Tools: Virtual PC, TMPGEnc, GraphicConverter 4.0, Toast, Quicktime, VCDImagerGUI, Fireburner

There are two main methods to make a quality slideshow you can watch on your DVD player with a Mac. The first method is to get Query VCDMaker Professional. As this software is almost impossible to find, I suggest the second method as follows :

STEP 1. Put your pics in a folder, open GraphicConverter 4.0, select the File>Convert menu,
select on the left the source folder and on the right the destination folder, select Batch, as 'Dest format'
select Quicktime / Moov, then Options and Compressor : None, then click on the BATCH button, select the
function "Bring to Size" and select 768x576, center/center, color=black. You can also add a
'Sharpen Edges' if your source pictures need to be sharpened. Then click on CONVERT and you will quickly
convert all of your pics into hi-res quicktime movies.

STEP 2. Drop all of the .MOOV obtained in step 1 directly on Toast 5 VCD mode window, it will encode
and burn. Play the result on your DVD player.

The only problem with this method is that picture quality is crappy because of Toast VCD encoding. So I suggest to replace step 2 with the following process and you will get mind-blowing picture quality at true PAL or NTSC resolution :

STEP 2. Convert the Quicktime files obtained in step 1 to AVI files. This step may be optional if you manage
to install Quicktime into your Windows/Virtual PC environment and have TMPGenc open .MOV files. To
convert the .moov files into .avi, use Cleaner 5. Select the BATCH command, set a destination, drag your
.moov files on the window, then click on Setting and choose .AVI and define a new .AVI profile with
settings Size=768x576, Codec=Apple none, millions of colors. Click on Apply, then Start to begin batch
conversion.

STEP 3. Now you need Virtual PC and TMPGEnc (I use version 12a). Select the standard SUPER VIDEO CD
template. Convert your .AVIs into .MPG2 SVCD compliant. You can batch encode. STEP 4. Again in Virtual PC, use VCDImager, or VCDImagerGUI, or VCDImagerEasy (all of these available here on VCDHelp site), use the SVCD option, open all of the .MPGs and convert them into a single .BIN/.CUE.

STEP 5. Still in Virtual PC, use Fireburner to chunk the .BIN/.CUE like it was a standard SVCD movie. You
will obtain a series of XA tracks files (a track for each picture). Each track will be about 0,5MB.

STEP 6. Open Toast 5 in Multitrack XA mode and drop your tracks on the window. Burn.

STEP 7. Read the CD in a DVD player SVCD compatible. Play. Your mega-quality slide show will begin. Either
sit and watch the pics playing automatically or use the remote control to go previous, next, pause, or randomly access pics by using the numeric keys.

BTW if you select a VCD or XVCD template in TMPGenc you can also do the same but in VCD or XVCD format, in that case skip step 5 and directly burn the .BIN file in Toast VCD mode. Picture quality will decrease a lot with VCD and a bit with XVCD (depending on the resolution you use).

I suggest to test with 5-6 pictures and try different settings before batch converting your whole hard disk. Please post your experiences in the VCDHelp forum!

By major 2001-08-24