The Original Official Guide by Sefy Levy
More Guides: TMPGEnc / DVDx / VirtualDub+LSX / Complete Guide

Introduction!

In this guide, I will attempt to make it as easy as possible to explain how to create a VideoCD of your AVI (DivX / XviD) movie, This version of the guide is updated to the latest programs and will guide you from Start to Finish in one go! using the most common and freeware programs! and also included is Chaptering, do remember MOST of the settings used here are DEFAULT, I did not make any changes, and if I did have, they are mentioned in the guide.


Programs used in this guide:

Identification - GSpot
Audio Extraction - VirtualDub
Encoding - MainConcept MPEG Encoder
Authoring - VCDEasy ( & ASPI Layer for your system! - use the search for "WinASPI" or scrool to the bottom of the page!)

Before we start with the guide, we must make sure the tools we are going to use actually work and setup correctly! Unzip the tools you are going to be working with into the SAME folder, and once you do, make sure all applications work, and then we are ready to begin! For this example i've used "Superman - The Movie Special Edition" DivX file and we will be converting it to a Video-CD NTSC Standard so it  will fit on two 80min CDR media. (or 74min with 2min Overburning, which is only if your CDRW drive and media supports it!), do remember that  740mb filesize will fit into 74min CDR and 800mb Filesize will fit into a 80min CDR (in VCD 1min = 10mb!).

NOTE: This current guide support Subtitles using the VobSub filter for VirtualDub, there are many other ways as well, but this is what will be used here, if you want to use other type of subtitles in your movie I suggest you use one of the other great guides on DVDRhelp!

This guide will be divided into the following sections:

Part 1 - AVI Identification
Part 2 - Audio Extraction
Part 3 - FrameServing
 Part 4 - Encoding
Part 5 - Authoring
Part 6 - Troubleshooting

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Using - GSpot

This is a nice new program which can detect the type of codecs that is being used in a compressed video file such as AVI/ASF and others, use the information it gives you to detect which Codecs are being used, especialy in the "Audio Format" and make sure that the Status says the "Codec IS Installed" or you may have to install the appropriate codecs for the encoding to work.



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Audio Extraction

Using the information you gained in GSpot, you need to choose which Audio Compression is used in your AVI file, if it's an AC3 encoding then skip to the "VirtualDub - AC3 Extract" section, if it's anything else, then go to the "VirtualDub - WAV Extract" section.

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Using - VirtualDub - WAV Extract

This program is basicly both an editor and a frameserver and has many filters, which one of them i'll cover here, and that is the SubTitles.
It makes it possible for an encoder (old or new) to encode the movie from the VOB files with the addition of selected filters, that it would not be capable of doing otherwise.


File Information - Before you start, check the type of Audio Compression being used in your DivX/XviD file, after you open it, click on the "File" menu and then on "File Information" in the Window you will get the type of Compression that is being used.



Step 1(a/b/c) - Click on "File" then "Open video file" and select your source (Such as the Fake AVI you created using VFAPI Converter) file, then click on "Audio" and set the Processing mode to "Full processing mode" then click on the "Compression" and select the "<No compression (PCM)>" option.

a) b)

c) 

Step 2(a/b) - Click on "File" then "Save WAV" and select your target name and click on the "Save" button

a)

b)

When you are done, continue to the Frameserving
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Using - VirtualDub - AC3 Extract

This program is basicly both an editor and a frameserver and has many filters, which one of them i'll cover here, and that is the SubTitles.
It makes it possible for an encoder (old or new) to encode the movie from the VOB files with the addition of selected filters, that it would not be capable of doing otherwise.


File Information - Before you start, check the type of Audio Compression being used in your DivX/XviD file, after you open it, click on the "File" menu and then on "File Information" in the Window you will get the type of Compression that is being used.



