Hi my name is Nirav Patel,

I had a question for any one who can answer it. I used vcd gear to extract the .dat file from the vcd to mpg format into my hard drive. I now have like 45 mpg files that range from 500mb to 690mb each.

What I wanted to do was put some of the files onto a dvd so that I would not need to use alot of cds. I looked into it and I would need about 45 blank cd-r to do want I wanted.

But if I put it onto a black dvd I can put all the files into like 7 blank dvds which is better than 45 cds' I dont know how to do it though. I used ROXIO easy dvd cd creater basic and what that did was convert the 600mb mpg file to a 3.4GB dvd file.

I dont want that I just want like 7 600mb files that are in mpg format to be put onto a dvd and have it play on my home dvd player.

-- Nirav Patel (nrpatel1788@yahoo.com), October 17, 2004

Answers

There are ways to do it, but most modern DVD burning programs hate the idea of an MPEG-1 (VCD) stream on a DVD even though it meets the DVD standards.

Check:

http://www.afterdawn.com/guides/archive/vcd_to_dvd-r.cfm

for a guide on how to do this.

You do have one other choice. Get one of the newer DVD players, such as the cheap APEX players that will play a raw .mpg file off a disc with no DVD or VCD compliant directory structure. The problem with that solution is that a good portion of DVD players won't recognize a disc like that, so you're stuck playing it on your own player or a computer.

-- Bryan (gryps-innocens@gryphon.zzn.com), October 17, 2004.

I have never used the Roxio product, but it sounds like it re-encoded your video. Bryan is correct. Although VCD video is valid for DVD, most authoring programs won't accept it. The only ones I know that will are Scenarist and DVD-Lab (http://www.mediachance.com/dvdlab). Scenarist is a professional tool, so you'll have to spend a lot of money to get it or look for it on a warez site. You will need to demux your VCD files and convert the audio from 44 KHz to 48 KHz. http://www.dvdrhelp.com has a guide on making DVDs out of VCD files that might help you.

-- Root (root@yahoo.moc), October 19, 2004.

There was another authoring program out there called Spruce-Up which also will allow MPEG-1 on DVD discs. Afterdawn.com has a trial version of it. As far as I know, Apple bought out Spruce and killed the program. You may be able to find a used copy out there somewhere.

-- Bryan (gryps-innocens@gryphon.zzn.com), October 19, 2004.