Videopack 4.0 + Yamakawa/Raite

[droopy]

I recently got a copy from Cequadrat Videopack 4.0 from a company that went bankrupt :-(.

I've been trying to make interactive VCD's with it to no avail. All attempts failed. It is possible for me to make normal VCD's without menus. This works fine. When I try to make selection menu's which should appear when the VCD is played it all falls appart. It takes a long time before the Yamakawa recognises the VCD and then it just doesn't show the menu at all. After about a minute of doing something, if I'm lucky, it just starts playing the tracks one by one. If I then press the display button on the remote to find out what type of CD it recognised it says UNKNOWN, while it should say VIDEOCD 2.0. It also happend that it just hangs up and needs to be reset by removing the powercord.

The manual that came with the software is useless and also the help file is of no help. I tried recreating the example described in the help file, but even that one doesn't work properly.

I first thought it was caused by the Yamakawa 715 player I have. So I got out and bought a normal VCD with interactive menus which seems to work fine and is also recognised as VIDEOCD 2.0. When comparing the files and directories on the purchased and made VCD they seem to be similar.

So my question is, does anyone have any experience using Videopack 4.0 to make VCD's with selection menus. If so, can someone help me with this?

Thanks in advance for your kind help.

Regards, Leon

[pederbc]

I agree with you. I have tried it too, but with similar results. Try using the Adaptec 3.5 version (NOT the 4.0), it works. I have the Yamakawa 715 and a Philips 730 and it plays fine on both. You could also try making so-called SVCD and experience the better quality. You'll find how-to's on this forum....

[Phil Pugh]

Do both the DVD models you have play SVCD?

[pederbc]

No, the Philips will only play a fully compliant VCD. It does play CD-R's. The Yamakawa is supposed to play SVCD and I think it can. My problem have been in creating a fully compliant SVCD. And if I understand it correctly, it's supposed to be an interlaced variable bitrate MPEG-2. In the meantime I've tried doing a special SVCD (XVCD?) with MPEG-1 (480x576 PAL, total bitrate=3000) burning it with Nero as VCD (complaints, but still works!) These records play beautiful on the Yamakawa.

[Walrus]

perderbc: SVCDs do not need to have interlaced MPEG-2. They can be either interlaced or progressive.

[droopy]

Just to get it up on top again under everyones attention. I'm sure that there must be someone out there who knows the trick how to get it to work. Someone smarter then me, and who understands the jibberisch in the manual and helpfiles from the program as I sure don't.

Therefore again, does anyone know how to get the authoring of interactive VCD's to work properly with Videopack 4.0. I would sure appreciate if someone could assist me with this. I tried the sample in the helpfile and also read the manual carefully, but just can not get it to operate properly.

PLEASE HELP?

Thanks for the info Peberbc. I already tried Easy CD creator 4.0 de Luxe but do not like it. A friend of mine purchased a copy and we tried it on his computer. Reason is that for every menu item you need a separate MPEG file. It is not possible to set a starting point in a file, which is possible with Videpoack 4.0 if I can get it to work. That is also the option I want to use for the holiday video's.

Thanks for the help with this frustrating program.

Greets, Leon

[pederbc]

I've tried to use the function in VP 4.0 to apply menu entries in to the middle of the mpeg file. If I understand it correctly, oyu're supposed to set up time entry points in the mpeg and hook the menu to this entries. But whenever I do this I get a compilation error trying to burn the record. I've tried it so many times and it just doesn't seems to work?! Now when I make eithwer a VCD or xVCD I use NERO with good result and the VCD's will play on both my DVD's and the xVCD's play fine on the Yamakawa. I'm satisfied for the moment, although I would feel better knowing it was a fully compliant SVCD!

[tonysee]

pederbc and others... This software claims to burn to the "official SVCD 1.0" specs. Haven't tested it, just located it in my online travels and thought I'd pass it on.

http://www.enreach.com/Products/products/iauthor/iauthsvcd.htm