What is a VideoCD?A Video CD (or VCD) is a method of placing data (in this case video footage) onto a standard CD introduced by Philips and Sony back in 1993. It is designed to hold video in a MPEG-1 format and in comparison to DVD (which uses MPEG-2 format) is of a far less quality. It can also only store around 70 minutes of footage, so a feature film placed on VCD will often require two discs to record onto. Despite holding less, and having poorer quality footage than a DVD, the VCD is still popular and in use due to the fact that an ordinary CD writer can burn VCDs – thus making it a cheap and easy way to transfer footage. A good quality DVD player will play video CDs and software such as PowerDVD will allow you to play it on a PC.
How do I Make a VCD? Before you go any further, you need to get your films into the appropriate format: This should be in the MPEG-1 format and at a resolution of 352 x 240 pixels for NTSC (in the US) or 352 x 288 for PAL (in Europe). This will result in filenames with the extension .mpg or .mpeg - if your films are not in this format then you will need to convert them, as a VCD will not normally allow other formats to be added.
Note: This tutorial is designed as an introduction to making VCD for PC. If you are looking to make VCDs using Amiga OS or Linux/GNU then try VCDimager - http://www.vcdimager.org/ First you need to download the Shareware tool VCDEasy. This trial version allows you to make VCDs, but not save the projects (for that you need to buy the full version). Once you have installed this application, then run it. Using VCDEasy - Fastrack!  On the VCDEasy website there are far more in-depth tutorials covering more aspects of how the software works. VCDs can do other, more complex things such as have menus and store photos, here however, and we are just going to look at the fast track method for creating a VCD with video. This will result in a basic film, which if you place more than one video file on, will simply play one file after another.
First you need to select the type of VCD you are going to create. For this, it is suggested you select the VCD 2.0 option (a more advanced version of the VCD format) and then select the appropriate region format; NTSC (e.g. in the US) or PAL (e.g. in Europe) and then finally un-tick the 'interactivity' box.
 Then you need to add your MPEG-1 files. To do this, simply right-click in the main window and then select the 'Add Files' option. Another dialogue box will open from where you can add a file. This process can be repeated until the VCD is full (see the bar at the bottom). As you add each file, the software will analyze it and if your it is not compatible, will either not allow the file to be added, or will pop-up a warning box indicating what the problem is. You can often click past the warning and still add the video - from experience it will still work when played back - but may look a little re-sized or artifacted (pixilated).
Following this you simply ensure you have a blank CDR in the drive and click the 'Go' button in the bottom-right of the window - and within a minute or two - you will have a VCD!
Further Links About VCDs
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/2496/vcdfaq.html#what
More on MPEG-1 (aka MPG1)
http://beta.plugincinema.com/cgi/resource_view.pl?id=16
Open Source Amiga OS and Linux VCD software
http://www.vcdimager.org/
VCDEasy
http://www.vcdeasy.org/
VCDEasy Tutorials
http://www.vcdeasy.org/modules.php?name=_Guides&id=Start
VCD Download
http://tucows.go-concepts.com/preview/260392.html |
