Info and forum posts by 'steveeCee'

Found a new DVD manufacturer SAMPO Taiwan - make generic players

http://www.sampo.com.tw/english/elect_div/showroom/dvd/body.html

Is your oscure player here? SAMPO dot com have all sorts of familiar looking players for your interest.

This item was edited on Friday, 21st February 2003, 23:02

RE: Stamp Out VCDs

I really take offence at self-righteous dicks like you `snafu` but I`m feeling happy tonight so I`ll make an exception at not taking offence at a self righteous dick like you tonight.

I posted an SVCD query in this `Software` forum since my player plays SVCD without a hack as supplied. i bought it with this functionality intentionally to play home-edited SVCD disks that have been transposed from Sony 8mm video. Quality at DVD standard is already well beyond the reach of my ageing (12 year old trusty Sony 8mm vid) so SVCD and even VCD is entirely appropriate. SVCD is a viable option since my capture card is MPEG2 capable.

Yours, sincerely Steve_C :-)

RE: Playing DivX from my PC to my TV??? Possible?

Deja f***in Vu Spammy,
Wot was I sayin about "..autodetecting TVs connected.."
....about 3 posts ago!

mumble mumble ...nobody ever listens to me... mumble mumble...

RE: SVCD - are most players generally fussy about home-made disks??

Ascomdog,
There`s a plug-in available from Nero that re-encodes any video that you drag to the compilation window (when compiling SVCDs). It makes a fully compliant SVCD (576x488 25 fps MPEG2 @ about 1.8mBit/sec) video stream.
So far EVERYTHING I`ve compiled with this has played 100% OK with the standalone DVD/VCD/SVCD player.
If you ask me nicely (send a message with your e-mail) I could let you have an evaluation copy of the plug-in. Only drawback is that it takes AAAAAGES to re-encode the vid (even on my Athlon 2000+ machine).

It`s a shame because DVD2SVCD `backups` of DVDs play fine in the PC with Power DVD 4.0 XP - just don`t play well in the standalone.

MicoMan,
Thanks for the tip - looks like an expert site - their advice is very much like "..what plays on a PC doesn`t neccessarily play OK on standalones". Good link at the VCDeasy site:
http://www.vcdeasy.org/modules.php?name=_Guides&id=FirstVCD

:-)

This item was edited on Tuesday, 19th November 2002, 22:28

RE: SVCD - are most players generally fussy about home-made disks??

Thanks, but yes I`ve only got an old slow (4x) Teac CD-RW writer - don`t come much slower. i think it is just down to standalone`s having less tolerance for non (even slightly) compliant formats of mpeg.

RE: Playing DivX from my PC to my TV??? Possible?

Hi Benji_F,
S-Video output is not the same as composite line video - S-Video splits luminance and chrominance, the other is a composite PAL signal.

I don`t think the two are entirely compatible. S-Vid tends to go in via a dedicated S-Vid socket. Composite goes in via either SCART or phono (yellow socket).

As for your graphics card - it might be the same as my ATI and the Invidia laptop in functionality:

Firstly are you sure that the `mini-DIN` type socket is S-Vid? If it is you`ll need to connect to an S-Vid input on your telly or video deck. On the other hand it might be a video breakout like ATI all in Wonder - they use a mini-DIN to a breakout box with phono connectors on it - I wouldn`t know without looking.

Secondly, the important bit is that the driver/card autosenses when a connection is made to a TV - the TV out options simply weren`t available (greyed out) on the PC display setup until I got a good connection to the telly. This was the same on both my Laptop and ATI Rage Pro 128 TV out card. This card had dedicated S-Video mini-DIN and yellow composite vid outputs side by side.

In summary get a correct connection - take advice from Blodwin and make sure you use the manufacturers drivers - Win98 and XPwill nearly always drive the standard video card features but won`t generally drive the TV out bit. Then hopefully you can configure the TV out. Point to note - the Grafix card often has to drop the refresh rate to 50 or 60Hz - some monitors can`t handle this and will blank out - you`ll have to see.
Regards,
SteveC.

