Forum Archive Home -> Video Conversion -> converting video formats (For Hasbro's VideoNow) I know the
converting video formats (For Hasbro's VideoNow) I know the | ||||||||
| okayama posted 2003 Sep 07 22:51 | ||||||||
| Is there a way to convert a video (mpeg, mpg, avi) to another format?
I'm wanting to get it to something like, 80x80 with 4-bit greyscale. This is the type of format VideoNow uses, and I'm wanting to try and convert some Futurerama video's over to that format and try on the Hasbro VideoNow product. Just to show you what I'm talking about, here's a picture. I know the video sucks at that format, but it's for my kid. So no big deal.  | ||||||||
| vitualis posted 2003 Sep 07 23:13 | ||||||||
| Go have a look at http://www.slashdot.org
A few days ago, there was an article from someone trying to do exactly that... Regards. | ||||||||
| okayama posted 2003 Sep 07 23:29 | ||||||||
| Thanks, that's what I was looking for. | ||||||||
| gerardchau posted 2003 Sep 21 09:30 | ||||||||
| i am unable to find the posting man.. >.< | ||||||||
| okayama posted 2003 Sep 21 14:52 | ||||||||
| Here's a link:
http://www.wsu.edu/~zocher/ He hasn't posted any thing since Sept 7, so I'm not sure if he's still working on it. I hope he is and finishes this project. | ||||||||
| impmon2 posted 2003 Sep 26 15:19 | ||||||||
| So do I. A $50 player for little kids sure beats the risk of losing or breaking a $500 portable DVD player. ;) | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Oct 21 10:42 | ||||||||
| http://devcybiko.com:8080/modules.php?name=Journal&file=searc ... =GregSmith
i've done some reverse engineering on this product. the link above will lead you to my journal on my fansite (for the defunct cybiko handheld computer). i'll post updates as they occur. like you, i want to create custom videos for my daughter. greg | ||||||||
| RabidDog posted 2003 Oct 21 20:01 | ||||||||
| :) their mobile phones have got better displays than that thing! In fact some watches have better displays than that. | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Oct 21 20:56 | ||||||||
| actually, not.
most mobile phones are monochrome and cost between $250 and $300 the video now has (barely) acceptable resolution for the task at hand. but i would recommend waiting until after christmas to buy one. i anticipate the price will drop to $25 or less by next summer. | ||||||||
| lordsmurf posted 2003 Oct 21 22:46 | ||||||||
| This thing will flop like the little HITCLIPS music did. Within months, they were on clearance for mere pennies. | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Oct 22 13:33 | ||||||||
| well all the better for us. that means the market will be flooded with hundreds of these items for pennies per pound. all the more reason to know the file format, so we few can create our own videos-on-the-go. | ||||||||
| impmon2 posted 2003 Oct 22 19:05 | ||||||||
| It would be nice if they did bomb and end up in bargain bins. I could pick up a few and if anything happens to it, I'll just open a new one and burn a new disc. It probably won't get much if at all from a pawn shop. ;) | ||||||||
| lordsmurf posted 2003 Oct 22 20:06 | ||||||||
Yeah, my point too. Not great quality, but decent when you're away from technology, which is where I like to be. | ||||||||
| NightWing posted 2003 Oct 22 20:12 | ||||||||
| I though the catch was the odd size CD media for it? | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Oct 23 07:30 | ||||||||
| it turns out the extra media (3.5" instead of 3.25") is just to make the capacity larger - i think they wanted to get up to 30 minutes. it also has the effect of making the disk unplayable in mom or dad's cd player where it would make an unpleasant noise. but i've successfully copied the tracks from the original sampler disk to a 3.25" mini-cdr and it plays. so a 3.25" disk is an option. | ||||||||
| NightWing posted 2003 Oct 23 09:54 | ||||||||
| Greate! :) | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Oct 23 13:10 | ||||||||
| there is still a problem of the "key" disk...
it seems that the device samples the innermost track at power-up. i'm guessing its reading the vtoc. when i create my copies the vtoc apparently doesnt have the information the device requires. my question is - does anyone here know how to read the vtoc or any other information stored in the center hub of a CD? | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Oct 28 13:28 | ||||||||
| i authored a videonow cd last night. a 13 minute bugs bunny video.
i will clean up the code and add a gui tonight. then post to sourceforge.net under the project name "VideoThen" | ||||||||
| impmon2 posted 2003 Oct 28 20:54 | ||||||||
| Woo-woo! Now I have no reason not to get it. Beside I believe at one store the Video Now is on sale for a paltry $40. :)
"VideoThen" is a cute name. Now to find a way to batch convert 130 Thundercats episodes (22 min each) to VideoNow format. Would I need to convert them all via VituraDUB or can your VideoThen handle the video conversion? | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Oct 29 07:39 | ||||||||
| videothen accepts as input an .avi with 80x80 greyscale and 8-bit audio. so virtualdub does all the hard work.
edit: I have a test version of videothen that runs as a batch but its very raw. i will keep you in mind for version 2 of videothen which will take command-line options to run in batch mode. | ||||||||
| lordsmurf posted 2003 Oct 29 08:02 | ||||||||
Oh the horrors. I cringe. TC on a B&W mini-screen. :puke: | ||||||||
| impmon2 posted 2003 Oct 29 08:27 | ||||||||
| Better than nothing. 8) Unless you want to donate a portable DVD player?
FWIW it only takes me 8 minutes to convert a single episode to 80x80 greyscale and each files are under 20MB. Now to get the JAVA converter when it's released... | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Oct 30 22:12 | ||||||||
| i released videothen on sourceforge.net
http://sourceforge.net/projects/videothen/ enjoy | ||||||||
| tomoki posted 2003 Nov 04 00:40 | ||||||||
| Coolies! And at a great time too, Toys R Us is having a sale on their VideoNow from now until Nov. 22. $40 for the player and each video is $2 off.
(note to mods: I don't work for Toys R Us and I won't get any benifet for plugging Toys R Us. It's in this month's "Big Book" ads from Toys R Us.) | ||||||||
| tomoki posted 2003 Nov 08 02:43 | ||||||||
I'm running into problem and I'm not sure why. Here's the screenshot of the DOS box with the error messages:
The VideoThen reported unexpected EOF. I've tried a few different video files and it seems to happen everytime during converting to WAV, about 1/4th of the way through. THe rendering process goes without trouble. Any idea? I have 2.4GHz P4, 1GB RAM, combined hard drive totaling nearly 500GB (350GB free) and Windows XP home with SP1 pack. | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Nov 08 14:51 | ||||||||
| yes, someone else has a similar problem. try checking the audio sampling rate in virtualdub. make sure it is 44100 hz - some videos use another rate. | ||||||||
| tomoki posted 2003 Nov 08 15:33 | ||||||||
| I tried that and had VDub change the audio rate to 44.1K Now VideoThen can last until half way before it stops with an EOF error. I checked back with earlier video, the originsl rate was 22050 Hz
<hypothical mode> Hmmm... I wonder if I somehow get the audio rate to 88.2K, masybe VideoThen would be able to finish the process before getting EOF? </hypothical mode> I did make sure the audio is set to 8 bit mono and no compression for either audio or video. Video is reduced to 80x80 greyscale. EDIT: I think I have this solved. I'm not sure why it worked this time but I flipped the order of the video filter in VDub and VideoThen now works without getting an EOF. It seems the filter order may be important. PS here's a quick trick to loading VideoThen without having to open a DOS box and typing in long command. Go to the folder where VideoThen is stored, create a new text file, put in "java -classpath videothen.jar com.alcorgrp.videothen.VideoThen" (without the wuotes), save it, and then rename the file to VideoThen.bat. Just double-click it and it loads. There are still some uses for the old DOS Batch command... | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Nov 08 16:21 | ||||||||
| sounds like you have it licked.
i apologize for the problems. i have one other "customer" and she had the same issue. what i may do is "zip" the project up into a zip file and deliver the .bat and .cfg files for the configuration. have you actually burned a vncd disc yet? | ||||||||
| tomoki posted 2003 Nov 09 02:06 | ||||||||
| Yes. I burned a sample on a 3" and tried it out. It worked. The filter order should have been greyscale first, and then 80x80 reduction.
Now if only there were some way to get the disc to stop spinning for the swap. Do you plan to try and figure out the "key" in hope the swap wouldn't been neededin hte future? | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Nov 09 08:46 | ||||||||
| I think the key is very simple: you must have a 3.5" disk with exactly 30 minutes of video on it. I believe this because the sampler cd comes with a blank track on the end that fills out the rest of the (unused) disk. if ever we can find a vender selling 3.5" disks then the key issue will be solved.
i dont wait for the disk to slow down. i just stop the key disk with my finger and remove it. then when i put the vncd in i give it a little push to get it started. | ||||||||
| impmon2 posted 2003 Nov 09 11:21 | ||||||||
That could be it but I doubt we're going to find a supplier of 3.5" disks. Just about every CD player, CD-ROM, DVD player, and DVD-ROM has inner indentation for smaller 3.25" and 3.5" is not exactly standard. I doubt anyone will jump the CD-R bandwagon and make 3.5" CD-Rs on the off change an extra 6 minutes or about 50 MB would draw demands. As an alternative to the key disk, how about hacking the mainboard to disable the key checking? Just pop in VNCD ready CD-R and play it, no need to swap key disk. I haven't had a good look on its mainboard so I don't know if this is even festible or not. The worse case scenario is a small PLC or something that watches the CPU and sends false key data when the player tries to seek and verify the disk.
Works for me. But I'm sure the less adventerous people would be afraid to stop the disk while it is spinning. I could suggest a trip to fabric store and pick up metal thimbles for the really nervous people. ;) :lol: One thing for sure, homemade VNCD won't be appearing on eBay just yet. | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Nov 09 12:17 | ||||||||
i agree. i dont see 3.5" disks anywhere out there and i dont expect to see vncd on ebay. i made videothen for people who were interested in creating their own content. i think the vast majority of people will just buy disks for their kids. i also expect this is a "fad" that wont last much past christmas. as for mod'ing the device with a PLC, i think thats way beyond the return-on-investment for this device. a better solution would be to "fool" the burning software into writing a VTOC (volume table of contents) that shows a 30 minute collection of tracks - with the last track being a filler. this is much more do-able. | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2003 Nov 10 23:19 | ||||||||
| @ GregSmith
Wonderful tool!!! I had bought one of these players for my daughter a few weeks ago, looked to see if there was a way to "make" the videos for it...then found this. EXCELLENT!!! A couple of questions though... first....what's the "best" video format to start with? I have tried mpeg2 recorded with my capture card and can only get about 7 minutes of the original file to be able to fit on one 3.25" cdr...converted mpeg2 to AVI w/VDub...almost same thing...only way I can get more per disk is from DIVX source-then the audio on the final disk is WAY out of sync...(have one of my DVDs ripped to DIVX) second...had to use NERO to burn (WMP wouldn't do it...then saw that you recommend WMP version 8-I have version 9) but NERO will burn as an AUDIO CD... any suggestions or pointers in a different direction would be greatly appreciated. All of my trials have worked so far...just looking for suggestions to make it easier for me! (not to have to split a movie onto a whole bunch of disks...) Thanks for the excellent startup advice! Smurfie | ||||||||
| impmon2 posted 2003 Nov 11 03:08 | ||||||||
| I don't know what's the best original format but when converting, you need to make sure you save them in *uncompessed* AVI file and use "Save old format AVI" instead of regular save. Also check that you have the audio set correctly as well.
Beyond that, I don't know why you're getting only 7 minutes. | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Nov 11 07:27 | ||||||||
| i have found the best format to start with is AVI, although i have worked from mpeg with good results.
as far as getting only 7 minutes, thats odd. double-check your settings. i have had as much as 13 minutes in one video without problems. and follow impmon2's advice - use "save old format AVI" and also make sure you have the audio set to 44100. also make sure you reduce the frame rate to 15 fps. you should be able to get around 20-24 minutes on a 3"-3.25" cd. i have tried nero during my initial test phase, but abandoned it when wmp worked for me. it shouldnt make any difference what tool you use, because they all view the data as audio .wav files. i dont think this is related to your 7 minutes problem. i dont know why you're having audio sync problems. although there is an audio setting the dictates how much audio information to preceed the video information with. the default is 500 milliseconds. videothen doesnt really care, so i dont know why it would matter. im glad everyone is enjoying the tool. keep the bug reports flowing. i'll address them where i can. so far i dont have any bug fixs except possibly a .cfg file for virtualdub that has all the settings preloaded. i have noticed one thing - and maybe you all can verify it for me. i have one disk with about 20 minutes of video on it. once it gets about half-way through the video becomes unstable - as though the unit has trouble syncing up. it looks a lot like intermittent static. does anyone else have this problem? | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Nov 11 09:11 | ||||||||
| i just received an email from a videothen user who successfully created "bootable" vncd's using CloneCD. I will add his technique to the documentation as soon as I am able to duplicate his results. | ||||||||
| Pootle posted 2003 Nov 11 10:05 | ||||||||
| Below is the email i sent to Greg yesterday regarding bootable VNCDs. If anyone can help in perfecting this process it would be greatly appreciated.
Andy. http://oldtimeradiouk.playntradeonline.com ******** I've successfully burnt a mini CDR that DOESN'T need the disc swap. It's basically taken four hours of trial and error (and an increasingly big pile of wasted CDs) as i've been unable to find any documentation on the values and settings for .CCD files. It appears that the length of the CD isn't the only factor involved, although the disc does need to be at least 29 minutes long or the VideoNow player goes straight to the 'no disc' screen. I've attached before and after versions of the .CCD file, the one from the CD burnt straight from the output of your program is called 'spongebak.CCD', the modified one is 'spongeworking.CCD' The main differences are the changes to the end of [ENTRY 2] which alters the total CD length in the VTOC, the 'control' value in each section which has been changed to '0x02', and the addition of an extra line in the [TRACK 1] section. These changes were all made based on the settings from a real VideoNow disc. I have no idea what the 'FLAGS= DCP' line means but adding it has made the discs boot far more reliably. The 'control' value is normally set to '0x00' for audio tracks, and '0x04' for data tracks on a CD. I have no idea what '0x02' is normally used for but it seems to make my VideoNow player happy:) With these settings the disc will boot about 75% of the time in my player, so its obviously not perfect. Without the 'FLAGS= DCP' line the discs boot about 10% of the time. Also, the pause and stop buttons do not work while the disc is playing, the only way to stop the disc is to open the drive door. These problems are definately not related to the CDR media. I successfully copied the sampler disc to a mini CDR (albeit without the end part) by using CloneCD. The copy of the sampler boots flawlessly and the buttons work fine. ****** spongebak.ccd [CloneCD] Version=3 [Disc] TocEntries=4 Sessions=1 DataTracksScrambled=0 CDTextLength=0 [Session 1] PreGapMode=0 PreGapSubC=0 [Entry 0] Session=1 Point=0xa0 ADR=0x01 Control=0x00 TrackNo=0 AMin=0 ASec=0 AFrame=0 ALBA=-150 Zero=0 PMin=1 PSec=0 PFrame=0 PLBA=4350 [Entry 1] Session=1 Point=0xa1 ADR=0x01 Control=0x00 TrackNo=0 AMin=0 ASec=0 AFrame=0 ALBA=-150 Zero=0 PMin=1 PSec=0 PFrame=0 PLBA=4350 [Entry 2] Session=1 Point=0xa2 ADR=0x01 Control=0x00 TrackNo=0 AMin=0 ASec=0 AFrame=0 ALBA=-150 Zero=0 PMin=22 PSec=10 PFrame=44 PLBA=99644 [Entry 3] Session=1 Point=0x01 ADR=0x01 Control=0x00 TrackNo=0 AMin=0 ASec=0 AFrame=0 ALBA=-150 Zero=0 PMin=0 PSec=2 PFrame=0 PLBA=0 [TRACK 1] MODE=0 INDEX 1=0 ******** spongeworking.CCD [CloneCD] Version=3 [Disc] TocEntries=4 Sessions=1 DataTracksScrambled=0 CDTextLength=0 [Session 1] PreGapMode=0 PreGapSubC=0 [Entry 0] Session=1 Point=0xa0 ADR=0x01 Control=0x02 TrackNo=0 AMin=0 ASec=0 AFrame=0 ALBA=-150 Zero=0 PMin=1 PSec=0 PFrame=0 PLBA=4350 [Entry 1] Session=1 Point=0xa1 ADR=0x01 Control=0x02 TrackNo=0 AMin=0 ASec=0 AFrame=0 ALBA=-150 Zero=0 PMin=1 PSec=0 PFrame=0 PLBA=4350 [Entry 2] Session=1 Point=0xa2 ADR=0x01 Control=0x02 TrackNo=0 AMin=0 ASec=0 AFrame=0 ALBA=-150 Zero=0 PMin=30 PSec=10 PFrame=44 PLBA=135618 [Entry 3] Session=1 Point=0x01 ADR=0x01 Control=0x02 TrackNo=0 AMin=0 ASec=0 AFrame=0 ALBA=-150 Zero=0 PMin=0 PSec=2 PFrame=0 PLBA=0 [TRACK 1] MODE=0 FLAGS= DCP INDEX 1=0 | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Nov 11 18:40 | ||||||||
| can you check your example? i dont see a [track 2] entry | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Nov 11 19:25 | ||||||||
| curses! my dvd writer doesnt do DAO-RAW and won't burn those cds! | ||||||||
| impmon2 posted 2003 Nov 12 03:54 | ||||||||
| I don't have CloneCD but I could get it. If you can explain how to do this, I could check it out on my PC. If my DVD burner doesn't do DAO-RAW, I have 4 different retired CD burners I could test with. | ||||||||
| Jeromy posted 2003 Nov 12 06:23 | ||||||||
| I just tested my burnt southpark episode on a VideoNow player and it worked(I used the key disk). My cdr doesn't do DAO RAW either.
Use this tool to see if your drive supports DAO RAW ftp://ftp6.nero.com/InfoTool.zip | ||||||||
| Pootle posted 2003 Nov 12 10:40 | ||||||||
| For the record, i've been using a Pioneer DVR-105 to burn the bootable discs.
I've got a few ideas about getting these working properly, i'll be trying out some of them this evening and will post the results tomorrow. I've got a feeling that the problem with longer tracks losing tracking may just be a limitation of the format. There are no video tracks on 'real' VideoNow discs longer than 7 or 8 minutes. Andy. http://oldtimeradiouk.playntradeonline.com | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Nov 12 14:14 | ||||||||
| i'm not sure what the tracking issue is.
there are different "sync-byte" values. some tracks have 0xe1 others use 0xd2, 0xc3, etc... see a trend? i dont know what the particulars are. the static/tracking issue appears to be related to depth of track. the further out from the center of the disk the more likely a track is to lose sync. videothen uses only 0xe1 for video sync and 0x5a for audio sync. | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Nov 13 08:43 | ||||||||
| i would be grateful if everyone would post their experience with the tracking issue. i'm beginning to believe its my unit and not the copy process.
i just created a full 24 minute video of "Frosty the Snowman". I found the NEXT button doesnt really work. I want to try changing the sync value from 0xe1 to other values. possibly a shift from one value to another indicates a track change?? "Frosty" was authored in 5 parts, about 5 minutes a piece. it worked really well with a miniumum of skipping. <hr> i made some changes to the videothen program. 1) i had a bad computation for the average bytes per minute - which may be frustrating some of your attempts to create long videos. the current computation makes the video look like its 2x as long as it really is. 2) i removed the "Rendering complete. Writing WAV File" dialog box. it was mostly for debugging use and makes the process difficult to use. 3) i am thinking of offering a setting to change the sync value (0xe1, 0xd2, etc...) I will be releasing a new version (1.0b) this weekend | ||||||||
| tomoki posted 2003 Nov 13 18:44 | ||||||||
| While I wait for someone to explain using CLoneCD to burn discs, I decided to see if I could use a standard 5" CD-R in the player. I had to completely dissemble the player in order to remove the physical limitation (the case itself)
Since the VideoNow is basically a CD player with video display and extra circuitry, I figured a 5" CD-R *could* work. When I put the 5" in, it does fit and spins freely but I don't think the laser can reach that outter 1" of the 5" CD. My experiment will serve a few things: *To see if the VideoNow is capable of playing more than 30 minutes of video (however useless it may be since most people won't want to take apart the player *to see how many individual video segments VideoNow could handle. (I have 12 12-min. segments) *to save my limited stock of remaining 3" CD-R blanks. ;) I won't have any more money to spend until the week after this Friday. I'll work on this theory later as I'm tired after trying to bite more than I could chew today. (the power failure caused by wind didn't help me at all :refilao: :boom: as I spent nearly 30 minutes to get my main PC back up and running!!!) Add to that I've been up since 2 am... 
I did notice that VideoThen seems to have a problem handling video larger than 18 minutes. The workaround is to break the video in smaller segments. I don't know if this is a bug or what. Just one thing: how do I properly convert from a source that is not close to 15 fps? If I do a plain 15 fps conversion with Vdub, it simply alters the playback speed. ie if I reduce the video from 30 to 15, it causes the video to play only at 1/2 speed. Does anyone here know how to change the framerate, either by dropping or adding frames without altering the original playback speed? I have included a sample shot of the image on VideoPlay for anyone who hasn't tried this project and the original source image of the same frame:  
Looks pretty good despite the 80x80 greyscale. PS: here's a suggestion for future VideoThen fixes: why not make the preview window display the image closer to 4:3 ratio rather than exact pixel for pixel? VN player's horizontal resolution is roughly 30% wider than vertical resolution even though they are 80x80. A quick and cheap way to do this is to double up every 3rd horizontal pixel. PSS my DVD burner and my modified Iomega ZipCD both supported DAO but what's the difference between DAO-RAW 16 and DAO-RAW 96? | ||||||||
| geekstud posted 2003 Nov 13 20:41 | ||||||||
| First I want to say thanx for all the hard work that has gone into getting videothen out. But unfortunately I haven't been able to successfully convert using videothen. I follow the steps listed for converting with vdub and try to run it through videothen, but when I hit start render, it immediately goes to rendering complete and done and I end up with a 10k file. I don't get any error messages of any type. Anyone know what I am doing wrong? I have tried several different files all with the same result. | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Nov 14 08:05 | ||||||||
| tomoki: i'm looking forward to your 5" results!
i believe there is a bug in videothen 1.0a which will be fixed this weekend. it generates a file that appears to be 2x as long (timewise) as it is supposed to be. as for using virtualdub, i have had no problems converting from 30 fps to 15 fps. videothen only accepts 15fps so i think perhaps you did not get a true 15 fps file from virtualdub. i will publish a .cfg file this weekend for virtual dub that does what i think it should be doing. there should be no limitation to videothen processing (ala 18 minutes). but i have noticed that there is a flat file restriction of 4GB. if your data files take more than 4GB then the filesystem returns a failure. i might be able to add 4:3 aspect ratio to the videothen playback, but that seems superflous since its just a display to let you know its working. so far, my results on video then are really good - no aspect ratio problems. geekstud: i dont know why you're having trouble. please email me at glsmith-at-alcorgrp.com and i'll see what i can do to help out | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2003 Nov 14 22:21 | ||||||||
| I have had the same problem as geekstud...the immediate rendering of the avi, and the 10 kb wav file...but only with original avi capped...now im having a problem burning...the first one i did, rendered from a divx cap worked well, cept for audio was way out of sync...i try to burn "audio cd" w/ nero and it tells me that there is not enough space to burn to this medium...nothing that i have tried will work...
[/img] | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Nov 15 21:06 | ||||||||
| i just released videothen1b to sourceforge.net
it fixes the 2x problem and adds a configurable sync byte.
i included a .vcf config file for virtualdub. i hope that clears up some of the 10k issues. if they persist, email me at glsmith.at.alcorgrp.com i dont know what you mean by "capped" or "cap". usually i take that to mean capacitor. the not enough space usually means that you are trying to burn more than 24 minutes of video. keep me posted. | ||||||||
| impmon2 posted 2003 Nov 16 12:00 | ||||||||
I believe that refered to capture as in via video capture card | ||||||||
| geekstud posted 2003 Nov 16 18:04 | ||||||||
| Kudos to the latest and greatest update. It has cured my 10k wav probs! But now I've found when I go to burn the wav file with nero as an audio cd it doubles in size (over 400megs) making it impossible to fit 20 min video on one cd, (Is it me goofing up settings again somehow?), so instead I found if I make an audio nrg in ultra iso it will stay at about 220megs for a 20min video then I can burn the image with nero. But instead of burning it onto a mini cdr, what I do is to burn with nero onto a reg cdrw so then I can take that cdrw and make an image file with clonecd. Once I have an img file i can apply the ccd changes posted earlier. Voila, one intermittantly selfbooting cd. Am I making this too complicated or is there an easier way? | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Nov 16 21:19 | ||||||||
| i'm glad the newest release is working for you.
i have no experience with nero so i dont know why it might expand 2x. i have tried to burn cdrw by for some reason that doesnt work for me. | ||||||||
| tomoki posted 2003 Nov 16 21:53 | ||||||||
Looks like I goofed when I had trouble with framerate conversion. I only changed the source setting and not convert to x frame. Older version of VirtualDub didn't have the option to convert framerate so I downloaded 1.5.9
Now I can properly convert some of my vids that are 30 fps. I noticed this only because the Virtualdub setting you included with the zip file wouldn't work with the 1.5.1 due to lack of framerate convertion. But it seems now I'm having problem a few other has reported. When I start rendering, it says 'Done' right away and I get an useless 10K WAV file. When I look at video.dat and audio.dat they are 22K and 0K respectively. But when I reloaded older VirtualDub 1.5.1 and manually set according to instruction, VideoThen works fine. I think the current version of VirtualDub (1.5.9) may have an inadverant default setting somewhere that is incompatible but I don't know where. Unfortunaely the old version doesn't have any option to convert framerate so I'd have to use the current Vdub to change the framerate and then use the older 1.5.1 to convert. One thing for sure, newer version of Virtualdub is causing the odd 10K problem. When I still used the older version, I never had that 10K wav file issue. What version are you using anyway that has convert framerate and works with VideoThen? Now for the 5" CD experiment. I couldn't cram in as much as I wanted to. I forgot that 5" CD can hold up to 80 minutes of audio and 12x12 is 144 minutes. :oops: So I'm using half of my original plan, 3 full episodes rather than 6 full episodes. Aside from taking the top cover off, I also had to move the LCD display a bit further back. If I left in original position, I would need to shave about a cm off the edge of the disc. This also means the push button would also be harder to reach and press. An entirely new top case would be required if you wanted to have 5" CD-R and not have the player's gut hanging around. It plays although it seems rather touchy. I guess the size and weight of the larger disc is putting a bit of strain on the motor. The first single 22 minute episode went through without any problem so VideoNow can handle a single show of 22 minutes long. I guess it'll hold 24 minutes long as it's the max size of the off-the-shelf 3" CD-R. My player went right to the next episode on the disc without a delay. The 5" disc seems to be spnning a bit slower but the playback remained consistant. The second episode played without any problem. It went on to the third episode but unfortunately I bumped the disc about 3 minutes in and the display froze. APparantly the player can't recover from bumping or skipping at this distance from center of the CD. So that's about 47 minutes total before it crashed. IOW the player can go beyond the advertised 30 minutes but by then the player seemed touchy and prone to hiccups with every bump and other vibration. I'll try again when I get some foam pad to rest the player on and avoid touching the player. If you have little kids in the same room as your computer or are senstive about nudity, turn away. You are about to see 2 pictures of naked vide player :lol: :lol:  
Yep, ThunderCats again. ;) --burning disc-- I had problem when I tried to use Nero and I could never figure out why but if I try to use Nero to burn the disc, the wav file mysteriously bloated to 2x the actual size. Maybe Nero tried to convert the wav to something else like different bitrate? For now I'll stick to using WMP since it seems to handle the file size correctly. Greg- I didnt notice any skipping or noise like you described some posts ago. The only time I get garbled video is if I bump on the disc while its playing and the video corrects itself within a few frames. Might be a design variation or a defect with your player? PS Videothen 1b can now handle a single 22 minutes video without getting EOF problem. Not sure what its max size are but I have a DVD rip of Finding Nero I might try next. Thank you!!   | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Nov 16 23:13 | ||||||||
| tomoki - that 5" experiment is very impressive.
all - i'm very concerned about the 2x issues people are having. it appears that one variable in the .wav header (avg bytes/sec) is being interpretted differently by different burners. i dont know how to address this issue as it should be the same everywhere. also the differences between virtualdub versions is very confusing. i am using 1.5.3 greg | ||||||||
| impmon2 posted 2003 Nov 17 09:08 | ||||||||
| I believe you can still download a working demo of Nero so you might want to try Nero and see what it's doing that are different from WMP. DOes anyone here uses a different burning software like EZ CD? I'm sure we'd like to know if they are also bloating the wav file or not.
Also for others who are still having problem with VirtualDub, here's a link to many older versions: http://divxstation.com/softwareId.asp?sId=129&svId=393 It's been established that 1.5.1 and older doesn't have convert framerate and 1.5.9 is causing 10K wav issue. Since Gary is using 1.5.3 with no problem, I'd suggest downloading and using 1.5.3 for now. There are regular and P4 optimized version at the above link. | ||||||||
| tomoki posted 2003 Nov 17 14:06 | ||||||||
| Regarding the odd issue with VirtualDub version, I went and download every versions from 1.5.2 to 1.5.8 to see which version caused the problem. (1.5.3 has been established to work fine with VideoThen and 1.5.9 doesn't)
There is no 1.5.7 listed but I found it anyway so I guess that version was never officially released. FWIW I used P4 optimized version when available (only 1.5.4 & older, newer versions didn't have P4 version), I hate waiting. :lol: 1.5.1: doesn't have convert framerate, won't work properly unless source AVI is 15 FPS to begin with. 1.5.2: converted OK 1.5.3: converted OK 1.5.4: converted OK 1.5.5: crashed when I tried to load Videonow.vcf setting file that came with 1.b, This version was listed as experiemental so I skipped this one. 1.5.6: converted OK 1.5.7: converted OK 1.5.8: created 10K WAV and reported 'Done' too quickly 1.5.9: same as 1.5.8, current version I also have the older 1.3c (kept it because of asf support) and aside from absent convert framerate option, it works fine with VideoThen as well. This conclude something changed between 1.5.7 and 1.5.8 that broke VideoThen. Here's the bug fix and changes in 1.5.8, maybe you could see what was changed that kept VideoThen from working properly. Quoted from VirtualDub 1.5.8 help"
| ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Nov 17 15:06 | ||||||||
| * Fixed swapped 00db/00dc tags in AVI output.
thats the culprit. my VideoThen code is very sensitive to the position of chunks in the AVI input file. thanks for the extra work on the virtualdub compatibility issues. i'm really impressed with the VideoNow "community" - together we are really making videonow a toy worth having. here is an interesting article on videonow where the author echos our concerns about the proprietary format. http://toycollecting.about.com/cs/toystores/a/videonow.htm cheers... | ||||||||
| tomoki posted 2003 Nov 17 16:02 | ||||||||
| That didn't take long to find the cause.
I sure wish I could do that, all I can program is BASIC, HTML, and the 2 obsolete languages: LOGO and PILOT. (PILOT is a low level graphic code, LOGO is high level graphic code) Isn't JAVA mostly based on C++ code? I think I'll see if there is such thing as C++ for Dummies Oh yeah, you might want to add VideoThen revision number in the title bar. The 3 versions you have out just says "VideoThen" in the title bar. He next version you have out could say "VideoThen 1c" so that I know I'm not using the old software. | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Nov 17 20:08 | ||||||||
| i will add the version number the next time i release. sorry about that.
i exchanged my VideoNow for a new unit - the sync problem disappeared. i must have damaged the unit somehow when i glued the switch shut. now i have to find a way to glue the switch shut without opening it up. | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2003 Nov 17 20:38 | ||||||||
| ok...now i'm completely confused...my version of VDub says "Version 1.5.1 (Build 15786/release May 10 2003)"??? does this mean that it's version 1.5.7??? this version supports framerate changes, and even specifically states that "Note: Changing the framerate will cause audio/video desyncronization." which is part of the problem that I am experiencing. The other one (which I now see seems to be a NERO thing) is that my NERO burning software doubles the size of the "AUDIO CD" when going to burn. I am in the process of trying "Easy Audio CD Burner" which I just D/L a trial version, as I have not tried any other burning tool, and don't have access to any others at this time...
@GregSmith (and thanks impmon2) from an earlier post, I was referring to "cap"tures from my video card. These are the files that I have been using to convert with VideoThen. It will capture in uncompressed AVI (which after converting with VDub gets the 10k wav file-still haven't figured that out yet...(i captured at 80X80, 15 FPS, 8-bit MONO and just convert to greyscale with VDub-no luck) and MPEG-1 and MPEG-2...so far, only the MPEG-2s have worked for me... | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Nov 17 20:46 | ||||||||
| if you want to send me a file glsmith.at.alcorgrp.com i will be happy to look at it for you. | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2003 Nov 17 21:11 | ||||||||
| ok...i have just received essentially the same error when trying to burn an audio cd with Easy Audio...seems the length of the file (when going to burn) has doubled...the file size is 107MB (which was about 5 min of video) and Easy Audio says it's 20 min long...