Step 1(a/b) - Click on "File" then "Open video file" and select your source file, then click on "Audio" and set the Processing mode to "Direct stream copy"

a) b)

Step 2(a/b) - Click on "File" then "Save WAV" and select your target name and click on the "Save" button, this will create an AC3 file with a WAV header which we will need to unpack into an Uncompressed WAV file for better usage with other programs.

a)

b)

Step 3 - Load HeadAC3he, and click on the "Source File" and select your generated AC3/WAV file, same destination will be automaticly filled in for the output file, if you want to change, then click on "Destination File" and select a different path.


Step 4a - Click on "Destination Format" to select which output type you want to create from the various options available.


Step 4b - Select the Integar value for your output file or leave on 16 bit int as default


Step 5 - Use the "Resample to:" to select a different Hz value for your output file, recommanded is to keep the file at 48khz for highest quality WAV file.


Step 6 - This section is for the more advanced users, but what may interest is the "Downmix Type" that will be done to your WAV file, select whichever you prefer and mark that option, default is "Surround 2" option.


When you are done, continue to the Frameserving

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Using - VirtualDub - FrameServing

This program is basicly both an editor and a frameserver and has many filters, which one of them i'll cover here, and that is the SubTitles.
It makes it possible for an encoder (old or new) to encode the movie from the VOB files with the addition of selected filters, that it would not be capable of doing otherwise.

Pre-Steps - Before you start with "VirtualDub", run the "AuxSetup" and select "Install handler" and press "OK " to confirm, when you are back at the "Auxiliary Setup" press the "Run VirtualDub" button, and this will run the main program.

Pre-Step A 

Pre-Step B 

Step 1(a/b) - Click on "File" then "Open video file" and select your source file, then click on "Video" and select "Filters" if you want to add the VobSub filter.

a) b)

Step 1c) - In the Filters menu, click on the "Add..." button.


Step 1d) - In the "Add Filter" selection, if your VobSub is not there, click on the "Load..." button.


Step 1e) - Use the "Load external filter" to locate and open the "vobsub_vd.vdf" file.


Step 1f) - After you have loaded the VobSub filter, Click on it, and press the "OK" button


Step 2a) - This is the "VobSub" main interface, click on the "Open..." button.


Step 2b) - Use the "Files of type" pulldown list, and select "Ifo and Vobs" and then Select your movie's VOB file and click on "Open" or if you have other type of Subtitles format, select from the "Files of type" and then "Open" the Subtitles file format you have and then skip to Step 2f


Step 2(c/d/e) - Select a location to save the "SubTitles" of the movie and Click on "OK", in the "Select PGC" you can select the Subtitles Language you want for the movie, and Click on the "OK" button, this process will several minutes, when it is done, Click "OK".


c) d) 

e)

Step 2f) - Now select the Language you want for your movie during the Frameserving, using the pulldown list. and also use the X and Y axis to move the Subtitles out of your movie. A minor adjustment makes a big difference, so don’t move the subtitles down too far or you won’t see them at all (thanks to ColtWalker!)


Step 2g) - After you have selected the Language, you can select the "Transparency" type, color of the subtitles and their location. and if you have already created an IDX file click on the "Open.." button and you can use it here to enable the usage of Forced Subtitles instead of Regular Subtitles! - (* How to create FORCED SUBTITLES *) - when you are done, Click on the "OK" button to continue.


Step 2h) - If you are satisfied with your selection, Click on the "OK" button, if you want to add more filters, do so now.


Step 3(a/b) - This is an OPTIONAL step which only depends on the Encoder you are using, if it supports Seperate Inputs for Audio and Video, you can skip these steps as they are NOT required! if your Encoder only has a single input or it crashes on large WAV files, only then you use these options!, Instead of the default "AVI audio" select "WAV Audio", this will cause a "Open WAV File" window to popup, here you select the Audio Track created earlier using VirtualDub, Click on "Open", then under the "Audio" select the "Full processing mode" option.


Step 4(a/b) - Click on the "File" menu and then click on "Start frame server..." and when you get the "Frameserver setup" click on "Start"

a) b)

Step 4(c/d) - After you clicked on the "Start" button, you will be asked to save the new frameserved file, make sure you add .VDR at the end of the file, as it is NOT being added automaticly. This will make VirtualDub ready to serve, when you are done with encoding, press on the "Stop serving" button.