This item was edited on Saturday, 16th November 2002, 17:16

RE: Playing DivX from my PC to my TV??? Possible?

Have you got TV out (yellow phono connector) on your PC grafix card?
If you have you`ll be quids in.
Just connect this via RCA to SCART or into front AV yellow connector on your TV/Video. Then connect Audio Right and left (red and black or white) to the audio in or SCART and other end to `line out` on your PC back panel (need a 3.5 mm headphone jack to phono adaptor). It should play OK - quality is not bad but not brilliant usually. I have done this before from laptop with N-vidia TV out grafix and from PC with ATI grafix card TV out.

RE: Multi-Region prob (Scan 2000)

Its not RCE Region Coding Enhancement kicking in is it? In which case you`ll probably need to set the region on the machine to the same as the one on the media.

SVCD - are most players generally fussy about home-made disks??

I`m having fun getting the new SCAN 440LSi to play SVCD. Some of the discs are home-grown made with Nero and don`t play. They`re on `Memorex` and `Intenso` branded hi-quality CD-Rs. I think this SCAN machine needs 100% compliant SVCDs (as produced by Nero 5.5 with SVCD plug-in). It plays DVD fine - any media.

Have tried an SVCD disc or two friend made with DVD2SVCD - apparently CinemaCraft encoder is fully compliant - these did not play properly - skipped after about 20 seconds then went a bit corrupt and jerky for rest of playback.

My question is "are most or all SVCD capable machines fussy about exact compliance???

This item was edited on Friday, 15th November 2002, 22:36

RE: Compacks 5.1 DVD

It was from www.scan.co.uk - model Scan 440LSi - it`s on offer at the moment at £99 +VAT. That equals £128 after they put postage on it. Got it next day though.

It plays everything (in principle) - DVD-Vid, DVD-R, (formatted for vid), DVD -RW and +RW, VCD, SVCD, MP3, CD-R, Audio CD and Kodak Photo CD. I have had trouble with `home made` SVCDs which were OK on the PC - not sure whether this is generally the case. It`s region selectable from the handset - SCAN have a good reputation for multi-region up to date.

The machine itself is really thin 44mm hi and metal cased - heavy to hold.
From that aspect it looks really solid and well built. SCAN are happy to look into the playback snags at the moment - their attitude is it should play all that its advertised to.

RE: Problems getting SCAN 440 SLi to play advertised media

Nilesh, (and others)
I think I`ve bottomed out my little problem with SVCDs. The ones I was trying were all home produced. I think that they were not all COMPLETELY compliant with the SVCD standard.

They`ll always play on a PC with a software player (such as Power DVD 4.0 XP) but then software players are completely forgiving and will use any CODECS you have installed (including DivX !).

I re-encoded the MPEG using NERO`s MPEG SVCD codec plug-in (which is 100% SVCD compliant) and all was OK with this disc.

Also I found an old VCD in my bottom drawer - it also plays fine.

I didn`t get any joy with Kodac Picture CDs - the one I tried is a Kodac studio`s branded Picture CD.

Still not happy with the non-playing of Kodac Picture CDs. I may have to return the machine.

This item was edited on Friday, 15th November 2002, 19:31

RE: Compacks 5.1 DVD

Hi Shortyjnr,
my local Safeway near Gloucester said they couldn`t put them back on the shelves because of the power lead incorrect. They were offering an alternative - turned out to be a Bush model - not so bright.

I`ve just bought the new SCAN 440SLi - check out my teething snags on `Hardware` forum - it`s OK now though - phew!

Regards,
SteveC.

This item was edited on Thursday, 14th November 2002, 22:56

Problems getting SCAN 440 SLi to play advertised media

Original message:

-----------

I`ve just received my new SCAN DVD - looks great on spec list - DVD -Video, DVD-R, -RW, +RW, CD-R, -RW, VCD, SVCD MP3 & Kodac Picture CD.

So far DVD Video (retail) played OK. SVCD recorded on PC with Nero plays fine on PC with Power DVD 4.0 XP doesn`t play. Tried several different media types (all CD-R) none played!

