# Q about VCD's **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 1, 2003, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-vcds/145983 "2003-01-01T03:04:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-vcds/145983/1 "2003-01-01T03:04:15Z")
Is there a program that can turn Mpegs, Avi’s and other types of videos into VCD’s compatable enough to play on most DVD players? Like home videos or misc clips off the interent? Perhaps one that would allow the DVD watcher to be able to select movies from a menu? ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-vcds/145983/2 "2003-01-01T03:10:09Z")
[Tsunami MPEG encoder](http://www.tmpgenc.net) is generally considered to be the best encoder for MPEG-1 VCDs. Its VCD functions are freeware, but it’ll cost you $30 if you want to use it (after a 30 day trial period) for MPEG-2 SVCDs. The SVCD encoding is a bit slow, but it’s a bargain compared to the faster Cinema Craft Encoder, which costs a staggering $3800 and is buggy as hell. For more information on this subject, see [http://www.vcdhelp.com](http://www.vcdhelp.com) ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-vcds/145983/3 "2003-01-01T03:14:58Z")
Also, TMPGenc won’t work if you’re trying to re-encode movies from a low bitrate streaming format, like Microsoft’s ASF or Real Networks’ RM files. Other tools can be found for converting these files, but it’s a more difficult process and doesn’t always work. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-vcds/145983/4 "2003-01-01T03:25:22Z")
Oops. I forgot to address one of your concerns. VCDs can have menus, but it’s not a function of the MPEG encoder. The CD burning program adds menus. Nero is probably your best bet on that front. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-vcds/145983/5 "2003-01-01T04:51:23Z")
I’ve used my cd-burning software, Adaptec, and I can burn mpegs onto a CD-R (just creating a “data” cd) and then pop the cd into my DVD player and I get a menu screen with the different mpeg files listed. I select a file, hit play, and it plays. I haven’t had to use any special vcd software. The only thing is that it doesn’t let me scan forward or backward, just play. And it only works with mpeg files, not avi’s or anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-vcds/145983/6 "2003-01-01T05:53:03Z")
Here’s a problem I’m having - I’ve got some SVCD files here that I want to burn onto a CD. Unfortunately, they are 800 mb. I’ve been told that SVCD doesn’t use error checking, so 800MB will fit on a CD. But I can’t see any way to disable that using my Adaptec software. Does anyone know what I have to do to get these SVCD files onto a CD? Do I need different burning software? ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-vcds/145983/7 "2003-01-01T08:01:05Z")
**Sam Stone** - Use software like Nero that has a setting for Video CD. ---
**Author:** ![Alereon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Alereon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alereon)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-vcds/145983/8 "2003-01-01T08:17:18Z")
**Sam Stone** : Burn in Mode 2. That mode allows 800MB per 80min CD, and is what VCDs and SVCDs require. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-vcds/145983/9 "2003-01-01T16:22:51Z")
YEah, Nero is great, it comes with cheapo cdwriters too, so it’s easy to get. Just select vcd & drag your files & it does the rest. To put a menu on is alot more work & even then few dvd players may accept the menu. ---
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-vcds/145983/10 "2003-01-01T16:28:38Z")
Thanks for the suggestions! A friend of mine has Nero, and brought it over, couldn’t get it to burn. Everytime I would get to try to burn it, it would lock up and say another burning program was running. (which it isn’t unless you count the one that is built into windows XP) Might try Adaptex or TMPGenc, not sure about the bitrate though. ---
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-vcds/145983/11 "2003-01-01T17:32:13Z")
Ahh, another quick question if I may: Is there a good program to edit clips, say cut out certain frames, throw in other frames etc? ---
