any decent free vcd software?

[cleardarksky]

i'm trying to make a vcd but i don't have a good vcd burning program, i have used VCD imager but it does not work right in my computer, anybody know of any good FREE vcd burning software?

[DennisD]

I've just downloaded an application called "cdrtfe 1.3" to try for myself, and it definitely handles VCDs.

 

Screenshot:

 

Under the (S)VideoCD tag, you can select VCD, and according to the read me files, although it was originally a front end for "cdrtools", it now comes with the necessary software to do its own burning.

 

I've checked my C:/Programme files, and all the required stuff is in the cdrtfe folder.

 

cdrtfe 1.2: DVD support

=======================

It is possible to write data DVDs or Video DVDs with cdrtfe. In order to do so a DVD capable version of cdrecord is needed: - cdrecord 2.01.01a09 and above.

 

This cdrecord is included in the cdrtfe setup program (cdrtfe 1.2pre2 and above).

 

I haven't tried this yet, so I've no idea how good it performs, but it looks quite straightforward, and I'm gonna give it a whirl tonight.

 

Another suggestion, if you haven't already done so, is have a look through "Need a Video Editor" topic a little above this one.

 

Some good suggestions from BrownSugar on video editing stuff.

 

Hope this helps.

[Andavari]

It's also Open Source software too, and it's a SourceForge.net project!

I haven't used in a long time, I think it's time to give it a whirl again.

 

I'm gonna grab it off the official website: http://cdrtfe.sourceforge.net/

[DennisD]

I'm gonna grab it off the official website: http://cdrtfe.sourceforge.net/

 

Weird!!

 

That's the same site I started at, and I ended up at Softpedia for the download.

 

More spookiness.

[Andavari]

I tried it out with a hi-def Dimmu Borgir music video. I ended up having to go this route from the .avi:

1. I used AVI2DVD to convert it to a VCD compatible .mpg, looked at the whole music video and everything look sync'd.

2. Burned the .mpg using CDRTools Frontend VCD functionality.

3. Watched the VCD in my DVD player and what a mess! There was random noise in the video but that was the very least of the problems because the audio and video was completely out of sync, by my estimates it was about 15 seconds out of sync.

 

Blah, uninstalled it.

[Tom AZ]

I've just downloaded an application called "cdrtfe 1.3" to try for myself, and it definitely handles VCDs.

I also just downloaded this app to give it a try. I ran into two problems: 1) I had trouble launching the app from the desktop icon -- just didn't want to open, 2) the program couldn't find my CD/DVD writer -- never did find it. Did you have any similar problems?

[DennisD]

Yep, also uninstalled.

 

Simply wanted to burn a cd from files ripped by Windows Media Player. (wma lossless).

 

Wouldn't have it, but there's plenty of software that will.

[Andavari]

Simply wanted to burn a cd from files ripped by Windows Media Player. (wma lossless).

If you're talking about a data CD then that's really bad. The data CD burning part was spot on in my case.

 

Although I'm assuming you're actually talking about burning an audio CD, and it really isn't too surprising if it wouldn't burn an audio CD from WMA Lossless as there really isn't to many burning apps that will deal with it. Now WMA lossy on the other hand should work with many burning apps from freeware to commercial.

 

Edit:

The solution however is simple, just dump WMA Lossless and switch to something open, more supported, and with more features called FLAC.

[DennisD]

There you go, I've learned something else.

 

I've always used Sonic for burning cd's, or an app I tried recently, Express Burn, and I've had no problems.

 

Always ripped cd's in this format for the apparent good quality, but if I can use another, more widely accepted format, then that's what I'll do.

 

While we're on this subject, do you know of a burning app that will also overburn a cd?

[Andavari]

While we're on this subject, do you know of a burning app that will also overburn a cd?

Burnatonce (freeware) can for both data and audio CD if you enable it in the drive settings as seen here:

 

Edit:

Other than that I've only used Plextor PlexTools Pro (a free LE version is now available) for "overburning" but what it's doing isn't really considered overburning as it's more of a burning capacity changer (best way I can describe it). It allows for a hell of allot of audio to be burnt to an audio CD, it can also do the reverse and use much more of the disc space for instance to make a 40 minute album use almost all the available disc space - this is called GigaRec in PlexTools, but it can also create coasters that some players won't recognise.

 

Note: You'd of course need a compatible real Plextor drive like a PX-760A (which in my opinion is an expensive piece of s**t, I have one) to use GigaRec, but at least PlexTools LE is available for the poor souls that didn't get the Pro software with their drives.

[DennisD]

Thanks for that. Will give it a try.

 

The thing I've been trying for a while now, is to get both Pink Floyds "The Wall" discs onto one cd for the car, and to just stick my 'phones on and listen to the whole thing without changing disc.

 

I did manage it with Sonic, as you can overburn with it, but I couldn't get it to not put gaps between each track.

 

If I follow up on your previous info, (bin lossless), I'll have a greater choice of software to try, and hopefully crack this.