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Fx MPEG Writer - Convert AVI, MPEG, ASF and WMV files to MPEG-1or MPEG-2 with VCD, Super VCD or DVD extensions. The free demo version supports only AVI input and MPEG-1 output but has no time limit.

• ASF and WMV Windows Media, AVI and MPEG files to Standard MPEG-1
• AVI and MPEG file to MPEG-1 with VCD extensions
• AVI and MPEG file to Standard MPEG-2
• AVI and MPEG file to MPEG-2 Super Video CD extensions
• AVI and MPEG file to MPEG-2 with DVD extensions

The chart below lists the various formats and their related specifications.

	VCD	SVCD	CVD	DVD
Resolution NTSC PAL	352x240 352x288	480x480 480x576	352x480 352x576	720x480 720x576
Video Compression	MPEG1	MPEG2	MPEG2	MPEG2
Audio Compression	MPEG1	MPEG1	MPEG1	MPEG1, MPEG2, AC3, DTS, PCM
Size/min	10 MB/min	10 - 20 MB/min	10 - 20 MB/min	30 - 70 MB/min
Min per 74 min CD	74min	35-60 min	35-60 min	15-20 min
Hours/DVDR	-	-	-	2-4hrs
DVD Player Compatible	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
CPU Demand	Low	High	High	Very High

The amount of time required to save your file depends upon your computer's resources, the size of the input file, the bitrate, the frame rate and the number of concurrent tasks that your computers CPU is also running. Under any circumstances, saving a big file is going to take a long time so it might be wise to start your conversion to run during a time when you don't need your computer.

The encoded files can be played on a PC provided a suitable package such as Windows Media Player is installed. DVD player software is required for MPEG-2.

Other files and directories can be added to the CD-ROM. These are ignored by a player. (S) VCD also supports other special functions such as karaoke and hierarchical menus with pictures, but these are not used by Nero at the present time. Nero simply takes a list of MPEG or picture files and writes them to a CD in such a way that playing starts immediately with the first file, and the player's forward and reverse keys can be used to skip from file to file.

You can set a pause that stops play at the end of every file. The pause is only a value in the description of the file so there is no need to create empty blocks; the pause can be very long or can even be set to infinite, in which case the player is stopped and waits for an input from the user.