To many formats... LOST!!!

[snotgrass]

I've been trying to burn a DVD. I burned two VCD or SVCD'd (not sure which it was). I'm new to burning this type of CD's, though I've burned many CD-R's for a few years. As I said, I made two VCD's which play on the PC but not in the DVD player (wasn't surprised). But I have one blank DVD I want to try to burn. I have two (home) movies I was going to try to burn which I saved on the harddrive in MPEG-2 format. These are 640x240 NTSC (525) and the audio 44.100Khz, 16 Bit, stero. I was trying to use the program DVDit, but when I tried to import the files I got the message, "This project is set for DVD-legal MPEG only. To view this file, start a new project in cDVD mode. So, do these files need converted? If so what to? With so many formats, VCD, SVCD, Dvix, DVD, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, AVI, etc, etc..... a person can get real confused real quick!

Thanks,
Snotgrass

[setarip]

The reference to "DVD legal" specifications would be MPEG-2 video at 720x480 resolution, 16-bit stereo at 48,000Khz (I DON'T believe that .AC3 sound is mandatory).

Let us know of your success ;>}

[snotgrass]

Thanks for the info! But, this leads to other questions... ;-( First, is there a program out there that will convert an MPEG-2 file to a different resolution or would it maybe just be better to start over again? The second question is, what is .AC3 sound?

Thanks,
snotgrass

[setarip]

My pleasure ;>}

Based on your questions, I'd suggest that you click on "Digital Digest" at the bottom of this page, link to the "DVD Digest" page and read and/or download some of the "How To" documents.

Let us know of your success ;>}

[snotgrass]

Hummmmm........... I was at them pages a few times before you suggested it, but......... it still seems to fall short of what I'm wanting to know. Yes, it gives you a lot of good information on how to do different things..... but I don't know if Im over looking something or what? But I still don't know or seem to find "how" you are to start out. Let's just say I want to record a 2 hour movie from a VCR tape. What format should this be recorded in? Does it matter? Will the program that does the converting over to VCD or DVD make the changes or do they have to be recorded in a certain format before running the other programs? I did do some recordings of 4 hours and ended up with less then 4 gigs on two videos. I forget what the capture size was but it was in the MPEG-2 format. I then changed the setting to DVD compliance and recorded a movie (2 hours) and that one file jumped to 7.4 gigs! I see a lot of "How to's", but I don't see an artical saying you need to start here.... the very beginning of makeing a VCD or DVD. Of course this probably sounds simple as hell to thoses who know what to do...... guess it's like everything else, for some people it comes naturally, to others, they have to work on it!

snot

[Thrawn]

try this

for making VCDs from DVDs go ahead this way:

1) download the following software:
DVDX 1.6 (try to get 1.4b, it is faster)

http://www2.labdv.com/dvdx/download.php

Nero Burning Rom 5.5 (for easily creating VCDs)

http://www.ahead.de

A Guide for how to use DVDX can be found at:

http://www.e-media.at/contentframe.asp?content=/multimedia/fotovideo/formate/divx/main_dvdx.asp&navbar=7&teaser=/teaser/teasermultimedia.asp

(note that this site is in german, but u just have to get a look on the screenshots, if u occur problems with this prog u can mail me at: Michael_Niederer@hotmail.com)

just have a look at the links
"Die Grund-Optionen"
"DVDX Einstellungen Input"
"DVDX Einstellungen Output"

Before u start a work with this prog u should open the dvd u inserted with a dvd player program or it might not work!!

For making video cds u can play on a dvd standalone player (note that not all players accept burnt VCDs!!) u should choose VCD in the input settings.
The quality depends on the video bit rate in the output settings. Normally u should use bit rates between 900kb at least and 1500kb. Try encoding one minute or so and see at your own how u like it. Note that u need some hours!! to encode a full DVD!! The space that the VCD needs on your harddisk u can see before encoding in the output settings and depends on the bitrate. Normally it is best to make 2 CDs (650 or 700 MB, nero makes VCDs a little bit bigger, so u can encode files with sizes of about 15 to 35 MB bigger).

VCD should be played by lots of standalone players
SVCD has better quality and better compression, but can only be played by latest DVD standalone players so choose carefully (or just have it a try ) Note that for SVCD u need the full version of Nero along with the SVCD Upgrade to burn it on CDs!



