DVDs versus VCDs

[Skimmel]

I've read a lot of stuff here about how to make high quality VCD copies from DVDs. And there is stuff here about how bad copies of DVDs are if the compression is more than about 50%. I'm confused.

It seems to me that even a highly compressed DVD should have much better quality than the best VCD. A single DVD is about 4700 mb while a single VCD is about 800 mb. Doesn't that mean there's about six times as much data on a highly compressed DVD as on a VCD?

Or am I missing something?

[Gazorgan]

Yep, your missing something.

VCD's are 320x240 versus a DVD at 720x480. Doing a quick math check DVD's have 4 times the video information.

VCD's only have PCM audio, whereas DVD's have AC5.1 .

True VCD's have macroblocks (there's no real way around this unless your watching talking heads), DVD's don't have any.

Now, if you talking KVCD/xVCD, then you can improve quality some, but they aren't complient.

As to overcompressed DVD's, well ya. I mean if your trying to compress 8 GB down to 4, you can expect problems. The solution is simple: Don't do that. You dont' really need 800 MB of Menus and 3 GB's of extras do you? No you don't. Put your Extra's on another disk, and make your menu's stills instead of animated. At this point you can backup the main movie so you can't really tell it's not the original.

[Skimmel]

Still sounds like even a compressed DVD is going to give better quality than a VCD - Sound and macroblocks at the very least.

So far only the multiple disk DVD sets have been a problem...the ones with the movie and menu on one DVD and all the who cares extras on the second DVD... and they haven't been much of a problem. So far everything I've done has been highly watchable.

I was just wondering if I should be thinking about trying to convert my DVDs to VCDs rather than backing them up. It looks like the only thing I gain is using a 20 cent disk instead of a 80 cent disk.

[Donny661]

Gazorgan, I believe, made a couple small mistakes in his post. vcd resolution is 352x240, but what he said about the ratio of dvd resolution to vcd is still correct (4:1). Also, a vcds audio is mpeg-1 audio layer 2 at 224kbps which is a compression format designed to compress PCM audio and is consiberably smaller in file size. PCM audio's data rate is very close to the same as a vcd's with both audio and video. DVDs can either have ac3 (dolby digital) or PCM audio in region 1, with ac3 being the compressed format.

Refering to dvd vs. vcd I would suggest you try making a vcd; it isn't that hard, and you can see for yourself if it is worth the better quality on a dvd to spend 60 cents more on discs. A "low quality" dvd will almost always look better than a "high quality" vcd even if you use a one click program like dvd2one. The quality "rating" is just relative to the format.

[MOVIEGEEK]

If you have a DVD writer then it would be a waste not to make a DVD.VCD is fine for slideshows because the resolution is the same as DVD(704x480).

[vhelp]

.
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If you're talking about re-encoding a DVD to a tipicle format, be it SVCD or
kvcd or xVCD or xAnYtHiNg.. quality will depend upon the users skills level..
of which does not hapen over night. But, takes time to master

I myself, use kvcd methods in my DV encoding projects.. though these are
Pure Interlace sources from home-footage. Yeah, I use a mixure of this
format w/ my encoding for (IMO) maximum quaity, vs. going the pure DVD
format (or method)

My next level of authoring is DVD, since I have the burner.. but I'm strapped w/ multi-zillions projects that I can't get to it yet. But, I'll master that as well (in time)

Yeah, but another thing you're missing too, (or lacking in) is
* skills and techniques.

But, don't give up so easily. For some peoples, it takes more time to fully
digest than others. Just don't give up.., you'll get it

From the Video Workstation of,
-vhelp 2068