What am I doing wrong???? | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2003 Nov 17 21:18 | ||||||||
| sorry...previous post should have been 10 min of video-20 min with Easy Audio | ||||||||
| bde posted 2003 Nov 17 21:53 | ||||||||
| I've found a program that writes these wav files correctly to the cd. No errors with the time, plus, it's free.
get the app here: burnatonce This app also has a great function -- burn almost any cd-image format to a cd from the context menu... I love it. | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2003 Nov 17 22:18 | ||||||||
| seems like i can't send any emails right now... | ||||||||
| impmon2 posted 2003 Nov 18 07:58 | ||||||||
Ignore the build, the first set of number is the version number. Yours is the 1.5.1 As for setting framerate, that was my source of confusion as well. Apparantly there are 2 different kind of framerate conversions. See the picture below: 
This is from version 1.5.1 
From version 1.5.7 Adjusting source framerate would cause the video to play at different speed. ie original was 30 fps, changing to 15 would cause the video to play 1/2 speed. What you want is convert framerate in the second box, that is what forces the framerate to change without changing the playback. This spefic option (red arrow pointing at it) is not present on 1.5.1 and earlier version. Maybe there is more than one version of 1.5.1 :?: but the one I have doesn't have Convert Framerate option. 1.5.2 does have that option I don't know why your cap is causing problem. Try capturing in standard video setting (ie 160x120, 24 bit color) and forget conversion to grey or 80x80. I'd suggest Huffyuv or MJPEG for codec as they are excellent lossless codec and uses minimal processing power on captures. Then run the cap through VirtualDub again, with the 80x80 reduction and greyscale. Use the vcf included with VideoThen to make sure your setting is correct. It may seems like a waste of time but until you can figure out where the problem lies, this may be the best option at this time. @Grey- glad to see you were able to get the replacement player. I don't think taking it apart caused the problem as mine's still in pieces and still plays fine. Maybe I'm just lucky 8) | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Nov 18 08:16 | ||||||||
| impmon - great feedback!
btw: i'm getting a strange thing - images that are sheared. i have been recording video from the vcr to my sony digital handicam. when i copy to the pc (using firewire and dvcapture software) some of the images tend to split - as though 2 interleaved frames are pulled apart. it usually happens when there is a big difference between two frames (like when someone moves quickly from the left of the screen to the right). i think the frame rate on the handicam is 25fps. and i know that images from tv are 30 fps interleaved. is this a frame rate issue? or is it the interleaved issue? regardless, do you all know a solution to this? | ||||||||
| impmon2 posted 2003 Nov 18 18:01 | ||||||||
| I'm not familiar with that problem. I also have a Handicam but it doesn't have the video in option (darn cheap model :P, I think it's a 130) Oh well, it does have firewire support so should I get VCR with firewire, I could record from VCR to the cam (actually VCR direct to PC with firewire card would be better ^_^)
You may have better luck asking this one in video capture section: http://www.dvdrhelp.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=2 I tried to search DVDRHelp forum for handicam reference and got very few hits, nothing like your problem. To get this thread "unhijacked" and back on topic, have you had any luck burning VNCD with "key" in it? It was covered a week ago and then there's been no new word since then. I would like to eliminate the need to swap discs. | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2003 Nov 18 22:36 | ||||||||
| Thanks impmon2!! for the above info... the version of VDub that I use is actually a VDub "mod" which will accept mpeg files as well as avi's...(it's been so long since I actually used it, that I forgot what it was exactly... :oops: and I was taking the "Video source rate" adjustment to correspond with "Step 8" in GregSmith's guide with VideoThen. So, I d/l ver 1.5.7 and it works perfectly!! Thanks again!!
couple more questions though... first...for tomoki, the VDub versions that you tested-did any like mpeg as the source video? if so, did any have the "frame rate" conversion? (I can't seem to find the virtualdub mod files anywhere any longer...I like to capture in mpeg-2, and the convert if I "need" to...) second...I still have the same issues with the "size" of the file with my burning software...I cannot burn more than 11 minutes of original video...it still doubles the size (timewise) of the original file, and I know next to nothing (actually nothing... :? )about "ccd" files and how to change them... Again...thanks to GregSmith for this wonderful VideoThen tool! Once I am able to work out all my bugs, just maybe I can give the daughter the perfect XMAS present: Home movies of ME!!!... :lol: | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2003 Nov 18 22:51 | ||||||||
| @tomoki
nevermind...just used the "tool search" on this very site :oops: (duh), and found "virtualdubmod 1.5.4.1" which seems to have MPEG abilities...I will try this... | ||||||||
| impmon2 posted 2003 Nov 19 08:31 | ||||||||
| Not to mention DVDRhelp forum automatically adds link to posts that contain keywords. Maybe you've noticed words like Virtualdub, Tmpgenc and more are hyperlinks? I'll have to see but I don't think any versions of Virtualdub takes MPEG straight up. | ||||||||
| geekstud posted 2003 Nov 22 02:43 | ||||||||
| I had the same problems as mastersmurfie with file sizes. I got around this by using ultraiso (free demo) to make an audio image file, for some reason it would keep the correct file size and the image could then be burned with nero, whereas if I just used nero to make an audio cd, it would take a 20 min file and tell me there is a 40min file | ||||||||
| tomoki posted 2003 Nov 23 20:40 | ||||||||
| ^_^
bumping this thread before it gets lost in the past. Still waiting to see if the next version are ready soon. FWIW I've noticed this past week VideoNow player seems to be selling out everywhere. Kmart and Walmart are both frequently out of the player and Walmart often has no single disc available either. Meijer has VideoNow player but they are out of all the video discs. Looks like VideoNow could be a bit more popular than we thought. I wouldn't be surprised if on Dec. 26th there are quite a lot of new posts on DVDR forum and elsewhere asking how to burn VideoNow CDs. ;) | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2003 Nov 23 23:31 | ||||||||
| don't know if this is relevant or not...(has to be...) but I just right clicked on one of the files created by VideoThen and chose properties...this is what I get:
Bit Rate 2822kbps Audio sample size 16 bit Channels 2 (stereo) Audio sample rate 44 kHz Audio format PCM this info comes from the WAV file that is created by videothen...which would almost explain (to me) the doubled size when burning with nero...(this says that the audio is double what I 'thought' I saved it as) any thoughts? | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Nov 25 15:27 | ||||||||
| everything looks normal to me, but i dont know what "Bit Rate 2822kbps" means | ||||||||
| NightWing posted 2003 Nov 27 17:41 | ||||||||
| Side item...
Looks like the unit will be in the Black Friday items on sales. Have seen it as low as 29 dollars in one ad! | ||||||||
| impmon2 posted 2003 Nov 28 12:09 | ||||||||
| I saw them as well. Target had a sale on VideoNow player (choice of silver, blue, or RED! for $35 even. They were all out when I got there about an hour after they opened this morning. They were handing out rainchecks like they were (both literal and firgative) made of paper.
Another area of interest is check Sam's Club. They have a package deal for just under $60: VideoNow (silver or blue) plus headphone plus carry case plus 4 regular VN CDs. That's probably close to $100 in retail price separately. Other club warehouse may have them or similiar package. | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2003 Nov 30 21:54 | ||||||||
| SUCCESS!!!
I have finally been able to burn wavs created by VideoThen to mini cdr. For whatever reason, my computer seems to think that the resulting wav is double the bitrate of what it should be...(my system says that the files are: Bitrate 2822kbps, where the files ripped from the sample VNCD are Bitrate 1411kbps). To get around this, I first had to burn an AUDIOCD with NERO to a CDRW. Then, "rip" that audio cd to a mini cdr. For some reason, when I rip it, and then burn a second time, it's at the "correct" bitrate. Now, after going through a 25 pack of 3.25" cdrs, and having only 5 that "work", it's off to the old drawing board again. Gotta figure out how to make the burned cdrs "bootable" for my daughter...(she wouldn't like the mini screwdriver that I have sticking out of the VideoNow player... :D ) | ||||||||
| PACMAN2323 posted 2003 Dec 02 12:10 | ||||||||
| ok i tryed looking for the same size disc to back up my nephews disc so he dont scratch them up , well no luck there.. so wha i did .. is i wen to my grand parents home he has aband saw i made a template of the size of hte disc and started to cut up a regular cdr wich didnt take buta few seconds.. the barley sanded the sides witch was not badly needed .. then cam home and copya diska nd put it in and it worked out great no probs.. .. im glade it worked...i also bcakd up the disc wiht nero .. i made a image file of each show that i bought. and save it on dvd incase he scratches the disc up . witch he prob wil lol..
i liekto find out if there astarge place on line incase he scratches it wehn where out on a trip traveling .. liketo be able to retrieve them and burn them ifi need to .. i have prob about 30 discs already for back up .. anyone knwo good places to dowlnlaod them or save them online for keep sake .... good luck ... also hope someone explains how to make a home one easy on here wonce they lerned hwo to make them ... merry xmass rundmc2323@wmconnect.com if u need help on disc like i made i can help drop me alone .. | ||||||||
| katchar posted 2003 Dec 03 02:04 | ||||||||
| can anyone tell me how they got the program to work in there computer ,i have windows xp have downloaded the program files videothen 1b and the jar files and the java script jre file . i have tried to open the program with my command prompt but it comes up with errors .can anyone help, i'm new to this program. thank you[/b] | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Dec 03 09:25 | ||||||||
| there is a videothen.bat file which will need editing. you have to run the java program - or have it in your path.
if this continues to be a problem i will write more explicit directions. the original directions were written for hackers who have some experience in these things (like how to run a java program). this is not a consumer-friendly program | ||||||||
| katchar posted 2003 Dec 03 23:14 | ||||||||
| i guess i still don't understand, but any help you give me will be appreciated[/b] | ||||||||
| bsteph2069 posted 2003 Dec 05 02:37 | ||||||||
| Regarding getting help to use Video Then and Viertual Dub.
1. Within the VIDEOTHEN1b.ZIP there is a file called VIDEOTHEN.DOC. Read that file. It has stepwise directions which should sort out your problems. The only problem I had was finding a JAVA.EXE file. I believe you can download this from Sun Micro systems. From what I have heard you DONT need the developers engine. I followed the direction once I got the JAVA.EXE program and things worked like a charm. Best of luck. Regarding making a copy of the load disk on the net. Try getting a yahoo account. Also to make a copy of the load disk what I did to allow me to use the disk in my computer was to. 1. place the disk basically ecactly where it should be such that the computer should read it. 2. Place tape around the disk. NOT ON THE DISK. To stop the cd from sliding around and not getting "caught" by the cd drive. Close the drive then copy the disk. I have NERO Ver. 5.5.6.4. It works fine. Maybe it is what you are doing when you attempt to burn AUDIO disks. I'll also try to make a bootable video disk. I'll try to let you know how it worked out. And thandkyou all for this forum and help AND GREG SMITH for your fine video now program and the creator of Virtual Dub which greatly simplifies resizing and audio and greyscale issues. Bsteph2069 | ||||||||
| lordsmurf posted 2003 Dec 05 04:34 | ||||||||
| This is a cool little project. If those players ever make the clearnace stores (Big Lots, etc) than I may take this up too. :) | ||||||||
| luther posted 2003 Dec 05 13:28 | ||||||||
| I just thought I would thank everyone for their input especially Greg Smith.
This is how I got this to work: 1. I used VirtualDup 1.5.3 with the .cfg file included in videothen1b.zip file (thank you Greg Smith) to make 3 old format AVIs files using the videothen.doc instructions. This was an episode of Pokemon. 2. I used videothen to render the image via the instructions in VideoThen.doc and created 3 .wav files. 3. This is where I had trouble. I do not have media player 8.0 so I used CDRwin to make an .iso of each .wav file. I then created a cue sheet like this with notepad FILE "C:\POKEMON\POKEMON1.ISO" BINARY TRACK 01 AUDIO FLAGS DCP INDEX 01 00:00:00 FILE "C:\POKEMON\POKEMON2.ISO" BINARY TRACK 02 AUDIO FLAGS DCP INDEX 01 00:00:00 FILE "C:\POKEMON\POKEMON3.ISO" BINARY TRACK 03 AUDIO FLAGS DCP INDEX 01 00:00:00 and used CDRwin to create the disk. With all other methods the size of the file would double when attempting to layout the disc. My drive does not use the DAO-RAW writing method thus I was unable to get this disc to boot, but it works great when using the "key disc". I will attemp to create a bootable disc, I am getting a Liteon ldw-411s drive for Christmas. Does anyone know if it supports DAO-RAW? I was not able to use CloneCD as Pootle described, does anyone know how to fool CDRwin when writing the VTOC (volume table of contents) as Pootle did with CloneCD? Thanks Luther | ||||||||
| katchar posted 2003 Dec 05 17:39 | ||||||||
| hi i hate to sound stupid but i think i have theright java file , j2re-1_4_2_02-windows-i586-p-iftw and i downloaded this file java1. now if these are not the right file can someone send me a link. and tell me what file i need. now if i have the right file do i put the file in the same folder as the videothen file. do i use my command prompt to open the file. what do i put in for the command? do i name each folder in succession until i getv to the last file or is there something else i need to do. i looked on the net to see if i could find any instructions on how to use java. i know from the years of reading from this site that there are alot of knowledeable people who are very willing to help you. But for me i feel real stupid because i can't get this. I just think i am missing something , any help is appreciated.[/b] | ||||||||
| luther posted 2003 Dec 05 20:57 | ||||||||
| katchar,
You will notice that Greg Smith included the file videothen.bat with his program VideoThen1b. You should be able to click on this file and VideoThen will open if you have the Java program installed. The file you downloaded j2re-1_4_2_02-windows-i586-p-iftw is a program. Install this program and VideoThen should work for you. Luther | ||||||||
| katchar posted 2003 Dec 06 06:28 | ||||||||
| hi thank you luther for all your help i installed the java 2 jre program and double clicked the ms dos batch file and it flashed open for a second and said there is an internal error. do i need to direct the java file to a certain folder like the same folder as the videothen folder or is it ok where it is at. how do i direct the java file in the path of the video then program for it to open | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Dec 06 14:10 | ||||||||
| katchar - you have to edit the .bat file and change the cd command to point to your videothen directory.
cd c:\videothen for example. also the java.exe must be in your PATH and the CLASSPATH environment variable must point to the jre directory. you can change the PATH variable (and add CLASSPATH) by going to ControlPanel->System->Advanced->EnvironmentVariables this is admittedly very sketchy. i'm currently moving between states and am using a library computer to leave this msg. so i'm not able to do a respectable job of writing docs. cheers | ||||||||
| luther posted 2003 Dec 06 23:12 | ||||||||
| PACMAN2323,
I burned the above mentioned episode of Pokemon on a 700MB CD with the following Cue Sheet (This is the same cue sheet I used above except I added the VideoNow logo from the Key Disc and added a 9 min postgap to make the disc over 29 minutes long.) FILE "C:\POKEMON\VIDEONOWLOGO.ISO" BINARY TRACK 01 AUDIO FLAGS DCP INDEX 01 00:00:00 FILE "C:\MY DOCUMENTS\PINNACLE STUDIO\CAPTURED VIDEO\POKEMON\POKEMON1.ISO" BINARY TRACK 02 AUDIO FLAGS DCP INDEX 01 00:00:00 FILE "C:\MY DOCUMENTS\PINNACLE STUDIO\CAPTURED VIDEO\POKEMON\POKEMON2.ISO" BINARY TRACK 03 AUDIO FLAGS DCP INDEX 01 00:00:00 FILE "C:\MY DOCUMENTS\PINNACLE STUDIO\CAPTURED VIDEO\POKEMON\POKEMON3.ISO" BINARY TRACK 04 AUDIO FLAGS DCP INDEX 01 00:00:00 POSTGAP 09:00:00 After I burned the image to the disc, I cut the 700MB CD to the size of the Key Disc with a scroll saw (I don't have a band saw). It booted perfectly.:D The total time on this disc was 29:22:74. :idea: NOTE: The disc was pretty much useless after I cut it. The label flaked badly along the line where I cut it. However even though the disc was damaged, it booted every single time :!: . PACMAN2323 which disc did you use? Thanks Luther | ||||||||
| Vampyre posted 2003 Dec 07 00:15 | ||||||||
| First I gotta say Greg, you rock! Thanks man for such a great app.
I tried cutting a regular CD down to size too. But the top flakes off like confettie. Maybe its my cheep CD-Rs. I tried a hacksaw, a hobby knife, and finally scissors. I had the best luck with scissors strangly enough but still.. if anyone knows of a way to cut them with minimal flaking I'd like to hear about it. Maybe sanding them? I too have had problems with the EOF error. setting the audio rate to 44000 seems to help but still on some vids it stops just shy of the end while writing the wave file. I noticed this only happens with videos i edit(cut parts out of).. so what i do, is edit the video first, and then save it as divx or something.. then, i load it with virtualdub again. Then convert it to the b&w and change audio and all that. seems to fix the problem. its as if the audio loses sync in vdub after you cut up the video if you save as the old format AVI for some reason. I'm using version 1.5.3 . i need to get the new one Also, has anyone tried to put a backlight or LED sidelights in these things? | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2003 Dec 07 00:15 | ||||||||
| :D OH MY GOSH!!! Have we actually had to resort to sawing discs to make them work with this thing???? :o :D (it almost seems like it would be easier to take the "innards" from the VideoNow player, and put em in a different casing...just a thought...wish i'd bought two...then i'd have one to work with...)
I actually believe that I will try this tomorrow...my father has a stationary scroll saw that has some mighty fine blades...if it works for me as well as it has for Luther, then all is good to go!!! | ||||||||
| impmon2 posted 2003 Dec 07 14:31 | ||||||||
| Cutting CD-R has proven to be a problem for me. Several that I've cut up (unrelated to VideoNow) all fell apart with label peeling off easily. HP brand proved to be a nightmare when I tried reading the CD-R after it was cut, the whole label came right off! :p
I do have a burner that supported DAO so if someone can explain clearly I could burn a bootable CD. @lighting up LCD: that is doable. There is some space between the LCD itself and the window. I found a place that sells edgelight that might work: https://www.netdisty.net/ds/rab362/default.asp (I don't work for them) Or one could get rid of the reflective backing and make it a backlight. Backlight would be a permanet backlight only since without the reflective film, the display would be very dark while the side light can be turn off while under bright light to conserve battery. I'm going to see if I can get a sample but I'd probably need 4 to start with (2 may be enough, maybe not) | ||||||||
| luther posted 2003 Dec 07 16:06 | ||||||||
| impmon2,
My further attempts to cut the Memorex CDRs that I have also prove to be a mess to say the least. Any attempt to cut and the label will peel right off. According to Pootle, you need to manipulate the VTOC and make it believe the disc is at least 29 minutes. He used CloneCD. When I burn a VideoThen CD that is over 29 minutes it boots everytime, but you have to cut the CD and so far that does not seem to be a good alternative. A better alternative would be to "spoof" the 24 min CDs. When I try to write 29 min to a 24 min CD with CDRWIN I get this message Error "Start DAO Recording Failed" Luther | ||||||||
| impmon2 posted 2003 Dec 07 17:57 | ||||||||
| Well, earlier in this thread someone was able to make a bootable CD and I was under the impression he used a plain vanilla 24 min CD-R.
Using a larger 5" CD-R will work but it won't fit the player unless you take the player apart. This is probably how Hasbro intended when they made sure the player used non standard 3.5" CD and kept the player's tray small enough that 5" won't fit. Oh well, until a way is made we'd still have to stick with disc swap. As for the link I posted about Edge Light, forget that one. Their light required 6v (it has 2 LED in series) and VideoNow only has 3v. I'd probably end up getting a few SMD LEDs. | ||||||||
| NightWing posted 2003 Dec 07 19:25 | ||||||||
| Was wondering if any one has "modify" a ISO immage to "correct" for non complients?
Also would the light add on { the good internal one } that can added to a Game Boy Advantage work? | ||||||||
| Vampyre posted 2003 Dec 07 21:47 | ||||||||
| As for the backlight , i've been working on that. I peeled the reflective lable off of the back of the lcd. Turns out , that reflective label is more than just reflective. its polarized. so, to make the screen visable again, i had to add a peice of polarizing film. I got that off of an old LCD game. You can buy them from photography supply shops too, or if your desperate, cut up some polorizing sunglasses.
Then i put a single, bright white LED into the player , cut the plastic part under the lcd to make way for the light, put some white paper on the back of the LCD and it works perfectly. Well, almost. just one led, does give it kind of a spot light effect. still its better than no light. an EL backlight would be perfect, but those require extra circutry dont they? As for a bootable disk, i've tried what i've read on here and each time i've failed miserably. my 'bootable' disks cause my player to give me funny graphics in teh corner for a few seconds, the it trys to boot again and the disk stops spinning. I dunno what i'm doing wrong. But then again, i'm not all that bright. | ||||||||
| impmon2 posted 2003 Dec 08 11:37 | ||||||||
Those Tiger handheld games would work well and I often see them for under a couple dollars at garage sales and thrift shops. Keep in mind polarized filter works only one way, if you don't see any image, rotate the filter 90 degrees and that should work.
Yes, they require an inverter just like CCFT (backlight bulbs used in laptops and color handheld systems excluding Gameboy SP). And EL film isn't quite as bright as LED or CCFT (ever see the light up watch?) which means it may not be good enough for an average user. On the bright side, they last a long time. (CCFT do burn out easily, LED also can burn out but after so many years)
Welcome to Tgpo's dimbulb club. ;)
Not likely. I asked the folks at Triniton Labs long ago when looking to modify the Afterburner for Gameboy Color, they said the light guide would be very hard to cut. You could try but for $30, I'd rather explore other cheaper alternative before hacking Afterburner. Hasbro do sells the external light for VideoNow but they aren't internal. | ||||||||
| NightWing posted 2003 Dec 08 12:10 | ||||||||
| It would be nice to see hasbro pop out with a new model next year or sooner with a internal light. The problem is as the group that produces the GBA one, back lights really only work for LCD that are designed that way. And side lights just dont do that well. Reflective are cheep but a pain.
Their designed is basically a wedge of special plastic with a light that bounces light down evenly across the screen. For a 69-99 dollar hard to see screen game unless you are out in the sun the 30 dollars extra makes sense but for a 30 dollar unit, I agree, does not. By the time you hit between 60 to 90 total it almost cheeper to go with a bargan basement DVD-LCD player. I wonder if a small decoder with composit tv out could be engineered that would take their or home made disk and pump it out to a small cheep portable tv? Just a though. | ||||||||
| impmon2 posted 2003 Dec 08 18:48 | ||||||||
| A video out would end up costing even more. Hasbro didn't use standard video on that little LCD display and to step up to 525 lines (480 viewable) and encode them at proper frequency. Even if we skipped the color signal entirely (after all, even color TV will display only in B&W when there are no color signal) I doubt this project can be done for under $25.
Once again, we're back to the bargain basement DVD player that offers better than 80x80 resolution. A couple $2 white LED is still the best solution. For backlighting purpose, I could try using something to diffuse the light so there won't be a spotlight effect, like finely sanding the lens of the LED or using a piece of opaque sheet (like a milk carton) between the LED and the back of the display. Now I wonder why do we need white LED when red, yellow, and green is available for as little as $0.20 each (even less in large quanity) and being a mono display, the color of the LED won't affect the picture. How's that: a red display for the Target exclusive red player? I'd probbly go with yellow as it's brigther than other colors. Unfortunately I broke my player. Seems the ribbon cable connecting the LCD to the mainboard is darned fragile and bending it a few times will kill it. :P :evil: Oh well, I can still find a new one for about $40 if I remember which store was having a sale. For now I've asked Santa to bring me one. :wink: | ||||||||
| bsteph2069 posted 2003 Dec 08 20:02 | ||||||||
| Ohhh! I have to use clone DVD! No wonder my stuff didn't work when I tried to make a bootable disk. I thought ( erroniously ) that the trick was in the first three tracks from the bootable disk.
NERO does support DAO and that is how I write my mini cd's. The trick is to change the program settings for audio recording. HOWEVER I didn't alter the track listing to fool the video now. So it didn't work. I too am getting a proablem with continuity of the disks I am creating. I think it's because my videos are actually short videos which I joined. Many of them cause the VIDEONOW PROGRAM for lockup. But the WAV file was writte so I used them anyway. I'll see if I can cut a cd tonight. Thanks for the heads up about the tearing foil. BTW possible a method to make sure the foil does NOT tear is to take another item OVER the disk that is being cut. That typically solves the problem with wood. Hasbvro is currently selling a light for the unit. In my area it is being sold for $10.00. However, I've decide that I can simply get a flashlight if I REALLY want to see in the dark. Has anyone considered a thin led with unadiquate power OR a led covered by semi opaque plastic? Bsteph | ||||||||
| luther posted 2003 Dec 08 20:43 | ||||||||
impmon2, If you don't mind, please use CloneCD to record an image of one of your VideoThen Discs and post the .ccd file. I will :?: try :?: to modify it and maybe you can use the modified version to burn a disc since your burner uses DAO-RAW & SAO-RAW. Thanks, Luther | ||||||||
| Vampyre posted 2003 Dec 09 00:56 | ||||||||
| Sweet Monkey Nectar! :D Just made my first bootable disk, no
text editor needed. I used a standard 700 meg CDR. I used burnatonce to burn my wavs to the disk. I put track one from the key disk, my 24 minute video, and track 13 all on the disk. Then, i gently traced a 3.5 inch circle on the top of the disk with an exacto hobby knife. Thats to seperate the foil on the part of the disk i was gonna cut from the foil on the inner part of the disk. Then i used scissors to cut triangles out of the outer edge of the disk to make kind of a multi pointed star shape. then i snipped off the triangles. (this pattern prevented the disk from warping, which causes the foil to come off). I cut the disk down a lil more with the scissors, and it worked perfectly. No flaking! The disk plays beautifuly begenning to end, stops when its supposed to, and most groovilicsiously, it boots every time.. Plus, the larger disks are a lot cheeper for me. (22 cents versus 78 cents) Another interesting point, is that I dind't have to edit any .ccd files or anything. I just burned the wavs directly to the disk. (I guess since i was burning 30 minutes of video .. with track 1 and 13 included it worked fine) Excelent suggestion about sanding the LED to diffuse it. im gonna try that next.The backlight seems to be more trouble than its worth though. Does anyone have any idea how the player knows where to skip to with the previous/next buttons? is that info stored in track two maybe? | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Dec 09 08:23 | ||||||||
| BTW: I gave the videonow to my daughter (age 12) for her birthday Nov 30. She loves it and has no problem swapping disks. The biggest problem: she is already bored with the 8 vncds i burned for her. Good thing i can just burn some more - imagine if i had to pay $5/disk. | ||||||||
| Dj Petro posted 2003 Dec 09 09:41 | ||||||||
| I have been following this thread and you guys have done great work in figureing this out.
There has been alot of trial and error so can someone recap the process to make a bootable mini CD to play in the VN Player? _ | ||||||||
| anoah posted 2003 Dec 09 10:09 | ||||||||
| Hi guys,
Cutting cdr's, now that's dedication! I have written a small app to modify the .ccd file from cdrecord and I can put any length video (1 to 24 minutes) on a standard mini-cd and it boots and runs perfectly with a 100% boot rate. Thanks to all who have contibuted to make this project possible! | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Dec 09 11:04 | ||||||||
| anoah,
that's super! now, can you post your results here so we can all benefit from them? greg | ||||||||
| bsteph2069 posted 2003 Dec 09 19:20 | ||||||||
| Hi all,
Regarding the CCD app. Do you have to modify the ccd file or can one modify it using a simple text editor? This morning I used Vampires method or altering a normal CD. It worked fine in general. I used NERO 5.5.6.4 at DAO mode to create a 7 track CD. The first track was the video now leader ( Just for fun ). I could access all of the tracks except the last one ( I presume because I messed up a little when I cut the CD. With the scizors ( sp ) ) For those who want a simple method. Within the VideoNow1B file there is a DOC file which give explicit directions for creating a CD which is non bootable. The only difference to making the CD bootable in my experience is to ensure that one has at least 29 minutes or more of "audio" data and to cut the cd to fit the video now spindle. That is the simple method. The JAVA.EXE file can be downloaded from Sun microsystems website. Note: You WON'T t have to download the 88Meg developers file. All you should need is the 2.6 MEG install file. Also note: One MUST change the Audio to 8bit , MONO. EACH VideoDub session or else you will get strange hissing noises in the video. Nero can be made to create DAO audio disks by changing the FILE, COMPILATION INFO, BURN, WRITE FORMAT information. Yup. As soon as I get home I gonna make a couple more disks. Bsteph Hi guys, Cutting cdr's, now that's dedication! I have written a small app to modify the .ccd file from cdrecord and I can put any length video (1 to 24 minutes) on a standard mini-cd and it boots and runs perfectly with a 100% boot rate. Thanks to all who have contibuted to make this project possible! | ||||||||
| luther posted 2003 Dec 09 20:15 | ||||||||
You can use a text editor. I simply used notepad, but my drive is not compatible with DAO or SAO. Luther | ||||||||
| tomoki posted 2003 Dec 09 22:57 | ||||||||
| You can get the CCD file here: (3K) http://personalpages.tds.net/~wilykat/MR.ccd
Keep in mind most tray loading CD-ROM doesn't handle 3.5" CD at all and simply centering the disc by trial and nerror would take a lot of time not to mention a risk of ruined VN CD when the CD-ROM drive tries to load the disc off center. Anyway I hacked my old ZipCD (external USB CD burner) so I could load the VNCD without too much trouble: 
A recap: so far there isn't a foolproof way to make 3" CD-R bootable but it is possible. I've seen standard 5" CD-ROM that used a simple anti-copying by inserting a false file size that are >800MB so manipulating file size or lenth in time can be done. Cutting a 5" CD-R is the only way but it's rather difficult as the CD-R data layer is on top and peels off easily. | ||||||||
| anoah posted 2003 Dec 10 06:52 | ||||||||
| Hi Guys,
This is a short tutorial on how to use my util along with VideoThen to make bootable VNCD's on a standard 24minute 210MB Mini-CDR. I have make 10 of these which boot 100% of the time except for 1 and it boots corectly about 95% of the time. I also have a small Logo.wav file that I created (10 Seconds) that I put as the first track of every disc. The reason I do this is once the 1st track is played the Stop, Fwd, and Rev buttons work correctly. If you'll notice on a VideoNow cd the keys do not work until the first track is finished. 1. Use VirtualDub and VideoThen to create your WAV files. 2. Use BurnAtOnce to burn your WAV files to a Mini-CD-RW 3. Use CloneCD to copy the VNCD you just burnt back to your computer. 4. You need to a associate ccd2vncd.exe with .ccd files. Download ccd2vncd.zip at the link below and unzip it to a folder of you liking. If you do not have a program associated with .ccd files go to step 4b. If you do have a program associated go to step 4a. 4a. You'll need to remove the association for this to work. Open the folder with a .ccd file and right click on the .ccd file. Select OPEN WITH - CHOOSE PROGRAM. Select OTHER from the Open With window and browse to the folder where you unzipped ccd2vncd and select ccd2vncd.exe. Make sure Always use this program to open these files is checked and select ok. Goto step 5 4b. Double click on the .ccd file and the Open With window will appear. Select OTHER from the Open With window and browse to the folder where you unzipped ccd2vncd and select ccd2vncd.exe. Make sure Always us this program to open these files is checked and select ok. Goto step 5 5. You will see a DOS box appear for a moment and then disappear. (It may stay open on some systems, if so you may close it). If you look in the directory with your .ccd file you will see a .bak file, this is a backup of your original .ccd file. The .ccd file in the directory is now the modified .ccd file. 6. Open Clonecd and tell it you want to burn a disc. Select the .ccd file that was just modifed and write it to a Mini-CDR as a audio disc. 7. Pop the disc in your VideoNow and enjoy. Download here http://64.225.80.230/ccd2vncd.zip enjoy, Albert | ||||||||
| Dj Petro posted 2003 Dec 10 09:39 | ||||||||
| Will the latest version of VDub (1.5.10) work for this process, or will an earlier version be needed?
_ | ||||||||
| Vampyre posted 2003 Dec 10 09:43 | ||||||||
| anoah,
Your app sounds really nice. But i couldn't get it to work. I've associated it with .ccd files. but when i double click them your app starts and says Input run-time module path: am i missing something? Dj Petro, I tried 1.5.10 and it didn't work for me. (I got the 10k wave files) It would seem that version 1.5.7 or earlier are the only versions of vdub that work as of now. | ||||||||
| anoah posted 2003 Dec 10 11:23 | ||||||||
| Ooops,
Forgot to link the runtime library to it. If you'll re-download and unzip it, it should be fine. Sorry about that! Albert | ||||||||
| Vampyre posted 2003 Dec 10 12:37 | ||||||||
| anoah ,
Thanks! I downloaded the new executable, and it works perfectly! no more cutting disks for me. I made a nifty 3d VideoThen 10 second logo for the bootup. If anyone wants it lemme know and i'll post it somewhere. | ||||||||
| Mr.Radar posted 2003 Dec 10 13:28 | ||||||||
| Hello, I am working on a set of tools to work with VNCD files. I've already got a working sound extraction program and a (partially) working frame extraction program. As soon as I finish the frame extraction program I'll post a link to both of them and the C source code(which is a mess but works). I eventually plan on making an alternative to VideoThen. A(n attempt at a) blog is at http://www.writersblockmedia.com/~radar/pvdtools/pvdtools.html | ||||||||
| bsteph2069 posted 2003 Dec 10 14:08 | ||||||||
| Wow you people are ramping up fast!.
