Adaptec Video CD Creator issues

[Brent]

I have been trying Adaptec Video CD Creator (part of Easy CD Creator 4 Deluxe) with my RRG and using the Panasonic MPEG converter to make Video CD 2 compatible MPEG 1's from the Matrox MJPEG files, which I then want to burn to a CD using the Adaptec. The problem is that I can not get them to play back. The file it creates does not seem to be recognised. On my DVD drive, I at least get a "CD-I" introduction screen, then nothing more.
Can anyone enlighten me, as Adaptec are not responding.

[wkulecz]

EZCD creator deluxe 3.5 broke VCD creation from just about anything other that their "VideO" product. Looks like its not fixed in 4.x either.

I managed to install the VCD creator part from EZCD deluxe v3.0 and by using it to setup the disk I managed to create a VCD 2.0 on CD-R and CD-RW media by burning with EZCD v 3.5c that does work in the few stand alone DVD players that support CD-R or CD-RW media for VCD. My VCD format files were created with Ligos "gomotion" in Media Studio Pro6.0

Far too much cussing and rebooting win98 for me to offer to suggest how to do it without possibility breaking your system.

CD burning is the last issue keeping win98 hanging around my house! Adaptec is *not* the answer. For all the bitching I do about Matrox, Adaptec is far far worse!

I'd suggest getting your money back on EZCD deluxe 4.x if possible.

--wally.

[dgcom]

Hm...

I'm using EZCD Creator 4.02 in w2k to burn VCDs and had no problems (even with 4.01). I'm playing them with Pioneer 414 DVD player...

But there may be an issuses with other DVD players...

DGCom

[Questor]

This method works fine from here. I use a sony DVP7000 and DVP7700. Both will read/play (VCD's made with Adaptec) CDR media, but not if I use CDRW media.

[Brent]

Thanks for the responses.
wkulecz- unfortunately I had only the OEM bundled version of 3.5 (without Video CD Creator). I have now bought 4 Deluxe.
dgcom and questor- I have tried my Hitachi 2500 (AOpen 9624) DVD drive and my AOpen 48x CD drive, both of which claim to be video CD, CD-I etc, etc, compatible.
The Adaptec site covers this problem by asking one to check that the Microsoft Active Movie MCI Device is in place, which is on my system.
I saw in the Adaptec help menu that they use some player software from Philips to create the Video CD.
Can anyone with a working Video CD tell what happens when you put the CDR in - ie. does it autoplay and come up with a Philips media player interface and menu or something.
TIA-Brent

[wkulecz]

Ok guys what software did you use to encode the mpeg1 into VCD format? I used Ligos "GoMotion" bundled with Media Studio Pro6.0

The ones I made were just three short clips, single level menu the simplest thing the "wizzard" would do by just mindlessly clicking "next". Works for seeing which players read CD-R and/or CD-RW media. The MPEG1 quality produced from MJPEG or DV source is IMHO not worth making or watching, but that's a seperate issue.

I've no idea why the Adaptec software is so "pickey". But 3.0 VCDcreator worked and 3.5c VCDcreator didn't. I've been less than thrilled with 3.x so I'm not interested in upgrading to 4.x

So I think its a cop-out to blame some other mysterious dodad "installed" on my system as its the same system for 3.0 and 3.5!

--wally.

[pederbc]

I've experienced some pretty good results using the Panasonic encoder and burning with Adaptec 3.0 and the Nero. These I can play on my Philips 730 DVD. However, if I use the Adaptec 4 it doesn't work.

[Brent]

Oh dear. So much for "upgrading".
I will resend a query to Adaptec.
Thanks for all the input everyone.

[RBryant]

By reading your very first post on this thread, where you say "I cannot get them to play back [...] the files aren't recognized" it makes me think something else:

Are you talking about playing the VCD in your computer? Or are you talking about putting the VCD into a stand alone DVD player? In order to play a VCD on your computer you do actually need 3rd party software to play the VCD (such as Sony's free VCD player) just as you need software to play a DVD...

VCD's don't just natively "play" themselves like audio CDs. The files on the VCD that you see when it is in your computer's drive are just the files dictated by the VCD specification, and they mpeg audio and video files, not .mpg files.

When a drive says that it is VCD or CD-I compatable, that doesn't really mean much because all these disks use ISO9660 to store the files on the disk... it doesn't mean that the drive can decode MPEG1 audio and video and overlay it onto your screen...