**Author:** ![Hodge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Hodge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hodge)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-vcds/145983/12 "2003-01-01T18:07:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Epimetheus \* > **Thanks for the suggestions! A friend of mine has Nero, and brought it over, couldn’t get it to burn. Everytime I would get to try to burn it, it would lock up and say another burning program was running.** I bet EasyCD is still running in the background. Look to see if its icon is in the system tray and shut it down. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Epimetheus \* > \*\*Ahh, another quick question if I may: Is there a good program to edit clips, say cut out certain frames, throw in other frames etc? \*\* [TMPEGenc](http://www.tmpgenc.net/e_main.html) is an excellent program for editing MPEG files. It allows you to mux, demux, re-encode to different formats and to split, and merge clips. If you want to similarly edit AVI files, I suggest downloading [VirtualDUB](http://www.virtualdub.org/index). Both of these are free and very powerful. However, they’re not terribly user friendly so expect to do a lot of reading. [VCDHelp](http://www.vcdhelp.com) is an excellent site for FAQs, guides, utils and tutorials. [Doom9](http://www.doom9.org/) is well worth checking out, as well. ---
**Author:** ![KoalaBear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47c2d/32.png) [@KoalaBear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KoalaBear)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-vcds/145983/13 "2003-01-01T19:05:37Z")
> [@](#): > > **Epimetheus** asked: > Is there a program that can turn Mpegs, Avi’s and other types of videos into VCD’s compatable enough to play on most DVD players? Yes, but it’s not a drag-and-drop operation like turning an MP3 file into a playable CD audio track. As you might have gathered from the suggestions, it could take half a dozen different programs (and countless hours of processing time) to massage a random video file into a form that can be burned onto CD and played back in a DVD player. Your best bet for easy compatibility is to stick to materials that are ready-to-burn from the getgo. > [@](#): > > **neutron star** opined: > Tsunami MPEG encoder is generally considered to be the best encoder for MPEG-1 VCDs… The SVCD encoding is a bit slow, but it’s a bargain compared to the faster Cinema Craft Encoder, which costs a staggering $3800 and is buggy as hell. That opinion is a load of rubbish, my friend, because it’s like comparing a polystyrene Jaguar model kit to the real thing: the toy is far less expensive and you don’t need to know how to drive to make use of it, but the performance is superior only in fantasy. ---
**Author:** ![twelfthsign](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@twelfthsign](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twelfthsign)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-vcds/145983/14 "2003-01-01T19:24:26Z")
Nero Burning Rom has a burn to VCD option. That should fix it. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-vcds/145983/15 "2003-01-01T21:20:37Z")
Is there any other solution other than Nero? I don’t have Nero, and I don’t feel like paying 30 or 40 bucks or whatever it is, when I’ve already got burning software that meets 90% of my needs. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-vcds/145983/16 "2003-01-01T21:39:44Z")
Go to [vcdhelp.com](http://vcdhelp.com) for more information. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-vcds/145983/17 "2003-01-01T23:17:02Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by KoalaBear_ > That opinion is a load of rubbish, my friend, because it’s like comparing a polystyrene Jaguar model kit to the real thing: the toy is far less expensive and you don’t need to know how to drive to make use of it, but the performance is superior only in fantasy. Uh, excuse me? I’ve seen results from both programs. CCE provides better quality than TMPGenc, but not _that_ much better! Certainly not enough to justify a $3770 price difference. Read around (and experiment for yourself) and you’ll see that TMPGenc has only been getting better and better with regards to MPEG 2 video. And, like I said, CCE is excruciatingly buggy. In comparison, TMPGenc is rock solid. CCE is roughly three to four times faster than TMPGenc and the quality is a little bit better, but that’s about all it has going for it. Furthur, TMPGenc has _tons_ of features that CCE does not. Try to edit a video in CCE. You can’t. Try to _resize_ a video in CCE. You can’t. Try to use tooLAME as an external audio encoder in CCE. You can’t. Spend several painful hours trying to get CCE to accept a VirtualDub frameserver - you can! **Sam Stone** : Try [VCDEasy](http://www.vcdeasy.org/), [VCDimagerGUI](http://www.vcdhelp.com/vcdimagergui.htm), or [VCDWizard](http://www.labdv.com/vcdwizard/index.php). ---
**Author:** ![KoalaBear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47c2d/32.png) [@KoalaBear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KoalaBear)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2003, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-vcds/145983/18 "2003-01-02T07:47:52Z")
I’m interested in discussing this with you, Neutron Star, but let’s not hijack this thread. Let’s take it to [Great Debates](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=153909) instead.