Burning DVDSHrink Files to VCD?

[maiki]

I'm a newbie at this video stuff, so please excuse me if some of my questions seem uninformed.

I would like to be able to copy a DVD to a VCD, or perhaps S-VCD.

My drive is a combo CDRW and DVD player. In other words, it can read and write CDs, but only read DVDs.

Therefore, I cannot copy a DVD onto another DVD (at this time, at least, until I get a DVD burner), but would like to be able to shrink it enough to put on a CD. I'm not sure what the difference is between VCD and S-VCD.

I downloaded the DVDShrink program, and was succesful in copying the DVD to files in a folder on my hard drive.

The question is--how do I take those DVDShrink files on my computer's hard drive, and burn a video CD with them? I looked in the DVDShrink documentation, and I don't think I can do it with that program--I think it only burns to the HD, not back to another DVD or CD.

I downloaded a program called DVD2SVCD, and thought that should work. It probably does, but I couldn't figure out how to do it, to take the files I ripped from the DVD with DVDShrink, and burn them to a CD.

Could someone please explain this to me--how do I take the files I ripped from a DVD with DVDShrink, and burn a CD with them? It could be using the software described above, or different software. (If different, please explain how to get it.) What would be the simplest way for a newbie to do it?

Next time--would it be simpler to use a program that does this all in one, rather than first using DVDShrink to rip the DVD to HD files, and another program to take the HD files and burn a CD with them?

Thank you in advance for your help.

[setarip]

"The question is--how do I take those DVDShrink files on my computer's hard drive, and burn a video CD with them?"

There are many different ways to accomplish this - and I'm quite certain other posters will be along to offer their suggestions. The following is one set of procedures that you can use to create a VCD:

From Ripping through VCD (by me)

1) You've already used DVDShrink to "rip" your DVD to your hard drive

2) Convert to .AVI using Flask or MPEGMediator
A) Using DivX v.3.11 codec (Fast Motion 910kbps, keyframe every 10 seconds) or other DivX codec, or Xvid codec, or 3IVX codec
B) Using PCM (uncompressed) audio at 48,000Hz (Maintains synchronization of audio and video)

3) Load .AVI into VirtualDub
A) Set "Video" to "Direct Stream Copying"
B) Set "Audio" to "Full Processing Mode"
C) Under "Audio", click on "Conversion", select "44,100Hz" (or 48,000Hz, if this doesn't present a playback problem for you)
D) Under "Audio", click on "Compression" select "MP3", "44,100Hz" (or 48,000Hz), "96Kbps" (or higher)
E) Save revised .AVI with new filename

Then, 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) - for highest quality set "Motion Search Precision" to "Highest 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"

(Or, instead of the steps 1)-10) above, you could attempt to use TMPGEnc's VCD "wizard"/template)

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!)

[maiki]

Setarip,

Thank you for the long detailed reply.

Your solution involves converting the files created by DVDShrink to an .AVI file of the movie, and then converting that to VCD.

Do you mean converting to an uncompressed .AVI file, before recompressing into a format for .VCD? The problem with that is, wouldn't an uncompressed .AVI file of a full length movie take many gigabytes of HD space, probably more than I have free on my system (which is a laptop) now?

Is that the only way to do it? Or could I convert to a compressed .AVI?

Any way to convert the HD files created by DVDShrink directly to a format for VCD, without that intermediate step of .AVI?

Also, did you say that if the movie is more than one hour long, it will rneed to be burned onto more than one CD? Does that mean that a VCD can only hold one hour of video? Couldn't one compress and size a two hour video so that it could fit onto one CD? Or is that impossible, or would the video quality be terrible?

Thanks again for your input.

[setarip]

"Or could I convert to a compressed .AVI?"

Certainly. That's why I stated:

"2) Convert to .AVI using Flask or MPEGMediator
A) Using DivX v.3.11 codec (Fast Motion 910kbps, keyframe every 10 seconds) or other DivX codec, or Xvid codec, or 3IVX codec

B) Using PCM (uncompressed) audio at 48,000Hz (Maintains synchronization of audio and video)"

The DivX v.3.11 video codec will significantly compress the videostream...




"Also, did you say that if the movie is more than one hour long, it will rneed to be burned onto more than one CD? Does that mean that a VCD can only hold one hour of video? Couldn't one compress and size a two hour video so that it could fit onto one CD?"

Actually, with a 700Mg/80 minute CD-R, you can place up to 80 minutes of compliant VCD video/audio on one CD-R


"Thank you for the long detailed reply."

My pleasure ;>}

[thejake420]

I've got to step in here (no offense setarip), as there are some problems with your advice...

First, there is no need to convert to AVI and then convert THAT to VCD. That's just a waste of time, and you'll lose quality from the additional reencoding.

In order to bypass this, we'll do what is known as "Frameserving". It is a means by which you can feed your VOBs directly into TMPGEnc (which normally won't accept them).

Open DVD2AVI
Load your DVD files (Just pick the first one, it'll take it from there.)
Save Project (not "Save AVI")
In depth details and settings in the DVDHelp.us DVD2AVI tutorial


Download the DVDHelp.us TMPGEnc templates. Use the VCD one or the SVCD-CQ one, depending on which format you're dealing with. Do not use the stock templates that come with TMPGEnc, as they aren't correct. (The TMPGEnc developer is a good programmer, but not a video expert. He understands video only from a mathematical point of view, and not from a practical point of view. Besides, VCD and SVCD were never the main focus of TMPGEnc anyway... It just happens to work very nicely for that purpose.)


Open TMPGEnc
Enter the D2V file as your video source
Enter the WAV file as your audio source
Click "Load" and load the appropriate template, as mentioned above.
In depth details and settings in the DVDHelp.us [URL=http://www.dvdhelp.us/html/tuttmpgencavi2vcd.html]TMPGEnc tutorial[URL]


Quick side note: You can do the split right in DVD2AVI rather than in TMPGEnc. Ideally, however, you should do the splitting right in DVD SHrink when you rip. (ie - only rip the first 8 chapters, then encode it, etc., and then go and rip the second 8 chapters, which should be considered "a new DVD" for all practical intents and purposes.

Hope this helps! Follow the step by step tutorials mentioned above, and you'll have an absolutely perfect VCD or SVCD.


Jake

[setarip]

To thejake 420

While you are certainly correct in stating that directly creating a VCD, using frameserving, certainly will result in a somewhat higher quality output (although there is a point after which, you can't see any difference in television display).

However, one of "maiki's" questions was, "Or could I convert to a compressed .AVI?". Hence, the response including how to accomplish this...

(Based on my experience at these sub-forums, more often than not, newbies are seeking "either/or" methods - so I provide an "all-in-one", rather simplistic method, covering all the bases. the other, perhaps more important, point is that just mention of the word "frameserving" frightens many newbies)