[konArtist]

my new vcd format: the most annoying yet!

i made my 1st vcd yesterday, and popped it in my dvd player, and it looks as if its tried to fit a wide screen image into my non wide screen t.v. the result? very thin, tall looking objects and a not so entertaining video. i used nero for most of the process. any suggestions?

~Kon Artist

edited 5 mins later:

also note its not my dvd player coz i just tried to watch the vcd on the computer and the same thing happened

[jjb]

What do you mean by "you used nero for most of the process"? What did you do outside of nero?

jjb

[konArtist]

i used virtualdub to touch up some things and make the file smaller, but that file is ok, when i open that file it works fine, when i open the vcd the image is streched

once again edited:

i think the problem may be occuring when nero converts the file to mpeg1, the file im inputing is AVI. is there any freeware out there i can use to make this conversion?

[Mulderator]

Somewhere in that process, there is a choice for "Aspect Ratio" and you should choose 4:3. The movie is being output in a wide screen aspect ratio. Check out my guide to burning VCDs and DVDs here:

http://forums.techguy.org/t236165.html

[konArtist]

Ummm, im using the wizard and it gives me no such option. do i have to to it manually? (i dunno how to make vcd's in the manual part of nero) . perhaps this is answered in that link, ill take a look

[Mulderator]

Originally Posted by konArtist

Ummm, im using the wizard and it gives me no such option. do i have to to it manually? (i dunno how to make vcd's in the manual part of nero) . perhaps this is answered in that link, ill take a look

I don't think Nero is the problem. It is the other program you are using. How did you get the video from your camcorder to the computer?

When you say "I open it up and it is fine", perhaps when you open it, the aspect is corrected automatically by whatever program you are using.

Anyway, the reason I gave you the link is to dump the way your doing it and use the system explained in that link.

[Mulderator]

In Nero, get out of the Wizard and Select File, New and select video CD and make sure the Encoded Resolution is set to "NTSC" unless you are in a country where "PAL" is utlized. That's the only place I can see in Nero that would change the resolution. I still think it is being encoded in wide screen format by either your camcorder or whatever program you are using to capture it to get it into your computer.

[konArtist]

ummm, its not cam corder (i no this coz im not using a cam corder) my mate sent me a skate video he wants me to put to vcd (he doesnt have a burner), the video is in wide screen, i think you may be right about the program im using, im testing that now. does it matter wat compression i use?
im presented with the following optoins:
cinepak codec by radius
divx pro(tm) 5.1.1
intel indeo(R) Video R3.2
intel IYUV codec
microsoft H.261 video codec
microsoft H.263 video codec
microsoft mpeg 4 video codec V1
microsoft mpeg 4 video codec V2
microsoft RLE
microsoft video one

[konArtist]

i tried both 1 to 1 and 4 to 3 ratio and neither changed anything, im open to any and all suggestions..

Also note i only have nero express...

[Mulderator]

Originally Posted by konArtist

i tried both 1 to 1 and 4 to 3 ratio and neither changed anything, im open to any and all suggestions..

Also note i only have nero express...

Download the trial version of TEMPenc 3.0 Express. It is a better encoder than Nero anyway. If it works and you like it, you can buy it--just $58. They also have a free version, but it won't encode DVD, but you may not need that if you're doing only VCDs.

http://www.pegasys-inc.com/en/product/te3xp.html

That has many more options for changing the look of the video.

[konArtist]

that gets rid of the ratio problem but introduces a lesser quality image...
btw, on a seperate video the sound and the sound and the image are out of sync, the only way to fix this is by using delays isnt it?

[Mulderator]

Originally Posted by konArtist

that gets rid of the ratio problem but introduces a lesser quality image...

Well VCDs will be lesser quality than AVI or DVDs. But that Encoder provides excellent qaulity compression at that price. You'd have to pay a lot more to get a better encoder and it won't make all that much of a difference. I use TEMPenc for my DVDs and you can't tell the difference between them and how they were shot originally on the Camcorder. But encoding VCDs is definitely going to be lesser quality.

You can try these other two encoders to see if they give you better quality:

Cinema Craft Basic Encoder ($58)

http://www.visiblelight.com/mall/pro...?cat=201&pid=7

MainConcept MPEG Encoder ($108) (very fast, but a likely less quality then the CCB or TEMPEnc)

http://www.mainconcept.com/mpeg_encoder.shtml

Originally Posted by konArtist

on a seperate video the sound and the sound and the image are out of sync, the only way to fix this is by using delays isnt it?

Don't know about that, but my guess is that video and audio were encoded as two separate files (that's how commercial DVDs are done) and somehow it is not in sync, but I don't know how you would sync that up. If it is now one file, you would need to separate the sound from the video and then sync it up somehow, but I've never done that.