[Brent]

Hi RBryant,
My Adaptec VCD's work fine in my newest CD ROM and also my DVD ROM provided I am using a software DVD player such as Win DVD 2000 or Matrox G400 DVD player. They even autoplay.
My objective is to send VCD's to family that do not have anything DVD at all on their systems.
I am under the impression that MS Media Player is supposed to auto play a VCD created from Adaptec or else the Adaptec program is supposed to somehow furnish playback using the Philips VCD player they talk about in the help menu.
Where am I going wrong or how do I get the free Sony software VCD player you mention, as then I could distribute this to my family.
Cheers
Brent

[dgcom]

Brent!

MS MediaPlayer 6.4 WILL play VCDs!

Try this: open MediaPlayer, get DAT file from VCD folder MPEGAVI and drag & drop it on it...

This should work, unless you have crappy MediaPlayer installation...

By the way, WinDVD can be a big problem for EZCD creator.

I can provide more details on how this work, if you want...

DGCom

[Brent]

Hi dgcom,
I tried your tip and indeed MS Media Player will play the MPEG file. If only one did not have to delve for it.
Can you tell me what the problems with Win DVD are.
Cheers

[SteveR]

If all you need are CDs which will play on a PC (ie you don't want the option of being able to play the same CD either on PC or a stand-alone VCD/DVD player) you can do the following.

Burn your videos to CD as ordinary MPEGs.
Create a simple html file with a menu for your MPEGs and burn this to the CD too.
Burn the following Autorun.inf file to the CD:

[autorun]
open = start DoubleClickMeToStart.htm


(Or for DoubleClickMeToStart.htm substitute whatever you called the menu file).


This avoids the eventual recipient having to have special software (only browser, mediaplayer and autoinsert enabled).
It allows for easy navigating of the videos.
With a simple html editor it does not take any longer than setting up the VCD before burning.
It allows you to use the correct aspect ratio for PC (eg 320x240).

[wkulecz]

dgcom,

What are the issues with winDVD and EZCD Creator Deluxe when making VCD?

I did have winDVD installed on the win98 system where VCDcreator 3.5 wouldn't accept the VCD format files produced by Ligos GoMotion with Media Studio Pro6. VCDcreator from verison 3.0 did accept the files and setup the data so 3.5c could burn it. My only goal was a VCD on CD-R and CD-RW to use in screening stand-alone players for this capability and this I did achive.

The pickyness of VCDcreator 3.5x I learned about from newsgroup posts so I wasn't surprised by the problem, only annoyed by the reative difficulty of getting the older v3.0 VCDcreator dodad installed without breaking everything else from v3.5

I found a website via pricewatch that's selling the EZCD Creator4.01 bundle for $30. I ordered is despite my general unhappiness with Adaptec as it seems to be the only way to get DirectCD working again under win2000 for the forseeable future.


--wally.

[dgcom]

Ok.

(Sorry for the delay...)

I'll try to make it simple.

Old versions of EZCD creator used so called "MCI driver to playback and check MPEG file for compatability... MPEG players were rare at that times, so, many people had no problems at all. known issue was with ATI software, and EZCD was compatable with Xing player...
Startng with 3.5c (I beleive... or may be 4.x) EZCD uses MS DirectShow engin to do the same thing - preview MPEG and check it's parameters... The problem now is that many software/hardware DVD players are also playing MPEG-1 (which is used to make VCD). So, they "replace" standard MS MPEG-1 decoder. WinDVD, for example, became default player for MPEG 1/2 once installed. And it plays MPEG-1 filex in 2x resolution. It also outputs (interanlly) incorrect media type. So, if you try to use EZCD on a PC with WinDVD installed, EZCD won't be able to check MPEG file for correct size (at least).
You'll see different EZCD behavior on different setups with different MPEG files. I saw GPFs, or it accepted file but once you try to create an image, it will do it fast and the size of CIF file will be very small...

In order to check if MS MPEG-1 decoder is your default player, try to play prepared MPG file with MS MediaPlayer, while playing, right-click on Mediaplayer, select properties->Advanced tab and see if you have "MPEG Video Decoder" there.

To disable WinDVD temporarely, find those files on your hard drive:
iviaudio.ax
ivivideo.ax
and rename them for the time you are going to use EZCD Creator... Check MediaPlayer once again (you may need to reboot after renaming files).

I'm using w2k... And EZCD 4.02 works great!

Also, two days ago, Adaptec made available DirectCD 3.01 update with w2k support.

Good luck.

DGCom