How to make a VCD with one single MPEG track and menue?

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Video CD : One Thread

Hi there,

I'd like to create a VCD with one single MPEG track. The MPEG track has multiple entrypoints. I will choose these entrypoints from the menue. Main thing is that I will split the menue in several pages. E.g. the MPEG track has nine entrypoints I will split the menue in three menue pages with three buttons each.

How can I manage this with VideoPack 4.0?

Thank you for your help.

-- Andreas (neutron@cheerful.com), May 01, 2000

Answers

This i would like to know as well. So far VP4 always crashed on me. It will not allow this even with a single menu. How do you make the mpeg file with multiple entrypoints?

-- (wingstarzz@hotmail.com), May 01, 2000.

VCD doesn't allow chapters inside mpeg files (as in DVD). You need to split the mpeg file into individual files and use the menu to call these files.

-- Garth (bird@iinet.net.au), May 01, 2000.

VideoPack allows you to set multiple entrypoints. Go to playitem - properties enter the entrypoint hh:mm:ss:ff and click add. The thing I don't know is how to relate entrypoint #1 to menue button #1, entrypoint #2 to menue button #2... and so on.

-- Andreas (neutron@cheerful.com), May 01, 2000.

Garth, why isn't it possible to add chapters in a MPEG track via entrypoints? The online help of VideoPack says that is possible. Also all factory made VCD's a own got this feature (e.g. James Bond, Apocalypse Now, Mr. Bean...). Even CD-i in Green Book format got this feature. And all this disc have a single MPEG track only.

-- Andreas (neutron@cheerful.com), May 01, 2000.

I can answer as far as EZ CD Creator goes in regards to menus. When the VDC starts the first thing that plays in the start sequence. This can be anywhere from a second or two to as long as you wish. It only plays at the initial start-up. It then goes to the Menu page which I create using the Title block in Ulead and convert to mpg1. I like to make my first menu selection include all my clips so I add each one in the right order under play sequence 1. I then go to play sequence 2 and add all the clips except clip #1. I continue this process for each menu choice. By doing that when I choose #1 from the remote all the clips play seamlessly. If I choose #2 all the clips play beginning from the second clip and so on. Although you have added each clip to the play sequence more than once only one of each clip gets copied to your disk. If you have more than one clip under a menu choice and hit the next button from your remote it will skip to the next clip. Much like jumping to the next chapter.

-- Al McCraw (almccraw@ix.netcom.com), May 01, 2000.


To Andreas, VideoPack specifies entry points, not chapters. As I get it within one MPEG track the skip button of the remote can be pressed and you jump one entry point ahead. If you want chapters you have to devote an entire track to it. Chapters within a track are not allowed; only entry points. To distinguish the entry points within a track there has to be means of identifying them to go to each of them directly instead of having to sequentially press skip; White Book as I get it has none of these. This is one difference between VCD and DVD. Different ways of addressing in the DVD standard allow chapters to either be whole tracks or entry points within those tracks and have the same significance.

-- EMartinez (epmartinez@yahoo.com), May 02, 2000.

Question: there's a VideoPack 4 FAQ somewhere? In the last year and half i've read about the many problem that this program has for creating a VCD with entry points, but no FAQ or HowTo for that purpose.

What will be useful to know, from someone who works sucesfully with this program, is:

- Mpeg source: any Mpeg or must be something special? If something special, what are the software encoders or hardware boards that can do that files with attributes? - What are the best settings for these h/s encoders for that purpose that allows to create a VCD with entry points? - What are the useful tools that allows editing of the Mpeg file without trashing the VCD specs? - What version and patches are needed for VP4 in order to work ok with entry points? For example, i've just seen a msg about the VolumeLabel, and there's the need of a patch for that. Need others too? -Simple HowTo for creation of VCD with entry points.

Maybe someone has already done a site with this, i don't know.

Thanks.

-- Jean-Luc Picard (jl.picard@startrekmail.com), May 02, 2000.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