How to encode STR video files

[LameGuy64]

While bored and doing some meddling on one of the development tools yesterday, I managed to convert a video file into a MDEC compatible STR video file complete with sound using the included MC32 program. No one seems to have bothered about this but I'll explain how I did it anyway.


First, you're going to need the following tools:
- FFmpeg which you can find it here: http://www.ffmpeg.org/
- MC32 located in psxgraph\bin if you're using the Programmers Tool devkit or the bin folder if you're using PsyQ.

Once we have the tools ready, we should begin converting the video file into a format that MC32 only supports which is just an uncompressed AVI file.

To do that, we're going to execute FFmpeg like this:

Code: Select all

ffmpeg -i <infile> -vcodec rawvideo -s 320x240 -r 30 -an <outfile>

Where <infile> is the file name of the video file to convert while <outfile> is the output name and must end with .avi. -s defines the resolution of the output and -r defines the frame rate of the output which you may change it to a lower value if you want.

The maximum video resolution the PlayStation can handle is 320x256 (higher resolutions yet to be tested) and the maximum frame rate is 30FPS. However, FMVs in most games run at 15FPS in favor of video quality because the PlayStation's drive speed is not enough to maintain high quality video at 30FPS so if you want high quality FMVs, go for 15FPS. If you want smooth FMVs, go for 30FPS.

Now that we have an uncompressed video-only file ready to be converted, we're also going to need the video file's audio data to go with it. So, we'll execute ffmpeg again but like this:

Code: Select all

ffmpeg -i <infile> -acodec pcm_s16le -vn <outfile>

Where <infile> is the file name of the video file to convert and <outfile> is the output file name which must end with .wav.


Now comes the most interesting part, open MC32 inside your bin folder. On the conversion window, browse for the uncompressed video-only file in the left text box. A preview window should appear after selecting the file:


Inside the preview window, clicking on the Encode button will show a preview of what the encoded frame will look like. The Play button obviously plays the video at 15FPS by default and the horizontal slider controls what part of the video is to be played.

On the right side of the conversion window, click on the blank drop-down list and make sure it is selected to str (MDEC). Once set, click on the Attributes button to bring up this window:

Using the Custom options is the best one since you get to control the frame size (a.k.a. bitrate) in sectors or bytes. For 30FPS videos, set it to 4 sectors or 8 for 15FPS videos. The Variable Frame Size option is pretty useless as the file size reduction when using it is very little and may cause some frame skipping issues during playback. As for the Sound options and the MDEC Image Version, I haven't meddled with those yet so better not touch it.

Finally, click Go and wait for the conversion process to finish. Once done, you now have a video-only str file.

Now for the sound, select the wav file as the input in the same conversion window. Some small window should pop-up displaying the sample rate and the number of channels the wav file you've selected has. After that, click Go and wait for the conversion to finish. Once done, you now have an xa file ready to be interleaved into the video-only str file.


All we have to do now is to interleave the str and xa files together. To do that, click on the View menu and click on the Video + Sound option which should bring up this window:

On the Vide File Name (typos in professional tools? ) box, browse for the video-only str file and select str (MDEC) in the drop-down box just below it. On the Sound File box, browse for the xa file to go with the video and don't forget to set the proper type and frequency of when the wav file was converted.

On the output file name box, browse for where the output will be stored and named as. Once set, make sure the Frame Rate is set to a proper value and then click Go. Once the interleaving process is finished, you now have a str file with sound ready to be played on the PlayStation.

Select the str file you've encoded in the Video File Name box and select 'str (MDEC)' on the Format drop-down box. Select the xa audio file in the Sound File Name text box and make sure the Frequency and Type match those of the attributes window when you encoded the xa file. And finally, enter the output file name of your video file in the Output Str text box then click Go.


Now, how do we play the str file on the PlayStation? Here's a link to my little STR player library with sample code and script for BuildCD:
http://www.psxdev.net/forum/viewtopic.p ... 3645#p3645

Take note that str files are only playable if it is embedded into the iso as XASource which can only be done using BuildCD.

[bizarro2011]

very good, write a program to run this video and post.

[t0rxe]

Nice tutorial. I will make a guide on how to burn XA and STR to a CD-ROM correctly, so it plays on your PSX. This means you can make your own VCD's basically and watch movies on your PlayStation 1. I will include the source code too.

