Best SVCD Authoring Software

[Locutus]

Hi everybody!

I want to store my homevideos on SVCD and I'd like to add a DVD-like menue to the SVCD. The options Nero offers are not satisfying for me. Does anybody of you know some good software for my purpose?
Maybe I should start a poll, so:


Which software to use for SVCD Authoring? :confused:


Thanks for your suggestions!

Locutus :)

[ulfschack]

VcdEasy (VcdImager) - Free, or ...
I-author - Not free

cheers

[Justinus]

Originally posted by ulfschack
VcdEasy (VcdImager) - Free, or ...
I-author - Not free

cheers
I-Author -> Discontinued :D
TSCV (Advanced VCDImager GUI) -> Good choice to make complicate stuff, i.e. Motion Menu :cool:

BTW I think this thread should move to "SVCD." It doesn't have anything related to "DV" at all :rolleyes:

[ulfschack]

So what if it's discontinued ... I-author still authors SVCDs. Then there's the question of how to get hold of it :)

[McQuaid]

Videopack 5

Hard to find though

[smiller667]

Philips SVCD toolkit ... not free, a nightmare to use, and only runs in WinNT. Videopack is rather easy to find ... just go to www.roxio.com - not sure if it is a great SVCD authoring package, have never used it.

NB: you were right, Videopack's not easy to find - the roxio videopack pages are not there atm - even the links from their sitemap just lead to the main page.

[\AX]

I had videopack 5. I was trying to take a dvd called "Star Gaze" authored by Ralph LaBarge (come's with is book "DVD Authoring and Production")..anyhow the video is some astonishing footage of image's taken from the hubble telescope that is ~50mins. This was about a year ago so it's hazy. Anyways i unpacked it, installed it, and when it first loaded it crashed. No idea why so i unistalled all reg key' for that and reran it...it worked.

Beyond that difficult,confusing measure, the program in itself is OK at best. There's nothing great about it. I couldnt even tell you if it used motion menu's because after a hour of figuring it out, authoring the reencode dvd, and burning it, I played it in the dvd player and it went straight to the menu and like 2 sec's (maybe less) after that it started playing??? wtf?? Also it would automatically start playing what the first menu option was...so you better make the movie the first option incase you don't have "Cat Like" reflex's. I thought it was me so i opened up the help guide and it turned out it wasn't...the problem was unanswered.

Ok beyond that second difficulty, I had no more reason to use it. I gave it a shot because it was suggested. I put it in the same category of I-Author. OLD technology and flakey.

TSCV
Ok after following the guide here @ doom9 like 10 time's and referencing the homepage of TSCV I finally got a working image.
Now Star Gaze isn't your typically authored dvd. I only know it was authored by Ralp LaBarge so it wasn't done zhitty. And i know he only use's Scenarist in all his project's. But at that time i knew little to nothing about dvd authoring or video disc authoring period. So i had no idea on how to find out what...all i had was the menu's to work with. TSCV does one thing great IMO...it make's available alot of option's that you can due...but the flip side is..that is seems that not all options are either stable or possible for all dvd standalone's in svcd mode. Im no authoring pro...hopefully soon though...but the image's made with tscv would not run in my dvd player correctly. no matter what i did the video was always shaky. I thought i should untoggle the upper field first in CCE but that didn't make a difference.

TSCV is what i say go with...althoutgh the final image is can be claimed to be anything but STABLE or a SURE SHOT.

End result of the whole damn mess...Ahead's Nero options. Too simple yes...but work's every time.

I have'nt tried any other SVCD authoring utilite's beside's those so any others i wouldn't know at all.

NOTE: doom9 once stated that he couldnt even get the TSCV image that it created to run in D-Tools. I however couldn't due that nor get it to run AT ALL in any PC Software based dvd player...i tried the 3 and gave up.(I would'nt of cared if it did anyhow for I was not wanting to play it back on the PC)

[adam]

Nothing even comes close to I-Author for authoring SVCD menu's and features except vcdimager with a hand written xml script, and thats not exactly user friendly.

As old as it is, I-Author is still the best there is.

\AX obviously that's not how vid pack 5.1 created svcds are supposed to work. I actually find the program quite easy to use and fairly powerful in terms of what it can do. If you haven't quite figured out how to properly use a program then don't write it off assuming the problems are just a limitation of the program, LEARN. Next to I-Author I would probably say that Video Pack 5.1 comes in second. They are both extremely good at what they do.

[Locutus]

First of all: Thank you for all your replys!

I've worked a little with TSCV and I think it is a good program, though still very buggy. Also I want to try I-Author, but I can't find it anywhere. Maybe someone could post a link?

Thanks

Locutus

[DL]

If I-author is no longer sold then is it public domain?

If it is please supply a link.

[adam]

I have seen it being sold on some online stores based in China, and a friend of mine who visited China said he saw it sitting on the shelves of several software stores. It is definitely not public domain and it is definitely not cheap. If you sincerely want to purchase I-Author I suggest you send an e-mail to Enreach (enreach.com) and ask them to direct you to a retailer.

[DL]

Thanks, I saw it when I was in China, however in Bejing what I saw was what looked like a reproduction of the real thing and poorly translated to. I will continue to look.

Thanks again

DL

[twistee]

I use Adobe photoshop and Adobe Premier to make my motion menus, and then use vcdeasy to do the burning. I just make the final menu in premier and then convert it to mpg with tmpg, and then i just chuck it in vcdeasy and set it all up to play the proper thing.

EDIT-I tried to use TSCV a fair few times in the past, and it just shits me. It always crashes and i hardly ever get it to do what i want it to do.

[Locutus]

How do you make the menues with adobe? Is there any guide on the net? How do you create motioned thumbnails of the chapters and selectable items? The only way to do that i've seen so far was TSCV, but you are right: It really hangs up a lot of times and it's very annoying till you finally get something about what you wanted.

Thanks

Locutus

[twistee]

pretty much you create your backgrounds and everything in photoshop, and then you use premier to put in all your motion stuff (like clips from whatever your putting on the s/vcd). There are guides on how to put stuff in to premier, but no guide describing on how to actually make a menu with it. since s/vcds can only use the number buttons (and next and stuff) all you do is put a 1. on your menu to show that you have to press 1 to go to it. hope this helps.

it can get pretty complex as you might have to set up templates and stuff,but once you have made the template its simple.