I am just getting my methods togeather to making "cut" 5 inch diskets to use in the video then. It occured to me that I can avoid some of the foil lifting. ( Although there is not much if one cuts the foil FIRST before cutting the disk ) By placing a CD label on the disk. Bsteph | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Dec 10 14:16 | ||||||||
Mr. Radar Says:
um... sucks - is a bit extreme since mine works, and yours doesnt no source - not true, it's delivered in the .jar file java - is as good a language as C and works on all platforms without source code changes. etc - if you follow the directions it works perfectly well I don't mind that you want to create your own converter, but you should really try to understand my work before you criticize it. I have already documented the file format in the .doc file - which you apparently haven't read. but aside from all that, i do wish you luck with your project. i suggest you integrate the virtualdub and burner features into your code, so that people dont have so many steps to perform. greg | ||||||||
| Mr.Radar posted 2003 Dec 10 14:33 | ||||||||
| I was a bit harsh(sorry)[franticly edits page]. I've never programmed java(C is (pun intented) my cup of java) and was not aware that .jar files were openable/browsable and therefore didn't see any code. C source code is generally distriubted seperatly in a .tar.gz/.tar.bz2 file. I also find JAVA pretty slow(esp. the gui) though the actuall conversion process with VT(after I got it work) went pretty quickly (for the 7-second clip I'm working on). I'll have to look at your code. | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Dec 10 14:40 | ||||||||
| Apology accepted ;)
Yes, you can open the .jar file with WinRar - I think even WinZip will open a .jar file. Failing that, you have the 'jar' program as part of the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) that you downloaded to run VideoThen. jar -xvf VideoThen.jar I think friendly competition is a good thing. And I'm willing to assist (I am an experienced C programmer too) if you need it. You'll find Java source code is very similar to C (java actually inherits its syntax from C++ which in turn inherits from C). cheers EDIT: http://www.dvdrhelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=735401#735401 The above thread has been created for us DigitHeads to discuss the intricate details of VideoNow file conversions. Let's leave this thread for users of VideoThen and PVDTools | ||||||||
| Mr.Radar posted 2003 Dec 10 14:54 | ||||||||
I only skimmed it before beginning this project(and after starting(writing the first 4 utils listed on the first post) didn't use it. After I started writing the frame-dumping tools I realised I had overlooked alot.
| ||||||||
| Mr.Radar posted 2003 Dec 10 19:35 | ||||||||
| ANNOUNCEMENT
Alpha 1 of PVDTools is avalible at www.writersblockmedia.com/~radar/pvdtools/pvdtools.html This only include the decoding tools(I have yet to write encoding tools). None of the 4 frame extraction methods work the best but they do work. Yes, I know I need to impliment command-line parsing but you should be able to live(or if you program, you could add it yourself). RELEASE NOTES: strip assumes that the audio data begins at 44 bytes and all the other utilites expect that there is only audio data in the file. | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2003 Dec 10 23:21 | ||||||||
anoah... I have used your ccd2vncd app to no avail...i have followed all instructions, and when I "open" the ccd file with your app, I get nothing...a DOS box does come up, then goes away, but no .bak or new .ccd files... wondering if this has something to do with it...this is info from burnatonce: WARNING: C:/MOVIES/TEST1.WAV: file length does not match length from WAVE header - using actual length. windows XP properties of this file says that this wav file is "bit rate" 2822kbps...all files from the VideoNow demo disc are 1411kbps...could this have something to do with it??? or maybe I'm not choosing the correct "format" for CloneCD to copy from?? (used audiocd and datacd both...) any suggestions? thanks in advance | ||||||||
| Mr.Radar posted 2003 Dec 11 07:40 | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie:
Have you done anything to the wave after it was created by VideoThen? It sounds to me like VideoThen is creating WAV files with corrupt. Try this: get Audacity 1.0, open the file created by video then, and then export the project to a wav file(under the File menu) and try that file with burnatonce. | ||||||||
| Vampyre posted 2003 Dec 11 08:05 | ||||||||
| Mastersmurfie
Burnatonce gives me the same message(about the files being the wrong length), and my wavs report that high bitrate too. But as far as i knew, that was how it was supposed to work. I was under the impression that the wave headers aren't correct, because, they're not really wav files? As for the ccd2vncd app, i dont know why its not working. Maybe its putting the files into a different directory?(my guess would be the directory its running from) try doing a file search for image.ccd ? btw, ya dont really need the app to burn bootable disks. It makes things easier, but I think all it does is change the image.ccd file (which is just text, you can edit it with notepad) thusly: step 1. in all the [Entry xx] entries it changes all the CONTROL=0x00 to CONTROL=0x02 step 2. in all the [TRACK xx] entries at the bottom it adds the line FLAGS=DCP inbetween MODE=0 and INDEX=12345 example: [TRACK 1] MODE=0 FLAGS=DCP INDEX 1=85895 step 3. Scroll back up in the image.ccd file and find [Entry 2] at the end of the entry you'll see settings for Pmin, Psec, Pframe and PBLA. Change these last four lines of entry 2 to this, exactly PMin=29 PSec=46 PFrame=43 PLBA=133843 adding this to entry two, seems to convince the player that it has a 30 minute disk in it.. which is what causes it to boot. try modifying your image.ccd file that way and using clonecd to write it to a mini cd. it works great for me. Thanks to anoah for the app that makes this so easy. And to who ever figured out these values. | ||||||||
| Mr.Radar posted 2003 Dec 11 12:48 | ||||||||
No, they are just standard CD-Audio compliant wav files and indeed the headers written by VideoThen aren't correct(somewhere a number is getting doubled during the RIFF-WAVE header writing part of the VT). | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Dec 11 14:43 | ||||||||
| i'm not so sure its videothen that is creating the wrong number.
i have had no trouble with files i have created. but i know i have had to change the value of the avg-bytes-per-second more than once to accomodate the output of virtualdub. here's my theory: virtualdub generates different values based on the input file. i dont know which values are different (at one point the audio was causing a problem. some files had 44100 hz others had 22050). if anyone can isolate the problem - or volunteer to send me samples of files that arent working - i will try to track down the solution. email: greg-at-alcorgrp.com | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2003 Dec 11 19:19 | ||||||||
SUCCESS!!! Thanks Vampyre!!
I had thought of this too (that the files might be going somewhere else...searched high and low...but no other files found... I was able to make a "bootable" VNCD using the values from Vampyre. Now to get some new material and start from scratch at making new VNCDs for my daughter for XMAS...Again, thanks to all for who have helped me to figure this out... Smurfie | ||||||||
| Mr.Radar posted 2003 Dec 11 19:56 | ||||||||
| PVDTools has moved to pvdtools.sf.net. Tomorrow I'll start work on an encoder and after that I'll try to consolidate that huge mess of programs(strip, splitX, and xtractX) into one program(pvd-decode) with command-line argument parsing. | ||||||||
| tomoki posted 2003 Dec 12 20:26 | ||||||||
| I could help with you to track down the issue with some nonworking files. So far I've had trouble when the original video was 640x480. All original audio was 22K regardless of the video size and that can't be the cause.
I have probably close to 500 TV shows I could just dump onto VideoThen and then check and see what works and what doesn't. It's going to be a while even thouigh I'm running 2.4GHz P4, Videothen doesn't do batch convert unless I could load specific target source AVI and saved WAV through DOS box and have VideoThen automatically quit when its complete (make log with offending file name if any error arises) If that's the case I could take a lazy way and make a bat file, use copy and paste and change only the filename of the target files. I'm wondering if we should dump VirtalDub and work on a stand alone avi to VNCD converter? That could help eliminate the confusion and the variation of Virtuadub as well as some incompatible versions. I have not tried the pvdtools yet, right now I'm trying to salvage files off one of my failed hard drive from my other computer (where I posted under the handle Impmon2) Fortunately that computer is mostly internet and gaming machine, not used much for AV while this computer (where I post under tomoki) is mostly for AV works including VCD, SVCD, homemade DVD, and VNCDs. | ||||||||
| tomoki posted 2003 Dec 12 21:32 | ||||||||
| PS colored CD-R won't work properly in VNCD player. :p I went earlier to get some more 3" CD-R and Staples only had the overpriced Sony brand 21 min CD-R. Went to other stores and only found 3" multicolor CD-R. :p either 3" are hot seller this season or someone's quietly discontinuing them.
When I burned VNCD on a red CD-R, the video and audio was skipping horribly. I haven't tried the purple, blue, or black but they would probably be as bad if not worse. Yellow just may be OK but it may be too dark as well. | ||||||||
| Mr.Radar posted 2003 Dec 12 22:58 | ||||||||
| Right now I'm working on figuring out the AVI file format from all the broken documenation I can find. When I'm done, I should be able to create a much more reliable AVI parser than the one VideoThen uses. You'll still have to use VDub(and Save old format) but it'll work much more often. Check the PVDTools homepage for more info a little later. | ||||||||
| tomoki posted 2003 Dec 13 21:53 | ||||||||
| Keep in mind even Virtuadub isn't perfect. The last 2 version had the AVI tags 00db/00dc swapped. Apparantly Virtuadub has been using the wrong tag up until 1.5.8 :?:
I also sent an email to the author long ago about this thread and I haven't had any response and there's no way to tell if he ever came to this forum or not. | ||||||||
| katchar posted 2003 Dec 14 05:44 | ||||||||
| Mr. Radar, are you going to make a user freindly program of this for people who are dumb like me. I could never get the videothen program to instal right in my computer. I had gotten all kinds of advice here about the enviromental variables but still could not get it to open. well good luck with what you find!! | ||||||||
| bsteph2069 posted 2003 Dec 14 16:48 | ||||||||
| Can someone please explain how to make the CCD file using CloneDVD? I think I can understnad how to edit the CCd file to make 21 min CD's work with Video Now BUT I am having problems making the CCD file for a CD.
Bsteph | ||||||||
| Vampyre posted 2003 Dec 15 05:51 | ||||||||
| If cloneDVD works the same way that CloneCD does, you should be able to get it to work using the post i made a few days back. What problems
are you having exactly? | ||||||||
| bsteph2069 posted 2003 Dec 15 12:51 | ||||||||
| Hi Vampire,
I missed your CCD. But I did see the one about reloading the CCD software. I'll start there then try to alter the CCD. Again thanks! And for what it's worth your scizor idea was brillant! Still the chepest price for a video now is $29.00 when bought at Toys R 'US online. Bsteph | ||||||||
| Mr.Radar posted 2003 Dec 15 18:52 | ||||||||
Yes, after I get the command-line programs working right I'll write a Visual Basic(graphical version of Basic) frontend(that allows you to use a fancy graphical interface to select all the options and then it calls pvd-decrypt for you with those options) for peopel who don't like to use(sometimes very complicated) command lines.
It won't. CloneCD has a bunch of advanced CD-Authoring features that most people don't usually need to mess with. CloneDVD, on the other hand, appears to be just a simple decrypt-compress-burn program and probably won't do it as it appears to be completely unreleated to CloneCD. @GregSmith: [NOTE: NON-PROGRAMMERS ARE NOT EXPECTED TO UNDERSTAND THIS] You didn't answer my question in the format thread(I hope you saw it!) but anyways, It seems to me that all you need to do to fix your program's VirtualDub compatiblitiy is to look at the version code written in the JUNK chunk after the header before the movi chunk and see if it is before, at, or after 1.5.8 and then look for the correct TwoCC(db for at/after 1.5.8 or dc for before 1.5.8). | ||||||||
| boooney posted 2003 Dec 16 01:18 | ||||||||
| java.Lang.NoSuchFieldError: BLACK
I get this error when I start rendering in VideoThen. Any ideas? | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Dec 16 06:29 | ||||||||
| that error doesnt look familiar. can you offer more specifics, like the source of your data? | ||||||||
| boooney posted 2003 Dec 16 11:14 | ||||||||
| Hi Greg.
Thanks for getting back to me so promptly. I'm trying to create some disks for my 8 yr old boy before Christmas. I'm really impressed with your efforts so far! I have used videodub v.1.5.10 to convert an mpeg stream to the appropriate avi stream, then re-rendered it using videodub v.1.5.7 (due to the 10k issue) both times using your config settings. Am I explaining myself better? Dan. | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Dec 16 12:07 | ||||||||
| that helps a little. but that error should not occur. I am thinking that you have an older version of the Java Runtime Environment. You should use JRE 1.4 or better. | ||||||||
| mustangfld posted 2003 Dec 16 14:56 | ||||||||
| Hello everyone,
I've been following this thread for several weeks, like several of you I have a teenage son that aquired the VideoNow player. Unlike many of you I'm whoefully poor at programing, and as such depend heavily on your skills to crack the recording process to generate my own movies for my son. I noted the cutting down of the standard 5.25" disks and tried this myself, I do have a machine shop and spent this last weekend destroying and finally achieveing a useable method of making them. The shattering and pealing of the surface recording media is the biggest problem, I had to make a special mandril and custom fabricate the cutting bit, to get a useable disk. Here is the resultingVideoNow size disks, an example picture is submitted. If you are interested in more info or purchasing some custom made, my E-mail is mustangfld@centurytel.net . I used Pinnacles, Instant Copy on 5 disks for backups of existing cartoons and had no problems. Physical disk size is not a issue because I used my laptop CDRW drive and most laptops use the center holder method rather than the tray method. Hope this info helps others. Thanks for your efforts. Mustangfld | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2003 Dec 16 15:19 | ||||||||
| thats cool, but i didnt see your image.
unfortunately for the rest of us, most of us dont have a machine shop to shave 5.25" disks down to 3.25" | ||||||||
| mustangfld posted 2003 Dec 16 15:56 | ||||||||
Sorry about the missing image, here it is:
The lack of a machine shop is understandable, I'm not so much as trying to sell the modified disks in quantity as give those that want to try the largest possible disk size, up to the 3 15/32" a method to try it. Each disk takes about 4-5 min to make, with the equipment I have. I'm willing to make some disks for others if they are interested. I'm seriously thinking of modifing a Video now player to not only look good but handle the full size 5.25 disks. I've yet to author a new video disk, still trying to figure out all the parts and pieces. I am looking forward to your solutions on the maximum track size achieveable. Thanks! mustangfld | ||||||||
| mustangfld posted 2003 Dec 16 16:01 | ||||||||
| :oops:
Trying again!!! maybe this will work. [img]http://www.dvdrhelp.com/forum/images/guides/p741704/CD cutout.jpg[/img] Sorry I'm used to Ebay. mustangfld | ||||||||
| tomoki posted 2003 Dec 16 16:19 | ||||||||
Make sure you didn't have 'Disable BBCode in this post' checked. Also some browser aren't friendly with spaces in the link so replace all spaces with "%20" and that'd work
 | ||||||||
| mustangfld posted 2003 Dec 16 17:30 | ||||||||
| Thanks for the help!
mustangfld | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2003 Dec 16 21:27 | ||||||||
can anyone explain these values to me??? Reason I ask is...here's the [Entry 2] info from my VideoThen disc: [Entry 2] Session=1 Point=0xa2 ADR=0x01 Control=0x02 TrackNo=0 AMin=0 ASec=0 AFrame=0 ALBA=-150 Zero=0 PMin=29 PSec=46 PFrame=43 PLBA=200064133843 and here's the one from the original VideoNow disc: [Entry 2] Session=1 Point=0xa2 ADR=0x01 Control=0x02 TrackNo=0 AMin=0 ASec=0 AFrame=0 ALBA=-150 Zero=0 PMin=30 PSec=10 PFrame=18 PLBA=135618 Notice the difference in the values...what do these mean? I had success before burning to 5.25" CDRs and cutting with scissors, but grew tired of having my hands ache...I have been able to purchase some more 3.25" ones, and am trying to start all over again... here's the latest ccd that I changed...(from my file) note that the PMin and PSec are the same as the VideoNow, and the PFrame is not touched (also, the PBLA is the same, minus the "200064 " [Entry 2] Session=1 Point=0xa2 ADR=0x01 Control=0x02 TrackNo=0 AMin=0 ASec=0 AFrame=0 ALBA=-150 Zero=0 PMin=30 PSec=10 PFrame=55 PLBA=133843 and it still boots "some" of the time.... Thanks! | ||||||||
| boooney posted 2003 Dec 17 10:50 | ||||||||
| Greg,
I upgraded to the latest JRE and it works fine...thanks. Dan. | ||||||||
| boooney posted 2003 Dec 17 11:16 | ||||||||
| anoah and mastersmurfie:
I am about to burn my first mini-CDR and want to make it bootable. From what I understand from your prior posts, I will have to: *create an appropriate wav file using videodub and videothen, *burn a mini-CDR, *get the CCD file off of the disk using Clonecd, *modify the CCD file using Ccd2vncd, and *burn it onto a new mini-CDR. Is this true, or can I burn it back to the original mini-CDR? Thanks. Dan. | ||||||||
| tomoki posted 2003 Dec 17 12:14 | ||||||||
| Only if you're using CD-RW. CD-R is burn onc3e only and that's why the other person suggested using CD-RW as a temporary disk to0 burn to before it's ripped.
If you can't find 3" CD-RW, you can use the more common 5" version, just make sure the total length is less than 21 or 24 minutes (depending on your 3" CD-R) | ||||||||
| boooney posted 2003 Dec 17 13:41 | ||||||||
| Thanks Tomoki. :oops: | ||||||||
| mustangfld posted 2003 Dec 17 14:35 | ||||||||
| MasterSmurfie I spent quite a few hours trying to understand the pattern in several .ccd files, here is what I have found.
The PLBA seems to be the address for that entry file, in order for you to calculate the correct address for each entry, take: Each equals PMin= 4500 Psec=75 PFrame=1 multiply each by the given value, then add together and subtract the ALBA (-150) to get the proper address PMin=4500x30=135000 PSec=75x10=750 PFrame=1x55=55 ALBA=-150 _________________________ PLBA=135655 [Entry 2] Session=1 Point=0xa2 ADR=0x01 Control=0x02 TrackNo=0 AMin=0 ASec=0 AFrame=0 ALBA=-150 Zero=0 PMin=30 PSec=10 PFrame=55 PLBA=133843 so this should be PLBA=135655 Hope this helps Mustangfld | ||||||||
| mustangfld posted 2003 Dec 17 14:55 | ||||||||
| I recalculated the first example you gave, and it should be
PLBA=133843 Good luck Mustangfld | ||||||||
| boooney posted 2003 Dec 18 00:57 | ||||||||
| After using ccd2vncd and modifying the ccd file, clonecd won't let me burn back to disk! It gives me the error: illegal request: invalid field in parameter list. However, if I revert to the image.bak file, it will allow me once more to burn. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2003 Dec 18 21:24 | ||||||||
Thanks Mustangfld!! Seems like the PBLA value is the key to making "bootable" VNCDs. I just made a 5 min copy (changing the PMin, PSec, and PFrame values to what Vampyre had given)...then used your formula to calculate the PBLA value...and it booted with no problems!! Then, decided to get wild and burned a 23 min copy (using the values from the original VideoNow disc) and same thing! Just to make sure...I am going to try an "off" time (maybe like 8 or 12 minutes) copy...but two totally different files, with two totally different PBLA values is almost enough for me... For those that are interested, here is how I get a final product: 1. Follow ALL instructions in "VideoThen" documentation (again, Thanks GregSmith for this wonderful tool!!) 2. Burn resulting *.wav files to CDRW with Burnatonce-as AudioCD (if burnatonce tells you that the file is "wrong" just ignore it...I have that error message with every one that I do...) 3. "rip" IMAGE from CDRW using CloneCD (to get the img and ccd files...)(21 day trial for those that don't have it...I ended up purchasing it for this very project) 4. Edit the resulting *.ccd file with any text editor-using the methods and calculations listed above 5. Burn to mini-CDR (or regular CDR-if you want to cut it to size) 6. Pop it into VideoNow player and watch in amazement!!! :D | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2003 Dec 18 21:30 | ||||||||
I never could get ccd2vncd to work for me...thanks to anoah though...I tried... :oops: on a side note...anybody know where I can get MiniCDRWs??? (local stores=I can't find em...) Thanks! | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2003 Dec 18 22:04 | ||||||||
hey Vampyre...I'd like to "borrow" that logo...if you can post it...I think it would work great with my projects and look more "professional" for my daughter... | ||||||||
| Mr.Radar posted 2003 Dec 19 07:41 | ||||||||
| [quote="mastersmurfie"]a side note...anybody know where I can get MiniCDRWs??? (local stores=I can't find em...)[quote]
Try CompUSA. I got comp mini CD-RWs(generic CompUSA brand) there a while ago. | ||||||||
| transient posted 2003 Dec 19 23:22 | ||||||||
| I've tried several times to make a self-booting disc following the tutorials in VideoThen and this thread, but to no avail. The best I can get is the first track to play on a two track VNCD. The first track is the intro logo from the disc that came with the player, and the second track a cartoon that I encoded with VideoThen. These second track will play with the swap method, but without it, only the first track will play. I have hundreds of TV Episodes I want to convert to VNCDs, but I've run into this roadblock. If anyone has any suggestions, please reply. Thanks in advance. | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2003 Dec 19 23:49 | ||||||||
transient...follow what i had posted before...and see it that works for you too...i just burned a copy of "Findin Nemo"...took about 5 minicds...each with the "videonow" thingy as first play... Let me know if you have more questions... Mastersmurfie | ||||||||
| mustangfld posted 2003 Dec 20 00:09 | ||||||||
| This is MasterSmurfie's response to questions I had:
Hi mustangfld, First thing that I notice is that your file size may be too big (the mini CDRs will only hold a max of 210MB or 24 min of data). Try cutting your time down to about 22 minutes total...this seems to make the mini cds happy (I used 20 min increments of a movie, cut up into 5 minute pieces). Second thing...when you burn the original VideoThen wav to CDRW, burn it as an AUDIOCD, instead of a DATACD. This may be causing the changes that you make to the .ccd file to burn the "blank" disc. Another thing that kind of goes with that...when I tried to burn the original wav as AUDIOCD with NERO, it told me that it was twice the size (i.e. "Duration 40min for what I KNOW was a 20min file), but Burnatonce does it, even though I get a "WARNING" message. Maybe RecordNow is doing something similar??? Then "rip" an AUDIOCD image with CloneCD and edit the ccd file accordingly...(using the values that Vampyre and yourself have provided) I was so surprised that the 5 minutes of the movie that I burned actually worked, that I said "WOOHOO!!" outloud here in the comfort of my own home... Another thing that I forgot to post in the forum...I did a DIVX rip of Finding Nemo to get my AVI...(a LOT smaller than just capturing to AVI with ATI AIW). Then, using Vdub, cut it up into approximately 5 min pieces and encoded each one with VideoThen to a separate wav file. Then, I took 4 of these wav files, and created an AUDIOCD with Burnatonce. Then ripped image with CloneCD and changed the ccd. The result actually let me to use the "next" and "previous" buttons on the player, although not with the "expected" results...(it skipped to the second "chapter" with the first push of the next button, but the went back to the beginning of the first chapter when I pushed it again...go figure... ) so...you could probably add several "chapters" this way, and put some sort of logo as the first play...??? Thanks so much for your info on the ccd files...and I would suggest that you post them in the forum, just so everyone can benefit... Just so you know you are not alone...I personally went through a whole 25 pack spindle of the minecdrs and ended up with about (if I remember correctly) five that actually would play. Never had one that would "boot" until I knew about changing the ccd file... I hope this helps, and you may post this in the forum if you'd like Thanks for answering my questions, I am useing the larger 3.5" disks (about 30 min), I will burn more tonight using the audio transfer method. And as you suggested here is a brief description of what I found out about the .ccd file Entry 0: starting point for the TOC, (table of contents), Pmin=1,PLBA=4350 Entry 1: indicator for how many tracks are in the .ccd, indicated by PMin # Entry 2: end of TOC, shows total # Min/Sec/Fraction, add in 2 seconds, to get resulting record length of time. Entry3: starting address for Track 1 and time start point Entry4: address is the end of Track 1 and the start of Track 2, start/end time Entry5: address is the end of Track 2 and the start of Track 3, start/end time Entry6: address is the end of Track 3 and the start of Track 4, start/end time Entry7: address is the end of Track 4 and the start of Track 5, start/end time --------------------Etc:----------------------------------------------------- Note: later Entry # minus previous Entry # results in the Tracks time duration Example from demo disk: Entry 4 00:07:44 PMin/PSec/PFrac of sec) subtract Entry 3 00:02:00 equals 5:44 seconds duration for the 1st Track all calculations are the same for the further Entry's Last Tracks PLBA address is the same as the Last Entry's PLBA | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2003 Dec 20 00:49 | ||||||||
| i will by no means say that i'm an "expert" on this endeavor...but i would say that i have made a lot of progress....again I have successfully burned a DIVX encoded file to be compatible with VideoThen...and then taken the resulting files and acheived a compatible VideoNow file...with the tools that I have listed... | ||||||||
| transient posted 2003 Dec 20 02:18 | ||||||||
| So, I just tested a few more VNCDs and I can play the first track on all of them. It doesn't matter what the first track is, but after that, the disc just stops spinning and nothing happens. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. I used VideoThen, BurnAtOnce, CloneCD and have both edited the ccd files myself and used ccd2vncd. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Any suggestions? I am slighly confused as to what the values are supposed to be when I edit the ccd files. I have used Vampyre's values and MasterSmurfie's calculations....any help is greatly appreciated. | ||||||||
| mustangfld posted 2003 Dec 20 03:38 | ||||||||
| I'm joining the none burning club,(not so bright club)
I've tried several times to burn a image with Burnatonce (v 0.00b), in the audio mode, once all file are loaded, I hit the compile button, it comes back done in 0 seconds, I then tell it to write and it ask me if I want to write 0 MB to disc(807 MB free), Why is it not compiling, and why does it want to burn zero bytes of data. I've loaded it on two computers. No luck, no burn. Solutions? Mustangfld | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2003 Dec 20 10:23 | ||||||||
| OK...now I've hit a MAJOR snag...seems like the discs that I made last night do NOT want to play!! They all played just fine the first time, but now the player just sits there with the little "clock" thingy on the screen!! I'm NOT a happy camper :evil: !!! I will be playing around a little with it today, and hopefully I can come up with an answer...
@mustangfld... I too received the "0 seconds" when I compile with burnatonce (I use version .99b-don't know if this makes a difference or not), but when I go to burn, it actually gives me a file size, and then burns. @transient... Not sure what's happening. I also do not really understand the values in the ccd file, but mustangfld has helped a lot... Anyone else have any suggestions??? | ||||||||
| Tazmania8332 posted 2003 Dec 20 12:15 | ||||||||
| Hi... I'm new.
I am trying to create a bootable VNCD. i havent tried burning one yet because the mini cdr's i have r few. i only have 5. so i dont want to waste any. i have used vdub though. when i made a movie... the video was slowed down and the audio was outta sync. the 21 min. movie was stretched to 43 min. the audio stayed the same however. tell me... is this suppose to happen or am i messing up? if it is suppose to happen... do i just go ahead and use videothen on it? thanks... please respond soon. :D | ||||||||
| Mr.Radar posted 2003 Dec 20 12:54 | ||||||||
No, that's not suppost to happen. 
Fig. 1, VirtualDub Framerate Dialog Use the cirlced item to change the framerate, not the one with the line through it. If your's doesn't have the circled item, then upgrade to 1.5.7(NOT 1.5.8 or newer). If you use that, it shouldn't change the time the movie plays. VideoThen doesn't work with version 1.5.8 and newer of VirtualDub, but my current project(PVDTools)should, once I get a working encoder written(it should be done by Wednesday(or sooner)). | ||||||||
| Tazmania8332 posted 2003 Dec 20 14:03 | ||||||||
| Thanks so much... i am about to try it now.
Question 1) so after i do that... i use videothen and follow the instructions according to the instruction manual it came with? Question 2) also... how do i make a self booting VNCD? | ||||||||
| tomoki posted 2003 Dec 20 16:29 | ||||||||
Yes. As long as you used the proper setting, the file should come out OK.
It's been covered a while back. Just look on page 4 of this thread, there's a short guide explaining how to make the self booting vncd. | ||||||||
| transient posted 2003 Dec 20 17:08 | ||||||||
| I finally figured it out!! There was a lot of editing involved...more than I ever thought. It seems like Burnatonce or CloneCD butchered the ALBA,PMin, PSec, PFrame & PLBA values. I used Vampyre's settings and changed all of the ALBA settings to 150. Then I used MasterSmurfie's calculations, with the assistance of an Excel file, to make sure all of the calculations were right. I also used nero to compare the actual length of the tracks. I used mustangfld's breakdown of the different Entries in the CDD file to change the number of tracks and identify an extra ENTRY that I didn't need.
