Hack 78. Play a Movie Off a CD in a DVD Player

DVD media is expensive. CD media is cheap. By compressing your movie using the MPEG-1 codec, you can burn your movie to a CD while still being able to play it in a DVD player.

It is somewhat gratifying to hand someone a DVD of your movie and have him play it on a DVD player. The simple fact is that the presentation of the disc implies technical capability and professionalism. But there are times when a DVD is excessive, such as when you are presenting a five-minute movie or handing out discs to a lot of people.

The Video CD (VCD) format was launched in 1993, but it never really caught on in the United States. A VCD can hold about 70 minutes of footage, so you shouldn't plan on putting an entire feature length movie onto one disc. The VCD format uses MPEG-1 compression, so the quality of a VCD is roughly equivalent to a VHS tape. The discs can be played on most DVD players, in addition to personal computers and VCD players.

7.4.1. Getting Your Movie onto a CD

The VCD format uses the MPEG-1 codec. You can easily convert your movie to another format [Hack #29]; however, simply converting to MPEG-1 and copying the resulting video file to a CD will not produce a VCD. A valid VCD needs to have specific files written in a particular way.

There are many applications that can create valid VCDs, and they are available for just about every operating system. These are the two most popular, for Windows and Macintosh:

Windows

Nero (http://www.nero.com; $69.99 download, $99.99 boxed)

Macintosh

Toast (http://www.roxio.com; $99.95)

Some DVD players require CD-RW discs, not CD-R, for VCD playback. So, if you discover the VCD you've created doesn't play, try using a CD-RW disc. In fact, you might want to use CD-RW discs in the first place because they don't become coasters if a burn goes bad.

Both Nero and Toast are capable of burning DVDs, SVCDs (super VCD), audio CDs, and more. A really nice feature of both applications is that they enable you to create menus on your VCD that act similar to those found on DVDs. As expected, each application has a somewhat different approach to creating a VCD.

7.4.1.1. Using Nero

Nero handles a lot more than just burning VCDs. The application suite includes a set of 20 applications that make achieving certain tasks, such as creating a music CD, very easy. The Nero web site (http://www.nero.com/ en/Tutorials.html) has an extensive collection of tutorial files, including a 14 page tutorial on creating a VCD. Using the Nero Vision Express application, you can create a VCD like so:

1. Choose Make a CD Video CD.

2. Select your video files.

3. Click the Next button.

4. Set up your Menu.

5. Click the Next button.

6. Test the Menu you created, to make sure it works as you expect.

7. Click the Next button.

8. Click the Burn button.

7.4.1.2. Using Toast.

Toast, like Nero, can handle much more than simply creating a VCD, such as creating password-protected CDs. Here's how to create a VCD using Toast:

1. Select the Video tab.

2. If the Disc Options drawer is not open, click the Disc Options button.

3. Select VCD.

4. Select NTSC or PAL, as appropriate.

5. From the Video Quality pop-up menu, choose the High quality setting.

6. Click the Add button.

7. Add the video files you want to use.

8. Click the Record button (the big, red one in the corner).

7.4.2. Playing a VCD

Playing a VCD in a DVD player will work most of the time. However, some older DVD players do not recognize the VCD format and therefore cannot play the discs. If this happens, you can still play the disc on a personal computer.

If you are using Windows, the Windows Media Player should play the VCD with no problems. However, if you do encounter problems, try using Power-DVD (http://www.gocyberlink.com; $49.95). Macintosh and Linux users should use the VLC application (http://www.videolan.org; free, open source) to play VCDs.

To play a VCD, insert the disc into your computer and locate the MPEGAV folder. Then, double-click the .dat file located inside. Windows users might have to instruct their computer to use Windows Media Player to open the file. Macintosh and Linux users might have to open the .dat file from within the VLC application.

If you've produced a video that is shorter than an hour, passing along your finished project on a VCD is a quick and easy alternative to creating a full DVD.