DivX to VCD Problems... all of a sudden

[foggie]

I have been converting AVI/DivX files to VCD to play on my standalone home DVD player for quite sometime very successfully.
Allof a sudden the burnt VCD is very blocky and the sound cracks and fades when (only on the new ones I am converting).
The film plays fine on my PC using Power DVD but not on my DVD player at home.
I am using TMPGEnc to convert and Nero to burn.. using 4X write.
Occasionally I have to decompress the film using AVI2DVD Decompressor.
Could some one please through a light on what is going wrong.
I have DivX 5, 4.11 and 3 installed and have even reinstalled Windows to try that.
Thanks

[setarip]

"The film plays fine on my PC using Power DVD"

Does it "play fine" on your PC from the burned CD-R (or only from the hard drive)?

Have you tried your older VCDs on your standalone player now?

Are you using a different brand of CD-R?

It may be as simple as running a DVD/CD cleaning disk on your standalone player. Maxell sells one for about $10 US...

[foggie]

Thanks for the reply.
Yes it runs fine on Power DVD from the burned CD. The CD's I have burnt previously still run on my Standalone DVD player without any problems. It's just any new ones that I try and burn will not work. Bizzarre!!
I've tried using an older version of Nero... Roxios Video Pack... Roxios Easy CD creator AND Easy VCD. All with the same results.
If I rip a DVD and burn the resulted ripped files as a VCD that works OK, just DivX avi's are causing the problem.
I obviously must be doing something wrong... but I cannot work out what........... PLEASE somebody help

[Batman]

I'm unsure...however TMPGEnc does not recgonize divx 5.0. Nero may have a similar handicap?

Why not try TMPGEnc? There you can change the quality and select "noise block reduction" and adjust the settings. Also there is a special template for TMPGEnc, that can greatly improve vcd quality available at vcdhelp.com, I believe Chelly first posted about it (so do a search).

[foggie]

Sorted it. It was a bad batch of disks.... why they have become bad I cannot imagine, especially as I had been able to do successfull burns with the same spindle of disks earlier.
Anyway tried some "branded" disks and everything works fine.
Thanks for the help and tips.

[setarip]

Congratulations on resolving your problem ;>}

Although i must say, it's hard to reconcile your discovery of a "batch of bad disks" with your earlier statement, "Yes it runs fine on Power DVD from the burned CD."...

[Batman]

...yes quite strange that they would function properly on your PC. However, at least your back on track

[foggie]

I know it seems strange... but thats all I can put it down to. If I try and burn using the old CD's the film works in PowerDVD FROM the burned CD but not on my standalone. If I use any other CD's to burn they work on both PowerDVD AND standalone.
Like you said at least I'm sorted.
Thanks again