How
to convert a DVD to VCD
This
is one of the best methods to produce excellent quality VideoCD's from DVD's.
This guide will help you produce VideoCD’s that can be played on PC’s, PSX Movie
adaptors and all standalone VCD & DVD players that can play home-burned
VCD’s.
Only
4 software titles need to be installed and all are relatively small in size. The
best bit of all is that the software is Freeware or Demo ware with results
comparable to commercially available software. The final VCD is better quality
than most Original VCD’s, equal or better than standard VHS and the sound is
near CD quality.
Although
this guide uses CladDVD to rip (remove the DVD copy protection and transfer the
movie files to your Hard Drive) the movie off the DVD, other freeware rippers
can also be used. These include VobDecGUI and DOD SpeedRipper. The actual
encoding to VCD is done by bbMPEG, which is freeware and now bundled with the
latest version of the freeware FlaskMPEG. Other commercially available Adobe®
Premier Plug-in’s can also be used and are detailed in the FlaskMPEG Help
file.
Software
you will need:
1.
CladDVD
1.64 (d/l from http://members.netscapeonline.co.uk/claddvd/ )
2.
FlaskMPEG
0.594 (d/l from http://go.to/flaskmpeg
)
3.
TMPGEnc
12a & English patch (d/l from
http://www.jamsoft.com/tmpgenc/
)
4.
Nero
5.x (d/l fully functional
demo from http://www.ahead.de/
)
5. WinOnCD 3.6+ (can be purchased
online at http://www.cequadrat.com/ unfortunately
no demo version is available for download)
You
will also need a Computer with:
·
Windows
95B, 95C, 98, 98SE, ME, NT sp4 or 2000 installed.
·
A
Pentium II 300 MMX or equivalent as a minimum.
·
At
least 64meg memory
·
An
internal DVD Rom player (any speed)
·
Hard
drive with at least 4 gb, but preferably 10 gb FREE space in one partition.
·
WinZip
and WinRAR or WinAce (will handle all types; zip, rar, ace, cab..etc) to extract
the files above. Fully functional demo versions can be d/l from http://www.winzip.com/
, http://www.rarsoft.com/ and http://www.winace.com/
·
A
CDR(W) Burner to produce the VideoCD and a box of good quality CDR’s or
CDRW’s
·
A
sound card to check the finished product.
Tips
before we get started:
·
Turn
OFF your Screen Saver, it will simply slow the conversion down by hours.
·
Do
not run any other program in the background while FlaskMPEG is running,
especially if you have a slower computer.
·
Turn
the screens colour depth to 16bit colour or better.
·
Re-boot
the computer just BEFORE you start the ripping, in this way you have the best
conditions as possible.
So
you have downloaded the software and checked that you have the right stuff in
your computer. Sounds good, then
lets get stuck into it!
Step
1: Getting Ready.
1.
Install
cladDVD (or any other ripper, works somewhat in the same way)
2.
Install
FlaskMPEG (this also installs the bbMPEG encoder automatically)
3.
Install
TMPGEnc and then run the English patch, but only if you can’t read
Japanese!
4.
Install
Nero.
Step
2: Copying DVD files to hard
drive.
1.
Put
the DVD movie into your DVD Rom player. Sounds simple so far, doesn’t it?
2.
Make
a directory on your Hard Drive called VIDEO_TS (same as it appears on the
DVD).
3.
Run
cladDVD and select the Destination Directory to point to the VIDEO_TS
directory you just made.
4.
Selecting
Decrypt Movie to start ripping the .VOB files of the DVD to your hard
drive. This can take up to 30 minutes.
5.
If
you are limited to 4 gig of hard drive space, then just rip the first 2 VOB
files, which is about 2gb by highlighting the first two 1 gig files and select
Decrypt Files.
6.
For
the rest of you who can copy the whole movie, then copy the .IFO file also to
the VIDEO_TS directory. The .IFO file to copy is the one that is
number-in-sequence to your .VOB file.
