smaller VCD files

masdoggydogg wrote on 11/29/2003, 4:54 PM

This is a probably a dumb question, but I don't do much video work with Vegas so here goes:

I'm trying to create VCD files to burn onto a CD. I have about 10 files, each about an hour long (~400MB each). Right now, I'm only able to burn one file per CD, however I was hoping to sacrifice a little quality to get 2 or 3 on a CD.

Is there an easy way to reduce the file size of a VCD?

Comments

Former user wrote on 11/29/2003, 5:03 PM

A VCD is a specific bitrate and resolution by definition. At the standard, you can get approximately 70 minutes on one CD. In order to get 2 or 3 on a CD, you would have to cut the bitrate in half, which to be honest, would be pretty awful looking.

If you are not planning on watching the VCD on a TV, you can create an MPEG file at whatever bitrate you like and looks good. This will determine how much program you can get on one CD.

You are better off burning a few CDs than sacrificing image quality IMHO.

Dave T2

VegasVidKid wrote on 11/29/2003, 5:16 PM

I think that when you burn a VCD, no matter how low you indicate you want the bitrate (I think the standard is 1150 kb/s) it will create "filler" for the difference. In other words, the quality will be lower, but you still won't fit more minutes onto it.

Some DVD players will play straight MPEG1 files burnt onto a CD (my Miintek player will fo it). A couple of times, I put 2 hrs of video on a CD in straight MPEG1 file format (not a VCD). The quality was like a 3rd generation VHS tape at slow speed, but you coud watch it. However, there was no pause, fast fwd or rewind.

johnmeyer wrote on 11/29/2003, 11:21 PM

Do a search for KVCD on this forum. There was a thread about three weeks ago on using this variant to crame up to 2-3 hours on one CD. I played with it a little and reported back. I was not able to get more than about 90 minutes on the CD, but I didn't play with it much. There is a link in that thread to a site that will tell you all about how to do this.