In order to see if things were going right, I used Daemon Tools to emulate a CD from the .CCD file and then pretended to make an audio CD in Nero6. Nero6 identified both the cda files and the tracks. First, it identified only 2 cda files and 3 tracks, the second being a long track representing the difference between the actual time on the disc and the time entered in ENTRY02. I knew that the track representing the non-existent material needed to be the last track or any track after it would not play. After changing the nuber of tracks to 3 in ENTRY01 and deleting an unnecessary ENTRY, Nero6 reported 3 cda tracks and 3 actual tracks, the last one being the fake track. I burned in CloneCD and it worked beautifully. Oh, and a very important change that no one has mentioned and was the last thing that made the CD actually work. Under each ENTRY, there is something that says Point=0x??. In ENTRY 1 and ENTRY 2 the values should be Point=0xa1 and Point=0xa2. ENTRY 3 should be Point=0x01 (representing Track 01), ENTRY 4 Should be Point=0x02 (Representing Track 2) and so on for everytrack. The Point=0x?? value in your last ENTRY should correspond with the number of tracks (remember, the first track (in the CCD file) is the 2 second gap before the first track starts). I'm sure this is long winded and probably doesn't make sense, but I hope it helps someone. I will explain anything anyone needs in more detail if need be. | ||||||||
| transient posted 2003 Dec 20 18:27 | ||||||||
| I forgot to mention a bunch of settings that I changed. I am writing a turorial that should be a lot more clear than my last post that doccuments what all of the values should be. Coming soon...... | ||||||||
| tomoki posted 2003 Dec 20 18:45 | ||||||||
| How about including that excel file? I don't think my calculator can handle those! :lol: | ||||||||
| bent posted 2003 Dec 20 21:33 | ||||||||
| i was wondering if the colour mini cd-r work in video now player?
i hope so cause cutting 5' just dont work so good so has anyone tried the colour ones? :P and greg good work video then works perfect! and i got the ccd2vncd to work i just draged the ccd file on the exe and it was done. hope this helps someone :roll: | ||||||||
| Mr.Radar posted 2003 Dec 20 23:04 | ||||||||
| New program to fix VideoThen .wav files: wavfix. See http://www.sf.net/projects/pvdtools under files. Read the release notes. | ||||||||
| Tazmania8332 posted 2003 Dec 21 00:59 | ||||||||
| All the programs worked perfectly on my computer. All i have to do now is test the mini-cdr. i can't do it now because my son can't open her gift until christmas.
i really can't wait to see if it'll work. if it does... i'll post a complete and semi-specific tutoral for all XP users. Right now i am just converting all my Family Guy episodes to wav format. | ||||||||
| transient posted 2003 Dec 21 05:25 | ||||||||
| I finally finished with the tutorial. You can get it here:
http://mmdx.com/Tutorial.txt OR http://mmdx.com/Tutorial.rtf OR http://mmdx.com/Tutorial.doc You can get the excel file to check your PMin, PSec, PFrame & PLBA values here: http://mmdx.com/Calculations.xls Enjoy! | ||||||||
| Mr.Radar posted 2003 Dec 21 09:32 | ||||||||
| Warning! There is a major bug in the beta1 version of wavfix. DO NOT USE IT. I'm uploading a patched version as beta1.1. Beta1 is no longer avalible for download. | ||||||||
| tomoki posted 2003 Dec 21 16:37 | ||||||||
| @bent:
Colored CD-R doesn't work well. I tried a red CD-R and the player skips a lot. I guess the laser is too senstive and doesn't work on darker colored surface. Yellow *may* work but I haven't tried it. When the 3" CD-R averages $0.50 each, I'd rather not wate it. | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2003 Dec 21 21:01 | ||||||||
transient...excellent tutorial!! :D ...however, I *think* a couple things are amiss or (not wrong...but... :? ) In your tutorial at http://mmdx.com/Tutorial.doc one thing that *seems* to be missing...at the end of the ccd file, there are entries for [TRACK 1] and [TRACK 2] and more, depending on the number of files in your compilation...I was under the impression (from earlier posts) that "FLAGS=DCP" needed to be included between the MODE and INDEX entries...maybe I'm incorrect (someone please tell me if I am...my original VideoNow demo cd includes this entry in the ccd for each track, and so did all "working" cds that I have made...) next...seems like the formulae in your "calulations" excel file might need a little modification...(for the PBLA calculator)...should it not be =((C4*4500)+(C5*75)+C6)-150 since the PBLA *should* be the the (PMin value + the Psec value + the PFrame value) -ALBA value of 150? Unfortunately, I cannot test any new stuff until later this week...gift exchange with my daughter was yesterday (hence the aggravation over the discs that I had made the night before not working...) and she will not be back until the weekend...interesting anecdote...my daughter and I were watching TV Saturday morn, and the commercial for the VideoNow player came on...she proceeded to explain how she "don't think she'd like it cause it's black and white and sooo small...(I felt like I'd been stabbed in the back with a butter knife, after all I've gone through for this thing :D )...anyways, all turned out great...she couldn't have been happier with the player and the discs that I was able to purchase for it...I went out today and bought two more disc sets, and the light that goes with it...(you CANNOT see the video in the dark :!: :!: ) Anyways... transient...I want to make sure that I have this correct... If I have ONE track on my disc, my ccd *should* have only 2 [Entry]s-right?? ([Entry 0] and [Entry 1], [Entry 2], and [Entry 3]) with with PMin=1 in [Entry 1] right?? Then, using values supplied earlier for [Entry 2], calculate values for [Entry 3]?? Help!!! all this editing makes my head hurt!!! :? Thanks, Mastersmurfie | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2003 Dec 21 21:19 | ||||||||
| transient...never mind my babbling before...your formulas are right...don't know what I was thinking...I was just plugging in random numbers and not seeing the results correctly...sorry!!! :oops: | ||||||||
| transient posted 2003 Dec 22 00:31 | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie,
Thanks for the feedback on my tutorial. You're right, I forgot the FLAGS=DCP part. It was late and I didn't realize what a beast I was creating. To answer your question: If I have ONE track on my disc, my ccd *should* have only 2 [Entry]s-right?? ([Entry 0] and [Entry 1], [Entry 2], and [Entry 3]) with with PMin=1 in [Entry 1] right?? Then, using values supplied earlier for [Entry 2], calculate values for [Entry 3]?? If you have ONE track on your disc, you should have 5 Entries. [Entry 0] should be the same as the one in the tutorial. [Entry 1] should have PMin=2 as there will be 2 tracks in the TOC (One for the start of the file and one for the end). Make sure to put the correct PLBA for PMin=2. [Entry 2] should be the same as the tutorial. [Entry 3] should have the start time of your file...usually PSec=2 or PSec=4. [Entry 4] should have the length of your WAV file + PSec from [Entry 3] So, if PSec=2 in [Entry 3] and the lenght of your WAV is PMin=5 PSec=20 PFrame=30, then the values for [Entry 4] would be PMin=5 PSec=22 PFrame=30. Be sure to calculate the correct PLBA. Those are all the tracks you should have. I hope this helps. | ||||||||
| mustangfld posted 2003 Dec 22 02:48 | ||||||||
| Hello Transient,
I've noted two problems with my disk generation First is that I seem to need a ending track, a filler track, that covers the excess time from my final track to the max disk time (30:06:43)stated by Entry 2. If I remove this track, and when Burnatonce is activated, it comes up with a (Error while parsing the file location of the .ccd file). When I examined the Demo disks I found a final Track (13) that is blank, it seems to be a filler track. I suceeded in burning a cartoon with the filler track(calculated the differance and made an additional track), it runs, but seems like a sycronization problem exist while it is running, good sound, upper portion of screen is viewable, but bottom half is randomized frames, they shows up when the screen paused, useally two lower half screens can then clearly be seen. Any Ideas? Mustangfld | ||||||||
| transient posted 2003 Dec 22 03:28 | ||||||||
| Mustangfld
Are you using Burnatonce to burn the CCD file after you edit it? | ||||||||
| mustangfld posted 2003 Dec 22 11:28 | ||||||||
| Sorry
I meant ConeCD, (version 3.3.4.1) | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2003 Dec 23 22:58 | ||||||||
| mustangfld and transient...(and whoever else might still be watching this thread)
I spent the last couple of days trying to figure this out...(printed quite a number of ccd files...compared...edited...compared again...edited again...edited yet again...trying to find (why I kept getting the same "error while parsing the ccd file" after editing out the "unneeded [Entry #]s...) "the way"...finally it hit me (I always saw it, but never paid attention :oops: )...look closely at the TocEntries in your CloneCD *.ccd file...this should equal the number of [Entry #]s that you finally end up with (after you edit the ccd file and delete whatever is not necessary-need to change this value to equal the total)...MAYBE...I still cannot test until later this week, but after changing this value, CloneCD let me burn without a hitch...I have a disc ready to go with the intro from the Demo disc, plus the first 20 minutes of the movie that I converted waiting to go... Can someone please try this and let me know if it makes any difference? Also, wondering if anyone has had any problems with discs that you *know* worked once not working again...??? or is it just me?? | ||||||||
| transient posted 2003 Dec 23 23:18 | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie,
I had the same problem and changed the TocEntries myself and it fixed it. I just forgot to include that in my tutorial. Thanks to everyone for their feedback on my tutorial. Expect an update soon with all of the stuff I forgot to put in there the first time. | ||||||||
| tomoki posted 2003 Dec 24 00:22 | ||||||||
| Just a short and useless update: VideoNow player is available in Magneta and a shade like olive green. Add to that Target exclusive Red and that's 5 colors. Also Walmart is selling them under $40 regular. | ||||||||
| Tazmania8332 posted 2003 Dec 24 16:05 | ||||||||
| A couple of weeks ago, they had a huge 2 day sale at walmart were they had the videonow on sale for $29.99. the videonow even included a VNCD case with it. i got one of those. it was one of walmarts most busy and crowded days.
Also... today is the day i test out the videonow disc i burnt. i'll post my results later on today after i test it. here are the programs i used to burn a disc: virtualdub videothen burnatonce CCD2VNCD and at last... CloneCD it's all in the order that i used them. I can't wait to test it. :lol: :P | ||||||||
| bent posted 2003 Dec 24 18:12 | ||||||||
| iam having troble making bootable cd i used ccd2vncd and burned it and it doesnot boot it will work with a cd swap could it be cause i dont have a 10 second intro file on it iam just burning the cartoon it self or if some one can post a workind ccd file so i know which value to change the other posts are confusing any help would be right on thanks in advance :cry: | ||||||||
| bent posted 2003 Dec 24 20:16 | ||||||||
| ok i hope iam not talking to myself i made another disk with an intro file and the intro file worked but the second file did not the cartoon so i made another one sameway but put the cartoon first and intro second and it player the first file the cartoon and the second one the intro did not work thats not too bad but none of the buttons work does anyone know what am doing wrong or leaving out thanks :D | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2003 Dec 24 21:02 | ||||||||
Bent...follow transient's guide posted above. When you get to "Step Four-Edit The CCD File" make sure to add FLAGS=DCP between MODEand INDEX for each [Track #] listed at the end of the file. Also, if you need to remove any unnessary [Entry #]s, don't forget to change the TocEntries accordingly. I personally have not yet tested transient's guide (on the player) but it contains all of the elements that seem to be required to make a bootable VNCD | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2003 Dec 26 01:53 | ||||||||
transient...I have encountered the same problems...can you take a look at this ccd and please explain where I've gone wrong? [CloneCD] Version=3 [Disc] TocEntries=7 Sessions=1 DataTracksScrambled=0 CDTextLength=0 [Session 1] PreGapMode=0 PreGapSubC=0 [Entry 0] Session=1 Point=0xa0 ADR=0x01 Control=0x02 TrackNo=0 AMin=0 ASec=0 AFrame=0 ALBA=-150 Zero=0 PMin=1 PSec=0 PFrame=0 PLBA=4350 [Entry 1] Session=1 Point=0xa1 ADR=0x01 Control=0x02 TrackNo=0 AMin=0 ASec=0 AFrame=0 ALBA=-150 Zero=0 PMin=4 PSec=0 PFrame=0 PLBA=8850 [Entry 2] Session=1 Point=0xa2 ADR=0x01 Control=0x02 TrackNo=0 AMin=0 ASec=0 AFrame=0 ALBA=-150 Zero=0 PMin=30 PSec=6 PFrame=43 PLBA=135343 [Entry 3] Session=1 Point=0x01 ADR=0x01 Control=0x02 TrackNo=0 AMin=0 ASec=0 AFrame=0 ALBA=-150 Zero=0 PMin=0 PSec=4 PFrame=0 PLBA=150 [Entry 4] Session=1 Point=0x02 ADR=0x01 Control=0x02 TrackNo=0 AMin=0 ASec=0 AFrame=0 ALBA=-150 Zero=0 PMin=0 PSec=7 PFrame=44 PLBA=719 [Entry 5] Session=1 Point=0xb0 ADR=0x01 Control=0x02 TrackNo=0 AMin=0 ASec=0 AFrame=0 ALBA=-150 Zero=0 PMin=20 PSec=24 PFrame=7 PLBA=91657 [Entry 6] Session=1 Point=0xc0 ADR=0x01 Control=0x02 TrackNo=0 AMin=0 ASec=0 AFrame=0 ALBA=-150 Zero=0 PMin=20 PSec=29 PFrame=10 PLBA=92035 [TRACK 1] MODE=0 Flags=dcp INDEX 1=150 [TRACK 2] MODE=0 Flags=dcp index 1=719 I have two wav files (the first is the intro from the VideoNow intro VNCD...the second is homemade by me...) I know I have to be missing something simple...but I can't figure out what it is... Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me with this... Mastersmurfie | ||||||||
| mustangfld posted 2003 Dec 26 03:16 | ||||||||
| Hello MasterSmurfie
You do have some math error's mind you , I have yet to get a viewable disk, still the scrambling image problem, but if these corrections help, then maybe we can swap disks and find the errors on each other. Here it goes! Entry 1 PMin should be =2 with only two tracks Entry 3 PSec should =2, so your 2x75=150 minus the ALBA=-150 then PLBA=0 Entry 4, PLBA should =419 Entry 5, shouldn't point=0x03 not the 0xb0 you have? Entry 6, shouldn't point=0x04 not the 0xc0 you have? Track 1 should =0 Track 2 should =419 Hope I gave you the proper advise and it works. Mustangfld | ||||||||
| Tazmania8332 posted 2003 Dec 26 09:49 | ||||||||
| Hi... It worked. I finally made a fully working bootable Videonow Disk.
I followed the "Videothen" tutoral until it came time to burn. I tried to burn using BURNATONCE , but its didnt work. some error thing. So i used Windows Media Player, But it froze up when i tried to add it to my playlist. So what I did was go to where the wav file was stored and selected the files. I then right clicked on the selected files and clicked on "Copy to Audio CD." (This sent me directly to Win Media Player to where i could automatically burn an audio cd without adding it to my playlist.) I clicked on the red button (Copy to audio cd) in the upper right corner of the Win Media Player screen. (Make sure All the files are in order.) Then follow the instructions to making a bootable VNCD that was posted by Anoah on page 3. Make sure you start at Step 3! And there you go. | ||||||||
| bent posted 2003 Dec 26 12:23 | ||||||||
| Tazmania8332
I tried that and i could only get the first file to boot no matter what file is first it will play but none of the buttons work on the first track any clue what iam doing wrong? anyone :) | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2003 Dec 26 12:52 | ||||||||
Mustangfld...THANKS! Wonderful advice! (just goes to show...I need to pay more attention to detail...I just wasted my last two mini cdrs because I forgot to change one ZERO entry to "0"...DUH!!! :oops: ) Anyways...as for the "scrambled image"...I have no clue...so far, the discs that I have made either work or don't work-no "in between". Were you ever able to get burnatonce to work for you in making the initial audiocd? Absolutely NOTHING else that I have burned with has worked correctly. (not even Media Player...on my machine, it won't even recognize the files as being wav-says "unknown format" or some such nonsense) | ||||||||
| Tazmania8332 posted 2003 Dec 26 16:02 | ||||||||
| 1. On the first file... none of the buttons are suppose to work. i just put a 2 second blank screen there.
2. Are you using all the files I am using? 3. Plus... when u convert the movies with VDub, are you loading the setting that were provided with the videothen zip file? 4. If so... when u burn the files make sure the program doesnt have like a 10 sec pause or something like that set. Get back to me. | ||||||||
| bent posted 2003 Dec 26 23:28 | ||||||||
| Tazmania8332 yup iam using the same files as you i use videothen vdub and the vgf file from videothen then burnatonce then clonecd ccd to vncd clonecd again i just cant get the second file to play after the first one plays it just stops and nothing? press play and its the first file again? any clue what iam doing wrong? | ||||||||
| Tazmania8332 posted 2003 Dec 26 23:34 | ||||||||
| I may have a solution.
Is the second the last file? because if it is, then it won't work. the last file on the disc never works for some reason. so what i did was add a 1 second clip at the end of the movie. that way it plays all the important stuff. | ||||||||
| bent posted 2003 Dec 27 14:37 | ||||||||
| Tazmania8332 yup you were right i put my little logofile first then my cartoon then the little logofile again. now i got a perfect bootable vncd thanks alot i hope this helps someone else out :) | ||||||||
| Tazmania8332 posted 2003 Dec 27 22:10 | ||||||||
| Looks like this mistery has been solved for some people. | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2003 Dec 27 23:08 | ||||||||
| that is "one" problem that I acually never had. So far, have only put two tracks (first one from the demo disc, second one from homemade) and once I get my sh@# together, and remember to change EVERYTHING in the ccd, it plays fine. Just "remade(?)" a backup of "a popular new Disney DVD" converted to VideoNow format yesterday morn...again, took 5 discs, each one with the first file at the intro from the demo disc, and the second file as a (approximately) 20 min "piece" of the movie. No need for a "filler track" at the end (for me at least) :jump: Seems that if you follow transient's guide to a "T" you can't go wrong...
My only problem now is with Vdub...and cutting AVI files ...maybe this should be posted somewhere else (if so just let me know), but when I go to cut, sometimes the size of the original file seems to double...*sometimes*... I'll keep working on this as much as I can and will continue the updates. Thanks again to transient for "the way" and to mustangfld for pointing out my "flaws" :oopsblush: and to Gregsmith, for the wonderful VideoThen tool...(without this, none of this would have been possible) in case anyone wants it, I will post the *.ccd file (with the VideoNow intro as first play and my 20 (approx) min file as the second...) I have just completed a very popular movie about an up and coming wizard to VNCD...using essentially the same ccd format...) | ||||||||
| Cornucopia posted 2003 Dec 28 22:48 | ||||||||
Assuming the VNCD format is following the rules of a mod Redbook format, shouldn't each track be at least 4 seconds? Scott | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2003 Dec 28 23:54 | ||||||||
Cornucopia...seems like all the "burning" softwares that I have already know about the 4 second rule...not sure how they were able to get 1 and 2 second source files to be completed...(I tried only using the last second or so from the original VideoNow cd, and burnatonce gave the "4 second" error, and Nero told me it was only 2 seconds long...) go figure anyways...though not requested, here is a *.ccd file from my working VNCDs using the original intro from the demo cd, plus "any" 20 minute video clip that you want (or less...depending on the "original" source that you have): [CloneCD] Version=3 [Disc] TocEntries=7<<---don't forget to change this if you remove entries Sessions=1 DataTracksScrambled=0 CDTextLength=0 [Session 1] PreGapMode=0 PreGapSubC=0 [Entry 0]<<-----all from transient's guide Session=1 Point=0xa0 ADR=0x01 Control=0x02 TrackNo=0 AMin=0 ASec=0 AFrame=0 ALBA=-150 Zero=0 PMin=1 PSec=0 PFrame=0 PLBA=4350 [Entry 1] Session=1 Point=0xa1 ADR=0x01 Control=0x02 TrackNo=0 AMin=0 ASec=0 AFrame=0 ALBA=-150 Zero=0 PMin=3 PSec=0 PFrame=0 PLBA=8850 [Entry 2] Session=1 Point=0xa2 ADR=0x01 Control=0x02 TrackNo=0 AMin=0 ASec=0 AFrame=0 ALBA=-150 Zero=0 PMin=30 PSec=6 PFrame=43 PLBA=135343 [Entry 3] Session=1 Point=0x01 ADR=0x01 Control=0x02 TrackNo=0 AMin=0 ASec=0 AFrame=0 ALBA=-150 Zero=0 PMin=0 PSec=4 PFrame=0 PLBA=150 [Entry 4]<<-----taken from the values from burnatonce AUDIOCD MASTERING Session=1 Point=0x02 ADR=0x01 Control=0x02 TrackNo=0 AMin=0 ASec=0 AFrame=0 ALBA=-150 Zero=0 PMin=0 PSec=7 PFrame=44 PLBA=719 [Entry 5] Session=1 Point=0x03 ADR=0x01 Control=0x02 TrackNo=0 AMin=0 ASec=0 AFrame=0 ALBA=-150 Zero=0 PMin=20 PSec=1 PFrame=17 PLBA=89942 [Entry 6] Session=1 Point=0x04 ADR=0x01 Control=0x02 TrackNo=0 AMin=0 ASec=0 AFrame=0 ALBA=-150 Zero=0 PMin=20 PSec=6 PFrame=28 PLBA=90328 [TRACK 1] MODE=0 Flags=dcp<<-----important INDEX 1=150 [TRACK 2] MODE=0 Flags=dcp<<-----important INDEX 1=719 | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2003 Dec 28 23:59 | ||||||||
| Also...one more IMPORTANT thing to add...don't forget to change the "Point" values in your ccd. I have found that CloneCD will not "complete" the burning on my machine if these values are not correct... | ||||||||
| Tazmania8332 posted 2003 Dec 29 00:13 | ||||||||
| the 2 second thing may not work for nero or burnatonce but it does work for Windows Media Player. at least on mine. | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2003 Dec 29 00:39 | ||||||||
Tazmanie8332...how did you get Media Player to even recognize the files??? When I try to select them, it tells me that "Windows Media Player encountered an unknown error." and I can only "close" or get "web help" on the error... | ||||||||
| Tazmania8332 posted 2003 Dec 29 00:56 | ||||||||
| instead of adding it to your media library... go to the folder it is located and (right click) send it to windows media player. then you put the files in the right order and then burn. | ||||||||
| dausone posted 2003 Dec 29 02:04 | ||||||||
| great work guys! I had the same idea and have wanted one of these players since I first saw them at Target (I should have bought it while they were still around).
anyway now I have a reason to get one... and to release my own limited edition VNCD's... :idea: | ||||||||
| luther posted 2003 Dec 29 06:12 | ||||||||
For those of you that are haveing problems with your video stopping after the 1st track or stoping early look at mastersmurfie's example in entry 1: [Entry 1] Session=1 Point=0xa1 ADR=0x01 Control=0x02 TrackNo=0 AMin=0 ASec=0 AFrame=0 ALBA=-150 Zero=0 PMin=3--->>> This is one more track than mastersmurfie has on his VNCD PSec=0 PFrame=0 PLBA=8850 This is also noted in transient's guide: Entry 1: Indicator for how many tracks are in the .ccd, indicated by PMin #. An example of Entry 1 is as follows: [Entry 1] Session=1 Point=0xa1 ADR=0x01 Control=0x02 TrackNo=0 AMin=0 ASec=0 AFrame=0 ALBA=-150 Zero=0 PMin=3 PSec=0 PFrame=0 PLBA=8850 In this Entry, the PMin is 3, which means there are 3 tracks on the CD. The number of tracks should be 1 more than the number of video files that you have as the first track marks the starting point (more about this later). Evidenlty as mentioned earlier VNCDs have a filler track at the end so the VideoNow ignores the last track, by changing the value in entry 1 you do not have to add a filler track at the end. I have also experienced the distortion near the end of some of my VNCD's it usually occurs on the last track, I'm still trying to figure that out. Evryone here is great thanks for all the information and thank you GregSmith for VIDEOTHEN!!!!!!! Luther | ||||||||
| trbonium posted 2003 Dec 29 21:54 | ||||||||
| Has anyone come up with an easy process to burn to miniCD other than going through the long process of writing to CDRW, then ripping back to hard drive, then editing the CCD file then burning again? I am pretty good with following directions, but got a little confused once I got into editing the CCD file. | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2003 Dec 29 22:49 | ||||||||
I too have wondered this...but as far as I can see, the only way to get it to work is by editing the CCD of the audio cd. The tracks on any "original" VNCD are in CDA format, not any other sound or video format... Seems that the VideoNow player is VERY picky about what it will play and will not play, and each table of contents (ccd file) needs to be exactly as shown in transient's guide (with changes made accodingly to the different values that will undoubtedly be in "your" final outcome) as I posted before, I forgot to change just ONE little line in the ccd, and wasted two discs before I figured it out... I guess on that note, anyone know of a software that will "emulate" a burner, so that you can burn audio cds to your HD? (maybe that way, not as much waiting for the rewrite at 1X or 2X or whatever you burner does) | ||||||||
| RickPrez posted 2003 Dec 30 13:02 | ||||||||
| MasterSmurfie, Taz, Transient,
Thank you for all you have done in driving this project forward. I've been following your posts for the last 2-3 weeks and I finally got brave enough to try burning a VideoThen CDR of some footage I had lying around. I've been using Transient's Tutorial to good effect, but I have been encountering difficulties in editing the CCD files. Specific Request: MasterSmurfie's December 28th Posting of a working CCD was a great idea. I need some additional information (if possible). Could you supply how long your tracks are? This way I can do the math and see how everthing fits together. [I'm afraid Transient's Tutorial if very good at saying what the entries in the CCD are, but it lacks in concrete numbers to aid in stringing it all together.] Quick Questions on the CCD editing: 1) Does the index numbers to the [Track #] section tie back to the PLBA in the [Entry #] section? 2) Do we keep the 2/4 second "spacer" that seems to be the [Entry 3] values generated by CloneCD? Any help you could send my way would be appreciated, -RickPrez | ||||||||
| trbonium posted 2003 Dec 30 15:01 | ||||||||
| Does anyone know if the VideoNow player will read miniCDRWs? | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2003 Dec 30 16:03 | ||||||||
RickPrez...alas, most the past few days success have been creating the VNCDs from full-length movies (time constraints-daughter wanted two of her DVDs on VNCDs :o ), hence only two tracks have been used. I can tell you that the length of the tracks is taken directly from the info that I receive from burnatonce: the first track is the intro track from the original VNCD 00:5:44 the second has always been roughly a 20 minute "peice": 20:01:17 (these are the values in the ccd example above...I just noticed that my [Entry 5] values are not correct-in accordance with what transient posted before-I did not add the PSec value of [Entry 4] to the PSec value of [Entry 5], yet it still makes the player happy... :? ) I did do a cd that had (I think-it's been a couple of weeks since I did it) four different tracks, to try and test the "next" and "previous" buttons on the player. Each track's length still came from burnatonce. Each track was approximately 5 minutes, I beleive...(BTW, it didn't work as expected-played all the way through, but the buttons seemed to not work like I wanted them to...) For the INDEX entries...they seem correspond to the PLBA value of the previous track...which seems to correspond to the beginning of the next track. e.g.: [Track 1] INDEX (in the ccd above) =150, which is the PLBA of [Entry 3] and so on...(I looked at the ccd file that I got from an original VNCD, and it is the same way...) For the spacer at the beginning, I would "almost" say that this would be personal preference. (never tried it any other way, and "if it ain't broke, don't fix it :wink: ) My next project will be to (again) try putting several different tracks together, and then getting the buttons on the player to work... Hope this has been helpful... On a side note, can someone tell me how to add pictures to your posts? I do not have a web site yet that I can upload pictures to... TIA! | ||||||||
| LemurQ posted 2003 Dec 30 22:31 | ||||||||
| Hi all and thanks for all of the work you have done. I have just started burning some VNCD's and wanted to share my experience.
Transient's guide is the best thing yet to make these disks. I tried using VirtualDub 1.5.7 to make the 80x80 greyscale .AVI to feed to VideoThen, but the resulting .WAV file was 2x larger than it should have been. I switched to VirtualDub 1.5.3 and that produced the correct size .WAV from VideoThen, but it had an invalid header. So I used WAVFIX.EXE to correct the header, but then the file size doubled again! Finally, I just used the .WAV editor in Nero to cut out the second half of the .WAV file and that seemed to work. I have found that Burnatonce is the only program that works for me when burning the first CD. I tried Windows Media Player and Nero, but neither produced an initial CD that made a working VNCD. The only reason I tried other software was that Burnatonce would fail with an error (something like "This drive will not accept variant cue sheets..."). I ended up using Burnatonce on another computer to make the first CD and the VNCD made from it worked. Editing the .CCD file has been one of the toughest parts for me, mainly because I'm not sure of what I'm actually doing! The Excel spreadsheet used for some of the calculations is sometimes flakey (in NEXT TRACK VALUE CHECKER, I would sometimes get a NEXT TRACK Pmin, Psec, Pframe that were less than .WAV length and would get fractional PLBA's). Generally, I stumble through this part and have good luck most of the time. I have produced a couple of bootable VNCD's. I generally have artifacts (occasional black "specs") that show up in the video, although the audio is fine. It could be because I'm capturing in MPEG1 AVI instead of uncompressed video. I will try using uncompressed and see if that cleans it up. Again, thanks all for the effort you have put into this. It really makes the VideoNow player much more fun for me.. uh, I mean the kids! :D | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2003 Dec 30 23:33 | ||||||||
LemurQ...
Me too :oops: ...before this "project", I had absolutely NO idea what a ccd file was...let alone what the values might mean...it has been all pretty much trial and error for me...
but...following the previous posts and suggestions from others, it becomes a little less "muddy"... Anyone interested in "DVD to VNCD" guide??? (I personally do NOT like the results from it, but my daughter thought these were the greatest(!!) thing since Subway roast beef sammiches :D ...she has her very own copies of "a popular new Disney fishy movie" and a copy of a movie about "an up and coming wizard"...) | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2003 Dec 30 23:53 | ||||||||
| on a side note...gonna start to convert all my Big O (excellent!! cartoon on adult swim if you get cartoon network...) caps to VNCDs...most shows (without commercials) are approximately 20-23 minutes...
so...each episode will take up most of the disc...(i only have a handful so far...so I won't waste too many discs...) | ||||||||
| RickPrez posted 2003 Dec 31 13:45 | ||||||||
| Mastersmurfie: Thanks for your reply. I will not have much time (or discs) to work on this until the weekend. The numbers you gave should help.
trbonium: I already went the CDRW route with the VideoNow device and it refuses to recogonise the media as valid. I used a Memorex CDRW that I had from my Sony Mavica Camera. | ||||||||
| Guajiro posted 2004 Jan 01 14:09 | ||||||||
| Hey gang:
All you guys have done such great work into helping each other on this board that I figure I would pitch in my $.02. I took the information from the forum to burn my own VNCDs successfully. My first CD bombed, but it seems that I needed a third track for some reason and that seemed to solve the problem. The other problem was with the docs on the VTOC that Transient wrote. No mention was made of the tracks Index times. Overall his doc was the best, but when it got to modifying the CCD file, thats when I began to think of my own solution. I wrote an online CCD file generator for everyone to use. You basically answer its questions and it will generate a new CCD file that you copy and paste into your editor of choice and save. All the entries, pmin, psec, pframe, and plba values are calculated for you. No more forgetting to modify entries. I have used it sucessfully for 3 VNCDs and all booted and played thru with no problems. Here's the link: http://www.hacksrus.com/~guajiro/videonow There are 1 or 2 navigational bugs to fix but the output is accurate. Enjoy. --Mike | ||||||||
| LemurQ posted 2004 Jan 01 18:45 | ||||||||
| Thanks Guajiro! That will speed things up a bit :). One thing I did notice, though, was that the Pmin value in Entry 1 was one too many (It was set to 4 and I only had 2 .WAV files). I didn't catch it until after I burned the mini-CD and it would not boot. But still, having to only change one entry is much faster and less frustrating than before!
I have found that the WAVEFIX utillity doesn't seem to work for me anymore. Now I just burn the output .WAV's from VideoThen with Burnatonce, let it tell me there is an error in the wave header, and let it write using the actual file length. The resulting VNCD seems to work OK - no more "artifacts" that I had before. | ||||||||
| Tazmania8332 posted 2004 Jan 01 20:58 | ||||||||
| does anyone know anu programs to burn the wav files to a disc besides Windows Media Player and Burnatonce?
WMP is toooooo slow and Burnatonce doesnt work, so any ideas? | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 01 21:50 | ||||||||
WOW!! I go away for a couple of days and we have this:
YEA!! Excellent Guajiro!! (wish I could do stuff like that... :cry: what's the secret???!!!) Like LemurQ, the only thing that didn't work for me was the PMin in Entry 1 (seems like it's set to "PMin=4" no matter how many files you have). No biggie though...remembering to modify ONE entry is better than the alternative... :D Tazmania8332, what about burnatonce doesn't work for you? So far, it's the only thing that I have been able to burn the initial wav files with. (even tried what you suggested with WMP...no luck...) | ||||||||
| LemurQ posted 2004 Jan 02 10:23 | ||||||||
| Welcome back Mastersmurf!
The CCD generator is cool. Another thing to watch out for are pauses between tracks. Burnatonce places a 2 second pause between tracks (even when I uncheck the 2 sec pause box!) and the CCD generator doesn't take this into account. It is no big deal - the disks still work fine. The only thing is when using the Next and Previous buttons on video now, it jumps to a point just before the start of the track. Something I found while playing with all of this is that the Pmin, Psec, Pframe, PLBA values generated by Burnatonce are valid (except for the last track and extra entry. I burned a six track VNCD using Burnatonce, used some of the output from the CCD generator, and kept the Pmin, Psec, Pframe, PLBA values from Burnatonce (I guessed at values for last entry). The disk plays great, and the Next and Previous buttons jump to the correct spots. What might be useful is a utility that takes the Burnatonce-generated CCD file, makes the required modifications, and writes it back out. Tazmania8332: I had some problems with Burnatonce too - something about my drive not aceepting variations in the cue sheet - so I found another PC with a CD-RW drive that worked with Burnatonce. I have tried Media Player too - it probably would have worked except for the fact that there is an error in the .WAV file headers generated from VideoThen. Media Player and other software will not write out the file correctly or at all because of this error. The WAVEFIX.EXE utillity messes up the .WAV files - at least it did for me - so I don't use it. Now I have a question: Does it REALLY matter what Pmin, Psec, Pframe are in the last entry? It seems I've used several different ways to calculate these - all different - and the disks produced still work fine. | ||||||||
| RickPrez posted 2004 Jan 02 12:46 | ||||||||
| Guajiro,
Just wanted to say thank-you for the TOC Generator, it works real well. I don't know if I am being lazy or working smarter, but I gotta admit, that it is great getting the setting right the first time (or missing an edit). -RickPrez | ||||||||
| Guajiro posted 2004 Jan 02 13:40 | ||||||||
| DOH! :shock:
:oops: sorry about that. Got carried away with all that cutting-n-pasting into the code to speed it up the process...this goes to show why I wrote this thing! If I'm not mistaken, Pmin in Entry1 should be Number of tracks+1. So if you have 2 wavs Pmin should be 3. It calculates that for you now. Pmin=4 was statically declared in the code. I'll try to generate a 2 wav disk now and see if this was my problem. I kept having to add the small track1 video from the sampler to all of my discs to make it 3 tracks. Give it a shot and let me know. Glad to see its of use to everyone. Sure makes my life easier. --Mike | ||||||||
| Guajiro posted 2004 Jan 02 13:49 | ||||||||
burn-at-once doesn't include the pause in the length value so its up to you to factor it in. (I learned that on my first CD the hard way). Since then I've disabled that option in burn-at-once to NOT include a pause on any tracks. There is no need for it on these CDs. If your burnatonce copy adds the 2 sec pause regardless, download a newer version. Mine doesn't it do that. I'm running 0.99b on Win2k pro. | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 02 20:02 | ||||||||
LemurQ...Thank you! In answer to your question...each VNCD that I created, I just made up the values for the last entry (usually only changing the PSec value to be 5 seconds more than the [Entry 5] value)... :oops: and it didn't seem to make any difference at all...I also noticed (from using Guajiro's app and from some trial and error) that I didn't need a last entry in my completed, working, bootable VNCDs... @RickPrez...I'm just bein lazy... :D ...that's why I like Guajiro's app... :wink: | ||||||||
| Guajiro posted 2004 Jan 02 22:25 | ||||||||
8) Question for you guys: What speed you burn your discs at? max speed or something slower? Once in a while I get CDs that boot and play fine for the first 5 minutes, maybe even longer, but I get this static in the video and static to match it in the audio as is if the audio and video were crossing channels. Its not the rip because if I take another blank CD and burn the same image again it works fine on that burn with no changes to the image. Static gets worse as the laser pckup makes it way to the outer edge. Anyone come across this? I had this happen to me with my first sucessful bootable disc and happened to me yesterday. I know its not my TOC since I had the problem before I used my web script. any thoughts? --mike | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 02 22:56 | ||||||||
Mike...I just let CloneCD do what it does...and so far no problems like that...
 | ||||||||
| LemurQ posted 2004 Jan 03 00:07 | ||||||||
| I'm using whatever the defaults are for CloneCD. I have 24X CD-R, using 24X CD's, but CloneCD writes at about 4X.
