Manual

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:: Installation
:: Main Screen
:: Settings Screen
:: Preview Screen
:: Creation
:: Burning
:: Problems

Installation

To Install the Photo To VCD Creator you should download the base install package from the download page .
After the download is complete run the downloaded file and follow the instructions on the screen.
Check if there is a newer version available on the same page and copy this file to the directory where you installed the program (normally: c:\program files\phototovcd).
After this you can start the program.
On first startup all the settings are reset to their default value. After that the settings will be saved upon exiting the program.

Main Screen

Button	Description
Read Structure	This button will load the selected source path into the program. A total of the images and directories found will be displayed below the listing. This is the first thing to do after making your basic settings.
Create (S)VCD	When all the settings are done and the output looks good in the preview window, you use this button to start the creation process. This will fill the build path with temporary files used to create the (S)VCD. The time needed for this operation depends on you machine, the number of menu's and images and the resize filter. The quality depends on the resize filter, the setting of the fast preview option is ignored in this stage.
Burn image	After the (S)VCD is created you can burn the image to CD with the build in burning option. Use this button to open the burning dialog.
Show settings	Show/hide the settings screen with this button
\|<<	Same button as the previous track button on the remote control of the DVD-player. This will select the previous image or menu-item.
>>\|	Same button as the next track button on the remote control of the DVD-player. This will select the next image or menu-item.
Return	Same button as the Return or Menu button on the remote control of the DVD-player. This will select the parent menu of the current image or menu-item
Enter	Same button as the Enter or Play button on the remote control of the DVD-player. This will enter the current menu or display infotext if present.

Setting	Description
Full Rebuild	By setting this option all images are recreated, even when a previous version exists. Use this option if you have changed font, color or any of the output options
Fast Preview	Because high quality resizing takes some time this option enables you to preview your settings faster. The quality will be less. This option is not used for the final build.
Full size preview	By setting this option the preview window is opened. The image will be displayed in the output size.

Settings Screen

Setting	Description
Source path	This is the base directory where your original photo's are stored on disk. This directory may have subdirectories, these subdirectories will be the captions of the menu's on the VCD. In the PRO version you can have subdirectories nested to create multi-level menu's.
Build path	This is the directory where the converted images are stored and where the resulting image to burn on the CD is created. Write permission is needed for this directory. This directory should NOT be your CD-writer.
Main title	The text you type here will appear as title on the first menu.

Correct Edges	Most TV-sets will loose a few percent on every edge. If leave this to 0% you will not see the complete photo on your TV-screen. In most cases 5 or 6% is enough to see the complete picture.
Correct Aspect ratio	Because of the 4:3 aspect ratio of TV-sets you will notice the photo's getting stretched when you look at them on the TV-screen. By setting this option the Photo to VCD Creator will correct this problem.
Picture timeout	Sets the number of seconds between the photo's. If you put 0 in this field the next photo will not automatically be displayed. You can manually chnage to the next/previous photo with the remote control of the dvd-player.
Anti flicker filter	Thin lines may seem to move up and down on your TV-screen due to the interlaced standard. If you apply this filter this will be eliminated as good as possible. Depending on the images, resize filter and television set you will or will not need this function, the best thing is to try with and without this filter and see what is best in your situation.
Output Type	Before making a choice for VCD or SVCD you should check the capabilities of your DVD player. You can do this by looking at this site
TV Format	The choice between NTSC and PAL depends on the region you are living. There are some DVD players who can only play VCD's when in NTSC mode.
Resolution	The resolution should be set to high for the best results. If you encounter problems with high, choose low.

Image Center	You can adjust the center of the image by these settings. This can be useful when you want the date/time stamp to be displayed beneath the picture.
Resize filter	Images need to be resized to the television standard. Resizing can be done in a lot of ways, to be able to select the right filter for you, you can use the full size preview window. Be sure to disable the fast preview mode when selecting the resize filter. In general the Mitchell filter gives very good results. Please note that some filters take more time to resize. Also large originals will take longer than smaller ones.

Display date/time	This option prints the date and time of the original shoot on the image.
Display filename if no EXIF info is found	If you do not have photo's with EXIF information in it (for the date and time stamp of the shooting) you can choose to display the filename instead.
Display filename	This option prints the filename of the image.
Display infoicon when info text is present	PRO version only. Displays a icon next to the date/time when extra text is present for the image.

Fonts section	In this section you can set the font,color and size of the menu title, the menu buttons and the image subscript. The shortcut setting puts a number at the left of the buttons to be able to select a menu using the numeric keys on the remote control. The position button lets you chnage the position where the date/time and/or filename of the image is printed. Just push the Position button and click on the preview window where the upper left corner of the text should be.

Language	Select you preferred language, this has no effect on the resulting VCD.

Preview Screen

The preview window allows you to preview the resulting VCD / SVCD. The controls available are the same as the controls on your DVD player:

Button	Description
Prev track	Places the selection bar on the previous menu item or displays the previous picture.
Next track	Places the selection bar on the next menu item or displays the next picture.
Enter	When in a menu this will enter the selected menu item to display the pictures or the sub-menu inside it.
Return	This button will get you back one menu level.

Creation

Before you can create a VCD / SVCD you should select a source path and build path. You can use the preview option to see how the resulting VCD / SVCD will look like. If the order of the menu items is not correct you can manually adjust it with the buttons to the right of the preview window. Do not forget to save the adjusted menu order.

When everything is set up correctly you just push the "Create (S)VCD" button and the program will start skipping through the menu's and pictures to fill the build directory. After completion the image build will start automatic and after e few minutes you will get a message saying your image has been created in your build path.

If there are any problems in the image building you can select the debug option in the dialog to see what goes wrong.

Burning

After the creation process succesfully ended you will have a VCD.CUE and VCD.BIN file in your destination directory.
You will be asked if you want to burn it directly to your CD.

This image file can also be burned by Nero, fireburner etc. To burn it you should choose 'Burn image' in your burning program.
DO NOT burn the file to your CD, always burn as an image.

To be safe you should burn at a maximum of 4x speed. Some DVD players have problems with CD's burned at a higher speed.

There are 4 options for burning. Mostly the 'Normal' mode works fine, if you encounter problems in burning your VCD you should try the CDRDAO, Generic or Generic-raw options.

You can find more info on burning in the FAQ section.

Problems

If you encounter any problems during the creation of the VCD / SVCD you first read the FAQ. If this does not help you can contact me. Please include the version number and a detailed description of your problem in you mail message.