Tell me about DVD-R and VCD

[The Burgomaster]

How would you rate the quality of DVD-Rs and VCDs? I have heard that they are about the same as VHS tapes, but I have never seen one. Any comments? Anyone? Bueller?

[Gerry]

DVD-R's can look as good as off the shelf DVDs depending on the source material.

VCDs look about like a VHS tape again depending on the source material.

The difference is in the way the video and audio are compressed.  You can squeeze a lot more information onto a DVD-R than you can onto a VCD.

[Damien01]

Unless I'm missing something I thought VCD are Video CD's and can be run on the computer and DVD-R is Regional DVD's which are DVD's from other parts of the world.

I think the quality if VCD's are very poor compaired to DVD's and are not made anymore...  I havnt gotten my hands on any VCD's at this time.

[The Burgomaster]

Damien01 wrote:

> Unless I'm missing something I thought VCD are Video CD's and
> can be run on the computer and DVD-R is Regional DVD's which
> are DVD's from other parts of the world.
>
> I think the quality if VCD's are very poor compaired to DVD's
> and are not made anymore...  I havnt gotten my hands on any
> VCD's at this time.

No. DVD-Rs are not regional DVDs. I believe the "R" stands for "recordable" (those of you who are more technologically competent, please correct me if I am wrong). Something Weird Video sells some DVDs and some DVD-Rs. Video Mayhem sells some VCDs.

Regional coding relates to DVDs from various countries. Some DVD players will play DVDs from all regions, some will not.



Post Edited (06-03-03 13:50)

[raj]

You are correct, Burgomaster, DVD-R is (one time) recordable dvds.  Of course, there are other recordable dvd standards such as DVD-RW, DVD+R, and DVD+RW

Quick synopsis here:
http://itpapers.zdnet.com/whitepapers/papergateway.asp?WID=554956605556&referrer=zdnetitdirectory

[raj]

I should have put in a plug for Jim Taylor's DVD FAQ:

Here's the section on the various dvd formats:
http://www.dvdreview.com/faq/dvdfaq.shtml#4.3

chop off the #4.3 for the top.
It's a darn good faq.

[Gerry]

VCDs are sold all over the world (especially in Asia) as a cheap alternative to DVDs.  Most good DVD players will play VCDs.

[StatCat]

DVD-R's will only look as good as the source material you put into them. VCD's are cheaper and i'm pretty sure their quality is a little less than a video tape or so I remember hearing.

[Ash]

I sold my DVD player to my friend after purchasing an X Box.

There's no need for a DVD player when my X box can play them as well.

It's a matter of personal preference I guess.

Can the X Box play all regions or just region 1?

[JohnL]

>Can the X Box play all regions or just region 1?

"Hello! McFly!" :)

The Xbox is made by Micro$oft who are absolutely gung-ho about copy protection and digital rights management. There is no way in hell, they'd make a game system that would allow you to circumvent the (illegal) region coding on DVD's. From the few quick searches I did, it looks like not even the various mod chips for the Xbox will allow you to change regions.

What you need is either a DVD player which has this ability built in (sometimes hidden) or a DVD drive for your computer which lets you change the region code. I've read that there are firmware upgrades (flash files) available for some DVD drives that will allow you to do this, but that newer drives are protected against people flashing such firmware updates. I think the DVD drive is the best way to go because then you don't have the issue of how to view a PAL video on an NTSC television.

[Grumpy Guy]

Hey, on a somewhat close to being similar subject - can anyone tell me how I might be able to burn my own VCD's?  I like making backups, but I am WAY to cheap to buy a DVD-R/-RW/+R/+RW drive...

[Gerry]

JohnL wrote:

> I think the DVD drive is the best way to go because then you
> don't have the issue of how to view a PAL video on an NTSC
> television.

My multi-region player will automatically convert (flawlessly) from PAL for my NTSC set.  Just make sure you buy a multi-region player with built in converter and you're fine.  They aren't any more expensive than similar single region players, just a bit harder to find in stores.  I bought mine from International Electronics but there are other online vendors as well.

[Gerry]

Grumpy Guy wrote:

> Hey, on a somewhat close to being similar subject - can anyone
> tell me how I might be able to burn my own VCD's?  I like
> making backups, but I am WAY to cheap to buy a DVD-R/-RW/+R/+RW
> drive...

For VCDs:

You either need a very fast computer with a video capture card and lots of hard drive space and a CD burner.

or

A VCD recorder.

For DVDs:

Same as above except with a DVD burner

or

A DVD recorder.