analogue camcorder to Video CD

[timmy toad]

I have a Sony analogue CamCorder, with a S-video cable which i can plug into my PCI Capture card.

The Camcorder Videos show up quite well on the TV Screen (like Full screen size) direct from the Camcorder

I have been using Windows Movie Maker with Win XP to get the Video onto my computer, but the resulting WMV files when put onto a CD cannot be read by my DVD player.

I have also used NERO and the Capture card to produce a CD with AVI files on, but the resulting AVI files are utter crap when viewed on the TV, I guess they would be OK if i could view them at the original 320*240 size, like they are in Windows media player.

I then tried Nero Vision Express to capture the Video, perhaps this is a better solution to get what i would like, but then it talks about VOB files and the like and i am completely lost LOL.

any idea anyone please.

tim

[Video Dude]

Stay away from Windows Movie Maker. Use it only to create wmv files, not VCD.

Video CD requires a resolution of 352x240. This will look bad most of the time, since it is such a low resolution. If you want better quality use SVCD which is 480x480. If you have a DVD burner, make a DVD.


For VCD creation:
Capture using the codec HuffYUV. Use a resolution of 352x240. Make the audio uncompressed pcm wav with 44.1KHz (DVD Requires 48KHz)
You will then have an avi file.

A good free video capture program is VirtualDub.
http://www.virtualdub.org

Use a program like TMPGEnc or CCE to encode the avi into an MPEG-1 file using the VCD templates. TMPGEnc offers a free version,
http://www.tmpgenc.net

Now burn the files using Nero. Go into the main Nero program, not the Nero Vision Express program. On the left pane you will see different CD formats, like ISO, CD Copy, etc. Select Video CD. Then drag your MPEG-1 files into Nero and burn.

You might also be interested in a program called VCDEasy.
http://www.vcdeasy.org


You had posted about VOBs. This is the DVD format. Do not use it for Video CD creation.

[timmy toad]

thanks a lot Dude that is very helpfull indeed.

it seems my capture card is only a very basic one and it can only capture at 320*240, i cant change that, so what i did manage to do after i posted my original post was to realise that the AVI file doesnt look too bad if viewed at quarter size LOL. that WAS using Nero vision express to capture.

i shall however see about using the alternative programs that you have suggested to capture in the future, thanks for your help dude.

tim

[jggimi]

Here are two links:

A Capture FAQ (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=32575) and a Capture Guide (http://www.doom9.org/capture/start.html).

Please take advantage of both.

[timmy toad]

thanks for all the help and advice, following all the links it looks as if somebody, including you, have gone to a lot of time and trouble to help us folk who have problems or just plain queries, thanks a million.

tim