i have two vcds that won't play. i can open up the folders and on one found 4 of the 7 folders are empty:cdda, cdi, ext, and karaoke. the other 3:mpegav, segment, and vcd all have files in them. i can copy the mpegav folder w/ the file:avseq01.dat and change it to *.mpg, and it will play fine on my computer. but when i try to burn it, using sonic mydvd, it starts to copy the file then reports an error message: this is not a valid mpeg file. do i need to include the other folders that contain files or do i need the missing files in order to be able to play this on a disc? or am i only going to be able to watch them this way?

these are not comercial releases. and the ones i have w/ all their files play fine. any help would be greatly appriciated.

peace, kirk

-- kirk shirey (admiralk@gmail.com), September 16, 2004

Answers

I suspect that the VCDs you have were created by simply copying the folders from one cd to the other and are not disc copies. N'ways my suggestion is you try this:

Rename all your aviseq files to *.dat Using VCD Easy (available from http://www.vcdeasy.org/) Under Tools / Mpeg Tools / cdxa2mpg select your *.dat files and convert them to *.mpg With your *.mpg files use any program to burn them as a VCD. (You can also use VCD Easy.

Hope this solves your problem.

~m

-- ~m (mtekayo@yahoo.com), September 16, 2004.

thanks for the help, i realy thought that would work, but still having the same problem. any other ideas?

peace, kirk

-- kirk shirey (admiralk@gmail.com), September 17, 2004.

I guess the only other alternative is to re-encode the mpeg files. I suggest using Honestech Mpeg Encoder. It does a wonderful job if you select best quality (no loss in picture quality) it is available from http://www.honestech-e.com/us/product27pro.asp and the best thing about it, is it is supports batch processing.

~m

-- ~m (mtekayo@yahoo.com), September 17, 2004.

Early versions of MyDVD did not support VCD burning. That particular feature was supposed to be implemented in version 3.1, but I have no idea if it was. I would suspect that your version doesn't have the ability to make a Video CD, and the program is simply throwing you a generic error message.

Nero will make a VCD, and does OK if it doesn't have to recode anything. There are other alternatives out there, check:

http://www.vcdeasy.org/

for a good author/burn program. VCDEasy used to be freeware, so some version of 1.x.x may still be out there. It went pay (but works very well!) on version 2.x

http://www.videohelp.com/

for information on VCD, and check:

-- Bryan (gryps-innocens@gryphon.zzn.com), September 18, 2004.

Ok, that last message was interesting. Somehow what I typed got turned around. The two links are valid, tho.

-- Bryan (gryps-innocens@gryphon.zzn.com), September 18, 2004.

no problems w/ mydvd v.4.5, and after reencoding it it burned fine. still won't play on the computer though. i desided to try it in the tv and it worked fine, along w/ the original. got the idea to try the original from another thread that said (i think) something about not working on the computer becase the disc wasn't finalized. so i guess that was the problem after all. the other disc i have is a whole other story, looks like the vert. hold went haywire. have to look around and maybe play w/ my new software :-) for a solution to that.

thanks again for all the help peace, kirk

-- kirk shirey (admiralk@gmail.com), September 18, 2004.

By "television," I assume you have a DVD player hooked to a TV.

If you've got a disc that plays ok on a standalone player, and not on a computer, you have a computer issue. The disc not being finalized would more than likely make it *not* work on an external device. Try using a program like Power DVD or Media Player Classic to play the disc.

The second disc is easier to solve. Rolling picture (probably B&W also) is a symptom of trying to play a PAL disc on an NTSC device. There isn't anything you can do about this short of reauthoring the disc or getting a new DVD player that can play PAL/NTSC discs and properly convert them to whatever format you are using.

-- Bryan (gryps-innocens@gryphon.zzn.com), September 20, 2004.

wow, do i feel stupid. you hit the nail on the head. computer issues all the way. usualy computer asks what i want to open w/ and gives me the options, just opens the files now. when i open w/ power dvd all is good. go figure. used the one w/ the "rolling" picture and it worked as good as could be expected (1970 video). i know i have limited changes w/power dvd and i guess it changes auto. or the problem was w/ my dvd player. either wayi'm a happy camper now.

thanks again, kirk

-- kirk shirey (admiralk@gmail.com), September 20, 2004.