VCD for idiots

[Brent]

Has anyone ever done a step by step guide for someone like me :
G400
RRG
P3 500E
Fasttrack 66
24G video storage(capture)
18G video storage(file)
20G system drive
CD burner
DVD drive
MS Pro 5.2 and Premier 5
Experimented with Panasonic MPEG and VDub
Adaptec Video CD

I basically want to capture about 15G full frame video (approx 90 mins Hi 8mm) and end up with a CD or CDs' (few as possible) of the best possible quality versus file size, and I also want it to be able to be distributed to family and friends that have only MS media player and a CD drive.

I have been trying to achieve this for some time and always get to a dead end somewhere with one of my goals.
I follow the geek speak here and elsewhere and know that you guys are doing it, but get overwhelmed with the talk of codecs and other configurations, as well as the personal likes and dislikes and tweaks suggested.
I wish someone could publish a step by step guide, even if it was not necessarily the fanciest and "best" way to do it, but it worked in a straight forward way with good results.
Cheers

[This_Idiot]

Brent,

I'm in complete agreement with you here. If I was any kind of Idiot at all then I'd already have done just as you have asked.

I've been putting this off, as the PC's available to me right now aren't man enough to handle non-hardware accelerated capture. It's on my agenda, but I can't give any promises on timescales. Mebbe in the autumn I'll be able to afford a 600+.

[Brent]

Thanks,
I look forward to a guide from you as your guides were excellent when I first got my RRG 2 years ago and started capturing.
BTW - I forgot to mention that there also needs to be a database of hardware that is compatible - ie. I seem to have a SCSI CD Rom that does not play a VCD but my DVD Rom and IDE CD Rom do play em, but then I read that some IDE drives don't !
What about making the Video Forum for analogue only, and adding a forum for DV/ VCD/ DVD etc ?.

[Brian Ellis]

Brent

I think there are two factors here: simplicity and space. The implication here is that you are distributing the CDs for use ONLY on PCs (never MACs). You can therefore take some short cuts. The first one, in order to reduce the no. of CD-Rs to a minimum, is that you can reduce your image size to 1/4 size (352 x 240 or whatever). With a Hi-8 input, there may be a slight deteroration in quality, but nothing very noticeable.

The next thing is to decide whether the guys receiving these CDs are savvy enough to navigate onto the CD-ROM and then double click the video file (rather than auto-start, which is not too difficult, anyway- see below).

You then take your 15 Gb file into MSP6 and render it into e.g. an mpg or avi file using the 1/4 size frame and, here you will need a codec compatible with MSMP. The ones to consider, for simplicity, are:
MPEG1 (possibly smallest file size, but may be "chunky", depending on your subject matter - best without much rapid movement)
MPEG4 (best if you have much rapid movement, e.g. sports scenes, but will take longer to render and may produce a larger file. If you use MS codec, you may have cross-platform difficulties.)
Indeo 5 (ex-Intel: find it an excellent compromise, especially cross-platform -- this is the one I use for this kind of job.)

The one you choose will normally be selectable from your MSP menus. In some cases, you can choose between quality and file size. In many cases, you should be able to get up to 45 minutes (or more) of reasonable quality video on to a single CD-R, depending on the subject matter.

You may need to make a few trials to get the right quality:file size ratio for your wishes.

If the resultant file size is more than about 640 Mb, I suggest you render the original only to a suitable pause spot at somewhere between 600 and 620 Mb file size and then do the rest separately.

You then burn your 1, 2 or more big video files onto your CD-Rs (this is straightforward if you use Easy-CD or similar).

In other words, forget everything you have read here about VCDs and go to simplest possible denominator. I've distributed tens of CD-Rs like this.

If you wish to make it autostart when your friend closes the CD-ROM drive, add a text file named autorun.inf to the CD-ROM, containing:

[autorun]
OPEN=mplayer2.exe [your video file name].avi or [].mpg
ICON=[your icon file name].ico

(I assume here that you will be using the MSMP with the file name mplayer2.exe, if not then change it accordingly.)

The Icon line is optional but adds a little touch to the desktop, as it replaces the usual CD-ROM icon with yours. Use an ordinary icon editor to create it.

Yes, it works!

------------------
Brian (the terrible)



[This message has been edited by Brian Ellis (edited 24 July 2000).]

[mynx]

I'm with Brent. I purchased my RRG a couple of months ago and have been making test captures and taking them to test computers to see if they can even play it back. A minimum system required for playback list would be nice. Most people I know have considerably slower computers than mine.
I need this to play on 300mhz K6 & PII systems.

Brian Ellis: Thanks for the simplistic method. I'll put it to the test as soon as I upgrade to MSP6.

[Brent]

Thanks Brian,
I will give it a whirl - sounds like a good approach to achieve my objectives.
Cheers
Brent