Hi, folks.

I'm a film student, finishing up my first half-hour movie on MiniDV and looking for a way to distribute it. The obvious way would be to put it on DVD, and not lose any quality, but it occurs to me that a VCD of some kind might be both far cheaper and more widely supported. Here's what I'm looking for:

*A disc that will play back in the vast majority of DVD players and computers -- ideally with software included.

*Quality which for the most part is indistinguishable from DVD on a TV. I've seen 2-hour movies that fit on a CD with only occasional pixelation -- with only half an hour to store, I'd want to achieve none at all.

Is there a format that will satisfy both of those conditions for me? How close can I get? Or should I just bite the bullet and pay for DVD?

Please let me know if there's a how-to that addresses this problem. If not, I'd be interested in writing one. I'm sure this kind of CD would be invaluable for lots of low-budget filmmakers.

Thanks for your help.

--Jack Cushman[/code]