Help Needed: I have ATI all-in-wonder 128 card. I capture my home videos to MPEG1 format files. When I use Adaptec CD Creator Deluxe Video CD creator, it flags that the MPEG is not Video CD format. The error is in "SYSTEM CLOCK PERFORMANCE/PROCESSING"?field. The parameter value displayed is 870. Can somebody help me decipher what this means and how to resolve the issue? Thanks

-- Gurpreet Ahluwalia (gahluwal@ford.com), November 10, 1999

Answers

The only thing I have to tell you is to stop using Adaptec and use Nero. Video CD Creator is incredibly unstable. I used to use it until somone pointed out Nero to me.

HazyMind

-- HazyMind (hayzmind@earthlink.net), November 10, 1999.

Adaptec ECD creator deluxe requires that the MPEG file be exactly capatable with the VCD (green book) standard. The lastest version 4 is less strigent and will allow slight deviations if you put on the option to show the errors. Older versions would not even recognize an slightly improper MPEG file. In version 4, if it detects the MPEG file (opens it), and gives the error screen, it will allow the file to be burnt to the CD. Your error suggest that you MPEG encoder is not fully VCD compatable. If the MPEG is not compatable, it may be placed in the segment folder when the CD is burnt. In the segment folder, it can be played via a computer VCD player by specifying the file but not in a DVD player or a VCD stand alone player. If the file is a proper MPEG file, I have never had ECD creator ever produce a VCD which I could not use in my DVD player. This warning actually reveals that ECD creator is not unstable but is well design to alert the user of possible problems which is due to the MPEG file and not ECD creator. I have never used Nero but I have read that it is more forgiving. You may make a VCD with Nero which will place the MPEG (dat file) in the proper folder and work on the computer, but will not play on a DVD player. This may be adequate for your purposes but would not be good if you were making VCDs to be used on DVD players. I would suggest that the problem that you are having is due to your MPEG files. I am not familiar with ATI all in one- does it directly convert to MPEG without going through AVI capture. The quality of direct software MPEG capture is much inferior (also even with reasonable priced capture boards which do hardware MPEG) since there is little ability to apply filters to clean the image. Is there a way to set you MPEG capture to be VCD capatable or if not try to burn a CD with your MPEG file (ignore your error) and see if you get a functional VCD. You should consider capturing as AVI files with a low compression ratio (1:4 or less) and then convert it to MPEG via an good MPEG encoder that has VCD capatability. You should get the trial versions of various encoders to see which one you like the best and make up the MPEG files and then burn them to a CDRW to see if ECD creator places the files in the proper folder and if VCD works in your VCD/DVD player before considering purchasing the encoder. Some of these encoders can re-encode MPEG to bring them to VCD capatability. Also it is much easier to edit AVI files than MPEG files. The freeware version of DDCLIP is an execellent editor which can use a story line to string multiple clips together but does not have title or transition capabilities. Also if you are capturing as AVI, the shareware program AVI_IO is one of the best capturing programs since it locks the audio/video sync by adding frames automatically if it senses that there is a drift in sync. I have captured over 2 hours without loosing sync with this program while I have heard that with dazzle (MPEG capturing card), sync is lost within a hour. Also remember to burn your VCD at 1x since it produces the best quality in playback. VCD somehow is like audio CD in the sense it is the length of time not the size of the file which is important. Burning at higher rates produces less smooth playbacks especially on DVD players.

-- somebody (somebody@anybody.com), November 10, 1999.

Interesting point given by Mr. Somebody here. I am not sure I can vow for that statement though, about Easy CD Creator once sense good MPEG file will properly layout the VCD and it will play in more players. My experience shows otherwise.

I have captured MPEG using Broadway v2.5 and burn them using Adaptec VCD creator 3.5b over many times two years ago. There isn't any error produced by Creator, the DAT files are properly placed in MPEGAV directory, and yet the resulting VCD plays only on certain set-top VCD player.

