[stoloamelia]

I have a Sony Digital 8 camers (DCR-TRV-265E PAL). Have burned to disc but can't play these on my PC - unsupported format. Can anyone give me any pointers? Thanks

Could do with a bit more information !!

How did you capture the footage to your PC. ???

What software did you use to capture your video. ??

How did you author your VCD. ???

What software did you use to burn your VCD ??

What settings did you use. ???

[stoloamelia]

Hi, I used the USB cable supplied with the camera to upload to PC using the software included with the camera. I guess I used the default settings but as far as authoring is concerned - haven't a clue. Sorry I can't be more precise but you may have, by now, picked up on the fact that I'm a bit of a novice.

Right so what was the actual software supplied with the camera - does it have a name ?? - does it include a module to burn discs ??

What did you do to burn your VCD ?? - you can't just copy your video file to a CD and expect it to play, it has to be "prepared" (for want of a better word) or 'authored' into the correct file format and put into the correct folders etc. on the disc before any player will recognise it - if you have the right software this is very easy - hundreds of people do it everyday.
Note that if you do not have a DVD burner but have a CD burner then you will be creating a VCD on a basic CD (There are also SVCD's but we can talk about them later).

For instance one programme which is very basic is Magix Movies have a look here for a bit more info :-
http://site.magix.net/index.php?7764&version=standard - then click on the "how to" button approx middle of the screen.

I personnally use Ulead VideoStudio and if you look here :-
http://www.jonesgroup.net/media/vstutorials.htm

you will see tutorials on how to capture your video and author a Disc using that programme. - but just note that it is an American site and all the settings given are for NTSC you will use slightly different settings as our TV system is PAL.

There are many many more programmes about some very basic for beginners and some very complicated for enthusiasts - we can find one for you.

If you have Windows XP you may find on your computer a programme called Windows MovieMaker this is an excellent programme for capturing and editing but do not try to use it to create a VCD as it produces a very specialised disc which will not play in many players.

[stoloamelia]

The software with the camera is called 'picture package vcd maker'. In the camera instructions it says to make Video CD's to just connect camera via USB, press the 'burn VCD' button on camera, put in your disc and press start. That's it! In the options panel you have target drive, writing speed, temp folder to be used and the option to adjust stream.

Don't know that software at all I'm afraid - if you look at the disc in 'my computer' or windows explorer what folders and files do you see.

For instance do you see folders called

CDDA
CDI
EXT
KARAOKE
MPEGAV
SEGMENT
VCD

And in the MPEGAV folder is there a file called

AVSEQ01.DAT

..

[stoloamelia]

Took your advice - now have ulead video studio 7. really simple to set up!! the playback though is quite 'cubed'. would this improve if i were using i-link? or am i just doing something wrong?

Yes the capture and playback would definitely improve using i-link (firewire or IEEE1394)

Is your 'cubed' picture just on PC playback or is it also on TV - they can be quite different and a video having properties for playing on a TV may not look very good on a PC and vice-versa.

Apart from some good tutorials on the Ulead Website there are a couple of "independant" tutorials here :-
http://www.jonesgroup.net/media/vstutorials.htm
Unfortunately they are in 'American' so you need to insert PAL for NTSC, 720 x 576 for 720 x 480 and 25fps for 29.97fps otherwise everything else is good.

[stoloamelia]

Do I need to install Hi-Mat? Last time I did this it created problems.

Um - - - I must have missed something somewhere - I don't even know what hi-mat is , perhaps you could educate me - what is it ?? why do you think you need it, As far as I know I do not have anything like that on my computer.

Tried Google but that will only tell me that hi mat = Highly Manouverable Aircraft Technology

[stoloamelia]

Taken from XP update site.

When you create your own digital media collections on CDs or other physical formats, there are many inconsistent ways that CD and DVD players read the data. Each interface for finding media and the viewable information such as playlists, music metadata, and folders with photos or videos varies depending on what each device supports. In many cases, this creates confusion about how to find the music, photos or videos that you want. Additionally, with large collections of music and videos, it can take several minutes for the DVD or CD player to "read" what music or video is available. This behavior occurs because there was no standard way for Windows XP to structure digital media on physical formats and for consumer devices to read these discs until now.

To solve this problem, HighMAT creates a standard way for computers to structure digital media on physical formats and for consumer devices to read these disks. This standardization improves startup times for data CDs and other physical formats and gives you a consistent, easy navigation experience across a broad range of consumer electronic devices. HighMAT also preserves important information about your music, photos, and video such as full song names, artist names, album names, and genre. HighMAT CD writing also offers easier navigation with folders that you can locate and use with a single press of a DVD player’s remote control key.

To create a HighMAT CD that contains mixed media content such as audio, video, and image files, download and install the HighMAT Extension for Windows XP CD-Writing Wizard update. To do this, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

Well I certainly have never done that and I have no problems - unless anyone else knows different (Mark ??) I would try without it first.

[stoloamelia]

Have looked into it, don't have firwire, am deciding whether to add it to pc or get a new one. will get back when I have either.