[LameGuy64]

Nice tutorial. I will make a guide on how to burn XA and STR to a CD-ROM correctly, so it plays on your PSX. This means you can make your own VCD's basically and watch movies on your PlayStation 1. I will include the source code too.

I've now included a link in the tutorial for a sample STR file for you to test with...I hope it helps.

[LameGuy64]

Nice tutorial. I will make a guide on how to burn XA and STR to a CD-ROM correctly, so it plays on your PSX. This means you can make your own VCD's basically and watch movies on your PlayStation 1. I will include the source code too.

So, how's the player code going?

[inc^lightforce]

nicely done. that's the way we made " video Film Discs " for PS1 in the end of the nineties
THE MUMMY 1 and some more.

[t0rxe]

Well I have made my STR successfully. Problem is though, it only works without audio. If I make the STR with the video stream only, it plays fine. When I interleave the XA audio stream in with the video, the STR won't play at all. In the emulator, I do see CD-ROM access, but no picture or audio playing whatsoever. I have also tried on real hardware with different code that plays the STR.

I tried with your example video Lameguy, and it also failed to work.
I must be doing something wrong with the disc creation...

[t0rxe]

Solved! The problem was in the CTI (disc creation process) as I imagined.

I was using XAFileAttributes Form1 Video. I should have been using just XASource since the XA is interleaved with it now and it is not just plain video data

I will make a tutorial soon

Code: Select all

Directory STR
     File VIDEO.STR
          ;XAFileAttributes Form1 Video
          XASource c:\psyq\projects\str\video.str
     EndFile
EndDirectory

[wp22]

Hello,
Thank you for your response.
Try the instructions that you have here,
I'll call you if I need help.
Thank you.

wp22.

[wp22]

I have a question too if this is possible?
It would be possible to make all the necessary programs related to video for playstation processed into one program i need with the possibility of burning the cd? Create installer with all the software packages and options even after converting to burn playstation cd? Installer to run on newer OS windows 7 and others?
It all to you, please ask.
I use Windows 7 and I do not have any older PC with OS Windows 95
Some programs I tried to run I do not work at all about Windows 7 does not work with these older software.
Please therefore whether it would be possible to create some newer software for windows 7 so I can make movies on your Playstation first

Thank you all so much for the answer, and if it goes much you helped me.

Thank you all,

wp22.

[LameGuy64]

MC32 should work on Windows 7 64-bit since it is a 32-bit application but to use the STR video streams you've created it with requires using an old DOS program called BuildCD... Fortunately, you can use a DOS emulator such as DosBox to get it to work.

I might make a front-end program that'll automate this conversion process soon.

[HatMusic]

Joined in the hope of finding a tool to enable burning of video cds playable on any ps1 - I'm eagerly awaiting news of such a wizard.

[Shendo]

Burning is not a problem. Creation of STR discs with XA audio is.
Running software in DosBox is painfully slow. It takes a while to make a 650 Mb image even with increased cycle emulation.

I converted a 1.5 hour movie to STR spanning 3 discs and while it's cool and all I won't be doing it again.
It's just too damn cumbersome.

[HatMusic]

Sorry, that's what I meant. Just like an all in one sort of thing for standard video formats.

[HatMusic]

Any further progress on a wizard?

[LameGuy64]

Why would you want to play movies on your PlayStation? The video quality and compression ratio is nowhere near as good as VCDs and creating a PlayStation video disc requires using tools that won't work on 64-bit Windows computers so its not really worth it.

[HatMusic]

Oh. ok. I guess. I just thought it would be a very interesting thing to be able to do - just adding to the vesatility of the ps1 in modern times. At least we know it is possible theoretically.

[Administrator]

I plan to make a bunch of tools since I know people will be asking for things like this. For now, just do it the old 1994 Sony way

[SlavaVlasov]

Hello everyone! Found an interesting VIDEO CD for PS1: I haven't tested it on console, but it works on pSX 1.13.
The peculiarity is that a movie was somehow stuffed onto 1 CD, more than 90 minutes long! The format is clearly not STR, but compatible with the PS1. The soundtrack here is in mono, but in what format the sound is encoded is not clear. The video container has the extension "PSV". I would like to know what kind of video format and - most importantly - the sound was used. Here's the link:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/looh5oy9 ... D.rar/file

[Administrator]

Video CD (VCD) doesn't use the STR format. If I recall, it's just MPEG. I'm not an expert on VCD's but someone else might stumble across this topic at some point and go into better detail about it