Hello I just got my computer last week and was interested in making VCD's, so I searched around and found this forum. One of the problems I have with this is I am just getting into computers, so while some of the questions seem to be answered very simple they seem to shoot over my head. People start refering to what kind of video capture card do they need?, Does this device have rca jacks to hook a vcr into or something like that? How do you hook a vcr up? They also talk about a "white book" or something, what is that? What should be the ideal kind of computer should you attempt this on? I was hoping someone would take the time to right a step by step extremely basic and broken down scenerio of how you make a VCD? Or could you please point me in the right direction so I can read and learn.

Thanks James

-- James Rudolph (james.rudolph@pgs.com), May 16, 2000

Answers

I too was very ignorant (and still am!) in making VCD's. I have been successful in making a couple, so I thought that I would share my experiences with you.

First off, you are correct with your statement about video capture devices. You need a way to get your video "digitized" onto your computer. I use an ATI 8 megabyte PCI capture card that also has a built in TV tuner (so when you're lazy like me, you can watch your favorite show while you're encoding your video... I'll get to this later!) Your computer that you just purchased may have an "AGP" or a "PCI" slot that can accomodate this video capture device that you choose. If you would like more info, feel free to email me directly.

Second, when capturing your video to your computer, you have many different options as well. I hope you are familiar with these following terms: MPEG and AVI. These are the two most common forms that people "pull" in their video to their computer. AVI is basically raw video. These types of files are VERY large. Typically about 5 minutes of video is around 650 megabytes! This is why people tend to "pull" in their video using MPEG. MPEG is "compressed" video. Just know this about MPEG, that your video files will be much smaller! Also, you made a comment about "white book". There are two different types of MPEG files, MPEG-1 and MPEG-2. Roughly, MPEG-1 is what VCD's are made of and MPEG-2 is what DVD is made of. White book referes to VCD compliant MPEG-1 files. I will refer more to this later.

Thirdly, after you get your video onto your computer, you may want to add text, transitions, and whatever you like. You obviously need software to do this. Please note that if you want to do work such as this, it is best to pull in your video as AVI, because MPEG files do not allow you to break them into smaller parts. You can usually only break an MPEG file into 2 parts. Again, I can explain this to you more, because it gets sort of complicated. Now if you pull your video using MPEG-1 compression, you still aren't there!! MPEG video standards were quite "loose" when it was developed, so not all MPEG-1 compression devices are white book compliant (VCD compliant). This is where I refer you to "encoding". After you have your video captured and edited (either AVI or MPEG) you will need to run it through a software encoder to make it fully white book compliant. I use the Panasonic Encoder that everyone talks about. It works great, and produces good results. But we are still not done!! After you sit for hours and hours (software encoding takes a VERY long time, approximately 4 hours for 1 hour of video [on a Pentium 3, 550 Mhz.]) You will need CD authoring software that is capable of burning a VCD. I use Nero and again have great results.

A side note here... There are capture devices that can capture full white book compliant MPEG-1 files out there, which means that you will NOT have to use software encoding to make a white book compliant VCD. I however do not have any knowledge of them, and think that these type of cards are VERY expensive.

I hope that this helps... Please email me directly with any other questions.

Scot Virnoche

-- Scot virnoche (scot.virnoche@med.ge.com), May 17, 2000.

If you have the money here is a short answer. This is what I did at home. I bought a Darim MPEGator card and Mfilter card. Together they cost $1,400. The Mfilter card has S-video and RCA video jacks on the back. You feed the video signal into the Mfilter card and back out of the Mfilter card. It time base corrects and cleans up your VHS tapes. Then you connect a cable between the output of the Mfilter card to the input of the MPEGator card. It records the video as a Video CD white book MPEG 1 file in REAL TIME! I then use WINONCD 3.7 power edition to author the disc and burn it. You can also use NERO or Adaptec. The produces great video CD's and is very easy to do. One warning, the MPEGator card is a PCI card and must have its own IRQ. It cannot share. The Mfilter card is an ISA and does not use a IRQ. This is an expensive solution but it makes making Video CD's as easy as using a VCR.

-- Doug Harding (dharding@mdcc.edu), May 17, 2000.

DANGER WILL ROBINSON!!!! DANGER, DANGER!

I have owned quite a few video capture boards and I would NOT recommend the MPEGator! There are better solutions for the money. The quality the MPEGator produces isn't very good for it's cost. The M- Filter on the other hand could be very useful if you were doing alot of VHS to VCD transfers.

If youre new keep reading this message board until you get comfortable with the terminology and concepts behind VCDs and video capture.

Here are some of the best leads to get you started.

1) Youll need a video capture board. For the money the Matrox Marvel G400 TV is very good. $289 at www.outpost.com. This captures AVIs that will need to be converted to VCD Compatible MEPG-1 to put to VCD.

2) The Panasonic MPEG-1 Encoder is what you should use to convert your AVIs to VCD MPEG-1.

3) Use filmed to edit your MPEGs. Its not frame accurate, but if you use a frame accurate editor it will re-encode the MPEG and degrade the quality.

4) Youll need a CD-R writer and mastering software like Adaptecs EZ CD Creator.

Since youre new these products will be easy to use. There are other products that may be better, but are either more expensive or difficult to use.

Start with these and try out others as you have time.

Also, let people know what you want to record to VCD. It will help them to point out the best tools for your situation.

Good luck.

Check this site out! http://www.vcdhelper.com/

-- Michael S. Gilmore (mgilmore@san.rr.com), May 17, 2000.

Opppss...

Point 3) should read "iFilmEdit" not "filmed".

Sorry for any confusion.

-- Michael S. Gilmore (mgilmore@san.rr.com), May 17, 2000.