A
typical directory of a DVD will be similar to :
VIDEO_TS BUP
16,384
VIDEO_TS IFO
16,384
VIDEO_TS VOB
43,008
VTS_01_0 BUP
77,824
VTS_01_0
IFO
77,824 - This
selects Language/Subtitles
VTS_01_0
VOB
1,695,744
VTS_01_1
VOB 1,073,565,696 \
VTS_01_2
VOB 1,073,565,696 \ This
is the Main movie
VTS_01_3
VOB 1,073,565,696 /
VTS_01_4
VOB 589,365,248 /
VTS_02_0 BUP
18,432
VTS_02_0 IFO
18,432
VTS_02_0
VOB
43,008
VTS_02_1
VOB 6,014,976
Step
3: Conversion.
1.
Run
FlaskMPEG. Click on File, then choose Open File if you have only
copied parts of the movie. Choose Open DVD if you have copied the entire
movie and its IFO file. For Open Files click on the first 1 gig VOB file
(VTS_01_1.VOB) and FlaskMPEG will see all the remaining VOB’s as one file. The
first Audio track (one with lowest number i.e. 0x80) is normally English. For
Open DVD, click on the IFO file. You should get a box showing all the
video, language and subtitle options. Choose the options you want, normally
there is only one video option, a selection of languages and subtitles, with the
option for no subtitles. Highlight your choice.
2.
Now
go to Options then Select Output Format and make sure bbMPEG
Encoder is the selected output format. If it is not, then click on its
name.
3.
Now
select Global Output Options.
·
In
Video tab, change the Width to 352 and Height to 288 for
PAL movies @ 25fps, 352x240 for NTSC @ 29,97 or 30 fps and 352x240 for “film” @
23.976fps. Time Base (fps) should be 25 for PAL etc see above. iDTC
Options should be on MMX iDCT
for fast encoding (assuming your computer’s processor is MMX compatible)
·
In
Audio tab, for Audio Mode select Decode Audio. For
Sampling Frequencies un-select Same as Input and choose
44100 Hz, this is an essential VideoCD setting.
·
In
Post Processing tab, select Bicubic Filtering or HQ Bicubic
Filtering (I recommend the latter as it gives the best quality picture, but
is the slowest). Ensure Keep Aspect Ratio is selected. The No Crop
and No Letterboxing should be selected also. These settings can be used
creating a Super Video CD, where the frame size differs from a VCD.
·
In
Files tab, pick an output file name including full path, no extension
needed. ( ie. D:\RIP\GLADIATOR )
·
In
General tab, un-select Compile Whole File and enter the
Compiling Time (movie length) in seconds. (I recommend you enter the
Compiling time, otherwise bbMPEG assumes the movie is 3hrs, 20mins). If it suits
you, select Shut Down Computer…
4.
Now
hit OK.
5.
From
the pull-down menu Run …, select Start Conversion. The bbMPEG
Encoder table will pop up. Click Settings and,
a.
In
General Settings tab, for MMX Modes select the one that best
describes your computer, under Encoding select both Video and
Audio. Under Multiplexing de-select both Multiplex Video
and Multiplex Audio.
b.
In
Video Stream Settings tab, select PAL Defaults if a PAL movie
(otherwise it defaults to NTSC) and for Video Type, select
VideoCD, hit OK.
All
is now ready, so click Start. On the pop-up FlaskMPEG window, change
Priority Settings to Highest, as this can speed up the
conversion.
6.
Now
comes the easy part. The conversion process (encoding) will now starts and will
take quite a long time, so do it while you sleep or at work. Some do it during
both! As a guide, on a Pentium II 350 it takes about 14h to convert 1hr of
movie, on an AMD K6-2 450 it takes about 10hr and on an Athlon 650 it takes
about 6hr to convert 1hr of movie. I also turn my monitor off while this is all
happening – no need to watch the movie in super super slow motion.
7.
After
it is all finished, you will have 2 new files on your HD. One ending in M1V (the
Video file) and the other in MP2 (the Audio file). The Audio file is normally
about a ¼ of the size of the Video file. If all is well, then we can delete the
VOB files on your HD to free up some space.
Step
4: Multiplex.
1.
Although
bbMPEG can Multiplex (join the separate Video and Audio files together) your
Video and Audio files to an MPEG stream, TMPGEnc makes 100% fully compliant MPEG
files and is quicker.
2.