   

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Using - MainConcept MPEG Encoder

This is a new encoder from MainConcept, it's as fast as TMPGEnc atleast, and it's quality is equal or better, that would be for you to decide, although it can open VOB files directly, it can only open one at a time, and since it can't open D2V files, you will also need the VFAPI converter and VirtualDub to make it accept the entire VOB's set of a movie, i've also had some major problems making it read the WAV file that was generated from the Movie, so if you are having problems, I suggest you set VirtualDub to frameserve both Video and Audio, this works great and doesn't reduce the speed of the encoder. If your source is an AVI file, you can try using it as both the Video and Audio sources.

NOTE: This Program is Shareware, however, it is not limited in anyway compared to the Registered version, but it does add a watermark logo to the resulting movie!

Step 1 - Select your "Video source" and "Audio source" by clicking on "Open", if you want your "Output file" to be in a different location then the default, then click on "Browse", when you are done, select the "MPEG type" you are creating. 

 

Step 2 - Under "Video mode" select if you are creating a PAL or NTSC movie, use the "Video input info" to determine your type of movie.


Step 3 (a/b) - Click on "Details" and here you can customize your movie's Video and Audio sections, everything is selected automaticly, but you can of course make changes if you know what you are doing. You can also by using the "Enable file splitting" option, select at which size you want the encoder to split the file, incase your movie is longer then one CD. If you want to author the resulting file into a DVD Media, then I suggest you change the Audio Frequency to 48000 Hz instead of 44100 Hz, as DVD specs require it.

       

Step 4a - Click on the "Advanced" button, and use the following screens to optimize your Video and Audio Quality to the max, you do NOT have to make any changes, and don't do unless you know what you are doing, there are four screens here to set up, in the "Video Settings" you can select the type of "Frame Rate" and the amount of the I and P frames


Step 4b - Click on the "Advanced Video Settings" to specify the type of "Matrix Coefficeients" and also use the "Additional settings" to fine tune the Video Quality.


Step 4c - Clicking on the "Audio Settings" will let you select how you want the Audio to be encoded, you can also set the "Audio type" and the "Mode" of the encoding (Stereo/Joint/Dual) and you can also Set Private/Copyright/Original and Enable CRC.


Step 4d - Click on "Multiplexer Settings" to choose the "Multiplexing type" from the pull down list, if you want to select at what point to split the file encoding, you can set the size under "Split file options", when you are done, click on the "OK" button.


Step 5 - Click on the "Convert" button to start the encoding process.


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Using - VCDEasy

A New program that is capable of doing chapters in a rather easy and simple way, and uses all the free tools out there for giving you the best of the best, it's chaptering capabilities are far simple but effective in the last few builds it has added support for the free CDRDao burning tool, and gives you an easy interface for burning the images it created.

Step 1a - Open VCDEasy, and set everything according to your specific movie, and follow the example below.
(* NOTE: Please do not create blank spaces in the Cue/Bin name, as CDRDao may have a problem burning it later on.*)

Step 1b - Press the "Add Files" button and select the first of the two files you encoded earlier.

Step 1c - Change the "Volume Label" to reflect the name of the Movie, and also select the "Bin Output File" location.

Step 2 - On the "Options" tab you can write down the name of the "Album" and also enable the "Use Playback Control (PBC) ".

Step 3a - Press the "Chapters" menu item and Here you can select to import the Chapters for your movie, Right Click to get the popup menu so you can import from Smart Ripper or Chapter-X-Tractor. you can also use the "Create.." to manually add Chapters at any point you like.

NOTE: Write down the "Duration" time of the first half of your movie, you will need it as a "Start Offset" for the second part. If your movie is only a single file, then ignore this.

Step 3b - Select the "End offset " for the first part of the movie, and press the ">>" button, this will add all the chapters to the "After" table and then press the "Ok" button when you are done.


Step 4 - Press the "Go" button, VCDEasy will begin analysing your MPG file and create an Image file for burning.



Step 5a - Go back to "Main" by pressing the "(S)VCD " button, remove the MPG file, and open the second part of the movie.

