Creating an SVCD problems

I have some video footage that's about 3 minutes long that I captured from my vcr. The file right now is about 610mb large. I would like to put the video onto a cd as a svcd that is playable in a pc dvd player. I have Nero 5.5.6.4. And I have Adobe Premiere 6.01 just in case somebody needs to know this info. The file I'm using is in avi format right now. Do I need to encode it first before making the svcd? Or should I just let nero encode it (which seems to take hours and hours)? The end result that I want, is a svcd, that will be playable with decent quality at full screen, and possibly have a menu. But maybe there's some settings in Nero that I'm overlooking or something. I've made many coaster so far, and I'm fed up because I can't seem to make this work right.

If you just let Nero do it, you don't get any problems!

Yeah, that's what I was trying to do, but when I go to try and play the DVD I'm getting nothing. I wish I knew what I was doing wrong. Ar! This is frustrating. Maybe my AVI file is corrupt or something.

Make sure that your DVD supports SVHCD's first. If you have burnt several and they are not playing then your player may not support them (nor VCD's). My Home DVD supposedly only supports DVD & CDA (accordig to manual, website, etc) yet it playback VCD's, SVCD & MP3 with no problem.

I'm actually just trying to use my PC DVD player, and it won't even work. If I could play them in my home DVD unit, then that would definately be a bonus. I actually did successfully make an SVCD one time, but just haven't had any luck since then. Oh well, I'm sure I'll figure out something. Thanks for the help though. :)

Okay, chances are Nero does not have a very good encoder and won't work very well. Get an encoder (TMPGEnc is a very good one and it is freeware. <a href="http://www.tmpgenc.com/)" target="_blank">http://www.tmpgenc.com/)</a> You will have to select your appropriate settings (16:9 aspect ratio, interlace, Field B for field order and NTSC video CD and 352X240 resolution for american format) and then encode it. It will take a little while but it should work as long as you encode it with the proper settings. For all settings and long, thorough, documentation, go to <a href="http://www.vcdhelp.com." target="_blank">www.vcdhelp.com.</a>

Cool, I'll try all that. I did download that TMPGEnc encoder per another thread that Scuba advised in. But I didn't really know what types of specs to follow for the endoding setup. I'll try that encoding advise of yours and post back if it's successful.

The VCD nd SVCD file settings are very strict. If the original files are not in spec you will have problems.

In my site are two tutorials on TmpgEnc.
One for using it with Premier 6 and AviSynt.
Use it and use the TmpgEnc VCD or SVCD encoding template in order to have a compatible file.
Then use Nero VCD project settings.

[quote]Originally posted by Scuba:
<strong>The VCD nd SVCD file settings are very strict...</strong><hr></blockquote>

Yeah,.. tell me about it! This whole thing has been driving me crazy. It seem's like you have to have a PHD in video to get this all to work right. I'll take a look at those tutorials. I think I did already, but I'll read through it more thoroughly this time.

I got some good news about this. I finally made a VCD. Thanks Scuba. Those settings from your site helped in creating the MPEG-2 file. But I didn't have any luck with Premiere. There must be some small minute setting I overlooked or something. Also, my Nero patch for SVCD doesn't seem to be working because I got an error about that. Oh well, at least I can make a VCD which is good enough for me. Thanks all for all the help.

PHD in video....
Where do I get one, this will be a simple one :D