Guajiro, I'm using Burnatonce 0.99b as well. When I choose Mastering - Audi CD, I am at the screen where I add the .WAV's. Even if I uncheck the box that says 2sec pause, it still shows a 2 sec pause before each of my .WAV's. Just to double check, I burned two images - one with the box checked and the other unchecked. The .CCD files produced by CloneCD were exactly the same, so I don't know what the deal is. I don't really want a pause between each track, but I can't seem to avoid it. So far, it doesn't really bother me - I will just add the 2 secs to each track length and keep using your WONDERFUL program! | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 03 11:41 | ||||||||
| LemurQ,
You could try this to get rid of the pause...(I had the same problem with burnatonce...): Right click on each track and choose "Track Properties" Then, where it says "Silence, Pregap, and Postgap" change it to "00:00:00" Then, save, and on the main box uncheck the "2Sec Pause" box (if you didn't already). I kept unchecking that box and nothing would change, then happened to find the properties quite by accident! Now, each time I open burnatonce, the box is unchecked, and there is no pause in the time. Hope this helps! Mastersmurfie | ||||||||
| mustangfld posted 2004 Jan 03 16:25 | ||||||||
| Has anyone had problems with image tearing upon videoNow playback? I notice an increase in tearing during video active and dark scenes, also audibly noisy sections seems like it increases the tearing. What am I missing and in which programs settings need an adjustment? Also the ATI All in Wonder 9600, seems to record audio a little hot, is there a way to adjust it, I have already tried the windows control with no luck. The best burn I've had is a 5 second intro, with a 5 minute movie. :cry:
Guajiro, thanks for the ccd modifier program, good work. Is there anyway to download this program, for use on our system? :) | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 03 17:33 | ||||||||
mustangfld, I'll *try* to answer your second part first. I have an ATI AIW 128 (VERY much older than your card). The very first time that I captured with it, then created a DVD, the sound on the final DVD nearly blew my windows out! After much tweaking of the controls in windows, and still not getting good results, looked here: http://www.dvdrhelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=171889 and here: http://www.dvdrhelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=171269&highlight= Maybe these will help you out. Are you using the audio built into your MOBO? I had to get a totally new sound card (PCI), for my MOBO has that same AC'97 audio that yours has. Just a suggestion... :) For the first part, I personally have not noticed any tearing of the video or distortion of the audio with the player. (And so far, no complaints from daughter about the video-maybe she's just being nice... :wink: ) Seems like Guajiro has had a similar problem with the player. | ||||||||
| cyberbob posted 2004 Jan 04 03:47 | ||||||||
| First off, great work guys! So far I've not made one coaster from the info in this thread. Started off with a non-bootable test, then went on to making several bootables (hehe, what would Hasbro think if they saw me watching Paris Hilton on this... lol). I'll admit that I feel like I've cheated since I use the CCD2VNCD tool and haven't even once looked at a raw CCD file... ;-)
Personally, if I am making a cd-r for ANYTHING other than a data cd for a computer, I burn at 12x or slower. Audio CD, VCD, ect. Also I will say that my first VideoNow unit was crap. It displayed the symptoms some folks are describing of static and audio problems - even with the included demo disk. My first burned VNCD was nearly worthless. After exchanging the unit my first VNCD test disk worked fine. As long as one hasn't made any modifications to the unit i'd suggest getting it exchanged if you have problems. Also, for my first burn in the process I have been using Nero. Easy CD Creator craps out with some error. Strangely, I did not have the 'size doubling' problem with Nero until the last disk I made. I believe it was related to one of the clips as I removed one and the doubling went away. Bob | ||||||||
| LemurQ posted 2004 Jan 04 07:43 | ||||||||
| Thanks Mastersmurfie - worked like a charm! | ||||||||
| prybar posted 2004 Jan 04 18:59 | ||||||||
| Hi Everyone
This is my first post, but i've been following (and studying) this thread for a few days now. First off, let me congratulate all of you on working so well together to figure this thing out. Mustang - thanks for the machining info. Greg, Smurf, Guajiro, Transient, Rick and everyone - thanks for all the effort and time put into this project, i wish i had been involved from the get-go so i could contribute more. Anyways, Here's my scenario: I manufactured my own 85mm discs this weekend, and proceeded to burn a couple of eps i had kicking around. I used Vdub (1.5.7) with the template, Videothen (what a great tool), then burnatonce (which gave me the usual actual track length instead error), then clone cd (4something) and finally the web tool created by Guajiro to make my .ccd file. When i burned it gave me a TOC error in clonecd and i told it to use the .ccd, not the actual length, was this wrong? And my other wondering, on the Guajiro app, do i include my 4 second first track in the track count? THe cd i burned booted fine and the buttons work, but the output doesn't play for more than 2 or 3 seconds before getting garbled and static-y(?). Anyone else had this or any ideas how to solve this? Thanks in advance and hope to contribute pry | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 04 22:37 | ||||||||
Welcome prybar!
I would say that you're getting the TOC error because of NOT including your first track...that CloneCD error seems to come when your TOC Entries do not match the number of entries that you actually have in the ccd file... as for the "2 or 3 seconds before getting garbled and static-y(?)."... Maybe your player is defective, like some others have found??? I personally have not had this problem *knock on head*... :D Just a thought... mastersmurfie | ||||||||
| Guajiro posted 2004 Jan 05 00:14 | ||||||||
| I get the CloneCD error too. I just go with the default option which is to go with the TOC on the source.
As for the static problem, I get it occasionally. Haven't figured out what it is yet..My static happens way into the disc tho and its random. I'm suspecting that these lasers are REALLY sensitive of the media you put in them. My first sucessful burn was on a mini cdr I had lying around for a few years. When the CD spun, you could clearly see the foil was not perfectly centered on the disc. I reburned the CD on new TDKs and it worked fine. However, I've had this happen on the TDKs too. Those that had static seemed to have some deviation while spinning. Those that were almost perfectly centered, had no static. If you watch the CD spin during the static you can see that the static coincides with the deviation of the foil from the center. My guess is bad tracking.. ..and yes you have to include all tracks you want on your CD in the TOC generator to get the correct TOC otherwise your track start points will be all wrong. --Mike | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2004 Jan 05 06:47 | ||||||||
Yes, I have this problem too. I posted this back in november, but i think the problem is related to how the video is created. in my case, i use my sony handicam to record a show from the cable. the handicam uses 25 frames per second. then i transfer the handicam video to my pc using ULead or some similar tool. but the NTSC video is (around) 30 frames per second. I think the "interpolation" between 25 and 30 fps is what causes the tearing. mustangfld: are you using some sort of transfer like this? | ||||||||
| prybar posted 2004 Jan 05 09:11 | ||||||||
| Thanks for the replies guys! I am including the first track in the track count, my guess is the media, because its self-modified, might be the problem, i'm gonna try a couple more tonite and see what happens. One other question I forgot last post was: Mastersmurfie - How did you get the track from the videonow promo disc for your lead in? My current track is just 5 seconds of random video ripped from an ep of SBSP, but i would like to make it look a little more "professional", then it's off to the races (i hope). My daughter has finally figured out why i keep borrowing her VideoNow, so i'm sure the requests are going to start very shortly.
Thanks again pry | ||||||||
| Guajiro posted 2004 Jan 05 09:34 | ||||||||
| I ripped the first track off the sampler disk using a wav/mp3 ripper. I used my laptop since its easier to put the disc in the cd tray than on a desktop.
I've posted a link on the TOC Generator (to the right of the player's picture) for those who want to download the VideoNow clip in WAV format. --Mike | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 05 23:16 | ||||||||
| guagiro...is there any way to d/l your ccd app as mustangfld asked???
GregSmith...I have always either used a divx rip of DVD or taken files recorded from ATI AIW....always at 29.97fps...and never had any problems with the playback on the VideoNow player... | ||||||||
| mustangfld posted 2004 Jan 06 02:13 | ||||||||
| Hello Greg
I'm using ATI recorder set at 128x96 at 29.97 fps, I listened to my copy and then to the demo disc, mine is noticeable louder :o , It seems like mine is almost a third louder. I took MasterSmurfie's suggestion and have since bought a external sound card (Chaintech's AV-710), but I haven't had a chance to do a copy yet. Thanks for the inputs. I'll post with results good or bad. Mustangfld | ||||||||
| Guajiro posted 2004 Jan 06 10:22 | ||||||||
Nope. Its a web app. Sorry. | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 07 08:36 | ||||||||
| Hi this is the first time I've posted to this forum. I've been using a slower Converter than the VideoThen and a different recording process but I have been able to produce bootable mini-discs without the toothpick since I started. I've been recording the tracks in the BINARY mode without the WAV header using CDRWIN. Here is an example of the .cue sheet I use:
FILE "CD1.bin" BINARY TRACK 01 AUDIO INDEX 01 00:00:00 FILE "CD2.bin" BINARY TRACK 02 AUDIO PREGAP 00:02:00 INDEX 01 00:00:00 FILE "CD3.bin" BINARY TRACK 03 AUDIO PREGAP 00:02:00 INDEX 01 00:00:00 FILE "CD4.bin" BINARY TRACK 04 AUDIO PREGAP 00:02:00 INDEX 01 00:00:00 FILE "CD5.bin" BINARY TRACK 05 AUDIO PREGAP 00:02:00 INDEX 01 00:00:00 FILE "CD6.bin" BINARY TRACK 06 AUDIO PREGAP 00:02:00 INDEX 01 00:00:00 Also, I add a file at the end to pad the disc so it looks like it is over 300mb. This fools the VideoNow player. The only drawback is that the discs are then unreadable on any other device. If anyone is interested I have a ZIP file with detailed instructions. The ZIP file also includes the source code for a simple VisualBasic converter I've been using as well as a viewer. I'm going to try the VideoThen converter once I load the JVM. Please send me a PM with your EMail and I'll shoot you a copy of the guide and program. LoLo | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 07 11:45 | ||||||||
| Also, has anyone located a source of supply for the 245mb minidiscs used in the VideoNow? I have found several in Germany but none in the US.
Also, I read further back in the forum that the large size discs could be cut down. How is this done? What type of tool is used? I'd like to try and cut my disc a 1/4" bigger than the VideoNow discs. It looks like you could squeeze it into the player if the plastic tags were sliced off. Please advise. Thanks! LoLo | ||||||||
| mustangfld posted 2004 Jan 07 12:35 | ||||||||
| Hello LoLo
I sent my fabrication method and picture examples to you for making up to 87mm size discs. The 87mm are larger than the VideoNow discs, and about as big as the player will tolerate, due to the spindle position, a couple mm more maybe on a player by player basis. If there are any others interested in making their own discs send an E-mail to, mustangfld@centurytel.net the pictues are about 900KB in size. Good luck! Mustangfld | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 07 15:16 | ||||||||
| Thanks mustangfld!
I got the files. I have some of the equipment but I'll have to fabric the rest. As soon as I have the time to put something together I'll let you know how much I can fit on your supersized minidisc. LoLo | ||||||||
| prybar posted 2004 Jan 07 15:24 | ||||||||
| Hello all.
4 burns, still no go, but i think gaujiro was right, i noticed all 4 discs (being ones i made) spun slightly off centre. Have you tried any of your manufactured discs mustangfld? I'm gonna have to buy some 210mb ones and make sure its the discs, and not the player/human error. thanks again pry | ||||||||
| mustangfld posted 2004 Jan 07 18:34 | ||||||||
| Hello Prybar
I've been burning on both the 210 MB premade disc's as well as the cut down one's I make, same problem. The very bottom of the screen image is scrambled line (about 3 pixels high) with the bottom 3rd going out of sync every few seconds. I won't be able to burn a new image file till tommorrow, to verify whether the sound card was the problem. Mustangfld | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 07 22:22 | ||||||||
| Hi again,
Just finished my 3rd music video CD for my daughter and the Simpson's Crayon in the Nose cartoon for my son. Pefect copy no problems. I'm fairly certain the method you guys are using to record the disc is the problem. If your using any type of audio recording software other than Exact Audio Copy (EAC) the software will make on the fly changes to the data. This is great for audio recordings but the VideoThen is an interlaced audio and video file. The recording procedure I recommend is fairly simple, uses free recording software, and provides you the ability to control the cue points on the CD. If you would like a copy of the recording guide please PM me. Later. LoLo | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 08 21:44 | ||||||||
| Hi Everyone,
The instructions are part of a 28kb zip file that includes a converter and viewer along with complete source code for both. My converter is much slower than videothen but is able to produce reliable copies that boot without need of a toothpick. If you have VideoThen WAV files you could remove the WAV header and start from step (2). The instructions on how to remove the WAV header are included in the zip file. It's fairly easy. If you use my converter the WAV header is already removed. If this works consistently for everyone maybe Greg will modify VideoThen to output without the WAV header. I'd like to post the zip file on the forum but I don't have access to web storage. If someone has access to web storage I'd like to email the file to them so they could post it. Here is the basic instructions (The first few steps take Greg Smith's approach verbatum): Step 1: Convert your video to a conforming VNConvert format: Use VirtualDub (http://sourceforge.net/projects/virtualdub/) to convert: 1. Start VirtualDub 2. File > Load processing settings > Locate VideoNow.vcf file and double click. 3. File > Open video file > Locate video file and select. 4. File > Save WAV > Locate \VNConvert\Files\ (directory) > (type in) Audio.WAV and press OK 5. File > Save image sequence > (Change to) BMP file format > (Change directory) to \VNConvert\Files Directory and press OK 6. Exit VirtualDub and Execute VNConvert.EXE 7. Keep converting video files until you have at least 210mb of converted video. I have yet to test the upper limit but I have recorded up to 247mb of video on a 210mb disc. I’m not sure how much higher you can go. NOTE: The above instructions assume you created a directory named VNConvert and VNConvert.exe resides in that directory. Also you must create a sub directory named (Files). The (Files) directory will contain the .bmp files and the audio.wav file used to create the VNCD.BIN output file. Step 2: Create padded file: 8. The VideoNow player expects to see a disc over 300mb. To fool the player your disc must appear to be at least this big. We are going to overburn the disc in the next step to make it appear to be over 300mb. You’ll need to pad the end of your video now disc with a large file that will make the total on the disc exceed 300mb. If the total does not exceed 300mb the disc will not boot unless you use the toothpick swap method. 9. Locate any file on your hard disc that when added to the files you have converted will equal over 300mb. I try to keep this total between 300-305mb to avoid any problems with the over burn process. You may want to fill the entire file with blanks hex ‘00’. This will help prevent garbage from appearing at the end of your video. I used http://www.hhdsoftware.com/Download/hexedfull.exe. I also use the Start up and End of disc files from an original VideoNow disc on all my burns to make it look professional. Step 3: Edit VideoNow.cue file 10. Edit the VideoNow.Cue sheet to include the number of tracks on your disc. (Leave PREGAP off tracks that you want to seamlessly flow together such as a 30min show that has been converted into five 5min sections. The 2 second PREGAP is recommended between things such as Music Videos (it helps the VideoNow Next/Prev track buttons work properly. 11. Make sure you include the padded file you create in Step 5 as the last track on your VideoNow.cue sheet. If you use the VideoNow end of disc file make that file the second to last file. Step 4: Burn VideoNow BIN files to mini-disc using CDRWIN: 12. Load CDRWIN (http://www.goldenhawk.com) and select the Record Disc option (far left icon). Make sure none of the recording options are checked. Click on Load Cuesheet and select your edited VideoNow.cue file. Now press Record Disc and wait. When it says done stick the disc in your VideoNow player and enjoy! Note: The disc will be unreadable on your computer because the overburn process screws up the fileheader. VideoNow could care less. Here is an example of the cue sheet I use: FILE "CD1.bin" BINARY TRACK 01 AUDIO INDEX 01 00:00:00 FILE "CD2.bin" BINARY TRACK 02 AUDIO PREGAP 00:02:00 INDEX 01 00:00:00 FILE "CD3.bin" BINARY TRACK 03 AUDIO PREGAP 00:02:00 INDEX 01 00:00:00 This one has three tracks and uses a PREGAP between tracks. Notice I use the BINARY mode to prevent CDRWIN from making changes to the data during the burn process. PM me with your email address if you want me to send you the zip file. LoLo | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 08 21:51 | ||||||||
| Sorry for posting so much but step (11) has a minor typeO
11. Make sure you include the padded file you create in Step 5 Should read 11. Make sure you include the padded file you create in Step 2 LoLo | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 08 23:16 | ||||||||
| All...here is the vidoenow converter from LoLo:
http://www.geocities.com/mastersmurfie click the VideoNow.zip file to download (let me know if it doesn't work...) I have not tested yet...just wanted to get exposure out there...will also be adding (with permission) any files, converters, etc that others want (as much as space will allow...) PS...please don't criticize the site...it's very much still under consruction... :D | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 08 23:30 | ||||||||
| Thanks much mastersmurfie!
The link works fine. I downloaded your ccd2vncd.zip and will give it a try once I get the instructions. Thanks. LoLo | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 08 23:46 | ||||||||
LoLo...and all...sorry...didn't think the ccd2vncd link worked correctly..it's not mine...it belongs to anoah was posted on page 4 of this thread, and I was just using it as a test for upload... anoah...SORRY!!! I'll remove if you want me to... | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 09 12:10 | ||||||||
| I use the logo from the original VideoNow CD for my first track. I noticed that the Forward button was disabled on the first track as well. Also, there is a special code used in some of the tracks that halt the track until you press a button. This is used to create an index track for the VideoNow disc. It's usually the second track after the splash screen. You can put the code into any track where you want it to wait for the user to press the Forward or Back button.
I could put a checkbox on the VNConvert.exe program to add the code to any tracks you want the code inserted into. Normally the code is '00 00' and it is part of the BINARY file. I have not had a need for this until I started working on a picture disc converter for the VideoNow. The way the picture disc works is you dump your family pictures into VirtualDub and output a bunch of 80X80 BMP files to a directory. A special version of VNConvert.exe batch processes the pictures and creates the .cue file. When it's done all you have to do is open the .cue file in CDRWIN and burn the disc. You use the Forward and Back buttons to view the pictures. As soon as I cleanup the code I'll submit it to the board. Right now I'm fairly busy with work and all. I'll try to finish it this weekend if anyone is interested please let me know. Also, the source code for VNConvert and VNViewer are available. I'd sure appreciate it if an Assembly Language programmer would port the code over to speed things up. I deliberately kept the code as simple as possible without bells and whistles so that it could be easily ported to an advanced language. So if your out there please help. Thanks. LoLo | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 10 01:50 | ||||||||
| to all...
Updated version of LoLo's VideoNow convertor available at www.geocities.com/mastersmurfie (again...lemme know if the link to the zip file doesn't work-trying to remember HTML code and it's been a while since I did a web site... :oops: ) As time permits, will be adding a "DVD to VideoNow" guide type thingy as well... To GregSmith, anoah, guijaro, mustangfld, transient...is it OK to for me to add your respective apps, links, and suggestions? This topic is now number 14 in the most active on this forum, so somebody must want to know something about it... :D and we have been viewed over 11,000 times...I know that doesn't mean a whole lot...but what he heck...if all the "tools" are in one place, then why not??? Thoughts anyone? mastersmurfie | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2004 Jan 10 11:46 | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie: permission granted
lolo: im interested in the VNConvert.exe you use. where did you get it? did you write it yourself? | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 10 18:33 | ||||||||
| Hi Greg,
Yes I wrote the converter in Visual Basic 6. For some reason I have not been able to get VideoThen going on my box and I'd appreciate some advice on that. I believe I'm doing everything correctly but obviously I have something wrong. After I load the AVI file I press the Start Render button and it almost immediately says done. It creates an empty file. I’m the worst software user out there (even software I write). Mostly I’m impatient. Do I need to set an environment variable or something? I read something about that. I'm not familiar with JAVA so any help would be appreciated. Also, I'd like to explain why I use the BINARY mode when I record. The reason for this is because when audio is recorded on just about any CD mastering software changes can and are made to the data. If the data is recorded in the BINARY mode an exact copy of the data is made. Recording BINARY data with the CUE sheet allows an exact copy of the original data with CUE points that the VideoNow machine will read. I use the padded file on the end along with the overburn process so that the stock mini-discs will boot as if they were larger sized discs. The 245mb discs are sold in Germany under as BestMedia CD-R/ 245MB. 8 cm, Platinum CD-Rohlinge multispeed Hardbox. http://www.billig-einkaufen-de.com/Elektronik/Hersteller/B/BestMe ... Stueck.php I'd like to know more about the algorithm you use to produce the VideoNow data-stream. Would you be willing to send me a text version of your source code? Are you encoding the sync data along with audio and video? Just curious. I doubt the sync data is that important but I put it in my code. Also, have you located the exact code for the second track on some discs. There is a code that will pause the VideoNow on the track and allow the user to view an index file. It's on the Spongebob CD my kid uses. I'm working on a VideoNow album maker. I'm pretty much finished with it but I'm having trouble locating the code within the second track of this file. I have to take off in about an hour for a party but I'll be back later tonight to check the forum. Any info would be helpful. Thanks in advance for any help getting the VideoThen going. LoLo. | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 11 02:15 | ||||||||
| To all...
Semi-completed www.geocities.com/mastersmurfie with a semi-completed DVD to VideoNow guide... Please feel free to critique, critisize, and (can't think of anymore "cr" words... :D ) | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 11 11:25 | ||||||||
| To all,
Never mind about the stop code. After looking through 8mb of hex code I finally realized that there isn't a stop code. It's just the same image over and over. The image last about 10 seconds and then goes to the next track. I guess I was just too impatient to wait that long. You all probably think I’m an idiot and you may be right. I don’t think I am, but if I were I’d probably be unaware of it... Anyway, I'll have to re-code what I've done on the Album maker to account for this. When I'm finished you will be able to dump your family photos into the VideoNow as a slide show. You also will be able to provide your own audio file for each slide or go with silence as the default. I should be able to finish this in about a week. I have three jobs and I code when I can. Also, don’t expect a fancy interface. I’m a minimalist at heart. As always I'll provide the source code so that someone with greater patience and skill can improve things for all of us. LoLo | ||||||||
| luther posted 2004 Jan 11 15:40 | ||||||||
LoLo, I had the same problem when I used VirtualDub 1.5.9 but when I use version 1.5.3 everything is fine. I love CDRWin, but it does not support my Lite-On LDW 411s. Luther | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 11 15:53 | ||||||||
| Thanks Luther!
I'll give that a try when I get a chance. Right now I gota mow the lawn. My wife is giving me the get off the computer and do something look. Man, what happen to my youth... Later. LoLo | ||||||||
| valzuniga posted 2004 Jan 12 00:32 | ||||||||
| I used lolo's method, the first track played flawlessly, but the second track had quite a significant lag in the video. Don't really know what went wrong. | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 12 08:23 | ||||||||
| Hi valzuniga,
Sorry to hear you had problems. I'd like to try and figure out what happened with that. Couple questions: How many tracks did you have on the discs? How long were each of the tracks? Did you use VNConvert.exe to convert the tracks? If you used VNConvert.exe to convert the tracks did you use the same version? (The first version that mastersmurfie -=Graciously=- posted had a minor flaw that could have produced the delay you mentioned. The latest version along with the other converters are available at www.geocities.com/mastersmurfie.) Anyway, if you continue to have this problem I recommend using the VideoThen converter and the recording method listed in my guide to produce your video. If you use the VideoThen converter remember to remove the WAV header from the tracks before recording with the BINARY method. Again, sorry you wasted a disc and I'd like to help prevent another so please provide some feedback. Thanks much! LoLo | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 12 08:44 | ||||||||
| All,
mastersmurfies link isn't working in my post above. Here it is again: www.geocities.com/mastersmurfie Also, VNAlbum is finished but I need to write a guide for it: It's a slideshow generator. You can add your own WAV file to any slide or leave the default "silence". It creates all the tracks and the CUE sheet. LoLo | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 12 09:57 | ||||||||
| Hi valzuniga,
I just thought of another possibility. VirtualDub might have eaten a frame when it converted the AVI to .bmp. Occasionally I get an error message when I load a AVIs into VirtualDub. I have not seen the lag you mentioned but if the error were in the frame VirtualDub might decide not to convert the frame to BMP. That would create a lag. My recommendation is to keep the tracks around 5min or less in length and avoid any AVIs that have an error message when loaded into VirtualDub (I’ve used AVIs with error messages and had no problems. It's an at your own risk thing). If anyone else is having the lag problem please send me a PM or post to the forum so we can work through this. I’ll post VNAlbum later this evening after I get off work. Thanks much! LoLo | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2004 Jan 12 11:34 | ||||||||
| lolo,
the source code for videothen is in the .jar file - check out the classes directory. files end in .java there is some documentation on the file formats in the .doc file you have to set the JAVA_HOME and CLASSPATH environment variables. check the .bat file, the should be in there. good luck greg | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 12 18:51 | ||||||||
| ok...dumb question...can anyone tell me where I can d/l CDRWIN??? I am trying www.goldenhawk.com (for about the 5th time now...) and I get nothing nada zip(well...not even that... :D ) it keeps saying Website found. Waiting for reply.
I wanted to try LoLo's converter tonight, but can't seem to be able to d/l the app :evil: Can anyone provide another link? TIA mastersmurfie | ||||||||
| prybar posted 2004 Jan 12 19:11 | ||||||||
| http://members.rogers.com/prybar/cdr39e-e.exe
there you go mastersmurfie, although i bet you'll have the file by now ;) pry | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 12 19:14 | ||||||||
| Thanks prybar! I never was able to get it to d/l...dunno what's up with that??? | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 12 19:44 | ||||||||
OK...now I'm feeling stupid :oops: After following LoLo's guide and getting to part 6 of step 1, I get this:
help!!! ahh...creepin crapola...nevermind!!! think I figured it out :oops: | ||||||||
| bsteph2069 posted 2004 Jan 12 19:55 | ||||||||
| Hi to whomever had problems downloading the CDRWIN.
I just used the Goldeh Hawk Site ( at about 5:50pm West coast time 1-12-2004 ). It worked fine. Alternatively onbe can try to use the German Web site which is hotlinked earlier on this thread. However my German is non existent and I couldn't find the download link. In any event the golden Harvest Link does work. Bsteph | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 12 21:55 | ||||||||
LoLo...I guess my thinker's not working tonight...I can't figure this out:
As you see, I have total size of files in "files" folder as 416MB...however the CD1.bin file is 80KB... this is the file created after using VNConvert (which on my system I relocated to be in the "VNConvert" folder. I then go to edit the .CUE sheet...with only one file... burn with CDRWIN and it tells me that "one or more of the files is less than 4 seconds, which does not meet the CD standard" or some such stuff... I know for sure that the original file was 21:00 minutes long...and an uncompressed AVI at 2.66GB Just to clarify...the "first" file that I used to convert was a 5 minute mpg that I converted to AVI, then loaded into VDub and converted with GregSmith's .vcf file. The resulting (using the default with your tool) VNCD.BIN was also 80KB Any suggestions as to what I'm doing wrong? Thanks, mastersmurfie | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 12 23:20 | ||||||||
| Hi mastersmurfie,
You did everything correct. The problem is VNConvert expects there to be NO file prefix You have VideoNow1.bmp The files must be named sequentially without a file prefix (e.g. 0.bmp, 1.bmp, 2.bmp, etc...) Also, if the total file length is less than 300MB don't try the burn. It won't boot and you'll waste a disc. Remember to create the padded file to ensure you get betwen 300-305MB Hope this helps. LoLo | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 13 00:37 | ||||||||
| To all,
VNAlbum is out. I sent a copy to MasterSmurfie for upload to his website. It is limited to 98 images due to a CD mastering limitation of 99 tracks. The last track (99) is the padded track. The .BIN files, the Padded file, and the .CUE sheet are generated during the process. Once the conversion is complete you are ready to record with CDRWIN. I used REAConverter PRO to convert my JPG images to 80X80 BMP Grayscale. You can use any conversion program you are comfortable with as long as the output conforms to the standard. Good luck! LoLo | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 13 00:43 | ||||||||
| Hi mastersmurfie,
I'm really sorry but I misunderstood what you were saying before. :oops: You have a file prefix on your files "VideoNow1.bmp" VNConvert expects there to be no file prefix. (i.e. 0.bmp, 1.bmp, 2.bmp etc...) My apologizes for not reading your comments fully. LoLo :oops: | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 13 00:45 | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 13 21:00 | ||||||||
| Thanks LoLo...no problem at all. No time today to mess around with it again...I'll tackle it again tomorrow.
To All: Updated version of LoLo's VideoNow converter, as well as the VNAlbum maker now available at www.geocities.com/mastersmurfie I decided to remove the VideoNowLogo, as it is ripped directly from one of the original discs-you know...the copyright thing :o and Hasbro has just a tad more money than I do... :wink: Let me know if anyone has any problems with any of the links. Thanks, mastersmurfie | ||||||||
| valzuniga posted 2004 Jan 13 21:39 | ||||||||
| Hi Lolo:
My cd has two video files each 114 megs big, and 81 meg dummy file. My cue file reads like this: Im new at this, so maybe I configured my cue file wrong? FILE "CD1.bin" BINARY TRACK 01 AUDIO INDEX 01 00:00:00 FILE "CD2.bin" BINARY TRACK 02 AUDIO PREGAP 00:02:00 INDEX 01 00:00:00 FILE "CD3.bin" BINARY TRACK 03 AUDIO PREGAP 00:02:00 INDEX 01 00:00:00 I can't really tell how long my videos are because they are in the bin format. I used your program to convert them with the vdub version that you recommend in your intructions. I created an 81 meg dummy file with a program called dummy file creator that i found on the net. The total amount of space taken up in the directory for my disc is 304 megs. I would try videothen, but it just wont work on my computer, your encoder is slow but it works, and I'm thankful for the work that you've done!! Thank you for any help, and if it's something I missed in your instructions, I'm sorry to have wasted your time. | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 13 21:49 | ||||||||
| Update to previous post...
www.geocities.com/mastersmurfie has now been updated again...includes a new file called "GenerateFile.zip" from LoLo to make that "dummy" file that valzuniga has apparently already found... :wink: Again, let me know if anyone has any problems. I would also like to thank, again, all who have done all the hard programming work. I've tried the programming thing, but found that I didn't have the patience to teach it to myself...(when it comes to teaching myself, I suck as the student... :wink:...except for BASIC!!-anyone remember that??) Thanks! mastersmurfie | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 14 00:09 | ||||||||
| Hi valzuniga,
It looks like you did it correctly. I'm not sure what the lag was but I still recommend cutting the video into 5min slices with VirtualDub. Leave PREGAP out if it is a continuous video. Put PREGAP in when there is a break between videos. Use the Mark In/Out buttons to mark the start and stop of the frames you want to output. Note the start and stop frames as you dump so that you start on the frame you left off. The Mark In/Out buttons look like this in VirtualDub: 
I'm working on an update to the VNConvert.exe that creates the padded file and cue sheet automatically. Let me know if you have any luck with the 5min tracks. | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 14 08:46 | ||||||||
| To all,
I was able to get the VideoThen converter working after I downloaded and installed the Software Development Kit for JAVA. If you want to download the SDK go to the following site and select J2SE v 1.3.1_10: http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/download.html I'll burn some discs made with VideoThen using the BINARY overburn method tonight. LoLo | ||||||||
| valzuniga posted 2004 Jan 14 12:15 | ||||||||
| Thanks Lolo,
I downloaded your newer version of videonow, along with your padder, and the process worked perfectly, I added an intro video this time, and had two 12 minute videos, the last file being the padder. i used the cue sheet provided without the gaps, and got a disc that plays perfectly including the forward buttons. | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 14 13:14 | ||||||||
| Valzuniga,
That's great news! I sent MasterSmurfie an updated version that creates the CUE sheet and Padded file automatically. It also tells you the estimate number of MB each time you create a VNCD track. I used Greg's VideoThen converter this morning before I took off for work. It is much faster! :) I'll burn a disc tonight with the VideoThen data if I get back in time from this party thing we are going to. I'd like to demonstrat that the BINARY recording method works with the VideoThen data. If it works good then I'll write a tool which will automatically create the CUE and Padded file based on the tracks contained in a directory. Also, I've never tried recording in the BINARY mode with the WAV header. I just assumed that it will cause problems but I'll give it a try with the WAV header to see if it works ok. If the WAV header screws things up with the BINARY recording method maybe Greg would be kind to us and put an option on VideoThen to save WITH or WITHOUT the WAV header??? :idea: LoLo | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 14 18:52 | ||||||||
| All,
Even MORE updated version of VideoNow available at www.geocities.com/mastersmurfie again...the links thing...lemme know I'm gonna mess around with it tonight, and see what kind of damage I can do. Thanks LoLo! mastersmurfie | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 14 21:08 | ||||||||
| Help!!!
is this my burner causing this: 
??? I have a Cendyne DVR105 DVD burner...any suggestions? LoLo, I just can't get your app to work!! | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 14 23:26 | ||||||||
| MasterSmerfie,
It could be your drive. I found this: http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread/t-63803.html I'll see if I can find an answer for you. LoLo | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 14 23:47 | ||||||||
| MasterSmurfie,
Here is what I found on your drive: 1.) Download ForceASPI V1.7 You can find this file at http://www.cdr-zone.com/download.php?section=Downloads&openEntry=75 2.) Download ASPICHECK.EXE you can find this file at www.adaptec.com run the aspichecker and see what version of the file you currently have. then close it up. 3.) open up the forceaspi file and find DUMPASPI.bat if you wish to backup your current aspi files 4.)Run the KILLASPI.BAT file to clear your current aspi files and then RESTART 5.) Open up the INSTASPI.BAT this will install the good aspi files 4.6(1021) Then RESTART 6.) You can confirm this with aspichecker that your files have been changed. 7.) Now go burn your .cue and .bin files it should work now. Here's where I found it: http://forum.rpc1.org/viewtopic.php?t=10247 From what I read it may or may not fix the problem. LoLo | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 15 00:39 | ||||||||
| To all,
I just mastered a disc using files I converted with VideoThen. It worked perfectly. I removed the WAV header from each file and used the padded file generator to create the final file. Total file size was 303MBs. I used PREGAPs between each Music Video. The disc starts with the VideoNow logo and has 5 music videos. (Don't ask who I put on the disc, you would ban me from the forum) VideoThen performed perfectly. I compared video that I had converted earlier with VNConvert and it is identical to that converted with VideoThen. Now that I clearly see how fast and accurately VideoThen can convert VNCD data I'm going to start using it to convert my video. I'll post a software tool that will look in a given directory for bin files, generate the correct size padded file, and create a CUE sheet with the push of one button. This will make the mastering process much easier for those of you who are able to burn with CDRWIN. GREG :idea: - would you be willing to add an option to VideoThen that would omit the WAV header if selected? It would be greatly appreciated! :) LoLo | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2004 Jan 15 07:10 | ||||||||
| lolo
i could remove the wav header but i'm not sure what that does for you. the binary files are stored in the current working directory - if that helps. send me an email and we'll coordinate. greg@alcorgrp.com | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 15 09:22 | ||||||||
| Greg,
Thanks for the reply. I sent you an EMail. Please let me know what you think. And sorry for being so long winded in the EMail. LoLo (Author of the SLOW VNConverter and equally SLOW VNAlbum) :D | ||||||||
| Tazmania8332 posted 2004 Jan 15 16:58 | ||||||||
| I just wanted to say:
That i have completely mastered making a VNCD (with the exception of a few of sync VNCD's). | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 15 18:44 | ||||||||
LoLo...thanks for trying...alas, I have tried EVERYTHING that link suggests, and still get the same error :cry: ...I will try to find more info as time permits... I will post any results that I get... @Tazmania8332 Congrats! I'm gonna mess around with it again over the next few days, and see what I can come up with. I had much success using GregSmith's app, and editing the ccd file, but I really want to try LoLo's method too... Oh well...time will tell Thanks again, mastersmurfie | ||||||||
| Landowlakes posted 2004 Jan 15 19:07 | ||||||||
| I was hoping I can get some help working VideoThen. I have completed the virtualdub steps to create a avi. file and then go to load and process through videothen with no luck. Are you suppose to see the video image being rendered? I might be having a java problem but not sure. I downloaded and istalled the java program from the supplied link in this forum, maybe I set it up wrong. Any who any further help would be greatly appreciated. | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 15 21:41 | ||||||||
Landowlakes...what does videothen "do" when it's running? I believe that "Yes" you should be able to see the video being rendered-I always have...is it "doing" anything? | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 16 00:46 | ||||||||
| Has anyone tried VNAlbum?
