Video CDs

[Matt]

One of my friends is thinking about making a video CD. He has a DVD burner and wants to create a video with a mpeg3 video format because he said that it is the "universal" format for DVDs. I told him I didnt know and would try to find out for him. Does anyone here know about what makes up the video in the video CD and if so, what program he would need to make one...even if it means buying it? Also, is there a converter that will do this from other formats?

Thanks for your help on this more imperative issue...

[DADINK13]

What program is he using? I think the latest version of Nero allows you to burn DVDs....

As far as formats, I know that DVDs are encoded using an MPEG format. But I wouldn't be surprised if a program can let you burn from other sources like QuickTime or DivX. Both have quality just as good as a DVD. But as far as the "standard" for DVDs, I think it's like MPEG-4 or something.

[Matt]

He was saying something like converting AVI or DivX to MPEG...and I didnt know. Also, I dont know what software he uses. Personally, I dont use Nero. Will that do conversions automatically?

[DADINK13]

I dont use Nero. Will that do conversions automatically?

I've never used it to burn a VCD, but I know that if you burn an audio CD using MP3s, WMAs, OGG, or any other format, it will convert it to WAV before burning. So I guess I can assume that it does the same thing for VCDs.

[Plasma2002b]

ok.... heres the straight answer your lookin for....


Nero is probablyt the best way to burn VCD's from regular mpeg, avi, quicktime, or pretty much any other format.

It will do it all automatically, and it will even set up the correct structure to the vcd itself (which is very important). It has a lot of options like making intro menu's etc.....

ive used it, and yeah...... it works good.


the only thing is that ya gotta buy the video decoder addon for nero to get it to encode/decode the video.

its $24 for the version that includes the ability to make true DVD formats AND VCD's....... and its only $16 for the encoder that only does VCD


(......but lets just say i managed to 'find' the plugin online..... if you were wanting to go down the dark path, that is )


by the way... if you were wanting to look at the various plugins for nero, go here: https://secure.nero.com/en/secure.asp
one of my favorite plugins is the mp3PRO.... it makes extremely good sounding mp3's, high bitrate, and manages to kill the filesize by like 40-75% overall

[Big-O Ryan]

Video CDs (VCDs) use MPEG-1 video. They can be burnt pretty easily with either Adaptec Easy CD Creator or Nero. MPEG-1 is the format used for videos with the (.mpg) extension, the type of mpeg's you download from the internet. Nero can definitely convert MPEGs to the proper bitrate for a VideoCD, but I don't know if it can convert other media types (you may need to use a separate MPEG encoder program (or a general video utility like VirtualDub). VCDs can be played on many standalone DVD players, but not all -- they cannot be played on an unmodified Xbox or PS2. VCDs can be played on any computer, but it's usually not obvious how to play them (your DVD-playback software can usually play them just like DVDs, though).

DVDs and SuperVCDs (SVCDs) use MPEG-2 video. It's a format that is rarely used on the internet, except for trading music videos and movies (.m2v files). Most computers can't play these, unless you have DVD playback software installed, and you load the file with that. I don't know squat about burning DVDs.

To my knowledge, most video editing or burning software can't convert from RealVideo or Quicktime, but can do AVIs and MPGs.

http://www.vcdhelp.com - a lot of great information, here.