Nero & SVCD

[hapz]

Dissatisfied with the picture quality of VCD I tried SVCD. Nero did the burn job, so it seems. At least I can see the session and track information with Nero's CD-info tab.

But I have not yet found a way to play the CD. Both the PC software players (Matrox DVD, PowerDVD) as well as the DVD player attached to the TV do not "see" the CD. With VCD everything worked. Did I miss something?

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Harald

[KRSESQ]

What did you use to encode the SVCD i.e. software, mpeg settings, bitrate, etc.?

Kevin

[hapz]

Kevin,

Good Question

I put 4 different files on the CD-RW to test different settings. All of them played with WMP.

The originals were captured with HuffYUV, 704x480, and left unedited for this test.

Premiere encoding from the timeline was done using Avisynth as frame server to TMPGEnc, but with two different video frame size settings: 704x480, 640x480 (4:3 aspect ratio)

TMPGEnc settings:

System stream type: MPEG-2 SVCD(VBR)

Videostream settings:
MPEG-2
480x480
1:1
29.97 fps
two rate control modes (2-pass VBR, CQ_VBR)
MP@ML
NTSC
interlaced
4:2:0
10 bits
highest quality


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Harald

[KRSESQ]

Harald:

All of your settings look okay. My experiments with SVCD and Nero using the same settings worked (tested in a Denon unit). I suspect the problem may be the CD-RW you used. I'm unsure about the ability of most commercial DVD players (including DVD drives) to read CD-RWs. Try it again with a conventional CDR (gold, if you can find it in your area--a problem in these parts) and see how that works.

For experimenting, CD-RWs appear the best way to go but unfortunately compatibility issues remain. It is probably necessary to sacrifice a CDR to the cause.

Kevin

[wkulecz]

My tests (on players at the local Circut City)have shown that there are more stand-alone DVD players that read VCD on CD-RW than on CD-R. So far all that have read CD-R have also read CD-RW. The converse is not true. Many players that read homemade VCD don't do homemade SVCD at all.

For SVCD start with the SVCD template that comes with TMPGEnc. I know this works, and any "tweaks" could break compliance. Once you have identified players that handle the known good template then you can "tweak" to see what works. Problem is, "tweaks" may greatly reduce the subset of players that will read the disks.

Ross McL's page has lots of good info about SVCD encoding and "tweaked" templates: http://www.geocities.com/aussie01au/

--wally.

[hapz]

Kevin,

It could be my settings or the player. VCD played just fine on my player, only SVCD did not.

Wally,

What is confusing in TMPGEnc, even if you set SVCD in System Stream Setting, selctions in Video Stream Settings might screw it all up. Maybe that's where my problem is.


Nero seems to be pretty sensitive when it comes to burning SVCD disks. It rejected my CD-RW which had already been burned with an initial set of SVCD files. EZ CD Creator accepted the disk just fine, but it does not burn SVCDs....


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Harald

[jeepman]

Hapz, this may sound stupid, but did you do at least a "quick erase" on the CD-RW from Nero? I believe it closes the session by default, so maybe that is why it's rejecting the CD-RW the second time.

By the way, I have the Pioneer DV-C503 (5 disc version of DV-333) and it plays silver CD-RW's with SVCD files just fine. I am actually quite pleased with the result I see on the TV which is easily as good as the output from the camcorder through RCA patch cords.

Finally, not to send you off this board, but there is a site that has another great group of posters similar to MURC that is quite helpful.

Go to http://www.vcdhelp.com/phpBB/index.php

Your question may go under burning, or conversion. Give it a shot.

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ASUS A7V133, 256MB CAS2 Micron PC133, "Copper" Athlon 1000@1120MHz (8*140), GlobalWin FOP38 with Delta 7000 RPM 38CFM fan. Asus V7700 Deluxe GF2 GTS, 3COM 905C NIC, Adaptec 2940UW Ultra-Wide SCSI, SBLive PCI 1024. Segate Medalist PRO 9.1GB UW SCSI 7200RPM, Seagate Barracuda 4.3GB UW SCSI 7200RPM, Maxtor 20.4GB ATA66 7200RPM 2MB Cache, 8GB tape b/u, Sony IDE Spressa 8x/4x/32x CDROM RW, RAID 0 stripe set on Promise ATA100 with dual Quantum Fireball Plus LM 30GB ATA66 drives.

[hapz]

jeepman, thanks for your hints, they have been very helpful.

I think I narrowed down my problem search. VCD files that play when burned with EZ CD do not play when burned with Ner 5.0.4.4. So it is not just a SVCD problem. Unfortunately EZ CD does not have a SVCD option, so in that respect I am "stuck" with Nero.

Nero seems to have a driver problem with my PC running under Win2000. When I hit the "play" button for the file I want to burn, but before burning it, I get an error message: "Media Control interface (MCI) error for file .... Unknown problem while loading specified devise driver."

Narrowed down, yes. But it still leaves me hanging in the air......

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Harald

[KRSESQ]

The version of Nero I'm using is 5.0.3.8. VCDs play in most of the units I've tested, and SVCDs play in a few, burned to blue CDRs.

Is it possible the SVCD option in Nero 5.0.4.4 is defective? Anyone else using this version with no probs?

Although it is reported that EZCD and Nero don't coexist well, I've encountered no problems. I just don't try to mix and match disks created with each.

Kevin

[hapz]

Kevin,

I won't rule out that something is wrong with Nero on my PC, but what is it and can it be fixed? If nothing else I am waiting for 5.5 and see whether that clears up the problem. I read somewhere that 5.5 was expected for 3/22, but that did not happen. Well, officially it is end of thee month now, so there is plenty of time left.

As I mentioned in my other message, the error message I get applies to both VCD and SVCD, none of them is working ;(

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Harald

[KRSESQ]

I'd mail you my version to try out (not sure if the older version is still available for download) but at 4.5 MB it would probably bust your mail server!

Kevin

[Dr Mordrid]

Yup, they missed the date they gave me. I got another message Tuesday that confused the issue and put the timetable "before the end of the month".

At least that only leaves another 9 days.

Dr. Mordrid

[hapz]

Kevin,
Thanks for the offer, but I'll just wait and hope

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Harald

[mad99]

I have burnt some test SVCD with 5.0.4.4 and they play without problem on my Yamakawa DVD-Player.

[mad99]

Forgot to say: I use W2K and do not have EasyCD Creator on my system...