Greetings..

I have been trying to create a goo VideoCD for some time now and I am amazed at the lack of info on it. I am using DV from a Canon XL1 camera as my source and then encoding with the panasonic encoder. I have Easy CD creator deluxe 4 but have had no luck in creating an interactive VideoCD with menus and choices. In the Easy CD creator 4 software it shouws the option of using a hi res mpeg still but I have searched for hours and found no way of creating one of these stills. Can anyone help? I have been able to make simple VCDs that just play... but that's it.

Also.. is the panasonic mpeg encoder the best there is or is there better quality possible? I have seen some very good quality VideoCDs and it seems none of the mpeg encoders even approach the quality of the best commercial video cd releases.

My use is just to have an interactive application that can show different apartment complex models. VHS tape played in a loop wears out pretty quick.

- Michael

blackout@blackout.com

-- Michael (blackout@blackout.com), February 06, 2000

Answers

From what i have seen and read and used the Panasonic is the best encdoer i have encountered. Im sure though if your willing to spend the money thier might be something better. But then again someone i know just spend 27,000$!!!! on an mpeg 2 encoding board, and they had an Mpeg 1 that was also the same price. So if you want to shell out the dollars for this kind of equipment and programs.....then im sure you will get some of the results these huge corporations can get

-- Doug (mazinz@aol.com), February 06, 2000.

From what i have seen and read and used the Panasonic is the best encdoer i have encountered. Im sure though if your willing to spend the money thier might be something better. But then again someone i know just spend 27,000$!!!! on an mpeg 2 encoding board, and they had an Mpeg 1 that was also the same price. So if you want to shell out the dollars for this kind of equipment and programs.....then im sure you will get some of the results these huge corporations can get I do agree with you about the menu option and trying to get stills to work with the adaptec, no luck here. everyone tells me to use the video pack 4

-- Doug (mazinz@aol.com), February 06, 2000.

Hi resolution still? I have trouble with that name. In this business I think it means a frame size of 720 x what ever, not the actual detail in the frame. Low resolution is perhaps considered to be when using a 352 wide frame size.

Anyway, any picture whether scanned, taken in a digital stills camera or captured from a video that can be manipulated in picture editing software is suitable. I use Adobe Photshop but thats not essential and I work the still into a vcd with VideoPack 4 as I had no luck with Adaptec at all. I actually work in PAL and use pictures in the normal 4:3 format of the TV ie 768 x 288 PAL or 1024 x 768 for 16:9 projects. The software in VP4 does the rest and at least using those sizes my circles are actual circles when viewed on the TV.

-- Ross McL (rmclennan@esc.net.au), February 07, 2000.

Hi Ross,

I am trying to create high resolution stills VCD in NTSC format using VideoPack 4. I have some problem in aspect ration of final image on the TV. My pictures are trimmed to 720 pixels (in height) and I selected "720" option in VideoPack. The final image looks elongated (streched) in vertical direction.

Do you recommend specific source image size (in pixels) to correct my problem ?

Thanksfor your help.

-Esskay

-- Esskay (Esskay@abc.net), February 07, 2000.

Well... it seems that the only answer to every question I have is.. use Video Pak 4, use Video Pak 4.... Well where can I get VideoPakl 4 and is it just an authoring program or just a burning program. I also heard someone say it is $700.00. Is this true? That's insane! I assume most of you on here must have a pirated copy then because there is no way in hell I am spending $700.00 on a software program for a VideoCD which is a format pretty much out of date that doesn't look so great anyway. I feel ripped off enough spending the $100 on Easy CD creator which doesn't seem to work very well. It works some time and the other half the time it doesn weird screwy things.

I just want a VideoCD solution to hold me over untill dvd-r comes out at a decent price. Right now to make your own DVD it costs over $10,000 and that as well is absolutely insane. There is no distribution format right now that can keep the quality of what is shot on DV format cameras.. and it is depressing.

Is there an evaluation version of Video Pak 4 somewhere?

-- Blackout (blackout@blackout.com), February 07, 2000.

Michael (blackout):

You have touched a nerve! Yes, I want vcd for exactly (italics) the same reasons - interim makedo till DVD. So let me share a few insights that don't seem to be evident in the current discussions. Creator II (retail version, at least, when it was Corel's) included pretty much the same VideoCD interface as that Adaptec passes along only it took avi's or whatever and called on the OEM Xing xemcoder.exe (mpeg1) to convert them to valid mpg. It ALSO took STILL frames of bmp,tif,jpg - whatever and installed them in one of the other directories on the video cd directory, and you could then drag one of them over as a menu background (they still use the word background). I guess the Xing connection broke and Adaptec offers no encoding, so you have to get your own compliant video, but they now have - as you probably know - the spec filter that saves grief (and if you have a CD-RW dvd player, such as the Philips lowend DVD825AT, much wasted plastic). Corel's Help says the still will be stored and used as is in that directory. Perhaps desperate to hit the street after discovering they could include no economical OEM mpeg encoder, they simply shipped 4.0 with the word "background" still in the splash, but forbid importing anything but mpeg. So you need to convert a still to mpeg.

Part Two:

VideoWave III, which is currently selling at BestBuy (PA) bundled with PaintSuite III, for about $99, INCLUDES AN EXCELLENT MPEG1 VIDEOCD Encoding template that WORKS with Creator 4.0, and a means of adapting the template to custom versions with some (not all!) spec modifications for possible increased bitrate foolery. The MPEG1 editing (including the bright/sat/cont/audio/cutting, etc.) features are superb and the encoding [mpeg1, at least] is amazingly fast on a fast cpu. The MPEG-2 is slower, of course, but quite fine quality, and probably looks smooth on a DVD player (though how can you find out). Digression --> nothing compares with capturing in YUV9 and offline converting to Indeo 5.11 for (MMX!) playback! It's about as smooth (on a PIII) and lovely and detailed and unblocky as a computer video can be! <-- end digression.

So MGI gives you all that video editing/conversion, etc., for about $50!!! Unbelievable! Far better deal that iFileEdit and anything else I've found! Also makes Indeo 5.11 and uses any other codecs you have laying around in Windows, including Quicktime, etc. But still, the stills question. Even VideoWave III converts a simple BMP into an MPEG1 clip that "runs" for x seconds then loops, which effects a blanking of the screen. This, however, would be useful if you wanted to create a menu with glow buttons or animated gif inserts, or simulations of the same made first in VideoWave. This really makes sense when you consider it is the latest thing in DVD menuing if you've seen West Side Story or Dirty Dancing Collector's Edition. So, in the end, Creator 4.0 will take the VideoWave output and produce very standardized videocd productions that are simply more ambitious than you originally intended - and VERY quickly! As for tweaking the bitrates for better playback, my thinking is that bitrates fall within a tolerance that the drive and buffers and firmware can accommodate for any particular player, and that you risk creating cd's that won't play back on even your own machine if you have it repaired or upgrade it (the Philips DVD825AT is firmware upgradable, so all disks are doilys if you accept the next upgrade burn). Also, the bitstream may not be intense for some length, then suddenly a lightning flash, Zorkon appears, with thunderous 44khz stereo, and LOCK! Seems likely unless you test streaming at the max.

Michael, esp for you - VideoWave III (I don't work for them, I'm just lovestruck) accepts Firewire DV input DIRECT from you camera to editor and encoder, with all tweaks (bright/cont/sat, etc.) and straight to superfast and decent VideoCD. Any burner will take it from there, though it likes Adaptec's (they ship version II with 4.0 but it doesn't support acceptable videocd. III specifically corrects that and then some (except NOT the Film mode, for some reason. only NTSC and PAL and forces their frame rates, though you can probably edit around those specs). Only problem with VIII is it doesn't want to batch - happy to let you splice ALL your clips (of mixed breed) into one long videocd though - but better upgrade to 128Meg too.

One other thing - the VIII/PIII deal comes with a $10 competitive rebate on the paint side (ie: PhotoDeluxe, Kai's SOAP, MS Picture- it!, Ulead's PhotoExpress, as well as most of the MGI PhotoSuites, including SE, 8.0, PhotoSlam, Live Pix SOHO & 2.0 Deluxe). So bottom line, you get FAST mpeg1 and excellent mpeg2 and other encoding, plus all editing and splicing and menu-making, and titling, and effects generation, including BLUESCREEN overlays!!!, and such, for about $45 bucks! And it all works as advertised if my Philips DVD playback is any proof!

Good Luck, all.

-- Larry (lkmc@aol.com), February 10, 2000.