Video CD's with OS X

[nesuser2]

Well, I'm back into videos and editing once again and I want to know everybodies opinions. I'm also not 100% sure that this belongs here, but it's close anyways.

Most of my videos are coming from my eyeTV and they work awesome in Toast 6. The files don't even require any kind of encoding, it just zips right through things. So, on my Powerbook, I only have a combo drive and I have two Windows Systems at home with DVD burners on them.

Now for the tricky part! In toast, it will allow you to choose a VCD and then by burn you can change it to a DVD. You can obviously fit a lot of video on a DVD in VCD format. So anyways, my main questions are:

1. Will this actually work. I can compile it but can't test it.
2. Does anybody suggest another method for getting lots of video on a disc capable of being read in a DVD player.
3. Is there maybe a way I can create an image in Toast and copy it over to my XP machine and burn the Image?
4. Finally, how does Roxio create a program like Toast and there is nothing for windows even comparable. Even Roxio 7 for Windows is horrible...

Anyways, I appreciate any help that anybody can lend to be or lead me to. Thanks a bunch in advance!

 

[Nermal]

Putting VCD content on a DVD breaks the spec. Whether it'll work or not will depend on the player you use. I'm pretty sure that all software players will be able to play them, but you might have difficulty with hardware players. For example, my Philips 625K won't play DVD content on a regular CD (the opposite from what you're suggesting).

 

[mac4drew]

1. Will this actually work. I can compile it but can't test it.

I don't think it will. DVD players are designed to expect only one format on a DVD, which, I believe, is MPEG-2. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong.)

2. Does anybody suggest another method for getting lots of video on a disc capable of being read in a DVD player.

I'm not sure I really know of any formats that can be recognized by a common DVD player other than MPEG-2, but a special player might be able to recognize other formats on a DVD-R. The best advice I can give you is to just try it and see if it works.

3. Is there maybe a way I can create an image in Toast and copy it over to my XP machine and burn the Image?

Doesn't look like toast can save to anything except .toast files, maybe Roxio's windows software can import these, though, give it a try, or look in the open/import dialogs in the Windows software.

4. Finally, how does Roxio create a program like Toast and there is nothing for windows even comparable. Even Roxio 7 for Windows is horrible...

I only use Nero on Windows, it's not great, but it's slightly better than Roxio's offering for Windows. In my opinion, all burning software sucks, on Windows and Mac-- it's too buggy, it's all bloatware, and it makes too many shiny coasters and frisbees.

Good luck with burning your DVDs!

 

[nesuser2]

You are very right, All burning software does pretty much suck.....but toast is by far the best. I'm still kicking myself for not getting a superdrive in my Powerbook but I can't afford to mess around trying to sell mine and get one with a SD and I'm surely not paying to get one installed.

As far as the question about the vcd on dvd....the only reason I believe it would work in a dvd player is because my dvd player will read the vcd's. My dvd player will also read dvd content on cd(short movies, holds quality and it's cheaper/faster) But, since I can play vcd's....I should be able to play what is essentially a vDVD. A cd and DVD are much the same except one can hold more data than the other. Both are optical discs(if people didn't know my 2 most recent/obvious statements...maybe computers aren't your bit ) Anyways, in VCD format, the DVD should just hold more content than a CD since I can currently get about 80 minutes of content on a CD, then I should be able to get a whole lot more on a DVD.

Anyways, checking out roxio on windows....it sucks so bad, I might not ever know if it will work or not to get toast files on it. It crashes repeatedly, so i kinda gave up. The only alternatives I've found would be the "shared recorder" option in Toast if I can possibly share my dvd recorder and burn it over the network(that may take a lifetime but I would only need to do it every once in a great while) Or....of course, buy an external DVD+/-RW

If anybody else wants to throw in their two cents, it's still much appreciated. Thanks for the replies so far guys!

 

[Makosuke]

1. Making a VCD-format DVD is fundamentally broken, and unlikely to work properly on many, if any, players.

2. Conceptually, what you really want to do is create a low-bitrate DVD. This is quite possible given the correct software.

That is, almost all commercial and home-burned DVDs use relatively high bitrate MPEG2 video--about enough for 1.5 hours on a single-layer disc (700-800KBps)--to keep the picture quality good.

But, there's nothing in the DVD specs that stop you from putting very low bitrate video on a DVD, and the DVD spec actually includes provisions for everything from "standard" high-bitrate, 720x480 MPEG2 video all the way down to 352x240 MPEG1 video, which is what VCDs use.

The trick is finding a program that can take relatively low quality MPEG1 video and make a proper DVD out of it. What that software might be, I sadly don't know.

3. I believe Toast can export images (I know it does ISO for CDs, probably DVDs too) that are burnable with most disc burning software, regardless of platform or company.

4. Can't explain that one.

 

[7on]

If you have iLife 04 install iDVD. There's a hack somewhere that allows iDVD to make images instead of burning to DVD.

 

[tobio]

putting mpeg1 vcd size/bitrate clips is NOT breaking dvd spec. the resolution is called "half D1" and works. I have never done this on my mac, but using TMPEG DVD author on the PC I have done this and watched the results back on many different dvd players without problems. You can quite literally get hours of reasonable quality video onto a DVD. It is especially great for tv episodes. The only part that i think may be slightly out of spec is the soundtrack being 44Khz vs 48Khz, but I have never come across problems playing either.

 

[Nermal]

You're probably right about half D1, I'm relatively now to DVD so don't know about it. When I said that putting VCD content on a DVD breaks the spec, I was talking about the using VCD file structure on a DVD (dat files instead of vob files etc.)

 

[TBR]

This is pretty much what I want to do, make a vDVD with hours of footage on it. Not found a way yet myself but some pointers in this thread have helped. If i find a way before someone else does I'll post it myself.

 

[nesuser2]

Well, I'm glad I checked in on this. I think I'll try TMPeg and see what happens. On the other hand, I recently used motion pictures to take some relatively nice pictures and make a short .mov file (10 minutes) and I was able to fit what would appear to be about 12 minutes of any movie on a cd/dvd. In toast, if you click dvd video or whatever it is(3 options in video: vcd, svcd, and dvd something. The latter) When it opens, for those looking to make high quality short films, just click the dvd icon in the corner where it shows how full it is. It will switch to cd and fill your average cd. Average cd's are about 702mb...can't wait until they get bigger/the bigger ones hit the market.(I read about this once...)

Thanks for everybodies replies, if anybody else has any suggestions, I would most certainly appreciate it. And for the record, i'm burning video that has come from my eyetv usb(Standard quality).