how do you tell if a dvd is vcd sourced?

[kidrocklive]

i'm sure this has been asked before, but I looked over the first 15 or so pages of this thread and didn't come up with anything. I was just wanting to know what the best method was for checking on this. Thanks a bunch.

[AAR.oner]

use GSpot to get dvd specs on a PC...MPEGStreamclip for Mac

[kidrocklive]

what would the specs for a vcd source be?

[U2Lynne]

Near the bottom of this page are a whole bunch of specs:

http://www.videohelp.com/vcd

[showtaper]

Originally Posted by U2Lynne

Near the bottom of this page are a whole bunch of specs:

http://www.videohelp.com/vcd

It will be downright difficult to "prove" that your dvd was sourced from a vcd
as the mpeg1 specs are valid for authoring a DVD as well. The audio would
have to have been resampled to 48khz to make it compliant.

DVD supports a bunch of resolutions and frame sizes, your DVD could have
been authored from a file that was captured at a less than "optimal"
resolution.

http://www.videohelp.com/dvd

Here's a small chunk of the DVD standard, you can see that there are quite
a few allowable rates & sizes:

NTSC (NTSC Film)

Video:
Up to 9.8 Mbps* (9800 kbps*) MPEG2 video
Up to 1.856 Mbps (1856 kbps) MPEG1 video
720 x 480 pixels MPEG2 (Called Full-D1)
704 x 480 pixels MPEG2
352 x 480 pixels MPEG2 (Called Half-D1, same as the CVD Standard)
352 x 240 pixels MPEG2
352 x 240 pixels MPEG1 (Same as the VCD Standard)
29,97 fps*
23,976 fps with 3:2 pulldown = 29,97 playback fps (NTSC Film, this is only supported by MPEG2 video)
16:9 Anamorphic (only supported by 720x480)


Audio:
48000 Hz
32 - 1536 kbps
Up to 8 audio tracks containing DD (Dolby Digital/AC3), DTS, PCM(uncompressed audio), MPEG-1 Layer2. One audio track must have DD or PCM Audio.

Extras:
Motion menus, still pictures, up to 32 selectable subtitles, seamless branching for multiple storylines, 9 camera angles. And also additional DVD-ROM / data files that only can be read by computer DVD drives.

Total:
Total bitrate including video, audio and subs can be max 10.08 Mbps (10080 kbps)


* Mbps = million bits per second
* kbps = thousand bits per second
* fps = frames per second

[kidrocklive]

My GSpot thing doesn't work with vob files, just avi and mpg. Is there like some patch or codec for it that I need?

edit: I found a render button and it gives me some info but most of it just says "n/a"

video type: MPEG2_VIDEO
video path: (S) --> Elecard MPEG2 Demultiplexer --> Elecard MPEG2 Video Decoder --> (R)

audio type: DOLBY_AC3
audio path: (S) --> Elecard MPEG2 Demultiplexer --> AC3Filter --> (R)

doesn't give me anything on the fps or bitrate, or any of that.