Steps so far:
1. insert DVD
2. open it with DVD player (VaroDVD, ...)
3. open DVDX and use settings as explained at e-media.at
4. choose bitrate (compare with MB size of the file, so that u bring it on 2 CDs, and dont forget to tell DVDx to split it when reaching the size of 650+(15-35mb) or 700+(15-35mb))
5. start encoding (needs 5 hours or more)

2) Then u have a file on your pc u can burn on a cd, but note that u should use software that supports making VCDs!!
Therefore u should use Nero Burn 5.5.
When u start the burning prog u can choose making audio / video /normal cds. Here u choose Video CD, just insert the file created by DVDX and burn!
Then try to play it with your dvd player!

[snotgrass]

Hummm........... I'm not any closer to doing anything then what I was at the beginning of this thread! It seems like eveyone is telling me stuff that I'm not looking for. NO,I DO NOT WANT TO RIP A DVD! (sorry). I think I could do this pretty easy. I don't know if anyone is actually understanding my question, so I'll try to ask it again. 1. When recording a file from a camera, VHS tape (home movies), what format should this be recorded in? 2. If I use the ATI All-In-Wonder, it will record the file on the PC in the VCD format right? 3. Now, to make the VCD (I'm using Nero), does the file I just recorded need anything done to it? Or, do I just burn the file to the CD-R and should it play on a stand alone DVD player? While I'm at it I want to bring up another point, or thought. I don't understand why someone would rip a DVD then burn it to a VCD or even make a copy of the DVD. From what I read (in other forms) it can take 30-60 hours to do this depending if you make one pass or two passes (not sure what they mean by passes though). It just seems that the time involved isn't really worth the effort.... if time is money, even at min wages, this would total $154.50 in time. It would seem much wiser just to go out and shell out $18-$25 (in stores) for the movie. The only reason I would see to spend this much time in copying a movie would be if it can't be bought in the country you are in ore it is a rare movie that is hard to find and you really wanted it. Then like I was saying........ maybe I'm missing something??

snot

[Thrawn]

1) to make VCDs u can play in most DVD players (note: not in Playstation 2!) the format should be mpeg1, but to edit movies it is best to record avi-Format (for example Mpeg4-V1 or V2)

U should note, that u can burn 700 mb cds with Nero using the VCD ability with up to nearly 800 mb!

To edit avis i learned to hate VirtualDub that everyone seems to use, and i now use the commercial software Magix Video deLuxe. It doesnt allow direct stream copies at all, but its not that big disadvantage, since it compresses the recorded avi even better without losing much quality.

To change the file format from avi to mpeg1 u should use TMpeg Encoder (Tsunami).

2) dont know atiallinwonder, just look for video compression and see if it allows mpeg1, or at least avi (mpeg4 v1/2, divx,...)

3) as i told u in 1) nero burns mpeg1 videos easily in VCD cds, u can use normal CD-R for this step. Note that mpeg1files of up to nearly 800 mb can be burned on a 700 mb CD with Nero using the VCD ability.


For DVD-Ripping:
As i told u, when u take DVDX instead of these ripping tools u will be able to make a mpeg1 (vcd), mpeg2 (svcd) or avi (divx) file in one step, it "only" needs 5-6 hours depending on the length. To get good quality at all u should burn them on 2 CDs, u can easily split the files using DVDX before Ripping (just tell him to do so when reaching 700-800 mb or so).

[snotgrass]

Ok, I think that time it was explained pretty clearly, at least to the point where I know for sure what steps to take in making a VCD. But........ I think I may have wasted everybody time and effort. Yeah, go ahead and shhot me now everybody! As I have said before (I think), I made two VCD neither which played in my stand alone DVD player. I finally found the book to the thing and it says it will only play DVD and Audio CD's. It says nothing about VCD's or CD-R's. So, actually, the two VCD's I made might work, just not in my DVD player? (Toshiba SD-2109). Well, at least it wasn't a total loss.... when I do get a DVD player that plays the other formats, at least now I have a better understanding on what and how to make the VCD. Being that my DVD player won't play the other formats, this will leave me with one other option I guess....... burn a DVD.

snot