Converting DVD/AVI to VCD

Creating VCD from various video sources using mplayer/mencoder, vcdimager and a CD burning software

#aptitude install vcdimager

1. Converting DVD file format to VCD format

mencoder -oac lavc -ovc lavc -of mpeg -mpegopts format=xvcd -vf scale=352:288,harddup -srate 44100 -af lavcresample=44100 -lavcopts     vcodec=mpeg1video:keyint=15:vrc_buf_size=327:vrc_minrate=1152:vbitrate=1152:vrc_maxrate=1152:acodec=mp2:abitrate=224:aspect=16/9 -ofps 25 -o movie.mpg inputvideo.vob

Where movie.mpg will be the output VCD format file and inputvideo.avi is the input video of any format that can be read by mplayer including DVD vob files.


PROBLEM: How do I split up a big avi to fit many svcd's?

Determine the duration of the movie and use the "-ss" start switch and the "-t" time duration switch to chop the source video into portions.

The following splits up a big avi (2 hours, 14 minutes and 51 seconds long) into three different svcd's(depending on their size) (45 minutes each):

ffmpeg -ss 00:00:00 -t 00:45:00 -i <movie.avi> -target svcd ./m1.mpg
ffmpeg -ss 00:45:00 -t 00:45:00 -i <movie.avi> -target svcd ./m2.mpg
ffmpeg -ss 01:30:00 -t 00:44:51 -i <movie.avi> -target svcd ./m3.mpg

Chop them one by one!


2. Create VCD image

vcdimager movie.mpg ....

vcdimager will take one or more .mpeg files already created in step 1 above and creat a VCD image file. The output of this will be a .cue and a .bin file.

3. Writing the VCD image to CD-R/RW

Use any CD writing application (Gnomebaker in Debian) to write the VCD image to CD-R/RW. While writing, use "Write CD Image" option and then chose the .cue file. 


Watching the Movie

You can then watch your VCD on a VCD Player or using softwares like mplayer, totem or vlc on a computer