SVCD on DVD-R discs

[themamboman]

Has anyone tried it?

I would like to put my SVCD files onto DVD-R disc and have my DVD player recognize it as an SVCD, just not on a CD-R disc.

I have read a method of putting VCDs onto DVD-r, but tricking the player into thinking that it is a DVD.

I don't want to do that. I just want the DVD to see an SVCD, but it just happens to be on a DVD-r instead of CD-r.

I figure that 3 full SVCD movies could be fit on a 4.7gig DVD-r, if they normally would have taken 2 cd-r each separately.

I haven't had the $$$ yet to buy a DVD-r drive, so I haven't had the opportunity to try myself.

TheMamboMan:confused:

[AbuNidal]

I'm not experienced in mastering DVDs, but AFAIK the DVD-specs allow as well 2/3 or 1/2 resolutions, that is, for NTSC, 480x480 or 352x480 and for PAL 480x576 or 352x576. This means that you'll get the same picture quality for your bitrates as for SVCDs when using the 2/3 resolution.

Or is there another special reason why you want your DVD-Player to recognize your DVD-R as SVCD?

Beware that SVCDs have another Sector Size (2324 bytes) than DVDs (2048 bytes). If you want to copy your files from SVCDs to DVDs then, you would have to demux and mux again, using DVD-specs.

[Doom9]

DVD specs don't allow SVCD resolution! So that's your first problem. The 2nd is that for SVCD you accept a certain loss of quality because of the bitrate limits.. DVDs don't have that and what I'm hearing you can do DVDs at SVCD-like bitrates following robshots method (www.robshot.com) that look like the DVD (of course I have my doubts that's 100% accurate but I'm a very critical guy in the first place).

Anyways.. the point is.. if you want DVD better make it a real one.

[int 21h]

DVD only allows for 352 x 480 or 704 x 480 or 720 x 480. Perhaps Mpeg2 at 352 x 480 at SVCD bitrate could be authored and still look ok.

[AbuNidal]

Ooops, sorry for the 2/3 res.! Doom9 was right, as always... ;)

In case anyone (including me) is uncertain about some DVD-specs, check out http://www.thedigitalbits.com/officialfaq.html

[Doom9]

that's my source of info, too ;)

[Mozart]

Jim Taylor's faq said:
[2.1] Will DVD replace VCRs?
Not any time soon. Recordable DVD is for computer data only, not television video (see 1.14). It will take a while before the size of the market drives costs down to VCR levels. However, DVD has many advantages over VCRs, including fundamentally lower technology cost for hardware and disc production (which is appealing to manufacturers), so if DVD is a commercial success it might replace many VCRs in fifteen to twenty years.


well, it seems that this info has an error of at least 14 years. Here in Brasil the Philips manufacturer anounced that in December 2002 the VCR manufacture will be finished. I guess that this means that a cheap standalone DVD-recorder will be released before the end of this year.:cool:

[Doom9]

we'll see if that happens.. I personally have a hard time believing it. I think they're just cutting back on the VHS production but that doesn't mean they won't sell them anymore.. just consolidate their plants because the market is saturated... almost everybody who's likely to get a vhs already has one.. now they'll slowly ramp up DVD recorder production

[Faceman101]

I'm sure alot of people have seen how to get VCD on a DVD-R by just having 48 as your audio bitrate. I asked on the forums of VCDHelp about SVCD on DVD with the same audio and got one responce that wasn't any help (as in trying or knowing for a fact it isn't possible). I'd rather try myself, but do not own a DVD-R drive yet.

[Nahie]

Yes, it is possible to put SVCD MPEG2 video on a DVD-R. You have to re-encode the audio though, and it may not work on standalone players (but it does work on software and computer hardware decoders)

Check out this thread:

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&postid=68289#post68289

[Goldfinger_007]

mmm... I think you've misinterpreted the original question. I was about to post the same question, but decided to search instead. (previous reply on this thread was 3 months ago!)

So, to recap:

Instead of having 6 CDs with 3SVCD movies on them, can the same three movies be put onto a DVD-R?

Can a menu be used to select which one play?

[Faceman101]

That is what I asked on the VCDHelp.com forums. No go on an answer. I was speaking of VCD working on DVD-R with the 48 audio.

What Nahie is talking about is tricking the DVD player into thinking your SVCD stream is in fact a DVD stream.

For you question, I have not seen it answered anywhere and if I had a DVD-R drive, it would on the top of my list of things to try.

[jdobbs]

themamboman,

I suggest you look here (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19779&highlight=SVCD+DVDR)

I've converted most of my SVCDs to DVD-R using this method.

jdobbs

[Goldfinger_007]

@jdobbs
Please only post a reply relating to the question (see my previous post)

[jdobbs]

Goldfinger_007,

1. No. You can't format a DVD-R as a SVCD. Most (all?) players recognize the disc as DVD and expect the UDF format. It then will give you a "no disc" or equivalent when you try to set it up for SVCD. There, I guess, is always a chance for exceptions.

2. Yes. You can take 6 CDs that hold VCDs or SVCDs and put them on a single DVD-R, but you have to format it for DVD.

3. Yes, you can create a menu that lets you choose the movie. But you will need authoring software and will have to format the disc as a DVD-Video (SpruceUp, Maestro, Scenarist...)

The point is: Why try to make a DVD appear to be a SVCD when in fact the single useful purpose of SVCD is to play back good quality video CDs in a DVD player...?

The only reason I can imagine is if you don't have access to DVD authoring software.

In my opinion there is no good reason to continue creating SVCDs when DVD-Rs are selling this cheap, and the SVCD standard (as it is) will die (at least outside of China). So the smart thing to do is to convert them to standard DVD format.

jdobbs

[Goldfinger_007]

TNX m8 for getting this question cleared up.:)

[jdobbs]

Just so you know, I actually tried it a couple of months ago just to satisfy my curiosity. It could be read and played (by PowerDVD) on a desktop. But, as I suspected, it failed on every standalone player I tried, all of which supported SVCD. They all saw it as "No disc."

I figure if you want something that plays only on a desktop you're better off with DivX. Higher quality for less bandwidth.

[Faceman101]

I bet an Apex player would read it; if you put a slice of bread in it, it'd play it.

[jdobbs]

Your right -- they'll play almost anything. I tried it on both an Apex AD-660 and an Apex AD-1500, though, and it failed. It could be the player, though, cause I got some pixelation toward the end of the Godfather when I was playing it on Rye toast.

[Goldfinger_007]

Just in case someone comes across this thread and wants to try it out - here is a method of doing it:

http://www.vcdhelp.com/vcddvdr.htm

but note at the bottom of the page:

Is it worth all this trouble just to put some VCDs or SVCDs on DVDs?
No...:-)...