Arch Linux

rusma

Member

From: Ås, Norway

Registered: 2009-11-01

Posts: 110

Convert vcd to avi/mkv?

Hello.

I have some old .vcd/.dat video files that I would like to convert to a more handy format e.g. Matroska or .avi using some good compression method. I've read that a vcd file is already an avi file with some extra settings.

George

Member

Registered: 2011-05-11

Posts: 165

Re: Convert vcd to avi/mkv?

I personally would recommend handbrake (which is in [community]) for most transcoding, I have no idea if it handles .vcd/.dat files but its worth a try.

jaco

Member

From: Toulouse, France

Registered: 2011-03-17

Posts: 149

Re: Convert vcd to avi/mkv?

handbrake don't handle vcd files, afaik.

For vcd files, try VCDImager (in extra repository)

damacas

Member

From: Ontario, Canada

Registered: 2011-05-27

Posts: 50

Re: Convert vcd to avi/mkv?

I think Avidemux may also be an option.  Has worked with most video formats I've tried, although I cannot say I've tried .vcd/.dat files.

satanselbow

Member

Registered: 2011-06-15

Posts: 538

Re: Convert vcd to avi/mkv?

I've not got any VCD files to check it out on - but I seem to remember you can just change the DAT file extension to MPG and then convert it with your tool of choice. FFMPEG can create VCD from any source so it seems plausible that it will also be able to convert the other way.

There are numerous frontends to ffmpeg available or you can run from a terminal for complete control

Gusar

Member

Registered: 2009-08-25

Posts: 3,605

Re: Convert vcd to avi/mkv?

Vcd is not avi, it's mpeg2 program stream, not much different than dvds, except dvds have other stuff too, like menus. And the thing is, vcd is such low quality that I wouldn' go transcoding, which will only make the quality even worse.