OT (sort of): Burn finished product on CD for DVD Play

kameronj wrote on 5/10/2003, 10:55 AM
Okay, the title probably didn't convey what I'm trying to do....so here is the long and short.

I have had CD burners and CD Burning software for YEARS!! Adaptec EZ CD Creator Deluxe (prior to being Roxio) - and to this day I have never been able to have a finished product burn to a CD-R so that it could play on a DVD player.

Oh...the product says it is suppose to be able to do it!! Oh...my DVD players say they are suppose to be able to play VCDs...but NOOOOOOO!!

So now I bought this other 3rd party software (DVD Complete from Dazzle) and another one (I don't remember the title...but it is suppose to take stuff directly from my digivid cam and make it to play on my DVD)...but NOOOOOO!!!

I know that some (if not most) DVDs don't play CD-R's - so I bought an APEX DVD and that does a damn good job playing my VCDs.

But what about folks who ain't got one of these cheap puppies!!

I find it hard to believe that for years hardware and software says you can burn a VCD for play in a DVD but you CAN'T.

Any input?

I have just finished a 9 minute spoof of X-Men that I want to share with folks and putting it on CD-R for DVD play is the route I want to go cause not everyone has a PC (or an APEX cheap puppy). Plus...I'm not starting a project for our Grandparents who are celebrating their 61st wedding anniversary today (WOW!!!) and I want to put that finished produc on CD (cause they aint go nothing like a computer in their house!!!)

Any input?

Thanks

Comments

ronaldf wrote on 5/10/2003, 11:09 AM
The "most" compatable format for older DVD players is DVD-R. I've burned several copies of a project from VV3 (VCD) format and they played fine on the newer "cheap" DVD players. I have limited experience so some of the Pros may be able to gave some better advice.
BillyBoy wrote on 5/10/2003, 11:23 AM
If you're not aware of it already there is an extensive compatibility list over at VCDHelp that rates DVD players, which have trouble with what format, max bitrates etc..

http://vcdhelp.com

Why? Ah... just one of those things, like the milk carton never leaks in the checkout line, but waits to you take it out of the bag once your home or worse put it in the ref.
PDB wrote on 5/10/2003, 12:00 PM
Yea Kameronj....I know the feeling all too well..I went down the painful VCD path (pinful $$ wise...) burning cd left right and centre which my Sony dvd player would refuse to play...Even contacted Sony support via email to find out whats was up with my player...They answered saying that the player DID playback VCD, but only industrially produced type!! Well in the time I was wainting for their response, I discovered VCDhelp.com and my player was listed as compatible with CD-RW...and SURE ENOUGH!! it worked!! Boy did I feel good when I received Sony response to my initial reuqest saying cd would not playback and I promptly replied that they were wrong - "have you tested cd-rw??" I curtly asked...

Anyway, decided to buy a DVD recorder to make life easier - and get better quality vids - thinking that my woes were over...only to discover that DVD players are also PARTICULARLY choosy about DVD R/RW media!!! there seems to be no end to technological headaches....
Ohm wrote on 5/10/2003, 12:16 PM
I know exactly what you are talking about! In fact, I gave up trying to burn VCDs for dedicated DVD players. 'Just too much frustration. I use only DVD+R format now, but even that, I have found, is not 100% accross-the-board compatible.

When up-grading to DVD I limited my loses, this time around, by checking the compatibility lists offered by some manufacturers to see how many dedicated players would actually play DVDs burned by their equipment. EVEN SO, after burning sample DVDs, and testing them on friends' dedicated equipment I only had a 3 out of 5 success rate. Nothing on theire lists failed, and some decks not on their lists played the discs. The discs would play consistantly (super video, super sound) on the decks that would recognized the DVD, and would fail -- even to be recognized -- consistently on the other decks. Even computers having DVD were not 100% (8 out of 10).

I wish you luck, because it is still "buyer beware" when it comes to buying computer/electronics, and software. All any of us can do, when it comes to breaking into unfamilier territory, is to take the producer's word as a starting point, then ask around, then jump in with both feet.

I enjoyed your post. It reminds me of Steve Martin in the early days. 'before he up-graded.

kameronj wrote on 5/10/2003, 2:06 PM
Thanks for the feedback, so far. It's good to know that I'm not the only one who has noticed this (for a bit I thought I was doing somethin wrong).

Welp....what I will probably do is have a few media choices:

1. One for PC
2. One for DVD that can read VCD
3. One for VHS
4. Get a bunch of folks to re-enact the movie live on stage.

Thanks again.
Frenchy wrote on 5/12/2003, 11:20 AM
kameronji:

I guess I've been lucky - I've made a bunch of SVCD's and XVCD's, and they have all played in the set-top DVD players that Have been tried (a couple of Pioneers, a Panasonic, and a Sony which was not *supposed* to play SVCD's - go figure). But I've come to the same conclusions you have, as far as multiple-format productions, depending on what hardware your vids will be played back on. If you archive your final vid to DV tape, it's not *too big* of a deal to recapture later (just time consuming). As well as backups of the SVCD's, I keep the original mpeg's as data files on CD's as archives.

i like the idea of re-enacting the movie later though....:o)

Frenchy
vitalforce2 wrote on 5/12/2003, 11:36 AM
Once your X-men ticket sales allow you to think about a DVD burner:), keep in mind that some companies are coming out with multiformat burners, so you can make several versions. I bought a Sony DRU500AX recently (advance father's day present) because my wife & I want to enter a few flix in film festivals, most of whom now accept DVDs as entries--can't afford to have a festival return an unplayable DVD after the deadline is passed, so I'll be sending both DVD-R and DVD+R to each festival.

I think TDK is about to debut a multiformat drive soon too.
ericb wrote on 5/12/2003, 9:06 PM
Well, here's some things to try:

I have gotten good results making xVCDs. These are just standard VCDs with the bit rate boosted above the normal 1150. I use 1500 - 1800.

Take your completed video, encode to xVCD and bring it into ULEAD DVD MovieFactory 1.0 (not 2.0). This will see it as an xVCD and allow you to add chapter markers if needed.

You need to be a little patient in experimenting. I have had players not even "see" a disk, change to a different brand of media and have it work great. Also, some players would choke on files burned at higher speeds like 48x. Reduce the burn speed and they work fine! Keep in mind that unlike data disks, these files have virtually no error checking.

Finally, the ultimate old school format is to output to video tape. I usually record a tape in case the target DVD player doesn't agree with my digital stuff.
stormstereo wrote on 5/13/2003, 2:51 AM
Just to add to editor3333's post. NEC have one multiformat out or will soon. I think it's called ND-1300. Inexpensive but I have not got a clue about performance.
Best/Tommy
www.stormstereo.com