How to convert a VCD to mpeg on OS X

October 28th, 2006

Seems like there are more and more creative idiots out there sharing files with half-assed standards. The last one was when I downloaded a movie and it came in two parts: bin and cue…lovely. Ok, so Toast can only burn this onto a CD and VLC will only play it. But I don’t want either one, I want a stupid mpg file that has the movie – is that too much to ask for?

The process is not so straighforward, and it requires using a command line utility, read on if you would like o know what to do to convert a VCD to a non-retarded downloadable format.

What you need:

1-Run Parallels and start PowerISO, load the bin file and select the option to extract:
2-Save the the file somewhere on the Mac, I enable Windows sharing and access my MacBook using \192.168….

3-Back in OS X, open the terminal and invoke VCD Gear by using: vcd_gear -dat2mpg SOURCE_FILE DESTINATION_FILE. My command for this was /Users/sabor/Desktop/ temp/VCDGearOSX/VCDGear1_76 -dat2mpg ~/AVSEQ01.DAT ~/TeamAmerica.mpg

The application will start and will eventually produce the mpg you need. You can now kiss all the cue and bin files goodbye. Enjoy: