If you want to use all your existing software, and create a DVD that uses your existing SVCD or VCD media -- without any re-encoding -- you can do something similar to what is shown on the Mediachance page that Scott linked to, but without having to purchase any new software. Here's a link to the post where I described how to do that:

SVCD on DVD

You do have to download one free tool to patch the header, but it is a tiny utility that downloads in 10 seconds and runs without any special installation. Very simple, and very quick.

http://www.squared5.com/

MPEG Streamclip has been my secret weapon of choice since a co-worker turned me on to it 3 months or so ago. It is a fantastic, easy to use, and incredibly stable program, and it is free. It should be able to demux your SVCD into workable files for your new DVD without degrading the image.

Thanks for the responses. I've looked at the tools like SVCD2DVD - they look good but I hoping to find a satisfactory way to use existing tools and/or free tools since this is most likely a one time need.

John, your thread almost gives me what I am looking for except it appears that the target DVD will only play in DVD players that also support SVCD. Unfortunately, that is the reason I want to convert my SVCDs to DVD - there are some players the SVCDs won't play in.

Corug7, I downloaded MPEG Streamclip which looks hopeful, except it appears I need to either replace my Quicktime with Quicktime Alternative, or purchase the Quicktime MPEG encoder. Did you go the free Quicktime Alternative route? If so, does it support the Quicktime Animation codec? I use that frequently with AfterEffects and would hate to lose that capability.

Jerry

Wouldn't the quality be crappy, going from an MPEG-1 encoding to a re-encoded MPEG-2?

Bob.

Not sure. I'm using it on a computer with QT Pro installed. Let me try it on another machine and I'll get back to you.

If you want it to play in all players, then you'll have to re-encode (obviously). Just put the video on the Vegas timeline and press the usual buttons.

Bob, SVCD is MPEG2. VCD is (I believe) MPEG1.

Jerry

John, I loaded my SVCD MPEG2 into DVDA and let it re-encode it to 352x480 and then played it on a SD television - can't tell any difference from the original SVCD. I should have tried this to start with but I got hung up on the apparent misconception that 1) it was possible to go to 480p DVD without re-encoding and 2) that I would really lose a lot of quality if I re-encoded. At any rate, this DVDA approach will work for my needs.

Jerry

Corug7, I really appreciate your offer to try this on another machine but see my reply to John - I think the re-encoding via DVDA is going to work well for me.

Jerry

Ah yes. Thanks for the correction.

It's been 5 years since I dinked with VCD/SVCD, and because they didn't work very well in many players, I just moved on to real DVD and never looked back.

Thanks again,
Bob.