I have managed to convert photos/movie files taken from my kodak and convert them to mpg(something) that will play in the Windows Media Player with no problems.

My problem is this. I don't know how to burn it to VCD. I have tried several programs but they do not seem to work correctly.

The only one (so far) that may seem to work is AVS Video Converter. I have used the demo but there is a blurb in the middle of the screen from it. I would like to pay for it but only if there is no blurb on the screen.

Anyone have any other suggestions? or, do you use the AVS Video Converter?

Any help would be appreciated.

-- Karrie Cameron (kacc2001@hotmail.com), January 13, 2004

Answers

try NERO (www.nero.com)

it has a photo VCD option which can put ur JPEGs on the VCD so it can be played back like a normal VCD in standalone VCD or DVD players.

--or-- if u got succeded in converting correct MPEGs then try VCD option in NERO download the demo version. its perfect..

-- kunal (sterlingcomp@yahoo.com), January 14, 2004.

The suggestion to use Nero from the first response is a good one. It is possible that the blurb you are seeing is something to encourage you to purchase a copy of AVS Video Converter and it will go away once you have a license, but I am only guessing as I know nothing about this program.

I do want to mention that Nero does NOT make truly compliant photo VCDs. Some DVD players, such as ones made by Pioneer, will refuse to play photo VCDs unless they are in total compliance with the standards for such discs. VCDeasy (http://www.vcdeasy.org) does make truly compliant photo VCDs. You will need to buy a copy as the free version is essentially useless, but it's pretty cheap. I think it costs about $15 for a lifetime license. It's been a while since I've used it as I don't make VCDs much these days (I'm into DVD making now), but you have to drag all your photos into VCDeasy and then convert them one at a time. I didn't read the docs, so I don't know if there is some kind of batch option to convert a bunch of photos at once. If there is, I don't know where it is. If you don't mind spending the time to convert the photos, the final result should be playable on any DVD player that supports VCD on burnable media. If you are willing to take the risk that what Nero produces may not play on all DVD players, Nero is very easy to use and many DVD players will play Nero produced photo VCDs. Nero will convert your photos for you.

-- Root (root@yahoo.moc), January 14, 2004.

Well, I tried the VCD Easy last night. (free version) I had to download Nero demo in order to record onto the CD-R due to some file that was missing.

Anyway, I had created a slideshow with music using another program that would not recognize my burner. Then, VCD Easy did not recognize that newly created file, so I used TMGenc (something like that) to convert it and then, finally, VCDEasy created the VCD.

I've only been trying to do this since Christmas. I wanted to do it the cheapest way possible (NERO is $70 US and since I'm Canadian, add about 50% to that) seems way too much money for me who only wants to do this as a hobby.

I've got EASY CD Creator 6 on the way. Is that any better?

Maybe I'll just fork out the $$ for AVS. That seemed to be the easiest way. The quality, however, was not as good as when I used VCD Easy even though I did a whole lot of jumping from program to program converting out the yin yang.

I'll stop rambling now. Any comments, again, are appreciated.

Thanks.

-- Karrie Cameron (kacc2001@hotmail.com), January 14, 2004.

Windows Movie Maker 2 offers a way to make a slideshow, if you don't mind timing the pictures yourself and encoding to a VCD complaint file using TMPGEnc.

I've used it to create information slideshows for DVD programs. And, since it doesn't create a "Picture CD," it should be more compatible with players. If I can, I'll try and throw a guide for this together.

-- Bryan (gryps-innocens@gryphon.zzn.com), February 10, 2005.