A little help for a newbie, please. What formats are most friendly for encoding video for distribution on Video CD? What are the advantages and disadvantages? We are able to encode MPEG2-I Frame with a Matrox RT2000 system. Should this be converted to something more common and friendly for mass distribution? If so what format and what software do you recommend? We simply need to drop the video on the CD, no interactivity. Any suggestions?

Thanks for your help.

-- Steve Cox (steve@visionaryvideo.net), June 12, 2000

Answers

I wish I had that (wow!) Matrox RT2000. Anyway, Video CD is Video CD which is one particular format and no other, the specifics of which are enshrined in the Philips, et al White Book standards. It is constant bitrate MPEG-1 with typical GOPs of 15,3,3 for example, etc. If that Matrox captures to an MPEG-2 stream as you say you need a s/w MPEG-1 encoder (like Panasonic or TMPGENC) to convert that MPEG-2 stream into a White Book-compliant MPEG-1 stream for authoring to a Video CD. If that Matrox can capture direct to a White Book-compliant MPEG-1 stream with any level of quality (I'd like to know what level of quality for a >$1000 device) you now have the files needed for authoring a Video CD directly. The ads for the RT-2000 say it captures in MPEG-2 for DVD and Video CD which may confuse those who are not aware that White Book Video CD IS CBR MPEG-1. Okay, SVCD is MPEG-2 but that's another thing.

-- EMartinez (epmartinez@yahoo.com), June 13, 2000.