Poor man's DVD

vitalforce2 wrote on 4/18/2003, 10:36 AM

I have a CD-RW and V4+DVD. I will eventually buy a DVD burner but have to send out sample footage of a short film project in progress and have been asked to "throw something" onto a CD. I don't want to render to MPEG-1 because of the heavy artifacts. I can skip the menu-page idea for now, also. I'd like to at least use a picture quality compatible with SVCD.

Two questions: (1) Can I customize an MPEG-2 file--or the original avi file--with a square aspect ratio so that the SVCD coding (can use another program--either Ulead's DVD MovieFactory2 or Pinnacle Studio 8) won't "squeeze" the picture when it outputs to the 480 x 480 ratio? And (2) I've read, can't remember where, that it's possible to "fool" a DVD player into thinking a CD coded with an SVCD file is playable, by putting some sort of first-play file on the disc.

Any ideas, anyone? Even after I have a DVD burner, I'd love to be able to hand out sample video on inexpensive media like CDs.

Comments

TheHappyFriar wrote on 4/18/2003, 11:14 AM
Don't bother using SVCD is they aren't going to be able to play it. If they're going to use a computer to play it, I'd recomend 2mbs quicktime or WMV. If you really want to use an SVCD, don't worry about the "squeezing." It will look squeezed on your computer, but if played on a DVD or SVCD player, it will fill the screen just like anything else.
Frenchy wrote on 4/18/2003, 12:08 PM
Editor:

Are you planning on playing these on a set-top player, or PC?. The set-top player will fill the TV screen with the image properly - no fooling needed. I can't speak for playing on a pc.

I've had good luck playing SVCD's on my set-top DVD player (Pioneer 434, I think). Check compatibility of yours at vcdhelp.com. I use the MC Mpeg-2 SVCD-NTSC template in V4, with some minor tweaks (best rendering quality, CBR=2375, DC coefficient=10 bits, write sequesnce display extension = checked). Then Ulead's DVD MF to burn to cd, without re-encoding. I've been relatively impressed with the results, and able to fit about 30 mins onto a CD. First I try it on a cd-rw, and when I like results, burn to cd-r, and give to recipient. Mostly good luck so far (except for most recent project with some wierd interlacing artifacts - check other thread :(. I'm sure I'll get over this minor hurdle.

Frenchy
ADU wrote on 4/18/2003, 12:18 PM
I've output many an SVCD with MovieFactory. Many newer standalone DVD players support SVCDs directly without the need for any trickery. If your encoder does a poor job of scaling/resampling the video to 480x480, you may get better results scaling the AVI in a good video editing/post-processing prior to encoding. If the video is interlaced, make sure you have the field dominance set correctly in the encoder.
vitalforce2 wrote on 4/18/2003, 6:24 PM
Thanks, all. Have a good holiday.
ADU wrote on 4/19/2003, 2:31 AM
>>I've read... it's possible to "fool" a DVD player into thinking a CD coded with an SVCD file is playable, by putting some sort of first-play file on the disc.<<

I think I see what you're driving at here. You can't just plop a 480x480 MPEG clip onto a CD and expect it to play on a DVD player. SVCDs have their own unique file format, similar to, but distinct from other kinds of media like DVDs, CDs, etc. So you need a special authoring tool (like Movie Factory, etc.) to generate this structure on the CD. Then it'll be playable on SVCD-compliant DVD decks.
vitalforces wrote on 4/19/2003, 12:14 PM
(I'm also editor3333 at the office)

Thanks again, ADU. I happen to have MovieFactory2 and will return to the la-bor-a-tory at once...

rap0816 wrote on 1/23/2004, 6:23 PM
Hi Frenchy,
<<<Then Ulead's DVD MF to burn to cd, without re-encoding>>>

How do you set this in Ulead DVD MF2 SE?

I got the ACEDVio with Vegas 4.0 & Ulead's MovieFactory 2 SE last Christmas. I also use the MC MPEG2 SVCD-NTSC template in V4. I burn the SVCD in Ulead's Mf2 SE but the result is like a VCD.

Thanks for your info.
farss wrote on 1/23/2004, 6:32 PM
You can also use Nero to author SVCD with menus etc.
Results from SVCD are pretty good with clean source, I've made some from SP masters and they looked damn good for the cost of making them.
Bear in mind there's probably more people watching video off VCD than any other format on the planet.