[MacDV] VCD

[Thubten Kunga]

Make SVCDs instead.

Part One The Encoder

ffmpegXv0.0.6f Installation and Operation Tutorial by Kunga part 1

I spent a lot of time getting the multi-format encoder ffmpegXv0.0.6f  
working this morning. Link to it is at the bottom of this message. I  
thought I'd share how to install it with everyone just in case you run  
into the problems I did. It works beautifully if you get it configured  
correctly. That is the trick.

1. The ffmpegXv0.0.6f download that you get from  
<http://homepage.mac.com/WebObjects/FileSharing.woa/wa/ 
default?user=major4&templatefn=FileSharing1.html&xmlfn=TKDocument.1.xml& 
sitefn=RootSite.xml&aff=consumer&cty=US&lang=en> is not all you need to  
download.

2. You also must download the "Last Binary" Folder from this link which  
activates an auto download when you get there.
<http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/mplayerosx/lastbinary.sit?download>  
Unstuffit.

3. You mount (if it didn't auto mount) the ffmpegX_0.0.6f.dmg-link.dmg  
disk image

4. I copied the entire disk image to my Applications—>Video  
Applications Folder (option drag to prevent an alias only copy).

5. Put the "last binary 090203" Folder in that new ffmpegX folder as  
well.

6. Download the text file "mpeg2enc" which comes in as "mpeg2enc.txt"  
from <http://mjpeg.sourceforge.net/MacOS/>
(option-click the link and choose "Save link on the disk")

7. Put it in the ffmpegX folder too.

8. Run the ffmpegX engines installer where you press locate buttons for  
"mpeg2enc.txt" first, then the other two which are inside the last  
binary 090203 folder. Then press Install and watch the Terminal program  
ask you for your password and hit return and watch for the words  
"Installation Successful".

9. Now you are ready for the easy part: Encoding your first SVCD file.  
Launch ffmpegX0.0.6f and pull down at the bottom where it says "Quick  
Presets" to "SVCD (NTSC)".

10. At the top press the "Open..." button and choose your iMovie 3 Full  
Quality DV Export file.

11. Right under that press the "Save As..." button and give your SVCD  
file a name.

12. Press the "Encode" button in the lower right corner of the  
interface box.

13. Watch and wait for ffmpegX0.0.6f to generate any number of files  
that ultimately get recombined into one final .mpg file that is your  
final MPEG2 movie ready for Toast.

You can play this file with VLC  
<http://www.videolan.org/pub/vlc/0.4.6/macosx/vlc-0.4.6.dmg>or, if you  
have the $20 MPEG2 addition to QT6, QT Player will play it as well.

Next step is to assemble several of these SVCD files in the brand new  
1.1.1 (Feb 4.03) VCD Builder. <http://homepage.mac.com/johan/>

Then that multi movie assembly (like iDVD Free) gets burned with Toast  
in the Other—> Multitrack CD-ROM XA format.

I got a 14.5 MB movie from a 159.5 MB Full Quality DV Export file with  
my first test of the old 47 second iMovie Tutorial set of clips of  
Matty and the Kids. Now that's effeciency. Extrapolated out it's about  
20MB per minute or 35 minutes on a 700 MB CD-R/RW.

But the content of your video will result in different times because  
it's a variable bit encoder. So long speeches will fit with more time  
than an action video with lots of changes.

End of Part One.

On Saturday, February 15, 2003, at 10:39  AM, Robert Schoenburg wrote:

> I have made a few VDDs. They always come out "blocky-looking." Any
> suggestions?