I put most of my kids Pokemon cards on a VNCD. Don't know why but he seems mesmerized by it... Go figure. :idea: LoLo | ||||||||
| Landowlakes posted 2004 Jan 16 09:18 | ||||||||
| -mastersmurfie thanks for the reply. I start videothen via the winbat file and it loads fine. I then follow the steps to inport my video .avi file created by virtualdub, select the output .wav file and chose start render. Then I get nothin, a file is created but WMP says its not a valid file to burn. This is what comes in the dos box.
C:\Documents and Settings\My name\My Documents\VideoThen1b>java -classpath videothen.jar com.alcorgrp.videothen.VideoThen tmpPath=C:\Documents and Settings\my name\My Documents\VideoThen1b\VideoTh en\tester.avi x=81 tmpPath2=C:\Documents and Settings\my name\My Documents\VideoThen1b\VideoT hen\tester.wav tmpFile2=C:\Documents and Settings\my name\My Documents\VideoThen1b\VideoT hen\tester.wav C:\Documents and Settings\my name\My Documents\VideoThen1b\VideoThen\teste r.wavjava.lang.NoSuchFieldError: BLACK at com.alcorgrp.videothen.VideoThen.paintFrame(VideoThen.java:449) at com.alcorgrp.videothen.VideoThen.timer1OnTime(VideoThen.java:276) at com.alcorgrp.videothen.VideoThen.access$000(VideoThen.java:28) at com.alcorgrp.videothen.VideoThen$10.onTime(VideoThen.java:427) at org.netbeans.examples.lib.timerbean.Timer.fireTimerEvent(Timer.java:1 28) at org.netbeans.examples.lib.timerbean.Timer.access$100(Timer.java:29) at org.netbeans.examples.lib.timerbean.Timer$TimerThread.run(Timer.java: 139) | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 16 18:35 | ||||||||
| Landowlakes,
I have the same problem with WMP-I just can't get it to do anything with the files. Your output from videothen looks pretty much like all of mine have so far. Try this: http://mmdx.nexploitation.com/Tutorial.doc It's transient's tutorial, and helped me a LOT!! After that, start at page 5 http://www.dvdrhelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=177545&postdays ... ;start=160 of this thread, and see if you can get it to work. Poster Tazmania8332 was able to get WMP to work, later on, and has some instructions later on. Hope this helps! mastersmurfie | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 16 19:06 | ||||||||
| @ LoLo:
this is the cue sheet that I receive when converting with your videonow app: FILE 0.BIN BINARY TRACK 01 AUDIO INDEX 01 00:00:00 FILE 1.BIN BINARY TRACK 02 AUDIO PREGAP 00:02:00 INDEX 01 00:00:00 I haven't changed anything (in this one)...does this look right? CDRWIN gives the "cue sheet" error every time...any suggestions? Thanks, mastersmurfie | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 16 20:32 | ||||||||
| Hi MasterSmurfie,
YOUR CUE SHEET IS PERFECT! The is a fairly common problem with that model DVR. I looked around a bit but still haven’t found a fool proof answer for you. You could try updating your flash ROM: http://pioneerdvd.rpc1.org/ Here are a few more links discussing the problem: http://www.cdrinfo.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8335#top http://forum.firmware-flash.com/printview.php?t=9405&start=0 I read somewhere that Instant Copy will work with your recorder. You could try that: http://members.eunet.at/seeau/ Sorry to hear it's giving your problems. LoLo | ||||||||
| prybar posted 2004 Jan 16 21:32 | ||||||||
| hey fellas, just my 2 cents
i have a pioneer DVR-105 and i get the exact same error message when i use cdrwin. I use nero to burn the image, which works great for me, but i have never burned a VNCD using these, cuz spare time has become impossible for me to find lately (building a house is more of a headache than i ever imagined) Good luck all, hopefully i can be burning and contributing more soon pry | ||||||||
| Landowlakes posted 2004 Jan 17 00:00 | ||||||||
| Has anyone else been getting an error msg from WMP? I finally got java working, thus videothen working. My question is my output .wav file will not play or record using WMP. I am using the guide that came with the latest version of videothen1b, virualdub 1.5.7 for my conversion. any advice? | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 17 00:53 | ||||||||
| Landowlakes...try the links I posted to you above...they should help...
LoLo...I have had my drive on version 1.33 firmware since I first heard about it...have tried ASPI 4.7xx and then reverted back to 4.6...still no luck... like prybar, NERO will burn, but not to the minicdr ("not enough space on the cd"), only to a cdrw (or cdr) with enough space... I tried fireburner too...no luck (trial version will only burn in "test" mode...) burnatonce says that the "CUE/BIN must exist in the same folder and have the same name"... have done countless searches, and came up with essentially the same info that you provided...(thanks for looking!) seems that everyone with my drive has this problem, but no one has been very able to fix it... Thanks for all the help...will research some more over the weekend, and see what I can come up with... mastersmurfie | ||||||||
| prybar posted 2004 Jan 18 01:48 | ||||||||
| Hi All
Mastersmurfie, although i'm sure you tried it, I will ask anyways. Have you tried using the overburn feature in Nero (simply by enabling it in the "expert" section of preferences?) I gotta get some mini cd-rs soon, i'm going crazy with all this stuff ready to go, and nothing to burn it to. good luck pry | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 18 12:14 | ||||||||
| To all,
Probably my final post. Last bit of info: If you crop the images at the VirtualDub grayscale filter to a multiple of 80 you will get the best quality picture. Whenever possible I crop the image at 240X240 before it is resized and the quality is excellent. Good luck and it was nice chatting with all of you. Maybe we will meet again when the color model comes out... LoLo | ||||||||
| prybar posted 2004 Jan 18 15:19 | ||||||||
| Lolo
I'm sure I speak for most everyone when I say it's sad to hear you're no longer going to be posting. Has anyone offended you in any way, causing this suddenly? Your help has been excellent, our programs are great, and I think we're just scratching the surface of this. If i had any programming skills, I would contribute more, but i think an "all-in-one" program isn't far off, simply load your videos, it'll convert and burn for you. (perhaps a AVI2DVD type thing, where it calls the programs as it uses them.) Longwinded, I know, but I hope your leaving doesn't deflate the wind in this project best regards pry | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 18 15:52 | ||||||||
| Hi Prybar,
Sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound that way. No everyone has been great - it's just that my wife thinks I spend too much time on the computer so I need to cut down on that a bit. An all-in-one solution would require us to dump VirtualDub as a preprocessor and do our own preprocessing. For me that would be a lot of work and mostly time. Sorry, but I'd probably end up divorced if I spent that much time on this. Also, it would be painfully slow if I wrote it. Maybe Greg would be willing to do it? I'll still check the forum and respond if someone has questions or needs help. Not a problem. Anyway, no worries! Have a great weekend! LoLo | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 18 20:46 | ||||||||
| LoLo,
Just wanted to say, Thanks! Your time and effort have been much appreciated, and like prybar, if I could to the programming thing, I'd jump right on it...I have a bit of spare time (having already gone through the big "D"-and I don't mean Dallas)-so maybe I'll learn myself some new skills. Your apps (including the newest one) will stay at www.geocities.com/mastersmurfie until you (or Yahoo) tell me otherwise. Pop in from time to time-I'm sure this won't go away for quite a while. Thanks again, mastersmurfie | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 18 21:17 | ||||||||
prybar... Thanks! No, I hadn't even remembered about that! Alas, no luck still...Nero still says that there's not enough space-can't change the "maximum CD length" to anything lower than 74 min... Any more suggestions? | ||||||||
| Landowlakes posted 2004 Jan 18 23:17 | ||||||||
| hey master thanks for the last post but I seem to still be having trouble.
WMP gives me this: Windows Media Player cannot play the file because there may be a problem with your sound or video device. Try installing a new device driver I checked my drivers are all updated. Virtualdub, and videothen both finish acording to the guide supplied with videothen1b. So far I have been working with a 10mb .mpg sample to test and convert with. I also tried using VNconvert2 that changed the smae 10mb file to 267mb or there abouts. Any ideas my son is counting on me. | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 18 23:35 | ||||||||
| Hi MasterSmurfie,
I just burned a disc using Nero. You have to go to menu item Files then select Preferences Click on the Expert Features tab and select Enable overburn When you burn the disc you'll get all kinds of warnings and at about 275mb Nero will give you an error. It's OK The disc will boot in the VideoNow player. VideoNow could care less about the file structure, cda files, WAV headers or anything else. It reads data directly from the disc. Good luck! LoLo  | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 18 23:55 | ||||||||
| Hi Landowlakes,
If you want to use VNConvert do the following First convert your video according to the doc file contained with the ZIP file. Then put the VNConvert.exe file in a directory. All the converted BMP files along with the AUDIO.WAV file should be in a subdirectory named FILES. Something like this: C:\VNConvert\VNConvert.exe C:\VNConvert\Files\(all your BMPs and the Audio.wav file) Now double click on VNConvert.exe and press Convert 
The button should start indicating the frames processed then start counting backward as it process the BIN file. If your just going to do one file for a test then after the 10mb file is finished you get a message indicating how many MB of Video you have so far (around 10mb). Start VNConvert again and press Finalize Disc. This will create the CUE sheet and a large file. The large file is a PADDED file that will trick the VideoThen into thinking that the disc is larger than it really is (This is probably the big file you mentioned earlier). Go to either Nero or CDRWIN and record according to the DOC files which are included in the VNConvert2.zip. Good luck and feel free to get back to me with other questions. I'll get back to you when I can. LoLo | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 19 00:09 | ||||||||
| Here are the complete instructions for VNConvert.
NOTE: VideoThen uses a different procedure so please don't use these instructions with VideoThen: Record a Bootable VideoNow Mini-Disc Step 1: Convert your video to a conforming VNConvert format: Use VirtualDub: http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/virtualdub/VirtualDub-1.5.10.zip?download 1. Start VirtualDub 2. File > Load processing settings > Locate VideoNow.vcf file and double click. 3. File > Open video file > Locate video file to be converted and double click. Note: For best quality go to Video > Filters Then press on grayscale and select the Cropping... option. Crop the image so that it is square (or even better a multiple of 80). You will have to use some basic math skills here :( 4. File > Save WAV > Locate \VNConvert\Files directory > Type Audio.WAV and press OK (This creates the AUDIO track) 5. File > Save image sequence > Change to BMP file format > Change directory to \VNConvert\Files Directory and press OK (This converts each frame of your video to small BMP images 19KB in size) Note: At this point you should have a directory with VNConvert.exe in it, a sub directory named Files with all your converted BMP files and an Audio.wav file. The BMP files should be named as follows: e.g. 0.bmp, 1.bmp, 2.bmp, etc... NO FILE PREFIX 6. Exit VirtualDub and Execute VNConvert.EXE Double click on VNConvert.exe and press Convert 
Note: The Convert button should start indicating the frames processed then start counting backward as it process the BIN file. As it processes each track it will tell you how many MB you have so far. Note: Remember to clear your files directory between tracks. 7. Keep converting video files (steps 1-6) until you have all the tracks you want. I have yet to test the upper limit but I have recorded up to 247mb of video on a 210mb disc. I’m not sure how much higher you can go by overburning (Nero gives an error around 275 but the disc still boots in the VideoNow player). 8. When your finished converting video you need to decide if your going to use a PREGAP between the tracks. If it is a continuous video split into 5min sections you will want to leave the PREGAP OFF. If you have a series of music videos or something like that then leave the PREGAP ON. To create the PREGAP check the box labled Include 2 second pregap? otherwise leave it unchecked. 9. Now press Finalize Disc and then exit the program. Note: This button creates a file that when added to the other tracks should give a total file size between 300-305 MB. It also creates the CUE sheet which will be used next to overburn the disc. Step 2: Burn VideoNow BIN files to mini-disc using CDRWIN: 10. Load CDRWIN (http://www.goldenhawk.com) and select the Record Disc option (upper left ICON). Click on Load Cuesheet and select the VNCD.cue file located in the \VNConvert\ directory. 11. Now press Record Disc and wait. LoLo | ||||||||
| mojoe1959 posted 2004 Jan 19 18:22 | ||||||||
| I can not get Videothen to work.. I download Java, download Videothen.
I followed the direction with Videothen. I Loaded the old AVI, Save Wav file and start the Render. It done in one second. It never renders | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 19 18:26 | ||||||||
mojoe1959...what version of VirtualDub are you using? | ||||||||
| mojoe1959 posted 2004 Jan 19 18:32 | ||||||||
| VideoDub 1.5.10 | ||||||||
| mojoe1959 posted 2004 Jan 19 18:55 | ||||||||
| Sorry VirtualDub 1.5.10 Its seems to work fine. It creates the Old AVI with no errors | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 19 19:06 | ||||||||
mojoe1959...try this...go to http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=9649 and get version 1.5.3 this seems to be more compatible. The new versions seem to be the culprit. Try it, and see if that works any better. mastersmurfie | ||||||||
| Mr.Radar posted 2004 Jan 19 19:43 | ||||||||
| The problem isn't with the new VirtualDub versions, the problem is with VideoThen and old VDub versions. Old versions of VDub write the wrong stream type (dc (compressed dib) instead of db (uncompressed dib)) and VideoThen is looking for the wrong type. It shouldn't be too hard of a problem to correct (you could just have VT ignore the stream types).
BTW, I'm back and I just got a huge new book on programming (you can probably expect a beta version of PVDTools by the end of Febuary, probably). EDIT: With current versions of VideoThen you still have to use old (broken) versions of VDub. This is just to clear up any confusion. | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 19 20:21 | ||||||||
| Welcome back Mr.Radar!
Thanks for correcting me. I was using info from a very early post in this thread about the different versions of VirtualDub. I use version 1.5.3, and have 100% success in creating the wav file with videothen (and if it ain't broke, why fix it :wink: ). Anyways...I for one look forward to your PVDTools. Keep us posted! mastersmurfie | ||||||||
| mojoe1959 posted 2004 Jan 19 21:23 | ||||||||
| [quote="mastersmurfie"][quote="mojoe1959"]Sorry [url=http://www.dvdrhelp.com/tools?tool=2#comments]VirtualDub[/url] 1.5.10 Its seems to work fine. It creates the Old AVI with no errors[/quote]
mojoe1959...try this...go to http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=9649 and get version 1.5.3 this seems to be more compatible. The new versions seem to be the culprit. Try it, and see if that works any better. mastersmurfie[/quote] Thanks little better.. Not as it renders I get error EOF.. and Stops. | ||||||||
| Landowlakes posted 2004 Jan 19 22:33 | ||||||||
| LOLO thanks for the walkthrough. I have been able to complete 2 disc with VNconvert2. I bought the wrong disc from circuit city though, memorex pocket cd-r 185mb. Now that I can complete the process I am going to get the right disc so that my complete file fits. Thanks again to all of the users putting in there time and effort to help me out. | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 19 22:54 | ||||||||
mojoe1959...I too sometimes get that error...mine seem to happen (most of the time) only when I try to "cut" my original video file into pieces with the videonow template already loaded into VirtualDub. A few times, I have gotten that error almost at the end of the videothen conversion-and the resulting wav works just fine... what's your original source? | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 19 23:10 | ||||||||
| Landowlakes and all,
I know I wasn't going to post any more but I can't help it. Besides my wife is tired of me already :lol: Anyway, I'm almost finished with an upgrade on VNConvert. This version will process large files and divide them into Chapters so they play like a DVD. It also creates the PADDED file and CUE sheet. I'm almost done with another tool that will take a file created by VideoThen and divide it into chapters, create the padded file, and CUE sheet. I call this one VN Movie Maker. Yes, they are both fairly slow but functional. It should streamline the process a bit more. Maybe Greg will write it into his program if we get a good response from the forum. LoLo | ||||||||
| zimzam posted 2004 Jan 20 08:34 | ||||||||
| hey guys-
i've been watching this thread on and off for a few weeks now, and i decided to get some small cd's and try it this weekend. my results were very successful (only 2 coasters), although my methods are a little unorthodox. here's what i did: 1. downloaded VideoThen, VNConvert, and VirtualDub. 2. captured the avi 3. opened the avi in VirtualDub 4. selected Load processing settings in VirtualDub and select videonow.vcf that comes with VideoThen. note: for better video quality, 1) select Video->Filters 2) select the resize filter and click Configure 3) set Filter mode to Precise bilinear or Precise bicubic (A=-1.00) 5. selected portions of video and clicked File->Save Old Format AVI 6. converted the file with VideoThen OPTIONAL 7. ripped 1st and last tracks (as audio) from original videonow cd, works when you have a laptop cdrom because you can place the cd right on the spindle. i do not think this would work with regulard cdroms. the files will have a .wav extension, but they can simply be renamed to .bin. this step only needs to be done once, you can use the files for other cd's too. 8. created a bitmap image in paintbrush. the image attributes were 80x80 and color. 9. saved the bitmap as menu.bmp and ran a script to create 1000 copies of it, naming files in numerical order, 0.bmp, 1.bmp, etc. 10. copied all .bmp of menu to files subdirectory of VNConvert 11. ran modified VNConvert.exe to create .bin file with menu. the modified VNconvert ignores the fact that there is no audio.wav file. otherwise i think creating/copying any wave file in this directory will work. 12. now i had the ripped intro renamed 0.BIN, the menu file from VNConvert named 1.BIN, the converted avi from VideoThen simply renamed 2.BIN, and the ripped ending renamed 3.BIN. i ran VNConvert and selected Finalize Disc. 13. ran Nero, and under Expert Features, selected Enable overburn... 14. opened the .cue file with Nero and burned to disc i have a Cendyne DVR-105, and like others i could not get it to overburn with any software. fortunately, i have a couple of cd burners laying around, and one of the others worked fine. i should note that i actually created many small avi's around 4-5 minutes in length as recommended by others. i just left it out of the steps for simplicity. my actually directory contains 0.BIN, 1.BIN,..., 8.BIN, 9.BIN, 10.BIN where 8.BIN is my last avi, 9.BIN is the ripped ending, and 10.BIN is the pad file created by VNConvert. now i have custom videonow discs with the standard beginning, a custom menu, and the standard ending. thanks alot to LoLo and Greg for the great software, and thanks to everyone for the information! | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 20 10:34 | ||||||||
| Hi zimzam,
It sounds like you've been busy testing the limits. You can create custom splash screens with an unmodified version of VNConvert as well. Just dump a small (min 4 seconds) AVI file into a directory as BMPs using VirtualDub. Then edit the BMP files to create your own images (It's kind of like creating a cartoon or something. Your correct any audio track will work as long as it is 8bit, mono, 44khz and long enough to match the number of BMP files. If you run out of audio during the conversion you will get an error. If you have too much audio that's ok. So better to be to much. It is probably easier to find a short clip you like and use that as the splash screen. I'm getting ready to release two more programs. Another version of VNConvert but this time it will create chapters like a DVD. The other program I'm working on will take a VideoThen WAV file and slice it up into chapters, it creates the padded file, and generates a CUE sheet. Then all you have to do is burn the disc with Nero or CDRWIN using the CUE file. The first track is a blank file so if you want to overwrite it with your own splash screen you can. If you don't it still boots fine with the blank file. LoLo | ||||||||
| peehs posted 2004 Jan 21 00:27 | ||||||||
| So I have been watching from the sidelines for quite a while. It is good to know that I am not the only one to have the reaction when my daughter got her video now. (You know, what do you mean I can't create my own discs?!?).
Anyway, I started playing with discs when this forum first started posting. I have actually not ended up with any coasters! I do have on disc that is not bootable and another disc that only has one track and therefore I cannot use the stop function. The rest of the discs that I have burned are working pretty good right now. My daughter was really impressed when she saw a picture of her and her kitty as the opening splash screen. I have not been able to look at this forum for a while (I am trying to write a mp3 program in C++ and I suck at it...) but am interested to start trying the new methods. It is funny to realize that I came about this close to super gluing her door opening button so I could insert the non bootable cd's. Ah, the good old days... five weeks ago!!! Anyway, I just thought I would write and say thanks for all of the work that you guys have been putting into this. I am not the best programmer but am pretty good with .avi's. If anyone needs help with what I have gotten thus far, let me know. BTW Would you guys be interested in starting some VN file sharing? I think I have a good spot to host it... -c | ||||||||
| Tazmania8332 posted 2004 Jan 21 11:18 | ||||||||
| Hi. I really need help.
I've been burning perfect VNCD's until i uploaded my WMP to WMP version 9. Now it wont let me burn the VN movies to a disc so i can recopy it with CloneCD. So as u probably guessed... i have been using the original way of making a VNCD.i dont wanna change since i got so use to this method. so are there any other programs for burning these specially made WAV files? (I've already tried Realone, Nero, and Burnatonce, and CDRwin. None of them work. So any onther suggestions?) | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 21 19:06 | ||||||||
| To all,
VN Movie Maker is out in Beta. I sent the ZIP file to MasterSmurfie for upload to his site. It will take any file created by either VideoThen or VNConvert and slice it into small segments (chapters). It creates the CUE sheet and padded file as well. The first track is a blank file that can be replaced with your own custom splash screen if you want. If you choose to leave the blank file as the first track, the VideoNow will boot with the second track and the Forward button is fully enabled. I spent a fair amount of time on the instructions and included images with the DOCs to make it easier. PM me if you want an advanced copy. LoLo MasterSmurfies web page: http://www.geocities.com/mastersmurfie/ | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 21 21:30 | ||||||||
| All...been out for a few days...
www.geocities.com/mastersmurfie/ now updated with: VNRip--rip the files from your original VNCD discs and; VideoNow MovieMaker-will take any file created by either VideoThen or VNConvert and slice it into small segments (chapters). It creates the CUE sheet and padded file as well. The first track is a blank file that can be replaced with your own custom splash screen if you want. If you choose to leave the blank file as the first track, the VideoNow will boot with the second track and the Forward button is fully enabled (from LoLo's post before). Thanks LoLo!! OK...now a new (kind of) question for you all... Has anyone tried (or can it be done) to just rip the AUDIO from an original VNCDisc? I have tried to make a unique "first run" logo, using my own pics, and the VideoNow logo, but I can't get the audio to do what I want it to...(when I open the original VideoNow wav that I ripped from the disc, it sounds all "choppy" and "distorted". So...I want just the SOUND from the logo...Any suggestions? Thanks! mastersmurfie | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 21 21:54 | ||||||||
| Hi MasterSmurfie,
VNRip will do it... It will convert the Video into BMP files and the Audio into an Audio.Wav file. You may have to use VirtualDub or Cool Edit to play the audio because it is a fairly uncommon audio standard (8bit, mono, 44khz). To put it back together you will need to use VNConvert. But if you do that you have a problem because your burner won't Overburn. You could use VNConvert to make the bin file from your audio track and custom BMP files. Then copy a WAV header from an original VNCD and past it onto your newley created VNCD. Now your VNCD WAV file can be recorded using your own recording method. Let me know if you want detailed instructions on this. LoLo | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 21 22:05 | ||||||||
Thanks LoLo...I will try now...I have a program that will convert a bunch of pic and a wav file to an avi...I wanna try it, and see how it goes. | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 21 22:16 | ||||||||
| ok...maybe I need the detailed instructions... :oops:
I have the cd in my drive, but VNRip won't find any files on it...?? | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 21 22:38 | ||||||||
| Ok,
First you need to rip a track using CDRWIN (Your drive will work for this): 1. Put the VideoNow disc in your drive. :roll: 2. Start CDRWIN and click on the third upper ICON (Extract Disc/Tracks/Sectors) 3. Click on the Select Tracks option. 4. In the Tracks Selection window you will see the tracks listed as RED dots. Click on the RED dot that is the track you want. 5. Now press Start. You will see the track being ripped followed by a message saying "Operation Complete" or something like that. 6. Now exit CDRWIN and start VNRip. 7. Type in the file name that you just ripped from the VNCD. 8. Use the 'Check Alingment' option to perfectly center the video in the VNRip window. 9. After you have the video cetered perfectly press Rip VNCD 10. The RIP process will begin and after it is complete you will see a dirictory with all the BMP files in it and one file named Audio.wav (this is the audio file you were looking for). Good luck with that! I just EMailed you the updated VNConvert file which has the ability to create chapters. Also, it includes a complete walkthrough of the conversion process all the way through the burn. It has a lot of pictures. LoLo | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 22 09:12 | ||||||||
| Another download page for VideoNow Converters and tools:
http://www.geocities.com/l_oban/ LoLo | ||||||||
| Principal Skinner posted 2004 Jan 22 09:28 | ||||||||
| I've been lurking since around Christmas, following the thread and just wanted to thank LoLo and Mastersmurfie for the great apps they've created. I wish I had the necessary skills to help.
I can suggest that if anyone wants to share their completed VN files they should try the Bittorrent client. Probably the fastest way to share them. This is the Bittorrent client I would suggest to use for it's ease of use, and it's ability to create BT links. http://azureus.sourceforge.net/index.php Again thanks, and keep up the good work for the rest of us "incapables". :) | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 22 22:56 | ||||||||
| LoLo...your apps just don't like my computer...
tried what you said above with CDRWIN and get nothing...it says this: 
Then...after a few minutes: can you tell me what I'm doing wrong? I'm tempted to get my old CD/RW back (loaned it to a friend) and see if that works over the weekend... | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 22 23:03 | ||||||||
| well phooey...the pics don't seem to work...anyways...the first one says "Analyzing Dics Layout...Please wait"
the second one says: "Error: Unable to analyze disc layout Unable to locate end of AUDIO track" | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 23 08:19 | ||||||||
| Hi MasterSmurfie,
Just to set the record straight, CDRWIN isn't my APP, it is written by Golden Hawk Technology. I only wish I had written that one. I'd be a rich man by now. :D Anyway, it sounds like your trying to rip a VNCD track from a disc you created with VideoThen. The step-by-step instructions I provided earlier will RIP a track from an original VideoNow disc. I have no idea if it is able to rip a track from a disc mastered by the VideoThen encoder. I know it will NOT rip a disc mastered using the overburn process, because the overburn process screws up the fillheader information on the disc. This is a good thing when your trying to fool the VideoNow player. The VideoNow doesn't care about the fileheader but your DVD burner does. Now if the process you use to master a VideoThen VNCD screws up the fileheader information, the disc will likely be unreadable (or unrippable) as well. It's time you call in your loan from your friend and bring your burner home... It's got work to do...! LoLo | ||||||||
| Tazmania8332 posted 2004 Jan 24 07:09 | ||||||||
| how can i get CDRWIN without having to pay all that money for it.
it appears to be the only program i can use to burn VNCD movies to a disc before i copy them with CloneCd. | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 24 13:29 | ||||||||
| Hi Tazmania8332,
You can download the free version of CDRWIN at: http://www.goldenhawk.com/download.htm It works fine but is limited to x1 speed. It takes a bit longer than the full version but works perfectly. Also, at speed x1 there is little chance of recording errors. Also, you do not have to wast a disc when you record a VNCD. You should try the BINARY mode. It's much easier, everything is calculated for you and it only uses one disc. You can still use VideoThen to make your VNCD files. After you create the VNCD file with VideoThen, you use VN Movie Maker to convert the file into chapters that can be recorded with CDRWIN. The process is fairly simple and VN Movie Maker comes with a step-by-step walkthrough. You can download a copy of VN Movie Maker at www.geocities.com/l_oban Good luck! LoLo | ||||||||
| mojoe1959 posted 2004 Jan 24 17:06 | ||||||||
| [quote="mastersmurfie"][quote="mojoe1959"]
Thanks little better.. Not as it renders I get error EOF.. and Stops.[/quote] mojoe1959...I too sometimes get that error...mine seem to happen (most of the time) only when I try to "cut" my original video file into pieces with the videonow template already loaded into [url=http://www.dvdrhelp.com/tools?tool=2#comments]VirtualDub[/url]. A few times, I have gotten that error almost at the end of the videothen conversion-and the resulting wav works just fine... what's your original source?[/quote] My source is cable pumped into my PC,and I record the cartoons my girls like to my hard drive. I just got my New PC. HP Media Center. I'll try it on that PC. Thank for your help... | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 25 23:00 | ||||||||
LoLo...you're right...I was taking "my" VNCD files to be "original" files...Thanks!! I'll try again with an "original" VNCD that I will "borrow" from my daughter... anyways...an updated version of www.geocities.com/mastersmurfie is ready...with an updated conversion of ccd file conversion and burning guide... | ||||||||
| loveofpm posted 2004 Jan 26 23:23 | ||||||||
| hey folks,
starting a channel in irc.dejatoons.net called #videonow designed for sharing of classic toons and shows already formatted in videonow and clonecd... | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jan 27 01:02 | ||||||||
| Cool,
I'll give it a try! LoLo | ||||||||
| bsteph2069 posted 2004 Jan 27 15:45 | ||||||||
| I occasionally give some results I've had.
I've gotten good results twice out of a repition of two by simply overburning the cd. I don't make cue files or use CDClone ect. I make my WAV files using VideoDub, and Video then like everyone else BUT when I am ready I simpley burn the tracks to a mini cd , using NERO as a audio CD. I use the first track from the original video then disk. And pad the rest of the disk with whatever would drive the time of the resulting audio cd over 30 min. It works fine. Bsteph | ||||||||
| Principal Skinner posted 2004 Jan 30 19:47 | ||||||||
| Ok, this is weird.
