Whats this VCD all about?

[scott015]

a friend just gave me a link to this BB, and told me to ask you guys, so here I am. I am a little behind and just now got a DVD player... I know, I know...

anyway, I want to know whats up with these vcds... he told me he would sell me any vcd of any movie...even movies that are out at theaters right now for $3 each....so whats the catch? bad quality? no surround sound? what??? thanks for all the help.... you can email me or reply...thanks alot!

[Kdiddy]

Mst not be much of a friend if he is going to SELL you VCDs..LOL, A) Drop him as your friend B) Read the "What IS" section over to your left...

You can download these theater releases just as easily as he can....bad quality, 75% time in my mind, yes, not worth it, especially the ones that are CAMS, yes someone sitting in the theater with a vid cam, or subtitle with multiple foreign languages...no surround sound, occasionally you will find a diamond in the ruff with good quality & decent sound...but isnt worh all the hoopla, definitely not worth wasting 3 bucks on.

[scott015]

ok, so if these suck so bad, why is this site even here.... is there a way to make copies of DVD movies and them be the same quality and be in surround sound?

[Macros746]

VCDs are a great medium that has VHS quality video and CD quality sound. They are easy to make from existing DVDs, and require far less computing power to play well than a DVD on the same computer. They DO NOT play on all standalone TV top DVD players so be careful to test them. All in all, they are not for everyone but, for most, provide the cheapest, best way possible to back up DVDs and are much cheaper than their DVD counterparts if you want to buy them commericially from sites like Eurekamovies.com or coolvcd.com. But, beware because most ALL VCDs are made in foreign countries where censorship rears it's ugly head...and those movies your friend offered you that are still in theatres...were probably recorded with a videocam in the theatre and then transferred to VCD....with often disappointing and illegal results. So that is all just a short summary. Browse around the posts for a while and read the stuff in the links on the left and you'll have a good feel for what VCDs are about...hope this helped....


Mark

[pinoy2201]

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On 2001-11-27 11:38:05, scott015 wrote:
ok, so if these suck so bad, why is this site even here.... is there a way to make copies of DVD movies and them be the same quality and be in surround sound?
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well if you want a the same quality has a DVD why dont you just buy the God damn DVD people keep on complaining that VCD and SVCD suks...and i tell them the same answer buy the God Damn DVD then...and this site is up beacuse this site is to help peaple back up there DVDs and Create a(S)VCD from there homemovies

[Kdiddy]

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On 2001-11-27 11:38:05, scott015 wrote:
ok, so if these suck so bad, why is this site even here.... is there a way to make copies of DVD movies and them be the same quality and be in surround sound?


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well if you want a the same quality has a DVD why dont you just buy the God damn DVD people keep on complaining that VCD and SVCD suks...and i tell them the same answer buy the God Damn DVD then...and this site is up beacuse this site is to help peaple back up there DVDs and Create a(S)VCD from there homemovies </BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

Chill out my lil asiatic homie....he was talking about MY response of the "bad quality" of THEATER RELEASED VCDs...not DVD ripped VCDs...there is a big difference..

Scott, IMO, VCDs of new movies currently theaters are not worthy of your time let alone your 3 bucks...VCD/SVCD copies of DVDs is quite worth the time. You can expect this is a rough estimate of what you will get from a DVD to VCD/SVCD conversion:

Most NTSC DVDs = Mpeg2 w/ variable bitrate of 5-6 mbps (yes spec says up to 9.8 mbps, but I promise you will be hard press to find many titles with an average video bitrate above 6 mbps) & 5.1 digital surround.

VCD = Mpeg1, spec calls for constant bitrate of 1.15 mbps (but you can adjust this, see xVCD) & dolby surround. With this bitrate your video fidelity loss will be 80% from original DVD.

SVCD = Mpeg2, spec calls for variable bitrate up 2.6 mbps & dolby surround (spec will allow for 5.1 multichannel mpeg2 audio, but that is whole different story, nutshell, close to impossible to have). With this bitrate, your video fidelity loss is just over 50% of original DVD.

miniDVD = Mpeg, variable bitrate of your choice (but in all practical sense, no higher than 2.6 mbps, unless you want your movie on 3+ CDs) & 5.1 digital surround. bad part about this format, very few players support. BUT, if you live close to a Wal-Mart, they readily stock a brand that does.