Run
TMPGEnc and click on File and then MPEG Tools. Go to the Simple
Muliplex tab. Browse for your Video file and the Audio and Output files will
automatically be named. Rename the Output file if you prefer. For
Type, select MPEG-1 VideoCD. Hit
OK to multiplex them. This just joins the separate Video and Audio files
to the final VideoCD MPEG file. Exit the program.
3.
Now
play the new mpeg file with Windows Media Player to see if it is okay, checking
for Video & Audio synchronization (lip-sync) near start and end of the
movie. You have now created your first MPEG-1 video file in the VideoCD format.
Easy, wasn’t it!
Step
5: Cutting.
1.
For
those short on HD space and only converted 2 VOB files or the movie is not
longer than 72min or 78min, you skip the cutting process and go to straight to
Burning.
2.
If you converted the whole DVD movie into
a single mpeg file and the movie is longer than 72min or 78min, you will need to
cut it to fit onto a 74min or 80min CDR. Most movies tend to be 1½ hrs to 2
hours long so just cut it in half to fit onto 2 standard 74min/650meg CDR’s. You
can get 72min onto a 74min/650meg CDR and 78min onto a 80min/700meg CDR
3.
Run
TMPGEnc, from Files select MPEG Tools. Then select Cut/Join
Tab. Click Add and load in your new mpeg file. Double click on its name
and a new window opens. Use the [ & ] to mark the Start (lead-in) and
End (lead-out) of each clip. So click [ to mark Start, then slide the
Pointer to approx the mid-point in the movie. Click ]. You can fine-tune the positions by
altering the times in the Range box’s by using the up & down arrows.
Click OK to return to original screen. For
Type, select MPEG-1 VideoCD. Give
an Output name (eg. disk1.mpg) and click Start. A few minutes
later you will have the MPEG file for Disk 1. Now double click the file name
again so we can produce the file for disk 2. Without moving the slider, click on
[ to mark the new Start. Move slider to end of file and click ].
We now have the second disk marked, but it is good idea to overlap some of the
movie from disk 1 to disk 2. So in the first Range box, click the Down
arrow to move the pointer about 5 seconds earlier. That way the last 5 sec
of disk 1 will be the first 5 sec of disk 2 so you don’t miss any of the action.
Click OK, for Type, select MPEG-1 VideoCD. Give an
Output name (eg. disk2.mpg) and click Start. It appears to be
doing nothing for a while but be patient, a few minutes later you will have the
MPEG file for Disk 2. Then exit the program.
4.
It’s
a good idea to load each mpeg file into Windows Media Player (comes with all
versions of Windows) and check that it’s okay and that the Video and Audio are
synchronized (lip movements should match with should – big problem for German
and Spanish synchronized movies J).
Check at the start and near the end of each file. If all is okay, we are ready
to burn.
Step
5: Burning.
1.
Run
Nero (or WinOnCD). Click the VideoCD tab, select Create Standard
Compliant CD. In Volume Descriptor tab, enter a Volume Label,
such as THE_GLADIATOR_1 for disk 1 of the Gladiator. Click on New and
then drag & drop the Disk1 mpg file from the right window (your HD) to the
left window (the VCD disk). Nero will check through the mpeg file to confirm
that it is a compliant VCD file. After it finishes checking the file, click the
Burn Button. Select the Write Speed to be 4x maximum and
make sure Disk-At-Once is NOT ticked. Then click Write and sit
back and watch your first VCD disk being burnt. The excitement builds. When the
burning is finished, label the CD and rush to your VCD/DVD player to check it
out. If all is okay, repeat this for the second or third disks remembering to
change the Volume Label. Refer to Nero’s Help for further info and
clarification on how to use Nero.
2.
Use
only good quality scratch resistant CDR’s. Recommendable brands are: Sony, Fuji,
Verbatim, TDK, Mitsui and Ricoh. Some DVD stand-alone players will only read
from CDRW’s, then burn to CDRW’s instead. Burning at greater then 4x speed can
also make the VCD unreadable by many players, particularly the PSX.
3.
You
have now produced your first playable fully compliant VCD. Wasn’t that fun!
4.
If
you only converted 2 VOB files, they will generally yield 45-52 minutes of
movie. After burning the first half of the movie you will have to repeat step 3
to 5 again for the second half of the movie.
ChickenMan
©2000