I've done everything according to the letter of the videothen.doc My avi to be converted was 145 megs. I load the videothen.bat and the java gui appears. I tell it to load the avi, save as whatever.wav and ask it to render. And I end up with 10kb wav a 22kb audio.dat and a 0 kb video.dat file. Rendering time....somwhere in the millionths of a second. I used the preset vcf and I checked the file to be rendered first with BS player and it is indeed a copy of the original in 80X80 BW. SO now I'm wondering why this isn't working. Anyone else run into this, or am I missing something. Thnx. :| | ||||||||
| bsteph2069 posted 2004 Jan 30 20:39 | ||||||||
| Hey,
I've got all kinds of questions. 1. Did you change the file to 80X80 and mono first using video dub or whatever? Was it 145 meg AVI after conversion to 80 x 80 or before. When you open the resulting wav file does the audio sound correct. ( Granted the video is horrible and the audio has excess noises but you should be able to hear your audio beneath the noises. ) Are you sure you selected the correct file to convert using video then? Are you sure you opened the correct wav file? Maybe you entire file was not converted? I've had a that a couple of time but these are usually joined files. Bsteph | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 30 23:32 | ||||||||
Principal Skinner...Which version of VirtualDub are you using? Seems like some versions work better than others, and in my experience, this seems to be what causes VideoThen to produce those results. I have used VirtualDub 1.5.3 with VideoThen and have 100% success (barring when I screwed something up when I edited my ccd files before burning) There's a link to some different versions of VirtualDub at www.geocities.com/mastersmurfie under the "DVD to VideoNow" page. If this is not the case, I don't know what to suggest. Keep us posted. mastersmurfie | ||||||||
| tomoki posted 2004 Jan 31 02:22 | ||||||||
| VideoThen only works properly with VirtualDub 1.5.3 to 1.5.7 Newer version has the AVI data swapped and older version doesn't have convert framerate option | ||||||||
| Principal Skinner posted 2004 Jan 31 08:43 | ||||||||
| Thanks all for the quick replies.
I'm using VirtualDub 1.5.10...Maybe that's where my problem is. I have an old ver 1.2 build 8892 I tried and it didn't work either. To specifically answer bsteph2069, the 145 meg 80X80 BW file was created after using VirtualDub with the included presets in the vcf file. I'll try finding and using the 1.5.3 ver and see what happens then post the results as an edit. Thanks again. Very much appreciated. Paul (Principal) Skinner :wink: *Edit It's about 10 minutes later, and yes. That was exactly the prolbem. Videothen will not work with ver 1.5.10. I pulled down 1.5.3 and rendered without a problem. Thanks again. Sorry I didn't read the posts more carefully. P Skinner. | ||||||||
| Principal Skinner posted 2004 Jan 31 10:24 | ||||||||
| bsteph2069, you're system of overburn with Nero works 100%... :)
I just made my first disc using VirtualDub 1.5.3, then overburned it with Nero. Padded the disc out to 30:35 (2 files plus the logo) and it worked perfect. Quick question. How come the wav files, if produced are only 80 megs or so, but when put onto a mini cdr literally double in size. I can only manage to put on two 80 meg files and Nero states I have 300 megs to burn. Strange.. :? If anyone wants the torrent of these files please let me know, and I'll arrange something. Later, Skinner | ||||||||
| bsteph2069 posted 2004 Jan 31 11:13 | ||||||||
| Quick question. How come the wav files, if produced are only 80 megs or so, but when put onto a mini cdr literally double in size. I can only manage to put on two 80 meg files and Nero states I have 300 megs to burn. Strange..
You know I've seen the same thing. I think sonone found the solution around the 4th or 5th page but I could be wrong. I DO know this has been seen before. In fact I have the same problem too. BUT i've noticed that if I copy the files from the NERO burned CD the files suddenly are smaller!!! ( Roughly 1/2 of the original size ) So if you have a RW drive one thing you could do is burn the disk onto a RW then copy the files off then re burn then onto another final disk. I've burned BOTH the 1/2 sized videos and the original videos onto a mini CD and I couldn't tell the difference. Except that one is smaller. The amount of time for the wav is supposed to be the same and I simply thought I was missing something. Bsteph [/i] | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jan 31 12:12 | ||||||||
| I have the exact same problem with Nero..."doubling" of the size of the files. And bsteph2069 is correct. If you burn to a regular CDRW first, then "rip" the files and burn again to a mini cdr, seems to work ok. I finally gave up on Nero, and use the burnatonce with cloneCD method. If you're interested, there is a guide at www.geocities.com/mastersmurfie under the DVD to VideoNow section (many thanks to transient for the guide). Right now, it's a DOC file, but I'm trying to get an html copy posted as time permits.
mastersmurfie | ||||||||
| Principal Skinner posted 2004 Jan 31 12:32 | ||||||||
| Yay...
Managed to get 4, 80 meg episodes on 1 mini CDRW, using Nero, one pad file and no editing or messing around with a CCD files. Works for me. Thanks for the ideas. P Skinner. | ||||||||
| rip_this posted 2004 Feb 04 14:25 | ||||||||
| :idea: We should start sharing work, we can post the cd images to a newsgroup like alt.binaries.mpeg.videos.music that normally does not have many posts. | ||||||||
| bsteph2069 posted 2004 Feb 05 19:34 | ||||||||
| Hmmm. That's a good idea! After all the files usually are not too large. Expecially is they are short music videos and the like.
Bsteph | ||||||||
| Nitemare posted 2004 Feb 06 22:53 | ||||||||
| Actually, it's a bad idea unless the videos in question are original works. I'll save "the lecture" and just politely remind everyone that the second a legal backup is "shared" it becomes an illegal copyright violation.
I love this thread and am learning a lot. I believe most of us lurkers are more interested in making our own backups than in sharing CD images. Man! I hope I don't sound like one of those "NO WARES!" screamers. I know almost everyone knows this already so I apologize for the redundancy. Regards! Nitemare | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Feb 06 23:22 | ||||||||
Nitemare...I believe that you are correct...IMO this would be no different than sharing DIVX files on a P2P network, which is why I haven't posted before when this subject has been brought up. Does it make a difference if we have completely altered the original source? I don't think so...even though most of these files are converted from (usually) a DVD, captured mpeg, captured avi source to wav files (and ultimately to cdaudio files), it won't make a difference...someone would undoubtedly have a beef with it To be completely honest, I'm really surprised that the people from Hasbro or Tiger haven't tried to intervene yet...we are supposedly converting their "proprietory" format to a format that everyone can (when converted properly) use. I do not feel comfortable "sharing" the files that I have made, although I would very much like to do so...I have often thought of even adding a section of my website totally dedicated to the sharing of the files, but dismiss those thoughts when I think of the way that the RIAA handled KAZAA and such... any thoughts? mastersmurfie | ||||||||
| Nitemare posted 2004 Feb 07 02:02 | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie,
You're correct that format conversion is irrelevent to the sharing of files. I remember a company that sold "imported" Godzilla movies on VHS that tried to argue that they were legal because they were; 1) widescreen versions 2) presented in original Japenese dialogue w/ english subtitles 3) the original theatrical versions that hadn't had all of the anti-american sentiments removed. 4) were otherwise unavailable to the US in ANY market They went to court and were promptly shut down. Though they were offering a completely different product it was still a copyright violation despite their claims that their VHS tapes were a completely different format. Someone owned the copyrights and licenses to release Godzilla movies in the US and this company did not. The fact that theirs were completely different was of no consequence. I'm not surprised by the lack of intervention by Hasbro or Tiger. This thread (and others like it) will keep their product viable for much longer than it would have stood on its own. The lack of available titles alone would have killed this product by now. They can also use us as their test market. What's available now? Episodes of Jimmy Neutron and Spongebob Squarepants. Short little episodes of poular cartoons. By reading this thread they'd discover a market for longer movies, music videos, etc. We can save them a fortune on R&D alone. They can invest in bankable licenses and avoid stuff that won't sell. Regards, Nitemare | ||||||||
| rip_this posted 2004 Feb 07 19:29 | ||||||||
| :lol: the lack of intervention by Hasbro or Tiger is because after the programs are aired on tv,you can record it for later use. do any of you remember the vhs battles of the 80's. movie industry lost the battle with vhs, and it will happen again with dvd in time. any ways, posting to newsgroups is untraceable if you belong to a good servers :!: | ||||||||
| rip_this posted 2004 Feb 07 19:44 | ||||||||
| :band: how many people will buy videonow next christmas? :santa: i think they will stop production of them for lack of interest. what would keep them alive a few more weeks is if people would share there work and create a need for this cheap video player. they are not interested in making more episodes for a bombing product. look how fast it dropped form $100 :2gunsfiring_v1: down to $35, less than half a year. if you can buy an episode this summer i will be suprised. if there is a demand for this player, they will invest in more episodes, videos etc,, otherwise, i think they will not add anymore selections than what they have, and once the warehouse that is full of these is empty, that will be it. :boid: | ||||||||
| rip_this posted 2004 Feb 07 19:44 | ||||||||
| :lol: the lack of intervention by Hasbro or Tiger is because after the programs are aired on tv,you can record it for later use. do any of you remember the vhs battles of the 80's. movie industry lost the battle with vhs, and it will happen again with dvd in time. any ways, posting to newsgroups is untraceable if you belong to a good servers :!: | ||||||||
| bsteph2069 posted 2004 Feb 09 15:31 | ||||||||
| Regarding the sharing of videos. Yeah I thought about that before I spoke, er wrote. I am not shying we should share copyrighted stuff and or movies because they are wayyyyy to big, that would be a illegal, and it would probably bring down unnescessary heat upon whoever decided to host the files and in general messup a good thing we have going.
But what about TV shows. Those are in general free and it is safe I think to share provided they are taped and not bought via a video store. I was thinking of the Simpsons or even the ocasional music video I have stashed, not to mention tv episodes of 24, Americas home videos ect. Actually a 30 min episode is too long in my opinion so I would suffest a 5 min video. That's big enough! Bsteph | ||||||||
| Principal Skinner posted 2004 Feb 11 16:55 | ||||||||
| If anyones interested in free films and old television shows you can try
"LikeTelevision" google it if you want or here's the direct link http://tesla.liketelevision.com/ Lot's of cool old Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, and classic stuff from the 50's, 60's, 70's... Must be free to copy and use... 8) | ||||||||
| bsteph2069 posted 2004 Feb 11 21:55 | ||||||||
| Thanks for the link.
There are some real gemg there. Especially Refer Madness!!! For what it's worth. Actually the downloads are not exactly free they charge $9.00 for some downloads and $12.00 for membership. ( I think. ) But yeah that is basically what I was thinking of. Bsteph | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2004 Feb 12 07:01 | ||||||||
| i think the reason hasbro/tiger have not intervened is simply this - it was a one-shot device. they only intended it to be released for a single christmas season. look at the prices of portable dvd players - down to about $170 retail. (http://www.circuitcity.com/detail.jsp?c=1&b=g&qp=0&bookmark=bookmark_0&oid=59602&catoid=-12541). And thats full color. There simply isnt much of a market for a tiny black&white low-res hacked-up video player.
of course, the money was never in the player, it was in the video disks. from the outset the disks were over priced. the proprietary format meant that you had to buy the disks from hasbro in order to have anything to watch. so, once you bought a videonow you had to pay the piper to get more video. finally i dont think hasbro is very interested in a small group of people who have figured out how to convert regular titles to their format. the fact is, the burning process is far too complex for the average parent to be bothered with. it is far easier for most parents to trip down to toys-r-us and drop $7-$15 for a new disk (that is, if the child is still interested in the toy now that christmas is over) btw: my daughter still watches videonow, using videothen created disks, and uses the swap technique. she is 12 and has requested more disks. how is the popularity with your kids? | ||||||||
| Principal Skinner posted 2004 Feb 12 09:02 | ||||||||
| I use the Videothen prog about once a week, GregSmith. I've converted about a half dozen titles for my two sons, who think the VideoNow player is great. And it is on long trips. Ahhhhh, blessed silence as I drive. :)
I agree that the titles make up probably the bulk the of the revenue for this device. Thanks for making it possible. Principal Skinner | ||||||||
| bigpun638 posted 2004 Feb 16 19:45 | ||||||||
| Rendered file with video then and it produced a 111mb file.What size should the output file be.Also can you burn the wva file with nero | ||||||||
| bsteph2069 posted 2004 Feb 17 14:42 | ||||||||
| Im not sure how large the resulting wav should be. But I'm gonn step out on a limb and ask if it's a 10 min. long.wav? If so that could be about right. If not then well maybe something is wrong.
Yes you can burn a wav file with NERO just make sure that NERO is setup to burn an AUDIO CD and that it is selected to BURN AT ONCE. NOTE: There is a consistency of NERO to DOUBLE the SIZE of video then WAVE files prior to burning. What is currently being done is to burn a RW disk with NERO. THEN extract the wavs from the resulting RW cd and then burn a final version. Remember to pad the rest of the RW with wav files to cause the cd length to be greater than 30min ( 32 min is fine ) Good luck let us know how it turned out. Bsteph | ||||||||
| dausone posted 2004 Feb 20 18:49 | ||||||||
| Alright... I have been following this thread from the beginning and want to thanks all those who contributed. I finally purchased my own video now player and succesfully made my first vncd using vnconvert... no gaps, full 20 minutes of video... something like 23 chapters (yikes)
1st question: is there any way I can I place my chapters anywhere I want and limit the number of them? 2nd question: there is a very small pause between chapters.. is this normal? sorry for the lame ass questions.. hopefully some of the vncd masters can help me out here. Thanks. | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Feb 20 22:09 | ||||||||
Hi dausone...I'm not sure where your problems stem from, but I'll try to add my 2 cents worth. (I still haven't been able to get VNConvert to work correctly for me, but have read the documentation many times...)
Using VirtualDub, just make your clips whatever size that you want...this will dictate your "chapter points". (each "clip" will be a chapter point, if I've read correctly...)
With any of the burning methods, make sure that you have no "PREGAP" between the clips... Here, I have a shot of burnatonce, which is what I have used to burn the initial disc: 
notice, there is no "Pause" in the tracks, and the "2sec pause" is unchecked... Hope this is helpful... PS...there are no "lame ass questions" except those that aren't asked Just a thought... mastersmurfie | ||||||||
| dausone posted 2004 Feb 21 01:09 | ||||||||
| Thanks for the feedback mastersmurfie... in VirtualDub I made one long video track (20 mins worth) but when I convert with vnconvert it makes the tracks for me. Maybe its a setting I am overlooking with vnconvert? And I burned the vncd using CDRWIN... I will double check my settings and try using Nero and see if anything changes... oh yeah and by the way, the pauses are like half a second and I thought I noticed those pauses on the sponge bob sampler disc as well? Thanks again for your help on this.
And now the final question... #3 On the Sponge Bob sampler disc... there is a main menu that seems to pause until you press the next button... anyone figure out how to include this pause on their own vncd's? | ||||||||
| Tazmania8332 posted 2004 Feb 21 06:53 | ||||||||
| Hi.
I have figured out a way to use RealOne Player to burn the vncd. Use Virtual Dub and then Videothen to make the Wav files. (Also, cut a 10 sec. track off of your first track to be first. This way you can use the buttons on the videonow player.)(Make a an extra track that is about 10-20 sec. long.(this tra will be the very last track.)) Then go to Realone Player to burn an audio cd. Select the tracks you made and add them in the order you want them. (Dont's forget the 10 sec. beginning track and the extra track.) Now burn the disc. Now use Clonecd to burn to an empty folder with only 1 file in it (CCD2VNCD). Doubleclick on the .ccd file when Clonecd is finish copying the disc. (A black dos window should appear) When the dos windows disappears, write the .ccd file u just made to a disc with clonecd. NOW THE HARD PART... pop it in your videonow and enjoy some movies:) | ||||||||
| cubbleyum posted 2004 Feb 22 00:43 | ||||||||
| There is a new videonow maker to add to the mix. However the thing is it costs money $19.95
www.mystuffnow.com Its really not a bad program. I have purchased it myself to try it out. I really like it and its easy. | ||||||||
| katchar posted 2004 Feb 22 19:00 | ||||||||
| what kind of media does everybody use and where can i get the best deal from on mini cdr | ||||||||
| cubbleyum posted 2004 Feb 22 19:34 | ||||||||
| I use Maxell 210mb 24minute mini cdrs.
They can be overburned to 26minutes and 30secs or 233mb data Memorex Colored mini cdrs don't work well in the videonow player from my experience. | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Feb 22 21:33 | ||||||||
| I use TDK 24 min 210MB discs from Best Buy. 25-pack always $9.99.
(till they run out...seems like I'm the only one buying them from my local store...) | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Feb 22 21:45 | ||||||||
Whatever this videonow maker is:
I can't get it to work. If I do get it to d/l, I'll try it out. (don't know if I wanna pay for it though...I can do the same thing myself for free...) mastersmurfie | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Feb 22 22:09 | ||||||||
| ok...sorry...just got it to d/l...gonna go play with it for a bit...
mastersmurfie | ||||||||
| dausone posted 2004 Feb 23 09:33 | ||||||||
| Im geting my media from Fry's Electronics.. General Quality brand - 25 pack for 10.00. The best buy deal sounds great too. I have downloaded MyStuffNow... and didnt seem to get the Windows Media encoder to work. For those that arent familiar with how this new prog works it creates a vncd using wma files... bleh... but I havent been successful. | ||||||||
| cubbleyum posted 2004 Feb 23 14:41 | ||||||||
| Does anyone know if the free vnc convertor tools are going to be updated. I would really like to see a faster version of vnc convert. This vnc convert produces the best results and quality for me. | ||||||||
| katchar posted 2004 Feb 23 14:44 | ||||||||
| cubbleyum what settings do you use in windows media encoder . where it wants to know what settings to render. i have used different ones and they all seem to work. also where is the best place to buy mini cdr
thank you for sharing the program i bought the full version and so far it works great :lol: | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Feb 23 23:18 | ||||||||
| I had thought about this before...converting MP3s to cds...however, seems you can only get about 5 or 6 songs max on one vncd due to time constraints (my cdrs are only 24 minutes max-average song is approx 4 minutes long...and I cant overburn)
...seems same thing with MyStuffNow,...maybe I'm doing something wrong??? best deal I've found on mini cdrs is BestBuy-25 pack TDK 24min 210MB for $9.99... | ||||||||
| prybar posted 2004 Feb 24 08:45 | ||||||||
| Mystuffnow uses WM codec, because everyone has the encoder/decoder installed on their windows machines, therefore eliminating the need for a virtual-dub type program (or so i reason). I'm gonna stick with vnconvert and all the rest of the great apps you guys developed.
Thanks pry | ||||||||
| dausone posted 2004 Feb 24 09:21 | ||||||||
| Im with you PRYBAR... vnconvert has been the easiest to use and has given me the best results... why buy the milk when you already have the cow right? | ||||||||
| tomoki posted 2004 Feb 26 20:41 | ||||||||
| How is MyStuffNow? If it works great and is as fast or better than the existing free tools, it just may be worthwhile to pay the $20 and get a full version. If not, I'll stick to what I've been using: vnc
Finding 3" CD-Rs have been a problem for me locally. Within 20 miles, only 2 stores has 3" CD-Rs but they are the multicolored discs and I've found VideoNow just doesn't like them. I'd have to drive over 50 m,iles to a Best Buy, Circuit City, or CompUSA just to get the 3" that works. Even then, they don't usually have more than 3 25-pack at a time and it's hard to do the entire Transformers series on in. I've already burned 130 for the entire Thundercats series. Someone did bring up a point earlier about cheap portable DVD player. I'vew seen them at Walmart for under $150 (4" screen, no batteries, no VCD, no MP3, and not flashable for multi-region) | ||||||||
| dausone posted 2004 Feb 27 10:23 | ||||||||
| hey tomoki,
havent got mystuff to work for me yet and am too lazy to make it work... Bestbuy.com... free shipping And on another portable note: anyone got this thing yet?? project no. 2? http://zvue.com/ | ||||||||
| NightWing posted 2004 Feb 27 12:02 | ||||||||
| PMFBI
Is it out yet? Saw that last fall. | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2004 Mar 01 08:34 | ||||||||
This from the zvue FAQ:
and
Currently there are a lot of downloadable videos at $7-$14 here: https://zvue.com/order_zvue.html This device continues to disappoint. There is no MPEG-4 Player that can find. Compared to a $150 DVD player, ZVue is not so impressive. | ||||||||
| NightWing posted 2004 Mar 01 09:38 | ||||||||
| 7 to 14 dollars? But they dont list the play time. Is it 5, 10 or 20 minutes. Wonder if they are using a SD rom if there are such things.
Been crunching some video for my Pocket PC. Using the std rates of 20fps, 220 bitrate or around that and full screen 320x240 { sideways playback } in wma format. It takes about 25 mb on a SD card for about 20 minutes. If about the same compression then it would be about 30 minutes for 32mb SD card. But why use FAT 16 over FAT 32? Very strange. Also do they provide the software to do their format? Now back to Hasbro VideoNow.... | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Mar 01 18:29 | ||||||||
I remember hearing about these a while back...wonder how it works... from ZVUE site:
wonder what that part in bold means... | ||||||||
| dausone posted 2004 Mar 02 02:32 | ||||||||
| A Video Now question for all:
what is the max that people have got out of their 24 minute mini cd's on overburn?? | ||||||||
| bsteph2069 posted 2004 Mar 02 15:47 | ||||||||
| The maximum amount of stuff on my video now disk... That's hard to tell because I tend to have a bunh of small movies. I'll have to get back to you on that one.
ZVUE: I once thought about getting this thing. As I recal they use a flashable rom or some sort. The problem is that they also use a HHD compression algorhythm. Which means more propriatary stuff. I think for the money it is better to simple use video now. Or a cheap dvd player. Bsteph | ||||||||
| cubbleyum posted 2004 Mar 02 18:48 | ||||||||
| I did a test with nero and most 24min cdrs can be overburned to 26 and a half minutes | ||||||||
| NightWing posted 2004 Mar 02 21:26 | ||||||||
| With most 1/2 hour shows being about 22 minuts minus the ad's and some a bit longer the extra time is nice.
Oh. The Zvuw is out. But wonder if actualy going to fly since Comgeeks is selling it. They do not list a disk with any tool to roll your own clips. | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2004 Mar 08 07:34 | ||||||||
| hey, videothen has crested 1000 downloads on source forge! | ||||||||
| bsteph2069 posted 2004 Mar 17 13:23 | ||||||||
| Congrats Greg!!!! | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Mar 26 11:34 | ||||||||
| Just thought I'd say hi and add that when the http://zvue.com/ comes out you can count me in for any effort to crack the 128 bit encryption.
I'm fairly certain we will be able to disable it. Purely for backup purpose you understand... Anyway, it was fun participating in this forum and I think the next flavor will be even more exciting. In living color.... To be continued... LoLo | ||||||||
| dausone posted 2004 Apr 20 02:27 | ||||||||
| This seems pretty interesting... sharing of home-made videonow vids possibly??
http://videoshow.tripod.com | ||||||||
| Cactusjack1999 posted 2004 May 08 21:12 | ||||||||
| Hey guys Kool-Aid is giving away VideoNow players for 24 Kool-Aid points and $20 Shippping.
Now who does not love kool-aid? (Given you can buy like 2 dozen of those little envelops for like what $.50 each) http://www.kraftfoods.com/koolaid/2001/VideoNow_Info_page.html Enjoy. | ||||||||
| impmon2 posted 2004 May 18 11:46 | ||||||||
| I don't know where you live but around here it's not uncommon to find a store selling 12 Kool-Aid packet for $1.00 They are usually one point each though but you can quickly build up the needed K-A points in just one stop and still get a change froma five dollar bill. :D
I might give them a try as my second VN player's acting up after an accidental drop. (my first one broke when I opened it once too many) | ||||||||
| BillFoust posted 2004 May 27 23:27 | ||||||||
| Is there a complete begginners guide to doing all this? Granted, I didnt read the full 14 pages of this thread, but Ive read enough to know that I need more help. For instance, I dont know what VideoDub is or how to use it. And I guess I need to rip track1 from an existing disk with VNRip, but I couldnt get anything to happen there. It seems to want a BIN and I backed up the VN disks as ISOs.
Thanks in advance. I wish I'd found this thread 6 months ago! Bill | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 May 28 12:40 | ||||||||
| Hi Bill. Been a while since I've been here in this forum...
try here: www.geocities.com/mastersmurfie for somewhat of a guide. It has links to most of the tools, and a couple of guides to get you started. (I beleive the "VideoDub" being referred to means VirtualDub ) Good luck! mastersmurfie | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2004 Jun 04 14:51 | ||||||||
| http://www.yenra.com/video-now-color/
HEY! Video Now Color is coming out! Greg  | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jun 04 20:33 | ||||||||
| :doh:
It figures!!! After spending all that time...now comes the color!! Oh well...hopefully the fomat of
Thanks for the link Greg! mastersmurfie | ||||||||
| loveofpm posted 2004 Jun 25 23:01 | ||||||||
| The new players are out... Wal-mart has them $72 | ||||||||
| Krawhitham posted 2004 Jun 26 01:04 | ||||||||
| what is my problem,
Same error using either VNConvert or VNMovieMaker from videothen If I remove the filler chapter and burn using Alcohol 120% it will not boot but the swap will work. But I really need to be able to make boot discs since the boy is only 7 btw I'm using Memorex mini-cdrs If I load the cue sheet in nero OR Alcohol 120% it will burn and boot, the video is great but the audio sounds like static 
Ok nevermind. If I use VNConvert and burn the audio is screwed, but if I use VNMovieMaker from videothen and burn the cue sheet with Alcohol 120% it works just fine. | ||||||||
| Krawhitham posted 2004 Jun 27 13:44 | ||||||||
| anybody look at the new video now color discs yet? | ||||||||
| cubbleyum posted 2004 Jun 27 15:46 | ||||||||
| VIDEONOW COLOR player is 4.75 X 5.75 inches and only 1.25 inches thick
The VIDEONOW COLOR Personal Video Player features a 1.85 X 1.45 inch backlit LCD screen capable of 216 X 160 pixels Each 4.25 inch VIDEONOW COLOR Personal Video Disc contains over 25 uninterrupted minutes of content/programming hope this information helps somebody. | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jun 27 17:26 | ||||||||
cubbleyum...is that a typo?? Or have they gone to a bigger disc size? I can't find that info anywhere... Soon as my daughter saw this...guess what? She absolutely has to have one... :shock: mastersmurfie | ||||||||
| cubbleyum posted 2004 Jun 27 18:52 | ||||||||
| actually that is directly from the website..
http://www.hasbro.com/videonowcolor/pl/page.faq/dn/default.cfm http://www.hasbro.com/videonowcolor/ | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jun 27 19:46 | ||||||||
| Thanks cubbleyum...I guess I wasn't searching the right place...
maybe with the new disc size, they're trying to "thwart" what has been accomplished here...but I still have my trusty scissors :D and can cut discs like a champion!! Gotta my hands on one of these new discs, and see what it's made of... mastersmurfie | ||||||||
| cubbleyum posted 2004 Jun 27 22:31 | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie I have a videonow color on order it says I should be getting it between Thursday the 1st to Thursday the 8th... If it comes with a demo disc would you be interested in getting it to further the videonow tools into the world of color.... Let me know thanks | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jun 27 23:01 | ||||||||
| heck yeah!!
VideoNow Color:
VideoNow:
I wanna know why and how they went to a bigger disc size, with less content time... :?: :?: PM me when you get it, if you want to. thanks mastersmurfie | ||||||||
| NightWing posted 2004 Jun 27 23:37 | ||||||||
| Could be due to taking more data bandwidth for color. | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jun 28 00:02 | ||||||||
Very possible...and probably entirely likely...but why not use the smaller disc size, sell more of em, and make more $$$$
LoLo...VideoNow is now in "living color"... :lol: time to get the programming shoes on again... | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jun 28 00:23 | ||||||||
| Wow,
Blast from the past... Well, right now I'm in the middle of mid-terms but as soon as I can get a player and disc I'll be on it. I'd imagine that greg might be working on something already. The resolution sounds like it might be a bit better with the larger screen. And since it is in color we will not have to worry about converting it over to b&w so that might save us time during conversion. LoLo | ||||||||
| cubbleyum posted 2004 Jun 28 19:00 | ||||||||
| I emailed mystuffnow (the videonow conversion software $19.95) here is there response
We have an early production unit of the VideoNow color player and are working through the issues. It's too early to say when MyStuffNow will support the new player or how much the upgrade will cost. It looks like Hasbro has added extra logic to the new player to prevent it from playing Mini CDs so we may be looking at more than just a software upgrade. Would you be willing to purchase blank discs from us if we had them manufactured? These discs would match the physical characteristics of the new color PVDs. | ||||||||
| impmon2 posted 2004 Jul 02 09:22 | ||||||||
| Looks like I'd have to get a hold of the new player, take it apart, and see if they can handle standard 5.25 CDs
Hopefully they didn't change too much from the B&W player. | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2004 Jul 11 00:02 | ||||||||
| hello all,
imho, the new disk size is to accomodate all that additional data. the old displays were just 80x80x4 bits = 3200 bytes. this new one is 216x160x8 bits (guessing its 8bits per pixel) = 34,560 bytes - more than 10x. so there is no way its the same format as the b&w version. if data isnt compressed, that would require 933MBytes for 30 minutes of video (15fps) - and that doesnt count audio. a standard 5.25 inch disk stores about 650MB of data - and the new disks are only 3.5". so they arent just streaming it. i bet it is stored in some proprietary compressed form. very likely just run length encoding. it *could* be mpeg or svcd - the logic chips for them might be pretty reasonable by now. it might even be a real dvd player using a smaller disk size. which makes one wonder *why* buy it? i wont be working on reverse engineering this product. i just bought my daughter a real personal dvd player. they are $120 now and i expect the prices to drop even more - perhaps down to $99 by christmas (edit - they are $100 now: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=2164725& ... %3A62056). i found exactly the one i wanted and it was $156 at walmart. 5" display, full dvd player. lithium ion battery and charger. given the low price for real personal dvds there is no good reason to buy a VideoNow device. even if the price drops to $50 (which it will by christmas) you still have to pay $7.50 - $15.00 per video. and you dont have much of a choice as to which videos you get. with a true personal dvd you have a much larger selection and the prices for videos are about the same. (blockbuster sells previously viewed dvds for $7.50-$15.00) greg | ||||||||
| cubbleyum posted 2004 Jul 15 18:49 | ||||||||
| I got my videonow color today. It does not come with a demo disc... The screen quality is comparable to the Apex PD-450 screen type... Also it will not fit fullsize cds only the original and the B&W discs... However you can now fast forward and rewind color and b&w discs.... Also 3.5 discs don't work even using Mystuffnow software... Also there will be two types of color discs.... Original Color discs and the new Extended Color discs which I think means they use different compression.... Anyway I hope anyone of you create software for this player.... Also the b&w discs are scaled up to the full screen size... and the screen is diffently bigger than the old one.... I await your comments and possible progress on tools... | ||||||||
| cubbleyum posted 2004 Jul 15 19:17 | ||||||||
| I also have a bit more of news to share.... I used a toothpick to hold down the lid button and booted up a Original B&W disc and when it got to the menu I swapped it out with a 3.5 inch disc and it worked just fine but if you hit the previous button it locks up the player... When the player locks the laser is trying to read the edge of a 3.75" original disc... since a 3.5 disc is smaller the laser couldn't read it... So to make a long story short... 3.5" discs work using a swap method... My theory is.. is that the new player reads the outside edge before it boots the disc and if its less than 3.75" it won't boot it.... this is just my take on it.... Also the makers of mystuffnow says that the new videonow color has some kind of anti 3.5" disc thing I mention this in an earlier post..... | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jul 16 11:55 | ||||||||
| Well if the old B&W disc work at all in the new player that means that they are using a similar data packaging method. In other words it would not be too difficult to reverse engineer this.
Not sure if I'll have any spare time in the near future but I'll see what I can do. LoLo | ||||||||
| cubbleyum posted 2004 Jul 16 14:42 | ||||||||
| Cool thanks LOLO..... I would like to betatest anything you come up with thanks
Robert | ||||||||
| Supreme2k posted 2004 Jul 16 15:24 | ||||||||
| GregSmith, thanks for the heads-up. I picked up one of those, and it works great! My daughter wanted a VideoNow, and I said (in different words) "F***K that!" :oops:
Plus, there'd be MAJOR "double-dipping", since she has most of the NickToons on DVD. Plus, I can compile about 3 hours onto 1 DVD. | ||||||||
| LoLo posted 2004 Jul 16 17:24 | ||||||||
| Looking at Greg's math and considering his post I retract my previous post. This would be a fairly time consuming project and I agree with Greg et al.. Regarding purchasing a low cost (real) DVD player. It just makes more sense.