At that time I suspected that the Broadway card produced non white book compliant file, and yet Creator didn't shows any error message. I then use WinOnCD 3.5 to burn the same MPEG file and can play it back on many more set-top VCD player.

It seems to me that Easy CD Creator does have some bugs and not at all that robust. I have never tried Nero before, but it seems to me that I have to agree to steer away from Easy CD Creator if you could, for VCD authoring.

Rusman Priyana

-- Rusman Priyana (priyana@eudoramail.com), November 10, 1999.

I fully agree with Nero software. I am using it and it gives fairly good results. Adaptec is the worst package I have seen.

-- Sanjeev Singla (SSingla@oxhp.com), November 10, 1999.

A note about the appraisal of VCD Creator. The reason I like using Nero is because I have a Sony DVP-S500D and with Nero I can burn vcds using mpeg files encoded at up to 2200kbps total bitrate. My dvd player can play these vcds with no problem and a lot higher quality. Of course, not all dvd players can play these non compliant vcds, but hey, I'm not using those. I've read on some postings that some people have been able to do this with some Panasonic DVD players. Obviously, the quality is much better with a higher bitrate. Oh, and also if you are capturing to avi, like I do, use VirtualDub. It's freeware and is extremely versatile. It allows an audio lock and also lets you control your buffer usage and disk i/o to avoid dropping frames. On top of that, it is also a decent avi editor.

HazyMind

-- HazyMind (hayzmind@earthlink.net), November 11, 1999.

To HazyMind,

I can't get Nero to accept non-whitebook MPEG files I threw at it, it keeps saying "stream encoding which is invalid for a Video CD". With Nero I have no luck burning MPEG files with video bitrate higher than whitebook standard. I resort to Video Pack but dislike its interface.

-- Vision (cckuan@hotmail.com), November 11, 1999.

I would like to correct my initial statement. I meant white book (not green book standard - sorry). I still maintain the key is the MPEG encoder that is being used. You can check if your MPEG is whitebook compliant by using IFILMEDIT even with the trial version. Open the mpeg file and check its properties. If Ifilmedit agrees it is VCD compliant, it will burn properly with ECD creator. Once you have your encoder set properly, you should have no further problems. Concerning the DVD, it is probably possible to tweak the bit rate to optimize it to your specific DVD but you have to remember that if you want to share your home movies among relatives, it is best to remain in the white book standard.

-- somebody (somebody@anybody.com), November 11, 1999.

To Vision,

How non compliant are your mpegs? The mpegs I encode, I do so with Panasonic MPEG Encoder Stand Alone. I usually use a total bitrate of 1600kbps (1376kbps video & 224kbps audio). When I load them with Nero (and I use 4.0.5.6) it tells me that the files are not compliant and asks if I want to continue by turning off Video CD 2.0 compliance. I hit okay and everything goes through just fine. Sometimes, I even use a total data rate of 2000kbps. I hope this helps.

HazyMind

-- HazyMind (hayzmind@earthlink.net), November 11, 1999.

To Hazyland

Well, I had suspected that my problem is that there is no option to me to to turn off Video CD 2.0 compliance in my version of Nero, 4.0.5.0. After knowing that your version is 4.0.5.6 , I went to Nero website and read in their update page:

Changes from 4.0.5.0 to 4.0.5.6: [snipped] Video CD: non-VCD 2.0 MPeg-files are allowed now [snipped]

I am downloading the latest update to 4.0.7.0. Thank you for your help. BTW, just to share that the higher bitrate files can be played back by my JVC VCD player - BUT in a funny "slow motion" sort of way, the higher the bitrate the slower the playback. I guess I would buy a DVD player capable of variable bitrate playback.

-- Vision (cckuan@hotmail.com), November 12, 1999.

Oops, should be "HazyMind", sorry. Guess I am the one who have HazyMind :)

-- Vision (cckuan@hotmail.com), November 12, 1999.