Burning Video Discs

With a media burner and your own blank discs (Video CD, Super Video CD, or DVD Video), you can create ("burn") a DVD or a Video CD from your own library of video clips.

Note: Super Video CD and DVD Video are RealPlayer Plus Premium Features. 

What are Video CD and Super Video CD discs?

Video CD (or VCD) stands for "Video Compact Disc." It is a standard digital format for storing video onto compact discs. VCDs are playable in dedicated VCD players, nearly all personal computers, most modern DVD players, and some video game consoles. VCD displays less video resolution quality than SVCD, but holds more content per disc than SVCD.

Super Video CD (SVCD) stands for "Super Video Compact Disc." This format is essentially identical to VCD, but in terms of technical capability and picture quality SVCD falls between VCD and DVD. SVCD displays less video resolution quality than DVD, but noticeably greater resolution than VCD. SVCD holds less content per disc than VCD.

Special system requirements

A drive capable of writing to VCD, SVCD, and DVD discs.

A DVD player and DVD playback software (for DVD playback)

4+ GB available disc space

A DVD driver codec appropriate for your computer

Burn a Video Disc (DVD, VCD, SVCD)

The first time you use the video burning feature, RealPlayer may prompt you to download additional software from RealNetworks. Click OK to accept the software, which must be installed before RealPlayer can access your video burning drive.

With the recordable disc in your DVD/VCD writer drive:

Setup

1. Click the Burn/Transfer tab.
2. The Burn/Transfer Home page opens. Select Burn a DVD/VCD from the Tasks area, or select Video (DVD/VCD) Burner from the Current Burner/Device drop-down list.
3. Follow the steps in the left panel. Select Video CD, Super Video CD, or DVD Video from the Select Disc Type drop-down list. (Super Video CD and DVD Video are RealPlayer premium features.) Note: You will not be able to select your clips until you have selected the disc type.

4. Locate the video clips you want to burn onto the disc. Double click on a listed category, or select a category from the drop-down menu. To search for video clips elsewhere on your computer or network, select Browse... from the drop-down menu.
5. Drag and drop the clips you select into the DVD/VCD pane on the right, or select clips and click Add Selected to Disc.
6. You can arrange your burn list to place the clips in any order you like. Just select a clip and drag it to a new position in the list. (Or right-click the clip and select Move Up or Move Down.)

About the burn list

The clip order in the burn list will define their order in the disc's on-screen navigation menu. If you choose to not include an onscreen navigation menu, the disc will play the clips in the burn list order automatically upon playback.

Transfer Status shows you whether the clip is ready to burn. When you burn the disc, Transfer Status shows you the transfer progress of the individual clips (in %).

Tracking your burn list/disc capacity: Near the bottom of the Burn/Transfer pane, just above the Player Control bar, an info display tracks the file size and total duration of the clips in the burn list. If the amount of media in the burn list exceeds the capacity of the disc, RealPlayer will alert you. You may delete clips to fit the list to the disc, or else replace the disc with a higher capacity disc.

Deleting a clip: To delete a clip from the list, right-click it and select Delete.

Option: You can edit Menu Text. To specify the text that will identify a clip on the finished disc's navigation menu, select the clip text under DVD/VCD Menu Text, then edit it. (Or right-click the clip and select Rename, then edit it.)

7. If you are satisfied with the clip list and menu text, click Burn Video to Disc. The "Video Burning Options" dialog opens.
8. Enter a name or title for the disc. The default name is the first clip in your burn list.
9. Select whether or not you want the disc to display on-screen navigation menus. If yes, enter a menu header. (Default is the Menu Text for the first clip in your burn list.) If you choose to not include a navigation menu, playback will begin immediately with the first clip in the burn list and continue through each subsequent clip on the disc.

About the Navigation Menu

If you opt for an on-screen navigation menu in the Video Burning Options dialog, RealPlayer will create the menu's visual layout for you. The clips appear in the menu with the Menu Text applied to them (in step 5). Each menu item is numbered in order: 1, 2, 3, etc. The disc title (from Video Burning Options) appears at the top of each menu page. 

• If the disc holds 1 clip, it is centered on the screen.
• If the disc holds 3 clips, they appear in a triangle with the odd clip centered on top.
• If the disc holds 4 clips, they appear in a 2 x 2 grid listed in top-to-bottom, left-to-right order.
• If the disc holds 5 or more clips, they appear in a 2 x 4 grid in top-to-bottom, left-to-right order.
• For more than 8 clips, the menu is divided into 2 or more on-screen pages. You can click freely from one page to another to access their menu items.

Video Burning Options: Advanced Options

In the "Video Burning" dialog, click Advanced Options to open a new dialog where you can view or adjust a few basic recording settings:

Video output standard: The technical playback standard encoded into the video for your compatible video player.

• NTSC (default) — NTSC is the video playback standard used in the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Mexico, and other countries. Use this setting if your video player is NTSC compliant.
• PAL/SECAM — PAL and SECAM are video playback standards used throughout most European countries, most of South America, and other regions that are not NTSC compliant. Use this setting if your video player is PAL or SECAM compliant.

Aspect Ratio: The width-to-height proportions of your video playback image.

• Normal (4:3) — Also referred to as 1.33:1 or "Academy" ratio, this is the familiar width-to-height ratio of standard TV screens and Hollywood cinema before widescreen movies TV became commonplace. Video discs you burn with this setting will playback in this aspect ratio.
• Widescreen (16:9) — The common width-to-height ratio of widescreen TVs, widescreen computer monitors, and many motion pictures. Video discs you burn with this setting will playback in this aspect ratio.

Burn Device: Select the local drive where your video burner is located.

Write Speed: Select how fast you want the media to burn onto your disc. Check with your disc manufacturer for the optimum write speed appropriate for the disc.

Click Save to preserve any changes and close the Advanced Options dialog. Or click Cancel to cancel any changes and close the Advanced Options dialog.

10. Click Burn. Burning begins.
11. Track the transfer progress of individual clips with the Transfer Status column in the burn list, and track the burn progress of the overall disc with the Time Elapsed/Time Remaining bar beneath the burn list. To cancel the progress and stop the burning, click Cancel Burning (formerly the Burn Video to Disc button).
12. RealPlayer alerts you when the burn is successfully completed.

Good to Know

The maximum total duration for burnable media is 80 minutes.

See Also

Print a Jewel Case Insert

Play DVDs

Burn CDs