Trying to burn VCD onto CD

[pr0fessor]

OK, this is a major newbie question;
Ive been using Nero and Easy 5 CD for ages, burning movies onto disc like normal. It now that I've come to light to burn them as VCD - only, with Easy 5 I cant (I only have basic) and with Nero, when I drag the file (699mb big) to the compilation screen, and once its analysed the movie...the indicator below goes WELL over 750mb.

Am I right in thinking VCD's should be able to be burnt onto a 700mb disc? Where am I going wrong??

I hope I dont sound so generalised (or stupid ) but I do hope you can help me out

Thanks

pr0fessor

[setarip]

The VCD format, similar to music/audio CDs, is dependent on TIME rather than filesize.

If you are using NERO with a 700Meg/80 minute CD-R, simply look at the timescale at the bottom of the NERO screen after NERO has evaluated your file for VCD burning. If the TIME is not greater than 80 minutes on the scale (may not be the same as actual playtime), you can comfortably burn the VCD...

[pr0fessor]

Movies are generally longer than 80 minutes, no?

When I right click on the folders of the folders which would be creared for the VCD, the mpeg folder is usually well over 1 million kbytes; thats way too much!

Am I doing something wrong?

Yikes, thanks for the reply

[HaroldW]

It sounds like you are just dragging and dropping a movie file, possibly an avi file into the Nero VCD screen and allowing it to encode it to VCD. The VCD standard has a "fixed" video bitrate of 1150kbits/sec, this generally allows about 80 minutes or 800mb (actually recorded mode-2 for VCDs and SVCDs) on a 80 minute/700mb (mode-1) CD. Since your movie file is larger than 800mb you are going to have to use some other utility to split the file into two files and then use Nero or some other program to encode/burn to two separate CDs. If it is an avi file you can use VirtualDub to split it. If it is an MPEG file you can use TMPGEnc to split it. I have heard that TMPGenc sometimes has problems splittng movie files. There are other utilities available to split movie files.

[pr0fessor]

That's just it tho;
The AVI file is only 699mb big. Yes, I am dragging onto the screen VCD compilation Nero screen - but is that not how it is done?

I do feel like I am missing something essential! I just cant work it out.

Thanks for the replies.

I hope more can come!

pr0fessor

[gd_nimrod]

Once again, no matter how big the movie file is, it wont burn unless its less than 80minutes, considering its a vcd. Be sure to use 700mb cd's. To cut ur movie file to put it on cd, use TMPGenc.

[setarip]

"The AVI file is only 699mb big."

VCDs are typically approximately twice as large (Megs) as DivX-compressed .AVIs.




"Yes, I am dragging onto the screen VCD compilation Nero screen - but is that not how it is done?"

Not if you desire decent results. To create a VCD:

1) Load .AVI file into TMPGEnc
2) Set to "System Video and Audio" (lower right side)
3) Click on "Setting" radio button
4) Click on "System" tab, change mode to "MPEG1-VideoCD" (from default of "MPEG1")
5) Click on "Advanced" tab, change "Video arrange method" to "Center (Custom Size"), change dimensions to 352x288 or 352x240
6) Change "Source aspect ratio" to either "4:3 525 line (NTSC 704x480)", "4:3 525 line (NTSC)", or "16:9 525 line (NTSC)" - If you're in the PAL world choose either of the two similar PAL settings instead
7) Under the "Video" tab, change the dimensions to 352x288 or 352x240 (Note: "Video" tab mode of "MPEG1" is okay) - set "Motion Search Precision" to "Normal Quality". Change the "Aspect Ratio" to match, as closely as possible, the "Source Aspect Ratio" you set under the "Advanced" tab.
8) Change "Rate Control Mode" to "Automatic VBR (CQ_VBR)
9) Under the "Audio" tab, set to 44,100 224Kbps
10) Press "Start"

Note that if your video runs longer than 60 minutes, you'll have to subsequently split your VCD-MPG file in two. This too can be easily and precisely accomplished using TMPGEnc. Under the "Files" dropdown menu, click on "MPEG Tools" and select the "Merge & Cut" tab. Once again, make sure to change the mode to "MPEG1-Video CD". Load your file and enter a new (.MPG) name in the "Output file" box. Then doubleclick on the ORIGINAL file's name in the window, which will bring you to the cutting area. Select your desired start and end points for the first half, click on "Okay" which will bring you back to the first window and generate (in a sequence of three automated steps) the first new file. To create the second new file, repeat the steps starting with "Then doubleclick on the ORIGINAL..." (be extra patient with the second half, as the program has to do more seeking to establish the beginning of the new file).

Use a burning program, such as NERO to burn your CD-R or R/W CD as a VCD (DON'T ask NERO to format the file as a VCD, since you've already accomplished this!)

[pr0fessor]

--Note that if your video runs longer than 60 minutes, you'll have to subsequently split your VCD-MPG file in two.

Surely movies are much longer than 60 minutes!!
Am I under the wrong impression, but are VCD's for each movie 2+ CD's big?

If so, then surely the sacrfice made to convert a movie to DivX/Xvid etc. is more worthwhile then carrying 2+ CD's for one movie? (I am sure there is another sub-section for this point, but I just had to point it across)

But thank you for your comprhensive guide, I will, regardless of my opinion of having 2+ CD's per movie, carry out creating some VCD's

Cheers for the responses guys

pr0fessor

[setarip]

"But thank you for your comprhensive guide"

My pleasure ;>}