well, whether or not it is worth the effort depends ultimately on you... how much effort you are willing to put in and what exactly your purpose is.

A well encoded VCD will look on a TV marginally better than standard VHS and the audio will be essentially CD quality.

A well encoded SVCD will look on a TV better than SVHS -- and is probably better quality than your average DivX encoded video.

Undoubted, both VCD and SVCD take more time to make than DivX, and is more difficult. But the real benefit is what you have alluded to, in that you can play it on a hardware player on your TV. This will probably never be the case with DivX CDs.

I make S/VCDs because I like to keep a collection of my favorite movies/TV shows/home videos/etc. that I expect to be able to watch in the future as well. S/VCDs also allows for flexibility in that you can author a whole range of content -- from menus, chapters, still images, etc.

In summary, I think authoring VCDs and SVCDs is definitely "worth it". However, as any techinical sort of hobby, you'll probably need to invest quite a bit of time in it before mastering some of its subtlties. VCDHelp.com is an excellent reference for anything you wish to know about VCDs and SVCDs.

Regards.

[JGDupontMC]

I believe u r correct. With a response like that, vcdhelp.com has to be the place where I can get some advice.
Thanx for the honesty Mike (hope that's ok) and I can't wait to have some more conversations with u in the future.
ARI-X, #cable-iso, dalnet.