Step 5b - Change the name of the "Bin Output File", so you don't accidently overwrite the previous file (if you didn't burn it yet).

Step 5c - As in Step 3a and 3b, write in the "Start offset" the exact lenth of the previous part, in this example it's "1:15:11.000" and just mark the "End offset" as the end of the movie, and press the ">>" button, this will add all the chapters for the second part of the movie in the correct Chapter Times on the "After" table.


Step 6 - Press the "Go" button again to create the second image file of the movie.


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Using - VCDEasy / CDRDao

Step 1 - To burn the newely created images, first make sure that the CDRDo is set up correctly, go to the "Settings" and select the "CDRDAO" menu item, make sure you select your "CD Writer" and set the speed, and also enable the "Allow Overburn " if you plan on using over 80min CDR media.

Step 2 - Next, go to the "Tools" section and select "CDRDao Tools" from the above menu, here you can "Blank a CDRW " and also select to "Burn a CUE or TOC CD Image" file, you can also select to "Simulate" and not actually burn.  Press the "CUE/TOC file" button, and then select the Image you want to burn.

Step 3a - After you selected the first image of the movie (in this case Superman - VCD1.cue) then press the "Burn" button and the writing of the CD will start.

Step 3b - When you are done burning the first part select the second image of the movie (in this case Superman - VCD2.cue) and again press the "Burn" button and the writing of the CD will start.

 
 
 
 
THE END


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Troubleshooting

Here I will try to cover all the problems you may encounter, and hopefully help you fix them.

1) In Order for TMPGEnc to recognise D2V files, you MUST have the VFAPI and the DVD2AVI.VFP file located where the TMPGEnc.EXE file is! it will NOT work any other way! It is also sometimes helps to use the Forced Film option in DVD2AVI, but only if you are still unable to open the D2V files with TMPGEnc. (suggsted by msfox)

2) In some DVD movies the Audio Track is located on the second track, so you might want to try in DVD2AVI to rip the secondary Audio Track, if you are not sure which Audio Track to choose, open the Chapter-X-Tractor text file and you can check in there.

3) Also in some movies the Audio Track is a DTS and DVD2AVI is incapable of handling it and converting it to WAV, I would recommand you find a diffrent track, there is usually both DTS and AC3 tracks, use the information files by either Smart Ripper or Chapter-X-Tractor to find out if your movie has an AC3 track and if does, then on which track it is, and if there isn't find the next best alternative which would be the 2ch track.

4) Make sure when you encode the movie that you use the currect Template for your movie, an incorrect Template will cause A/V sync problems and not to mention the resolution will be distorted (if you use PAL on NTSC and NTSC on PAL).

5) If you are having problems copying the Movie VOB files to your HDD, I suggest you check your ASPI Layer, the ASPI that comes with Windows9x, Millenium are not good for ripping, update them, and Windows2000/XP does not come with an ASPI Layer at all! make sure you download the latest ASPI for your system, use ONLY WinASPI v4.60 Build 1021 (work on 98/Me/2000 and XP!)

6) If Smart Ripper or any other of the DVD Copying programs are unable to access your DVD Movie, try to first play the disc using any Software DVD Player, and then try to re-run the program.

7) Because the Copying program always selects as default the longest running title of the DVD, it might select the wrong title, So make sure the VOB's that were copied are indeed the VOB that belong to the movie itself and not the Extra features (e.g. Pearl Harbor).

8) FlaskMPEG does NOT come with the Panasonic MPEG1 Plugin, you must get and install the plugin on your own, it is NOT a freeware.

9) DVDx and FlaskMPEG require the IFO file, so make sure you rip that you select "Files Mode" or "Backup Mode" in your ripper. 

10) There is a bug in VirtualDub v1.4.10 which causes the Handler not to work, so use the Handler installer from v1.4.9 or switch to the latest version v1.5.1 as the bug was fixed in the later releases.

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Copyright 2000-2003 by Sefy Levy, All Rights Reserved.

Best Regards,
Sefy Levy,
Certified Computer Technician.