I doubt I'll have the time to devote to reverse engineer the format but if my wife ends up purchasing one of these things I might try, just for the heck of it. So that is a possible maybe but I doubt it...sri. Maybe we should all just get our kids a real DVD player, sit back drink a cold one and call it a day :) LoLo | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Jul 17 00:12 | ||||||||
| funny story...I explained to my daughter how there might not be a way to make discs for the new VideoNow color, and she piped back (11 years old...) with "Dad, you could get one of those DVD things that you can take in the car for about $100!!!"
so...I think I'll go with GregSmith and LoLo, and get (myself) her a portable DVD player :lol: Again, thanks to all who helped to make the conversion of the original VideoNow discs possible. I will still be open to hosting any SMALL conversion tools that anyone might want to come up with at my geocities page (in the TOOLS section, next to LoLo's). Believe it or not, that thing still gets an average of about 15 hits per day... mastersmurfie | ||||||||
| impmon2 posted 2004 Jul 28 15:04 | ||||||||
| I agree with you, I think Hasbro may have shot themselves in their foot this time. A cheap portable DVD player with 4" display is just about $20 more and portable DVD player can play just about anything so that's easily 10,000's of commercial DVDs and many more.
I don't think I'll bother buying Color VideoNow unless they can at least sell them below $50 mark and comes with an easy DIY CVNCD plan. | ||||||||
| impmon2 posted 2004 Jul 29 15:49 | ||||||||
| I went ahead and picked up a single color PVD for $10. (no player) The disc is "Dinosaur Planet" series disc 1: "Pod's Travels" I wanted Monster Garage but the local store only had Pod's Travel left :P :P. (also they have only orange player left, all the blue player are sold)
When I checked it in my PC drive (after several retries, CPVD disc just don't sit right in a tray loading drive :P) I saw 15 tracks. I then used CD to WAV/MP3 Ripper to extract them all. The first track in WAV format takes up nearly 2MB and according to WMP, it's just under 12 seconds. Track 2 is 23MB, Track 3 through 9 is nearly 90MB each (probably the main video portion), and the remainder of the tracks are small, probably some ads and promo materials. Anyone still here that is very familiar with B&W video format want to try and crack the color version? I'm guessing Hasbro used the same idea as in the B&W version: one audio channel is for actual audio and other audio channel is for video data. It's a matter of figuring how it's encoded and figuring if there's any difference in the audio portion. OTOH with cheap DVD players, it may be better idea to steer people toward portable DVD players rather than Color PVD player. | ||||||||
| cubbleyum posted 2004 Jul 29 23:19 | ||||||||
| I have extracted all tracks from a color disc I bought as well.."All Grown Up" It has 20 tracks.... First being 2megs, Second 5.04megs, Third Being 24.5 megs, Fourth 58.2 megs, and it goes on each being a different size.... CDRWIN is what I used to extract the tracks and much like the B&W videonow they are audio tracks.... | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Aug 19 19:04 | ||||||||
In case anyone is interested, I received this in an email a couple of days ago:
seems to be a 4-pack for $9.99--not a very good deal for me... mastersmurfie | ||||||||
| impmon2 posted 2004 Aug 20 01:23 | ||||||||
| I also got the same thing and I think whoever sent those PM are also the person selling thos CD-Rs. I agree with you and add to that no one has come up with a free hack for making Color PVD yet.
Compare to as low as a dollar per DVD blank that with some work could hold upward of 8 hours and works on almost any DVD players. And as someone pointed out, portable DVD player with *bigger* screen is just a few bucks more than Color player. :P Advantages of getting DVD player over Color PVD player: you have access to 10,000's of existing DVD. lots of documentation on making your own DVD. Cheaper to make your own DVD than your own color PVD. Color PVD is about 30-40 minutes while DVD could be up to 8 hours. DVD players will be around for a lot longer. | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Sep 13 23:06 | ||||||||
ok...received this email:
from my website...haven't answered yet...wanted everyones OK or not OK to allow use of all tools and resources that I have posted at www.geocities.com/mastersmurfie If you all are still reading this, just let me know yes or no. thanks mastersmurfie | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2004 Sep 14 12:05 | ||||||||
| I am thrilled that someone wants to do a definitive guide on VideoNow. I would appreciate it if the author contacted me directly about VideoThen.
greg@alcorgrp.com thanks greg | ||||||||
| ctkdx69 posted 2004 Sep 14 15:52 | ||||||||
| do you need a different drive for mini cd-rs? and i wanna learn how to do this... (IN EASY FORM) | ||||||||
| NightWing posted 2004 Oct 28 13:02 | ||||||||
| Look like the color version is heading for the possible as-is-where-is bin. KMart this Sunday will have it on sale for 43 dollars. Max of 2 per customer.
Wonder if Matel's JuceBox had anything to do with this? | ||||||||
| impmon2 posted 2004 Oct 28 18:37 | ||||||||
| More likely those cheap $100 DVD player that plays anything including most burned discs nd comes with screen big enough that you don't need a magnifying glass to see. :) | ||||||||
| NightWing posted 2004 Oct 28 21:54 | ||||||||
| Yep. :) | ||||||||
| nils_heidorn posted 2004 Oct 31 04:03 | ||||||||
| Hi !
I don't know if this is something new, but i have modified the Videonow Color Player, so it can "eat" normal CD-R's. My copy of a "real" Videonow Disc plays fine from a 25 cent CD-R now :) From reading this, i understand that right now there is no way to encode anything to play on the Videonow color ( in color of course ), is that right ? Thanks, Nils | ||||||||
| impmon2 posted 2004 Oct 31 06:56 | ||||||||
| AFAIK no one has tried. It was fine when you had a $40 player that could play but when you have an $80 player that won't work with standard mini CD-R and has screen that is smaller than a Gameboy, those $100 DVD players looks more attractive. | ||||||||
| HDR posted 2004 Nov 26 22:00 | ||||||||
| sorry if this has already been posted... is there any way to take an ISO of a videonow disc and play it on the computer? | ||||||||
| Roborob142003 posted 2004 Dec 11 21:16 | ||||||||
| Now that the Videonow Color is under 50 Dollars, I was am hoping that a good programer(like LoLo and GregSmith) will help crack the Color code, i have done some testing and have the 2 MB boot logo. I have limited experience with programing,but I have succsesfully made tons of selfbooting B&W cd's and have modified my unit to use cd-rw's and have the following info...
1. The color unit looks at the 84-88 mm range for a cd to make sure that mini cd's are not used.(so my cd-rw is cut to 4.5 inches as its the size used for both color cd's and will pass the check in the player) 2. Once it reads the color boot track, its in color mode, switch cd's with a b&w one and you see cool bars of colors) 3. The audio is recorded in in both channels. I will give more information as i learn how to figure these things out, and there is no news from MyStuffNow.com about the colr version. Thanks to all that may help, Robert Norwood | ||||||||
| Roborob142003 posted 2004 Dec 12 20:21 | ||||||||
| Ok, I did more experementing and found that the data is read at 2X in color instead or 1x for the B&W, also, if you slow down the cd the voices begin to slow down, not stop, and the frames refresh slower, its kinda like soing into slowmotion. I used Goldwave to play the boot track at 2x and it playes at the right pitch. | ||||||||
| NightWing posted 2004 Dec 12 20:53 | ||||||||
| Suprised with the cost of SD ram that people are not playing with the JuceBox. | ||||||||
| Roborob142003 posted 2004 Dec 13 14:26 | ||||||||
| Ok,I modified the player to fit a whole cd-rw(80min.) and burned 67 minutes of B&W video on it. It playes all of it, so the player doesn't limit the length of a B&W video at 30 minutes, however that means that color is limited to 40 minutes max on a modified player. | ||||||||
| razor1000 posted 2004 Dec 20 19:08 | ||||||||
| I just attempted to make some movies for my b&w videonow, but I was unsuccessful.
I attempted using VideoThen v1b, but it didn't work for me. I got up to the point where I chose the "File->Start Render" menu item, and it instantly gives a pop-up saying it is finished. It creates "audio.dat" and "video.dat" files (I believe the audio file is 22k, the video is empty). That's it. I tried it on two different machines, one with XP, the other with 2k server, same result. I installed the newest JRE; the *only* one that was available on the www.java.com site. The full name is "Java 2 Runtime Environment, SE v1.4.2_04" I tried VNConvert also, but it said that no .bmp files were in the /Files folder, when there were. I would guess that both of these apps don't work correctly with the new runtime. Are either of these programs still being supported? Also, I tried to find "mystuffnow", but all of the download links for the shareware version lead back to the manufacturer's site, and they've pulled it. Supposedly because they are getting ready to release the color version... but I don't see why. Does anyone have a copy of the shareware "mystuffnow" that I could have? Perhaps I can get a code from the company anyway. Thanks! | ||||||||
| mastersmurfie posted 2004 Dec 20 21:27 | ||||||||
offering my two cents worth...it's been a while since I thought about this... what version of VirtualDub did you use to render your AVI? this seemed to make the biggest difference, if I remember correctly... mastersmurfie | ||||||||
| Roborob142003 posted 2004 Dec 21 13:29 | ||||||||
| yes, i use version 1.5.3 virtualdub and don't forget to save in old avi format, use the included proccesing file to load prossesing settings, and i use eo video to convert to 15 fps to keep my audio and video in sync. Hope this helps:) (still no news from mystuffnow) | ||||||||
| razor1000 posted 2004 Dec 21 19:59 | ||||||||
| Ok, I'll give those a try... (I used whatever version of Virtualdub is newest.) | ||||||||
| razor1000 posted 2005 Jan 11 16:33 | ||||||||
| Ok, so I used Vdub 1.5.3 and it worked. I should say that it produced an .avi file that was acceptable to Videothen. But now I'm stuck. I don't know the exact way to burn the thing.
This is what I attempted (although I'm sure I'm wrong here, somewhere): 1. removed WAV header from file with HEXeditor, renamed file to 'video.bin' 2. burned resulting 'video.bin' as an audio cd using Nero (i couldn't get burnatonce to work) 3. resulting cd wouldn't work on my videonow with the swap trick (i've never been able to do it correctly) 4. read cd in as a data image via clonecd 5. used guajiro's website to create a new .ccd file for image 6. burned image using new .ccd in clonecd as data image Now i'm waiting for it to finish burning, but I don't have much faith that it will work. Where have I gone wrong in my methodology? | ||||||||
| impmon2 posted 2005 Jan 21 01:24 | ||||||||
| It has been a while since I've posted here. It does seems the do it yourself color VNCD has not developed at all due to the face a portabe DVD player costs just a little more than a color VideoNow player. However color player seems to be selling better than I expected so... :P
I did come across something new: mini-DVD. I've seen the nonworking unit at Best Buy earlier and it's a bit bigger than Gameboy SP and plays 3" DVD. Several titles (mostly cartoons but few feature movies as well) are already available in 3" DVD and supposedly works well in standard DVD player so it's safe to assume burned 3" DVD-/+R/RW will work in the portable player but that remains to be seen. The two drawbacks I could see with this unit was the size of the display. It's about the same size as Color VideoNow player's display. :P Another is the price tag, it retails for $120 (not available for sale yet so dunno what street price will be), a bit more than a standard DVD player with 5" display. :P :P :P (I smell major price cut and clearance bin before end of this year) Each mini-DVD retailed at $15 each though Best Buy had them all at $10. More at http://www.cyberhome.com/mdp-2500.asp?Page=Overview and http://www.warnervideo.com/minidvd/files/home.html (note, I have no connection with either web site or mentioning Best Buy and I will get nothing from posting these links) To get this thread back on track, the only thing I could think of Razor1000's problem is that you may not be saving as "old format" AVI And yes the version of VDub did matter, older version didn't have the right options and version from 1.5.8 (or 9? can't recall :lol: ) had changed the structure of AVI file to be "correct" and broke VideoThen. Other software support like Java could have changed since VideoThen was last updated. | ||||||||
| doppletwo posted 2005 Jan 21 01:57 | ||||||||
| This sounds like a fun project for tinkerers, but like has been said probably a million times on this thread.
There is a 5 inch portable DVD player at Walmart for $100. only twice as much as the VideoNow and no need to mod the unit or convert video files. I am not sure how much of your time is worth $50 dollars. But I am not not knocking you guys by any means what ever floats your boat. Sometimes I like to do things that aren't necessary just to do them. I don't mean to discourage anyone sounds like you all are having fun. This reminds me of the PortableMonopoly.com guy who created the Afterburner to backlight Gameboy Advance. Well technically it was a frontlight, but looked as good or better than back lighting. The messed up thing is Nintendo stole his design for lighting a Gameboy Advance screen and put it in the Ganeboy Advance SP. This stole his thunder and his business. It sound like you guys are just doing this for your kids or just to do it and not to make money or anything. It would be funny if Hasbro stole your idea and decided to include software to allow you to do this. But I doubt that this would happen since their business model for the product relies on selling overpriced short length discs. | ||||||||
| maxedroom posted 2005 Feb 16 14:13 | ||||||||
If anybody still cares about the videonow color file format I was able to get some information out of it. I found the audio track. It starts at byte 45. Then you take every 10th. byte from there and it forms the data stream. Then I tacked on the header for a 8 bit, stereo, 32.0 kHz WAVE file to the front of it and changed the size to the correct value and was able to hear the audio part of the video. I'm thinking the other 9 bytes are 3 sets of 3 RGB pixel values because I was able to get an image using that data, although it's not exactly what you see on the player so I'm sure it needs a little more work. The image I was able to get is posted below:
 | ||||||||
| EwanG posted 2005 Feb 17 13:16 | ||||||||
| My middle daughter is multiply handicapped, and has the VideoNow Color Junior - which has big buttons she can easily push, is in a non-folding format she can easily hold (as opposed to most of the cheap DVD portables that fold out), and is rugged enough that it's been dropped on numerous occasions onto both the tile kitchen floor and the concrete driveway without affecting the player (though the disk did skip...)
For this reason, "I" would still be VERY interested in finding a way to put material into VideoNow Color format - at least until the tablet form DVD players get to be much cheaper and sturdier (or even cheaper than that so I can afford to drop one). Any help would be greatly appreciated! | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2005 Feb 17 14:17 | ||||||||
| EwanG,
You're the first person I've heard of that had a good reason for reverse-engineering the VideoNow Color format. If you have read earlier posts, you may know that I reverse-engineered the VideoNow B&W unit and was able to burn disks for it. I and other people have had copyright issues with Hasbro. So, it is not commercially viable to create burning software. However, in your case, I will consider helping out. If someone can post the .wav files on the internet where I can find them, I will take some time to review the data. | ||||||||
| EwanG posted 2005 Feb 17 14:35 | ||||||||
Would it help to send you one of the disks, or do you need the data extracted somehow? Do you have one of the units, or would you need one? Am not the most technical person (just read my blog entry today on how I discovered the power cord on my TV), but am willing to do what I can to help out :-) Thanks from me and from Savvy (Savannah)! | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2005 Feb 17 18:07 | ||||||||
| I may pick up a disk this weekend. I don't have one of the devices. But I can decypher the file format - if you can extract the set of .WAV files from the disk that would help. | ||||||||
| EwanG posted 2005 Feb 17 21:06 | ||||||||
| OK, pulled the 14 WAV files off the "Elmo Reads a Book" "disk". I'm guessing I can't email these, so what's an appropriate way to get them to you?
FWIW, I was surprised that I was able to put the disc into my DVD/CD-RW drive and have it rip the .WAV files without any monkeying around. Thought the size was going to be a problem, but I guess not. | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2005 Feb 18 14:18 | ||||||||
| see your Personal Mail on this site | ||||||||
| maxedroom posted 2005 Feb 18 16:54 | ||||||||
| Greg, I hope this give you a little head start.
Okay, here's what I've found so far. The audio track goes all through the file starting at byte 45 and then every 10th. byte after that.
Once you strip out the audio and delve into the file a bit, you get the video information which starts out with some kind of header, which I haven't figured out yet, which is 144 bytes long. After that you get the frame information.
If you look at the black and white image in my previous post this actually would be what the image would look like if you removed to color filter in front of the black and white LCD part of the display. The way I understand color LCD displays, and please correct me if I'm wrong, it's just a black and white lcd with a color filter over it. Anyway, I figured out how the color filter was configured and filtered the data to get the image below. I did a little brightening and blurring to make the image a little more visible. The thing I can't figure out is that the data only seems to define an image that's 108 x 160. Anyway, I'm going to see if I can rip a video and then maybe by then somebody else will have figured out how to invert the process to make a VideoNow format file. 
I almost forgot, the configuration of the color filter is as follows: ROW 0 : G R B ... ROW 1 : B G R ... ... Even rows are Green, Red, Blue and odd rows are Blue, Green, Red, if you start counting from 0, like a programmer would. If you're a normal person and you start from 1, then, well you can figure it out. Good Luck! | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2005 Feb 18 20:16 | ||||||||
| max,
you are very far along. i think i know something that may help you. lcd displays are actually collections of dots - red, green, and blue dots. They are arranged in a pattern like this ...
do you see how the pixels make up little triangles of RGB? That is why you are getting those strange patterns in your image. you will have to arithmetically combine the pixels so that three pixels are combined into one on the screen. let me see if i can draw this ...
The pixels on your screen are numbered 00, 01, 02, etc... So, to create pixel 00 you would combine the RGB elements that are indicated by the lines. I hope this makes some sense. greg | ||||||||
| EwanG posted 2005 Feb 19 17:43 | ||||||||
You have mail... BTW, I do have about 50 GMail invites (not a typo), so if you or anyone else helping out would like a GMail account just let me know. Thanks! | ||||||||
| maxedroom posted 2005 Feb 21 09:02 | ||||||||
| Just a quick little note to anyone who is trying to follow my ramblings and use them for their own research. I guess I should have looked at more than one of the tracks from the disk. The offset of the audio track is variable. However, the distance between bytes of the audio track is still 10 bytes. Sorry if this has messed anyone up. | ||||||||
| maxedroom posted 2005 Feb 21 13:28 | ||||||||
Greg, I used your RGB matrix suggestion and got the follwing image:
I still only get 108 x 160 instead of the advertised 216 x 160. I wonder if they are counting the staggered pixesl?
for example counting the above as 4 x 2 rather than the actual 2 x 2. Maybe they are interlacing? I don't know. Anyway, the work goes on. | ||||||||
| Cornucopia posted 2005 Feb 21 14:03 | ||||||||
| What about simply non-square (aka FAT) pixels?
Scott | ||||||||
| EwanG posted 2005 Feb 21 19:44 | ||||||||
| OK, so assuming that the format can be "figured out", what does one use for media? I checked the link a couple pages back to Amazon, and noticed the single review there said that they had ordered six months ago and never received the disks. I gather that the size currently being used is larger than a 3" CD-R, but not as large as a standard CD-RW.
Someone mentioned "cutting" their discs, but I can't imagine making a circular cut that would be even (of course I may just be missing the right tool). Suggestions? | ||||||||
| canadateck posted 2005 Feb 21 19:47 | ||||||||
| Maybe use those Biz card CRr's? If you do cut a Disc it can be any shape. | ||||||||
| maxedroom posted 2005 Feb 22 11:07 | ||||||||
| I just take a pair of tin snips to a regular CD-R. Oh, it's not pretty in any way, but it gets the job done. It just has to be small enough to fit in the player and even enough not to wobble as it spins. I don't try to do a circular cut because it tends to bend and rip the reflective backing. I just make a bunch of tangential straight cuts on the edge. I'll usually take a real videonow disk, put it on top of the CD-R, use a dry erase pen to mark the circle on the CD-R. Then I'll use a very sharp exacto knife to carefully cut through the reflective backing along the circle I just drew. This stops any ripping that might occur when I'm cutting from going any further than the circle. Then just snip, snip, snip. Like I said, it's not pretty but it works. By the way, if you don't know what tin snips are they are the tool that is used by heating and cooling installers to cut through vent pips and other things made of thin sheet metal. Kind of a big, bulky pair of scissors. Cuts through CD-R's like butter. :) | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2005 Feb 22 12:14 | ||||||||
| max,
that picture looks very good. as Cornucopia indicated, you will want to use a non-square pixel. I'm thinking 1.5:1 (3 pixels/2). You didn't mention if the colors are as expected? As for what media to use, it's unclear. we need to experiment with creating a copy of existing files. that was my first experiment when learning how to burn VNCDs in black and white. I used the standard 3" mini-cdr. So, I tried to recreate an existing disk. Somebody should try that (I'd do it, but i dont have a VNC/jr.). It should be possible to build a VNCD/color on a standard 3" disk without the toothpick hack - people have done it for VNCD/bw. greg | ||||||||
| maxedroom posted 2005 Feb 23 09:02 | ||||||||
| I looked at the VNCjr last night and the pixels do look fat. I have already made a working copy of the sample disk, for educational purposes only, which I immediatly destroyed and threw in the trash, so as not to break any copyright laws. :wink: However I did make it on a cut to size disk, not a standard mini. I'm pretty sure that the VNC reads the outer track to verify size. I'm lead to this conclusion because I wasn't able to play B&W videos that I made for my old VN on standard mini's. As for the image above, the colors are as expected. The creatures look like the characters from the Nick Jr. show, "The Backyardigans". I'm going to try to make a video this weekend on a cut-to-size disk. Now that I have a good grasp on the audio and video formats I looked at the rest of the file and compared it to other tracks and I noticed that the information that wasn't audio or video was pretty much the same. Wish me luck. | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2005 Feb 23 11:49 | ||||||||
| max,
good luck! everyone may be interested in a new device by hasbro/tiger called "ChatNow" - it's a walkie-talkie in the guise of a cell phone. it has a 2-mile range and does text messaging. they come in pairs for $75. each unit has its own "phone number" for unique dialing. hmm... what if you connected one to your pc - could you do wireless vonage? hmmm... | ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2005 Feb 24 12:25 | ||||||||
| max,
i used your info from earlier (about the interleaved bits) but was unable to fully extract images. I have a player written in java. it takes as input a .wav file and displays the video on-screen. But the colors are all wrong. Can you send some more detail as to how you combined the different rows of pixels? thanks greg | ||||||||
| maxedroom posted 2005 Feb 25 12:04 | ||||||||
The following code snippet is written in C. It uses a file, referred to as pInFile, for input and pOutFile2 for output. It assumes that the input file is only the video frame information. I've already used a different program to strip out the header and audio information. It also assumes that you have data that represents 108 columnds by 2 or mor rows. It buffers the first and second row in a 219 byte array, the extra 3 bytes are so I can use the same offsets without having conditional logic. Then it copies the previous row down and fills the second half of the array with the current row for the next output row. Just read the code carefully and it should be obvious what I'm doing. If not, please feel free to ask questions. It's not my best code or the most copiously commented, but it does the job. It writes strictly RGB pixels, no attempt to put it in any readable format like PNG or even PPM, which would probably be really easy. The last row is a special case and probably isn't all that accurate. Good Luck!
| ||||||||
| GregSmith posted 2005 Feb 25 13:25 | ||||||||
| max,
thanks, your code looks good. i'll review it over the weekend. i'm working in java (but i used to be an avid c programmer), your code should translate pretty well. Thanks greg | ||||||||
| gman1339 posted 2005 Feb 28 09:52 | ||||||||
| I can't believe this thread is still alive. I just wanted to post that it looks like lordsmurf may have gotten what he asked for so long ago. The B&W VideoNow is on sale this week at my local BigLots for $15.88. They also have the carying case for $2, the VideoNow light for $2, VideoNow headphones for $2, and a few titles for $1 or $2 (depending on how many discs are in the box. They only had the silver and purple models at my BigLots. :D
Gman | ||||||||
| thyrson posted 2005 Mar 02 18:33 | ||||||||
| I have been working on the video format as well and have determined that it is a 4096 color format, 4 bits each for RGB, and is ordered as such
RBBGGRRBBGGRRBBGGRR BGGRRBBGGRRBBGGRRBB RBBGGRRBBGGRRBBGGRR I still need to play with which elements are used for each pixel but have been able to retrive images For this Image I use two elements then the element from the row below that coresponds ie RB..BG..GR ..G....R....B BG..GR..RB R.....B....G  | ||||||||
| VideonowDude posted 2005 Mar 03 00:34 | ||||||||
| I have a VirtualDub filter that converts to VideoNow Color tracks and breaks it into tracks at specified frames. Includes docs for how to modify the player for 5" discs and how to burn the resulting files to disc. I've made about six discs so far, very happy with it.
I'd like a couple of beta testers before posting it here, please send me a private msg if interested. | ||||||||
| VideonowDude posted 2005 Mar 03 00:49 | ||||||||
| Here is the VideoNow Color file format:
Each audio track is taken as a byte sequence. The first track is special: I dont know why, but you have to copy it from a pre-recorded disc for the player to start up. After that, a track starts with N bytes of header, usually but not always zeros. N varies, I use 2500 in my encoder. N must be a multiple of 10. Then frames follow, each frame is 19600 bytes total, consisting of: 240 bytes of 0x81, 0xe3, 0xe3, 0xc7, 0xc7, 0x81, 0x81, 0xe3, 0xc7, 0xNN 120 bytes of 0x00, 0x00, 0x02, 0x01, 0x04, 0x02, 0x06, 0x03, 0xff, 0xNN etc (see a real disc for this pattern) 40 bytes of 9 0xFFs, one 0xNN (NN=audio byte, see later), some kind of sync 19200 Video of frame Audio is every 10th byte, starting after the N bytes of header. It is stereo, 17640Hz, Stereo, 8-bit unsigned. Video is 18 frames per second. There are 160 scanlines of 120 bytes per frame, with a nibble per 'pixel'. 'Pixels' are strange though, being RGBRGB for even scans, GBRGBR for odd ones (see good diagrams in earlier posts). If you take these as triangles, you get an effective resolution of 144 by 80. The disc is run at exactly double speed. CD-Rs work great, CD-RWs fail badly. I haven't got a minidisc to work. The last track is never played, so is 4 seconds of black on the discs I looked at. | ||||||||
| maxedroom posted 2005 Mar 03 11:56 | ||||||||
| VideoNowDude,
Have you tried to use your algorithm above on files from the sample disk that comes with the VNC? I tried applying the above RGB nibble matrix to a file from that disk ant the colors wern't quite what I would expect. Also, how many bytes are in each row of frame (image) data? | ||||||||
| VideonowDude posted 2005 Mar 03 12:08 | ||||||||
| Yes, I have a player application that I used to verify the format. I based this on the demo disc and a Wiggles disc. The Wiggles disc was particularly useful to nailing the RGB details as the final frame of Track 2 contains a great selection of primary colours. I used that, along with a magnifying glass, to get to the Eureka moment.
Each scanline is 120 bytes but remember as the audio is mixed in that is only 108 video bytes, which translates to 216 nibbles. There are 160 scanlines per frame. I'll try and draw the 'triangles':
The nibbles are 'backwards': on the first byte of an even scanline, the low nibble is red, the high nibble is blue. | ||||||||
| VideonowDude posted 2005 Mar 03 16:36 | ||||||||
| I started a new thread for Color discussions, at http://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1242142, suggest we move this conversation there. | ||||||||
| Smee posted 2005 May 08 23:07 | ||||||||
| Does anyone have a copy of MyStuffNow.exe?? Since they have gone out of business it seems it is impossible to find this program. All links point to their dead site and I can't find any archive anywhere on ftp nor www. Much appreciated.
Smee | ||||||||
| Smee posted 2005 May 12 06:48 | ||||||||
| First of all, I would like to thank Greg, Lolo and everyone else who contibuted to the B/W VideoNow thread. I have sucessfully made my first CDR using the instructions found here. :-)
So, just to let you folks know, you may want to check your local BigLot stores. I just bought two VideoNow B/W units for $15.88 each. Not bad. Converting the video was easy, but just to recap. I transferred a 22 Minute Max & Ruby episode from my TiVo to a PC, converted the the file to an Mpeg, then used a program I have for my Palm to convert it to an AVI. This took about 10 minutes. Once done, I ran VirtualDub and converted the AVI to a B/W AVI file using the instructions found in the VideoThen archive. Once done, I converted the AVI to a WAV using VideoThen. That whole process took about 30 minutes. The last step, which took about an hour, was to convert the WAV file to BIN/CUE files using VN Movie maker. The result, a VideoNow CD that boots every time. Thanks guys!! BTW, can anyone mail me a copy of the VideoNow logo from a regular VideoNow CD? I would like to add those when I create the CD but the units sold at BigLot do not come with any demo disks. Thanks!! :D Smee | ||||||||
| reggiereg1 posted 2005 May 20 14:02 | ||||||||
| This is a good thread with useful information. My question is how are you purchasing the blank PVDs? I would like to watch my regular dvds on this unit , is it possible?
Thanks in advance :roll: | ||||||||
| EwanG posted 2005 May 20 14:39 | ||||||||
Not purchasing blank PVDs, but rather purchasing blank CD-Rs, and then either modifying the player to be able to play a full-sized disc, or cutting the disc to fit the player. While the latter is possible, the former is preferred.
Not with any currently known tools, but I'd be interested if you find a way to burn a PROM or something that made it possible. Even then, you'd still have the size issue. | ||||||||
| coondog1234 posted 2006 Apr 23 23:57 | ||||||||
| (E-Mail Address Removed due to increasing spam)
BTW ive successfully burned a videonow color disc of a viva la bam episode (The 3 mile island one where they are stranded for 24 hours on an island near a nuclear power station) using virtualdub but theres no sound can someone help me out, i dunno i may tinker with it some more and maybe play with the video settings to try and make it look as clear as commercial VNC PVDs, A BIG thank you to the author of virtualdub and thank you again to anyone who can send me a copy of mystuffnow, the reason im asking is because all web links point to www.mystuffnow.com and as you all know that site is dead so im pretty much SOL unless some one has it, maybe ill try limewire you never know, i actually had it on my old computer but it crashed and it fot reformatted with windows XP pro and its not the machine im on now lol this ones much better, well yall good luck on the videonow converting. | ||||||||
| Hirudinea posted 2006 May 13 18:05 | ||||||||
| I downloaded a copy of MyStuffNow.exe from the MyStuffNow site using the Internet Archive Wayback Machine, I am running WIN98 at the moment so I don't know if the file works (and considering how I got it, it might not work anyway) but if anyone wants to try the file I've uploaded it to Rapidshare and have the following link to it...
HTTP://tinyurl.com/rumml Now I don't consider this wares, as this file was free for public download, and I got it using that method, if you use it use it at your own risk and by the dictates of your own conscience. | ||||||||
| pcgarage posted 2006 May 15 21:00 | ||||||||
| I had always been interested in creating discs for video now (color) and searching the net I stumbled across this site. Good forum and info. Greg's videothen is brilliant, well done Greg. Now I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade, but there is an easier way.
I purchased the VideoNow media wizard at Target for $4.99 and installed it. Of course you only get 4 blank PVDs and it seems pricy to continue to purchase another wizard kit for the blanks. So I wondered if I could just use a standard CD-R with this program. I put my blank CD in, launched the program added a few videos and tried to create the disc. However when you click on "create disc" you recieve an error stating that the disc inserted in NOT a blank PVD. Obviously the program is coded to verify the type of disc in the CD writer drive. Here is my brilliant idea. Insert your blank PVD as per the media wizard instructions. Create your project as you would normally, then click on create disc then you will be prompted to name your disc and verify the CD writer to be used. Click create disc again, the program will verify that the blank inserted is a PVD and then it will begin preparing data. At this point simply eject the blank PVD and insert your standard blank CD and when the data is prepared it will record to the cd no problem. I've made several this way. Perfect for Three Stooges shorts. And it sure beats all the steps involved with Videothen. Sorry Greg. Of course you need a modded player for the full size cd. I modded ours in about an hour using just a razor blade and the stove. I cut away plastic inside the player to give the cd room, then I used the stove to heat the plastic of the lid to soften it and bent it out and away where the Cd woul get pinched on closing. I find the one time mod of the player beats cutting down discs everytime. One other downside is time limitation. You can get a longer run time with Videothen. Quite an easy way to make your own Videonow discs. | ||||||||
| coondog1234 posted 2006 May 16 07:49 | ||||||||
| Good News, Is anyone looking for the mystuffnow prog? if so try limewire, i just put it on there so its now available plus ive seen it on another site go here Http://tinyurl.com/rumml i hope i dont get banned for this but thats just a site that has the prog, and i think you have i think 30 days to dl it so go get it but i wanna warn ya the prog has a 10 day trial then its 19.95 you all know that, well heres the prog, remember Http://tinyurl.com/rumml. or try limewire, if you use this program use at your own risk, i am not responsible for damage done to your videonow player or pc by use of this program, and one more thing, have fun
Attention webmaster: this program is not warez, this program was freely available at its time | ||||||||
| coondog1234 posted 2006 May 16 08:01 | ||||||||
i can rip a wav file from an original VN PVD disc give me your email addy and ill send it to you, if the file size is bigger than 16 megs ill have to make it into an mp3 b/c aol wont allow files over 16 megs and youll need an mp3 to wav converter i reccomend using dbpoweramp music converter but get version 10 because its the latest free version ok Good Luck | ||||||||
| lol36 posted 2007 Feb 24 11:55 | ||||||||
| if anyone wants mystuffnow download link which isn't dead you can click link below.
http://savefile.com/files/514890 .:]{ad}[:. |
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