I have used ADPATEC EASY CD CREATOR to make VCD's that will play back in my PC, but I have run into trouble making ones that will play back in my Philips (model 825) DVD player. Philips tech support says these CD's should play back in their player, but that I need to be sure they are "finalized." I don't know what I need to do differently in ADAPTEC EASY CD CREATOR to finalize them. Maybe I need a different version. Can anyone who has made "finalized" VCD's that will play back on a DVD with ADAPTEC software tell me what I need to do (and the version you have used)?

-- Mark Poindexter (mpoin@sensible-net.com), November 27, 1999

Answers

Hello.

"Finalized" means the CD has to be "closed", i.e: no more stuff can be written on the CD. The defualt setting for Easy CD creator when creating Video CD is to Close the CD. Next time you prepare a Video CD, make sure this option is checked in the dialog that appears before you burn the CD.

-- Guy (guy1511@hotmail.com), November 27, 1999.

Adaptec Easy CD (VCD Creator), by default, unless you tell it otherwise, when you use it to create VCDs, it "closes" the VCD, and if all was well in the layout and whatnot, THAT VCD should play in your 825. There are a few things you could check. One is prior to creating the VCD, with all the layout arranged the way you want, try clicking on "validate layout" on the top toolbar. If your layout is indeed okay, it should say "No errors detected". Another thing may have to do with a nasty bug Easy CD has, in which it willy-nilly puts .dat files in the segment directory of the VCD, instead of in the Mpegav directory. In the White Book spec, if an .mpg file meets complete VCD requirements (CBR, audio is 224Kb/s 44k/16b/stereo, etc.) then it has to be placed by the authoring s/w (Easy CD in this case) in the mpegav directory only. *.mpg audio only files, and video with bitrates other than 140KB/s, as well as still image .mpg files and all other .mpg files that are other than the type described to be put in the mpegav directory are supposed to be put in the segment directory. Easy CD sometimes screws up and puts all files in the segment directory, leaving the mpegav directory empty. This would have been okay if the intended VCD had menus and/or sub-menus (making ver 2.0) that are there to navigate the VCD structure and take a cue from the user what files he wants to play, based on choices in the menu. Without this menu, the VCD just sits there useless and waiting for cues that will never come.

-- EMartinez (epmartinez@hotmail.com), November 28, 1999.

Has this Adaptec bug been fixed in V 4.0?

-- John Vickers (johnvick@ihug.co.nz), November 28, 1999.

No.

-- EMartinez (epmartinez@hotmail.com), November 29, 1999.

What would you then recommend for creating Video CD's???

-- Samir Alamari (alamari@usa.net), November 29, 1999.

I read here about a lot of people complaining about Adaptec's. The other day one of us guys commented that Adaptec is actually a very well written software because it won't allow the creation of a VCD if the input .mpeg file is not fully compliant. I agree with him; other softwares maybe more forgiving but when time comes to play those VCD in standalone players they won't work. Which is the reason for making a VCD? Obviously to play it on a standalone player (now or in the future), if you were just to play it in a PC why not just record a MPEG file with a better bitrate than the poorish 1150 kbps? Adaptec v.3.0d* works perfectly if you input a fully compliant MPEG and I can't imagine this exactly same software making bads VCDs in other machines, as the environments are all the same: Win/95 or 98. So very probably, as Emartinez stated, is at the supplied mpeg file. *version 3.0d is obtainable by patching the 3.0

-- Matias (petrellm@telefonica.com.ar), November 30, 1999.

If you are using CD-R try CD-RW some DVD players will only play CDRewriteable VCD's.

-- JHS (sve@sunet.net), December 05, 1999.