VCD's on my 3 pc's but not autoplay on any PC

[- Bobb -]

I've looked on google - found lots of references but can someone tell me
the basics about making a VCD.

My objective is to bring it to other people's houses to watch the VCD on
their living room DVD or their PC CD player. ( depending on where I visit)
Shouldn't VCD burning apps " make a VCD that autoplays" ? I can't find
that as an option in any of the software setup.
I don't want a menu - there's only one movie on the cd - just play it.

I know that to view it on my PC , I can open the MPEGAV folder and
double-click on the dat file, but ( THIS IS WHAT I DON'T GET AT ALL about
that): I could have done that BEFORE MAKING the VCD - I had an AVI file -
then a WMV file - 8 hours ago !! If that's all I needed, I could just copy
the wmv or avi file to a cd and off I go. BUT family with no pc in living
room wants to view it on their DVD player. ( Yeah I can get around it by
just viewing the wmv file on my laptop but I'm trying to learn why NONE of
my attempts to make a VCD succeeds.)

What I've done:

1. I have pictures/video from camera (jpg, avi)
2. Imported via XP Windows Movie Maker to the PC's
3. Used Windows movie maker to create a .WMV file - fine. ( about 80mb)

Then to make VCD's, on the PC's I used
PC #1 EZCD Creator ,
PC #2 Sonic MyDVD v6.2,
and
PC #3 Nero 7.2

NONE of the VCD's will Autoplay on a CD/ DVD drive. BECAUSE of that ( I
figure if won't autoplay on the same PC) it won't play in the DVD players
in my house either.

Shouldn't ALL of these apps " take a wmv file and make a VCD that
autoplays" ? In none of the VCD's is there a file in the root directory
of the VCD ( like autoplay.xyz): just folders.

I used Nero and just used the avi files to create a vcd - same thing -
I've done NOTHING but waste a LOT of time. ( often hours to convert it
before it even starts the burn.)

What in the "big picture" am I missing ?
Shouldn't a VCD autoplay ? ( BTW the size of all of the VCD's is about
500mb)

 

[M.I.5¾]

I've looked on google - found lots of references but can someone tell me
the basics about making a VCD.

My objective is to bring it to other people's houses to watch the VCD on
their living room DVD or their PC CD player. ( depending on where I visit)
Shouldn't VCD burning apps " make a VCD that autoplays" ? I can't find
that as an option in any of the software setup.
I don't want a menu - there's only one movie on the cd - just play it.

I know that to view it on my PC , I can open the MPEGAV folder and
double-click on the dat file, but ( THIS IS WHAT I DON'T GET AT ALL about
that): I could have done that BEFORE MAKING the VCD - I had an AVI file -
then a WMV file - 8 hours ago !! If that's all I needed, I could just copy
the wmv or avi file to a cd and off I go. BUT family with no pc in living
room wants to view it on their DVD player. ( Yeah I can get around it by
just viewing the wmv file on my laptop but I'm trying to learn why NONE of
my attempts to make a VCD succeeds.)

What I've done:

1. I have pictures/video from camera (jpg, avi)
2. Imported via XP Windows Movie Maker to the PC's
3. Used Windows movie maker to create a .WMV file - fine. ( about 80mb)

Then to make VCD's, on the PC's I used
PC #1 EZCD Creator ,
PC #2 Sonic MyDVD v6.2,
and
PC #3 Nero 7.2

NONE of the VCD's will Autoplay on a CD/ DVD drive. BECAUSE of that ( I
figure if won't autoplay on the same PC) it won't play in the DVD players
in my house either.

Shouldn't ALL of these apps " take a wmv file and make a VCD that
autoplays" ? In none of the VCD's is there a file in the root directory
of the VCD ( like autoplay.xyz): just folders.

I used Nero and just used the avi files to create a vcd - same thing -
I've done NOTHING but waste a LOT of time. ( often hours to convert it
before it even starts the burn.)

What in the "big picture" am I missing ?
Shouldn't a VCD autoplay ? ( BTW the size of all of the VCD's is about
500mb)

First off, Video CDs are not based on the .avi file format, they are based
on the .mpg format (though as you note the file extension is .dat).

Secondly, you must use an application that specifically supports Video CD
format. You cannot just write the files using a standard CD writing
utility. Video CD is written in Mode 2 Form 2 - basically the error
detection and correction is dropped in favour of a faster data rate.

If the disk is correctly written it should auto start on any video DVD
player and also on a PC (assuming it has a VCD replay utility). There are
several standards for VCD, but all of them should be recognised and play
automatically.

 

[- Bobb -]

First off, Video CDs are not based on the .avi file format, they are
based on the .mpg format (though as you note the file extension is
.dat).

Correct. I HAD avi files. I didn;t drag/drop avi files. I used each app
to create a "VIDEO CD" from the menu and selected the avi files on my pc
and it took an hour or so for each app to translate into "video Cd "
format and then it burned a CD.

Secondly, you must use an application that specifically supports Video
CD format. You cannot just write the files using a standard CD writing
utility. Video CD is written in Mode 2 Form 2 - basically the error
detection and correction is dropped in favour of a faster data rate.

The "dir" of the CD's looks like video CD - the 5-6 folders (mpegav etc)
, but none of them work. I've only tried it a few times in the past but
never successful - even playing back on the same PC/drive that burns it.
That's why the frustration at my end. Seems simple - choose Video CD from
menu - insert blank CD. when it ejects it should work. I\ve tried
different cd's differnet burn rates etc -still no go.

If the disk is correctly written it should auto start on any video DVD
player and also on a PC

(assuming it has a VCD replay utility).

What does that mean ???? I have XP Pro and assume that Media Player V10
would open it - right ??

There are several standards for VCD, but all of them should be
recognised and play automatically.

On a good day - which I haven't had - I guess.

 

[M.I.5¾]

What does that mean ???? I have XP Pro and assume that Media Player V10
would open it - right ??

No it doesn't.

Media Player doesn't even support DVD natively, though most people have got
the codecs from somewhere (usually when a DVD playing utility is installed).
Most (retail - and a few brown box) DVD burners ship with a DVD playing
utility and I know of none which don't support video CD as well. But a good
start would be to see if your Video CD plays on a standard video DVD player
(but note that some older ones don't support CD-R or CD-RW (if it will play
audio CD-R, it will play VCD on CD-R) ). This will at least tell you if the
VCD is in a viable format.

 

[- Bobb -]

No it doesn't.

Media Player doesn't even support DVD natively, though most people have
got the codecs from somewhere (usually when a DVD playing utility is
installed). Most (retail - and a few brown box) DVD burners ship with a
DVD playing utility and I know of none which don't support video CD as
well.

But a good start would be to see if your Video CD plays on a standard
video DVD player (but note that some older ones don't support CD-R or
CD-RW (if it will play audio CD-R, it will play VCD on CD-R) ). This
will at least tell you if the VCD is in a viable format.

Sorry if I didn;t mention it, but before posting, I had tried on my 2 DVD
players ( Samsung and GE ) and didn't play on either.

 

[M.I.5¾]

Sorry if I didn;t mention it, but before posting, I had tried on my 2 DVD
players ( Samsung and GE ) and didn't play on either.

Agolopies, You did mention it and I forgot it. I can only therefore assume
that for some reason the disks are not in a format that the players
recognise. As to why this should be, I cannot begin to guess. You say you
have tried 3 VCD authoring packages with similar results. What happens if
you try to author them on a different PC (yes, I'm at the clutching at
straws stage).