I have some movies in VCD format in my computer and I was wondering if I burn them on to DVD+R disc will my DVD player be able to read them. My player is capable of reading DVD+R's. Will I need to convert them into another format? If so, how long will the process take? (I'm wondering if I should buy a DVD+R burner or not)

-- Wai Kiu Lee (waikiulee@yahoo.com), July 21, 2002

Answers

Why not just burn as what they are--VCDs--your DVD player will in all likelyhood play them VCD format. U have 2 know that there are at least three rewritable DVD formats (DVD-RW, DVD+RW, and DVD-RAM) and one recordable (write-once only) DVD-R. Buying a DVD-burner at this time in my opinion is a bit kvetchy (unless they are made very cheap) because u wouldn't like it if the format u bought was the one that died. Think of the Betamax-VHS war, something like that. Apple, Pioneer, Compaq are pushing for DVD-R & DVD-RW. Philips & HP are pushing DVD+RW. (One wonders, with Compaq & HP now together, what format they will push.) Panasonic & Toshiba are pushing DVD-RAM & DVD- R. If we all collectively avoided buying DVD-burners we can all shock all of them into committing on only one format; after all in the beginning DVD-Video was also split into the Sony/Philips camp and TimeWarner/Toshiba camp. They compromised and that's why we can buy and rent movie DVDs now without so much hassle (region coding aside).

-- Mehmet Tekdemir (turk690@yahoo.com), July 22, 2002.

Your Top Shelf DVD player will not support a VCD/SVCD unless it specifically states that it will in the manual if burned to a CD-R. You can burn a movie to a DVD-R and it should play fine. They play fine in my Shelf Top DVD player. However, a DVD+RW is not supported by my Shelf Top Player. I use the DVD+RW as a test before I do the actual burn to DVD-R. If your movie is in .AVI or WMP it will need to be converted to VCD/SVCD format to support the burn. It MUST be in in VCD format to support the copy to a DVD-R.

This answer is coming to you long after your question -- They now have DVD Burners that support ALL media formats, such as the Sony DRU-510A -- so you wont have to worry about your DVD burner becoming useless should they do away with DVD+R/ DVD+RW and so forth.

Hope that helps.

-- Keven Jones (cabin___fever@hotmail.com), August 08, 2003.

I have just bought my dvd burner and i am having problems with burning movies that I get off of kazaa. The movies that I download are avi files and a friend told me that the avi files will not play in a dvd player. He told me that the only way it will play is if it was converted to over to...but I don't know what to converted it over too... If u can help me I will appreciate it alot..

thanx

-- wilson hayes (wilsonhayes654@hotmail.com), September 04, 2003.

If you want to burn VCDs on a blank DVD, this DVD will be called DVcD.It is quite easy to burn VCDs on a blank DVD with Nero (or use any similar program you like):create a VCD project,then put all the .mpeg or .dat files from the VCDs you want to burn on the blank DVD,and create a basic VCD menu with Nero if you want one, then launch the burn process :-) Important things to know: -old or former versions of nero won't recognize that you put a blank dvd in your dvd burner;so use nero from version 5.5.7, 5.5.8 ,5.5.9 at least,or the new released nero 6.0; -the DVcd might not be compatible with some (domestic or shelftop)dvd players,because they will have problems to recognize if the DVcd is a large VCD or a DVD with a VCD structure and contents. -you can play easily the DVcd with winDVD,powerDVD,DVDx,ZoomPlayer or any other program/software/freeware you like or use or can find on Internet;or just browse the folder"MPEGAV" in you DVcd ,copy and paste the .dat and/or the.mpeg file to your harddrive disk,then read them with windows media player or bsplayer or zoomplayer or any player you like or use. Hope you'll find what you're searching or wondering for. See ya :-)

-- Jon Kedoh (f.filou6@caramail.com), September 04, 2003.

Jon, I followed your instruction and created a vcd project to burn on a DVD-R. When I started the burning process, it complained "Sorry, your compilation cannot be written on this kind of disc..." and "disc required for the compilation: CD-R/RW".

I used nero 6.0 and NEC-1300A. I have been at it for 6 hours but could not figure it out. How did you do it? Thanks

-- Harry Li (trade_war@yahoo.com), September 16, 2003.

Sorry :-| It has been months i haven't been there... I found another method to burn VCDs on DVD-/+/ħR. I use TMPGenc and TMPGenc DVD author.There was some tutorial on a site called vcdhelp.com(I think this site was renamed to videohelp.com). Browse the folder "mpegav"and copy .dat files to your hard drive; settings:convert them to mpeg1 or mpeg2 format, 352*288(pal) or 352*240(ntsc), aspect ratio(the aspect that will appear on a TV or computer screen): you should choose 4:3 display, framerate: pal is about 25,ntsc is about 29.97 or 30, rate control mode:i use constant quality,near 75% or 80% for a vcd to dvd, encode mode:choose interlace if your vcd has scanlines on a screen, motion search precision: the slower you choose,the more the original quality will be respected (nota bene;if vcd source is blurry quality,then converted vcd won't be any better than that, G.I.G.O.=garbage in/input,garbage out/output), video arrange method=full screen keep aspect ratio, field order=bottom field first, video source type=if your vcd is interlaced or not, GOP structure= IBBPBBPBBPBBPBB (pal) or IBBPBBPBBPBBPBBPBB (ntsc) (i'm not sure,so don't modify the default settings), number of I in GOP=1,P=5 and B=2, output interval sequence of header= 1, max frames in a GOP= 15(pal)or 18(ntsc), tick the case "detect scenes changes", audio:48000 Hz, stereo or joint stereo or dual channel(use dual channel if vcd has 2 mono tracks,for example some chinese vcds have a mandarin mono track and a cantonese mono track),and bitrate=choose whatever between 128 and 384(160,192,224,256,320,or 128 or 384), and after finishing the encode, use TMPGenc DVD author,and put the encoded videos on the project created by TMPGenc DVD author. Tips for beginners: if you're not sure about settings,use the "wizard" or "help" mode,and/or read tutorials on videohelp.com. Burn the files made by TMPGenc DVD author with itself,or with Nero,or with any software you can handle and understand how the software works and how to use the software. Sorry if my explanation isn't very precise :-|

-- Jon Kedoh (f.filou6@caramail.com), June 27, 2004.

All of your answers to these question are HORSESHIT.. You guys are throwing stupid made up words in to make it sound like you know what you are talking about.

DVcD.. what the fuck is that? thats made up.

You can convert any AVI or other video file to DVD Video using WINAVI. The unregistered version will put a watermark. The only thing that HASNT worked for me is .dat to dvd ONLY because I converted it to DVD video, when it should already play it alone.

-- Anonymous Pointer (forque@ss.com), July 19, 2004.

To Anonymous Pointer (forque@ss.com) : Here is a free forum where anyone tries to help those who have problems or find any answer to any question about video CD; what I answered about Dvcd really works, and it is not HORSESHIT as you said; it depends if people doesn't mind about video quality or not; when someone explains his/her method to convert video, it means you do what you want, you follow or don't follow the explained method. You have the right to choose this or that method, but you do not have the right to spit on and insult people and/or their methods to convert videos, even if the methods didn't/don't work for you. Thanks. P.S.: A .dat file= if it comes from a vcd, you can rename .dat to .mpg or .mpeg, it will be easier for programs to identify a .mpg than a .dat.

-- Jon Kedoh (f.filou6@caramail.com), August 17, 2004.