Are VCds getting more popular in other countries??

[klay51]

Well ive been looking at some sites and it says they are...is this old news that hasnt been updated since the cd-i days or is there a new interest in it?

[vitualis]

Sure, the standard was written quite a while ago, but it is probably not until now that your regular hobbyist/digital video enthusist could afford to create VCDs (cheap CD-R media, freeware authoring/editing programs, etc.) Thus the resurgence of interest.

Regards.

[BJ_M]

lets revisit this topic ...


several years ago -- there were vcds all over china .. and players..


now it seems vcds are becoming extinct IMO

[yoda313]

Wow a 5 year bump, is that a new record???

[BJ_M]

this site started as vcdhelp ... i'm just curious if vcds are used much anymore and for what purpose

[spiderman2k1]

Check this site out http://www.vcdplanet.com/

[BJ_M]

yep - seems to be lots still there (all from asia sources and legal) ..

they say china is still producing 2 million vcd players a year

[yoda313]

That many players????

Will that cut into their evd productiont they plan??? You know whatever that sudeo inhouse dvd competition they were working on???

[BJ_M]

it was with the on2 codec and nothing much has come of it ...

[SatStorm]

VCDs are very popular here is Greece, as an extra gift on daily newspapers and magazines!
There are even some SVCDs with documentaries!

When I ask an insider "why VCD and not DVD", since there are about the same at cost to produce, the answer was something like: "The big ones give us easily movies & stuff to distribute on VCD, but not on DVDs!

[Doramius]

VCD usually has image degradation, or isn't made in as high as quality as DVDs usually are. I must admit, I buy Superbit DVDs for movies I REALLY like. IMO - When you even compare a normal DVD to a Superbit,....Well, you really can't compare. Superbit is THAT GOOD. Another reason why I'm waiting for HD-DVDs to become more popular. VCDs are around the same price, but it seems to become more of a teaser to the people willing to pay the bucks for a high quality movie. But that's how I see them justifying the use of them.

[BJ_M]

ALL dvds for the most part could/should be the same quality as superbit -- the thing is , in many cases it doesnt cost that much more to make ... and it is not some much the bitrate as the preproccessing and encoding ..

i degress

[Doramius]

My sound system notices the difference though. And when played on an HDTV with the connections properly, Even comparing Spiderman 1 to SUperbit to a Spiderman 1 regular DVD, I was impressed. I used to think they were so close that you really couldn't tell the difference,....I was wrong. However, I worry about getting Guns of Navarrone, because the original film really isn't gonna change much in transfer to Superbit or DVD, unless I'm missing something regarding quality transfer.

[BJ_M]

i didnt mean there wasnt a diff. , i meant there should NOT be a diff. if they did the non superbit disks as well as the superbit disks...

which dont cost much more (if any) to produce

[yoda313]

Thats not necessarily the reason superbits would look better than "regular dvds".

They don't have any bonus materials. That lets them jack up the bitrate. They have just the main movie and a dts track. Compared to movies with a commentary track AND bonuses on the same disc I would imagine the differences would be quite dramatic - especially on an hdtv.

[BJ_M]

point is that they could use the higher bitrates in the first place .. you can fit over two hours easy on a dual layer at very high bit rate with dts + ac3 track

commentary track doesnt take to much space and bonuses.. i never really want them anyway except sometimes deleted scenes ...

[Doramius]

I think they should just put the special features on a second disc anyway. I want the movie on just one disc. Previews can go on the special features disc. I have both Spiderman Movies on the 2 Disc DVD sets & on Superbit. I really don't ever watch the Feature Movie Disc in the 2 Disc set, but I watch the special features a bunch.