DVD to VCD???

[right_stuff]

is it possible to convert a DVD into a VCD? how and what apps would one need? thanks...

[Henjie]

DISCLAIMER: only legal if you own the DVD/s (original, of course) and the resulting VCDs are for your own personal use. :-)

Originally posted by right_stuff
is it possible to convert a DVD into a VCD? how and what apps would one need? thanks...

Yup. You need two apps: MacTheRipper to rip/copy the DVD (original/commercial DVDs are encrypted) to your hard drive and ffmpegX to do the conversion. Both are free (ffmpegX is a donationware).

Installing ffmpegX is not a simple process but all the instructions are included in the download.

First, rip the DVD. Instructions on how to use MacTheRipper can be found on its website. Once the DVD files are copied to your hard drive, fire up ffmpegX and do the following:

• Click on "Open" and select the VIDEO_TS folder that was copied to your hard drive.
• Click on "Save As" to set the save location as well as the folder name for the resulting VCD files.
• In the "Video" tab, click on "Quick Presets" at the bottom and select "VCD". To avoid any surprises, just use the default settings, especially for "Video Size", "Autosize", and "Framerate". Default VCD bitrate in ffmpegX is 1150Kbps. A lower value makes for a lower file size and additional loss in quality so don't go below 1150Kbps if possible. Don't go over 1200Kbps either 'coz you're just gonna increase the file size without getting any additional increase in quality.
• If you're using older 650MB CDs, select "74m mode-1" in the "CDs of" field. Otherwise, use "80m mode-1" if burning to current 700MB/80m blanks. The number of CDs depend on how long the movie is. Standard is 2 but 3 is a must for movies like LOTR, etc.
• Make sure "Encode video" is checked.
• Select the "Audio" tab. Keep the default settings except for the "Audio track". Use that to select the audio track you want to include in the VCD. Useful if you have a foreign (non-English) DVD with an extra English audio track (overdub) and you don't want to mess around with subtitles to understand the darn movie, hehe. "Encode audio" should be checked.
• Select the "Filters" tab. Use that to choose which subtitle to include in the VCD (if needed). Make sure the option is set to "Burn", not ".idx" or ".srt".
• In the "Options" tab, note the following options: "Altivec" should be checked if you have a G4/G5 Mac. Unchecked for G3 Macs. "Bicubic" should be checked for better quality (will slow down the encoding process though). "Black & White" should not be checked, hehe. "Letterbox" should be checked if the source video is in widescreen format. If full-screen, uncheck the "Letterbox" option.
• In my experience, choosing the "Decode with mplayer" option is better when converting DVDs to VCDs. It's also required if you want to include subtitles in your VCD.
• "Profile" should be "Standard VCD". "Q Matrix" either "Standard" or "High frequencies" (better quality, slower encoding). "Interlace" should be "Not interlaced". "Thread" either "Normal" (for single-proc Macs) and "Dual CPU" for dual-proc Macs (duh). "Constant bitrate" should be checked.
• In the "Tools" tab, check "Author as VCD (.bin/.cue)" and "Split in...". Select "Auto" for the "Split in" field. Uncheck "Keep elementary streams".
• Click on "Encode" and go watch a movie or something while waiting for the process to finish (this will take hours).

To burn the resulting VCD (.bin/.cue) files, you need Toast Titanium 5.x or 6.x.

For 5.x, choose the "Video CD" option in the "Other" tab then select the .bin file/s (don't include the .cue file/s but don't delete them either, just keep them in the folder). Burn the VCDs.

For 6.x, go to the "Copy" tab and choose the "Bin/Cue Files" option. Select the .cue file/s then burn the VCDs.

Good luck! :-)


~Henjie

[Edited on 7-6-2004 by Henjie]

[right_stuff]

hehe... sabi ko na, si Henjie yung first to reply... thanks man... i had my ffmpeg configured with your help... manuals are no match to Henjie!!!

THANKS!!!!

[Henjie]

Originally posted by right_stuff
i had my ffmpeg configured with your help

Tell me how it goes. Haven't tried encoding to VCDs using the latest version (0.0.9L) with all the new binaries yet. :-)

BTW, to make sure the encoder is really running, check "Open Terminal window" in the "Tools" tab. Crude way to check for activity (by monitoring the Terminal). ;-)

UPDATE: did some tests. I just finished encoding a 2-hour DVD to VCD using ffmpegX 0.0.9L (took around 2.5 hours). Found just one issue: the encoder won't run if the name/label of the source drive is composed of more than 1 word (ex. Hard Drive 1, My Drive, etc.). Same thing with the destination drive. But the workaround is pretty simple: just rename the drive/s before doing the conversion. Other than that, everything's working exactly as they should. :-)


~Henjie

[Edited on 7-6-2004 by Henjie]