Next tried Kodac Picture CD from Kodac processing labs - WON`T PLAY EITHER!!!!. Yet to try DVD-R and +/-RW in it - but not holding out too much hope.


-----------


***** Just tried again - guess what - plays ALL my SVCDs OK now ****

I think I know what the problem may have been - half an hour ago I got the player straight out of my car - it was COLD very COLD!!!

****** ITS STOPPED PLAYING SVCDs AGAIN !!! ************

Went back to it and it`s now jumping/skipping again on playback BAH !!

It might have to go back.

***title and message edited by Moderator***

This item was edited on Friday, 15th November 2002, 11:04

RE: No success with Toshiba 220 hack...

Do a search for a program called `CD Mate` version 2.5 or newer. This is a really nice package that handles bin/cue (binary and cue file) combinations - easily.
Seeya.

RE: Compacks 5.1 DVD

StC,
the Scan one`s on special offer for 1 day only I take it.
Must admit the DVD-R & +R and -RW &+RW is attractive - I`m also looking at the Sony (PC) DVD-RW drive that does plus and minus R & RW - Sony DRU500A - only £259 now. The TV video that I`m recording would go straight onto Disk with the Sony - and then play in the Scan machine if all went to plan.

Shortyjnr,
Does the Safeway Compacks play DVD-RW or +RW at all or even DVD-R?

This item was edited on Friday, 8th November 2002, 16:44

RE: Compacks 5.1 DVD

Can U get Karaoke disks easily - also what format are they generally in - ie SVCD, DVD, etc or are they in a category of their own?
Just that I`ve got a 40th at Crimbo and it would be a hoot to Karaoke at my forthcoming thrash!

This item was edited on Friday, 8th November 2002, 16:30

RE: Compacks 5.1 DVD

It`s actually the SVCD bit that i was after. Got a new AMD2000+ PC wot I built specifically to help out my ageing ATI TV Wonder VE - TV tuner and vid capture card. This and the new ATi drivers (multimedia centre 7.60 beta) let me capture MPEG2 from tuner or composite input on the fly at 8 Mbit/sec 648 x 288 res - not bad eh!
....anyway I`ve been whacking my old 8mm Sony Camcorder archives onto SVCD (at much lower bitrates I may add) by using straight MPEG2 capture and Nero 5.5.5.1 Burner (which makes very nice Chapterised & Menu`d SVCD thank you Nero!).
so far my PC DVD software - Power DVD 4.0 XP handles the SVCD disks no problemo - was hoping to buy standalone player (cheap of course) to save wife and three kids huddling around my 15" monitor.

Thanks for your info - I hope to get one of these babies soon.
PS any contacts or phone numbers for people in the Safeway organisation would be much appreciated.

RE: Toshiba sd220e multi regional + 3 free dvds £130

Hugo,
the Empire Direct deal at @£110 is for Tosh 220e not 220eMR (multi region). They`ve got the MR for £137 - link further down 220e page on Empire website.

RE: Compacks 5.1 DVD

Don`t blame ya for keeping it - I would have done so too!
I`ll have to see if they re-market them with a UK lead - noticed on one of the links above that it takes 110-240V AC (autoswitching) so any lead that fits would do - or put a 3-pin on.
I take it it`s multi-region then?

RE: Compacks 5.1 DVD

Is it regionalised then - for US region 1?

RE: Compacks 5.1 DVD

I went to my local Safeway but they`d already withdrawn their stock. If you`ve still got it and are thinking about getting rid - I`ll buy it off you!

RE: Compacks 5.1 DVD

Check out this link as well - looks like the same ol` player in yet another badge!
http://www.gbcongroup.com/dvd2.htm

RE: Compacks 5.1 DVD

I,ve just looked at the Safeway Flyer the model number is AB-6820.
An internet search turned up a site at :
http://www.viewcome.com.tw/DS-8319.htm
and the player looks identical - withthe exception of a `COMPACKS` badge.
A search on COMPACKS brought up a collective trading group at www.compacks.com