.BIN / .CUE / .ISO Frequently asked questions. READ1ST

zurd: might you consider then moving up to larger media? perhaps the 900MB discs will allow you ample overburning room

iisk8: there is a player designed just for playing movies embedded in BIN files... i cant remember what it is but i'm sure the people in VCD/SVCD know it by name and MD5 hash hehe. Seriously though, you can use a program called ISOBuster, UltraISO, WinISO or CDMage (my reccommendation, and its free). To watch your movie, extract the contents of the MPEG2 or VCD (or whatever its called) folder. Essentially you are extracting the largest file in the image and drag-and-drop this extracted file, usually an MPEG or DAT file onto any software DVD player (i.e. PowerDVD or WinDVD). CDMage:http://cdmage.orcon.net.nz/frames.html (to actually extract the files, select the file you want to extract, right click, select extract files, give it a destination and extract away). When you open the BIN file (or drag-and-drop) with CDMage, it will present you with a box to select the proper reading format. Simple trial and error will determine the correct reading format (however i think for (S)VCDs it is Mode2/2352 or somethin like that)

Furthermore, the reason i suggest CDMage is that you can check for corruption and fix some corruptions that may occur in images (remember to make a backup first before you fix anything). To check a BIN file, first open it up, goto the Action menu and select Check Image for errors (or something like that).

 

kata1
Okay the basics.... a BIN/CUE file is just an image of a CD... you probably gathered as much from the first couple posts. If you have a BIN/CUE of a movie, odds are that it is in a format called SVCD or VCD. These formats are intended to alllow for playback on standalone DVD players. Therefore , if you want to watch them on computer, you should not use Windows Media Player but rather a software DVD player such as PowerDVD or WinDVD; the reason is that you need something called an MPEG-2 codec. When this codec is installed (i.e., when you install your DVD software), you might be able to play your (S)VCDs in Windows Media Player but dont count on it, WMP is quirky)

So to answer your second question, by burning the BIN/CUE onto a CD you can watch it on your computer/standalone. To actually carry out the burning:
- If you have Nero 5, first open Nero (and close the popup wizard thing if it open up), goto File --> Burn Image and select the CUE file) and burn away
- If you have Nero 6, first open Nero (and close the popup wizard thing if it comes up), goto Recorder --> Burn Image and select the CUE file) and burn away

To answer your first question, you can convert a BIN/CUE to an AVI
1. Download a program called CDMage (http://cdmage.orcon.net.nz/frames.html)
2. Open the BIN file with it (or drag and drop)
3. It will pop up a box to ask you how you want to open the file.... trial and error will let you pick the right one... it should be "Mode2/something"). If you choose the wrong one it wont let you open it and you just need to try again
4. Find the largest file in the BIN (usually in a MPEG2 folder or something), the file should be something in the range of 700MB or more)
5. Right click on the MPEG/MPG/DAT file and select EXTRACT. Give it a destination and extract the file... do this for each subsequent disc (since most (S)VCDs have multiple discs). Remember to give each of them a meanigful name hehe so you can differentiate which disc is which.
6. At this point you can simply Drag and Drop your MPG/MPEG/DAT file onto a software DVD player and it will allow you to watch the movie. But since you want to convert to AVI, read on
7. Download a program called TMPGEnc. Open it up (and close whatever popups come up). Drag and drop this MPEG/MPG/DAT file into it to open it. Then go File --> Output to File --> AVI. You may need to specify a audio/video codec and corresponding bitrates. I would reccommend you use either DivX/XviD and a video bitrate in the range of 700+ Kb/s and the MP3 audio codec at whatever bitrate your choose
8. Once you have set the necesarry parameters click OK and it will churn away converting your file into an AVI. Note that TMPGEnc does the video first and the audio component second (that is if u want to sit around and watch the progress bars).

JSGDMBNHL
Interesting name hehe but seriously though:
1. Grab a program called Daemon Tools (http://www.cd-rw.org/software/cdr_software/cdr_tools/daemon_tools.cfm) and install it
2. When its done installing, right click on the new icon in your system tray and select Virtual CD/DVD Rom, goto a virtual drive (usually one is created automatically for you) and mount an image.
3. Mount the BIN/CUE and then either the autorun starts up or just go into My Computer and manually start the installation out of the virtual drive.

We all were at one point hehe

 

JSGDMBNHL
Well there is this minor issue i have regarding university tuition hehe but seriously though hehe... this is the spirit of Afterdawn! Learn and spread the knowledge dude!

 

*shucks*

 

I dunno much about PS2 games but I would imagine and PS2 cd image you download that was designed for DVDs would be too big to burn onto a CD hence you wouldnt nhave a choice. Perhaps the PS2 threads might be more useful for you.

 

IMG files dont need CUE files dude Nero supports the IMG fornat (to my knowledge). But you certainly dont need a CUE file (CUE files go with BIN files).

You you cant seem to get a IMG to work right, use either CDMage (free) or WinISO (not free) to convert it to a more readily usable format (ISO or BIN/CUE).

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CDMage is an extremely poweful (and free) utility that allows for all sorts of manipulation with almost any type of CD Image. With CDMage, you can scan a BIN/CUE for errors and corruption, fix any corruption found (remember to make a backup first!) as well as extracting data from CD Images and creating CUE files from BIN files. You can download CDMage from http://cdmage.orcon.net.nz/frames.html

WinISO is a common program to extract CD information into a ISO (also known as ISO 9660 format). The ISO format, as the name designates is an internationally known format and can be used in any burning application that supports image burner (although this is no longer really a major issue as most burning programs support multiple types of image formats, notably the BIN/CUE format). A nifty feature about WinISO is its ability to allow you to convert various image formats to either BIN/CUE or ISO. This is very useful when you may come across a CDI file or NRG file and forget (or dont have) what program is associated with it. To find out more about WinISO visit http://www.winiso.com/

 

No problem. Glad i could help! You may want to look into CDRWIN5.. intially it may be more confusing than Nero and such but it is not as picky about images and such so in the end you may like it more. You may want to look into BurnAtOnce which is free too!

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CDRWIN5, released by Padus (the makers of Padus Discjuggler) is not related to CDRWIN3 (made by Goldenhawk Technology and 'inventors' of the BIN/CUE format) is nonetheless an excellent all-around burning program. It borrows from Padus Discjuggler many advanced features that allow users to manipulate their CDs (especially CD images) before burning yet is still simple to use (although not as intuitive as Nero, it does hit a sweet spot for balance between simplicity and power). Specifically, CDRWIN5 allows users to specify CD Image types as well as sector sizes (i.e., Mode1/MOde2 and various sector sizes the two most common being 2048 and 2352). Additionally, CDRWIN5 does not warn you about overburning.... it just goes ahead and burns away. This is an excellent feature for overburners however it may be slightly disconcerning to beginners. More information on CDRWIN5 can be found at http://cdrwin.info/

BurnAtOnce, a free, easy to use burning application specializes in burning CD Images. For more info visit http://www.afterdawn.com/software/cdr_software/cdr_applications/burnatonce.cfm

 

WinISO also has that functionality I believe.