Hi folks,

I get some questions on .dat/mpg format. Hope you can help.

(1) I know there is PAL and NTSC (or maybe more) formats for VCD. Does the format really matter? I know their specifications are different. It seem all VCD players(both desktop and software) can play both formats. True?

How come most VHS players can not play both??

(2) Where does the PAL or NTSC format set during the video capture? Is it set by the capture software? Is it set by the video source?

(3) I heard from this Forum that when I capture the video, I should use the best resolution. I guess it means later on I should use some software to convert the captured video to the correct mpg1 format according to the VCD specification like:

PAL NTSC ============== ================= 1150 kbit/s 1150 kbits/s 352x288 pixels 352x240 p 25 f/s 29,97 f

What software are available for the conversion? Hopefully they are free? (since my capture device Dazzle generates mpg format, I am talking about conversion from one mpg to a different mpg resolution)

I assume those VCD burner software like Adaptec VCD creator and WinOnCD will not do the needed conversion for me. Right?

(4) Is there some existing software that can check to see if .mpg file is compliant to the VCD required mpg resolution/format?

Thanks,

/steve

-- Steve Leung (sleung@informix.com), March 23, 2000

Answers

Steve,

1. There are three standard VCD formats: NTSC, PAL, and Film. Both the computer and some stand alone DVD players can play them all.

2. VHS equipment here in the states can not play both NTSC and PAL because US standard is NTSC so why put additional circuitries to play PAL since u can hardly find any PAL format here. If you do, you probably have to special order it. There is such thing as universal VCR which will play both formats, and they are readily available in ASIA/EURO (here you have to pay extra for that feature).

3. PAL/NTSC feature is pretty much set by the video source. You can alter the setting through capture setup; However, it is not a true PAL/NTSC due to your source.

4. It depends on what hardware you have available to use and the time you're willing to spend to make the best quality from your source. The Dazzle will give you very good quality using movie quality setting (2000kb/s) to record from and write directly to cd via NERO. It is not VCD standard but it will play fine. If you want VCD standard then the Dazzle will not give you 'quality' at that format, so you'll have to record it at the max resolution available to that device (2900kb/s max=3000kb/s) and re-encoding it back to VCD standard (1150kb/s). The encoding software is not free! You'll have to purchase it. They are Panasonic, LSX, DVMpeg, MPegVCR, Hueris, and Xing. There are a few more out there, and some of them are free as well.

5. Quality is 90% depending on your source! if your source is not good to begin with, don't expect to have good result, even if you've the best equipment and software available to you. Reverse situation is also true. You can get away with so so equipment & software, if you have great quality source to start with.

-- lnguyen (wingstarzz@hotmail.com), March 24, 2000.