DVD->VCD guide problem? (Changing bitrate)

[Cabadam]

In the guide for converting a DVD->VCD (http://www.doom9.org/mpg/tmpg.htm) it says to load the profile and then after that to go into the settings to change the bitrate.... but after I load the profile, all those options become disabled.
How can I do this??

See:
http://cabadam.homeip.net/tmpg.gif

[juliusrex]

Hi.

The images shown on the linked guide are for creating SVCDs (notice Stream type is MPEG-2 Video and Size is 480x480). When loading certain templates, TMPG will gray out some options that don't apply to that template. When loading the standard VCD template, it will not allow you to change frame size (352x240), stream type (MPEG-1 Video) or rate control mode (CBR). This is to prevent you from making a non-standard VCD (or SVCD, etc.).

If you need to tinker with those options after loading the standard template, you'll need to click on Load again, browse to the Extra folder, and load the "unlock" template. This will ungray all those options. Just be advised that you'll no longer be making a VCD, but an xVCD.

If you want more options in your encoding (and higher quality, of course), I recommend you convert to SVCD. Most of the forums in DVD2SVCD (as the name implies) are concerned with the finer points of SVCD creation. If quality is less of a concern (or if your player does not support SVCD), and you want to pack the greatest amount on one CD, then you can check out the creative use of xVCD formats at http://www.kvcd.net