Too Much Focus on DVD

[tygrus2000]

Is it just me or has this site put a lot more concentration on the DVD aspect lately? In Canada where I am from, a DVD RW drive is still $500 bucks and a 5 pack of 4 GB media is $35. On top of that, not many players can play a home cooked DVD, plus the entertainment industry is still fighting out the formats. I admit that eventually this will be the format of choice and people will look at VCD/SVCD like VHS, I just dont think the time is here yet. I hope this site hasnt given up on VCD/SVCD yet.

tygrus

[puertorican138]

Is it just me or has this site put a lot more concentration on the DVD aspect lately?

That's one reason why this site was changed from "vcdhelp.com" to "dvdrhelp.com".

[jeex]

Is it just me or has this site put a lot more concentration on the DVD aspect lately?

In Canada where I am from, a DVD RW drive is still $500 bucks and a 5 pack of 4 GB media is $35.

On top of that, not many players can play a home cooked DVD, plus the entertainment industry is still fighting out the formats.

I admit that eventually this will be the format of choice and people will look at VCD/SVCD like VHS, I just dont think the time is here yet.

I hope this site hasnt given up on VCD/SVCD yet.

tygrus

1) yes, this site has decided to focus more on dvdr. thats why even if you type in "vcdhelp.com" in your browser you are redirected to "dvdrhelp.com"

2) work in america for a couple of days, you'll have enough money to buy yourself a canadian dvd burner & blanks.

3) actually, the vast majority of dvd players can play "home cooked" dvdr's.. as long as you burn them correctly and know what you're doing.. yes the industry is still "fighting" it out.. just get yourself a sony dru-500ax or pioneer a05. they support both formats.

4) people are already looking at vcd/svcd like vhs, maybe not to the extent, but vcd/svcd is on its deathbed

5) well, it is focusing more on dvd.. but that is just a nice way of saying "**** vcd/svcd"..

[puertorican138]

I hope this site hasnt given up on VCD/SVCD yet.

It hasn't given up on VCD/SVCD yet. It's just focusing more and more on DVD-R/RW as more and more people get DVD-R writers.

[puertorican138]

jeex, we posted at the same time except I was a few seconds quicker!!!

[BJ_M]

you can buy a pioneer 105 in canada for the same as the usa price, several locations (nearly the same anyway - stupid 15% tax) ..

by the way jeex -- canada is also in america

[Doggiedaddy]

Canada only became part of The Americas after I was educated. RE: The same time the United States of America became part of The Americas, educators with too much time on their hands re-inventing the wheel ? What the hell are the Americas and where did they come from. I did not know a new continent had been formed for millions of years when North America and South America where formed, I also remember when a Rain Forest was just a Jungle. LOL

Justmy2cents

By the way I live in the USA 50 miles south of the Sumas/BC Canadian/USA Border in the Great Northwest, We will all be making DVD soon enough.

[mats.hogberg]

I agree - there's a lot more talk about DVD-R now than just 2 months ago. But as it's the users who push this site in the direction we want - who can complain? I'm sure there are a lot of answers to still be found even on the (S)VCD topic for years to come - After all, most DVD-R backupers have a background in (S)VCD, I'd guess. I'm sure I'll have a DVD burner in my box within this year too, but until then, I'm going to improve my (S)VCD skills as far as I can.

/Mats

[NightWing]

Before they changes the name { quality is still here! } it was going in that direction. Burnners are getting cheeper and faster. When you can shop and get a CD burnner for under 40 and even 25 some times its handwriting is on the wall. But for both video and backups DVD has the push. Its 1 DVD for 6.4 or so CD. And besided it fun to drop a chunk of stuff and insead of maxing out it barelly registers on the guage on Nero.

I agree for a while longer there will be a uses for Svcd and even VCD. Its kind of like different quality levels on a TIVO or any TV capture card. Some thing only warrent a VCD, some a SVCD and others a DVD. Still making VCD level for most stuff but working on moving some recording over to MPEG2/DVD level if I really want to keep it. The last two Enterprises have been at that level.

And beside. "Resistants is futial!" You will be assimilated.... We the DVD...

Hey some on had to say it!

[Craig Tucker]

The topics that are discussed on the forum are obviously driven by the people who post them, and a lot of what goes on in the forum gets carried over into the main site. As more and more people get into DVD creation it is inevitable that the topics on this subject will increase. It's not that anyone is deliberatly trying to oust VCD or SVCD creation, its just that as an overall percentage these formats are decreasing where as DVD is increasing.

This can be corroborated by the findings from a recent poll about which format people are making at the moment. I was actually very surprised to see that DVD creation is on a par with VCD and SVCD, and it is inevitable that DVD will increase in popularity which will mean a reduction in popularity for VCD and SVCD.

The poll can be seen here

[mdorion]

In Canada where I am from, a DVD RW drive is still $500 bucks

Pionneer A05, $399 at Future Shop

a 5 pack of 4 GB media is $35.

Ritek 03 at $3.00 (can) each at effectuality.ca (and going down with each passing week)

And I am yet to experience a set-top box not playing my DVD-R (I know compatibility should be at about 85% but I've been hitting 100% testing with 5 settops.

The thing is, once you've tasted the sweet taste of burning your own 4.7GB DVDs ... you quickly lose interest in VCD/SVCD/XVCD and so on.

[digitalmaster]

Go to www.kvcd.net !!!!!!!!. VCD is still going strong there. Besides you can fit 2 or 3 SVCD movies on one DVD.

[kwag]

Go to www.kvcd.net !!!!!!!!. VCD is still going strong there. Besides you can fit 2 or 3 SVCD movies on one DVD.

And when VCDs die ( in a very long time ), we'll be fitting ~6 hours full D-1 with KDVD on one DVD-R and ~70 hours on the new blue laser disks also using KDVD and the same encoding techniques (Can't wait to get one of those )

-kwag

[Gazorgan]

4 CDR's or 1 DVDR. Not much of a choice and the total cost of the media is very similiar.

So as I ripped CD's with a DOS program then did command line MP3 encoding, so I used to take 20+steps to backup a DVD. Now, it's pretty much point and click for 'good enough'. I can do it the hard way and get a better result, but it's so hard to tell the difference, why bother.

And, with DVD burners dropping to under $200 US (under $150 with some rebates), why go for one of the $89 CDRW's(yes i know you can get a CDRW for $30 US with rebates)?

I predict by Christmas 2003 you will see DVDRW's at the $100 US mark. I expect them to be unbundeled barebones drives, and only maybe 2x, and finicky about media, but you will see them. Market demand will drive the manufacuring process.

by the time DVDRW drives are $50 US, we will be discussing blue-laser dives and the guides will be "How to put 3 DVD-9 disks onto a DVD20 disk" :P

[Jolard]

I agree with most of the comments above. Most people who are into movie backups are tech lovers who are early adopters and into learning new and interesting processes. While VCD, Divx and other processes are great for what they do, most of the early adopters have long figured this out, and have moved onto new challenges.

You have to remember this is a forum, and so of course it is driven by the questions people have. Most questions right now would likely be about DVDr, since that is what people are getting into and figuring out.

I think it makes sense for the site to move forward, or else all these people will go elsewhere for their info. Prices on burners are coming down rapidly, and have finally reached a sane level (under $200 in the U.S.) so it is reasonable to buy and start all those backups we have been itching to do.

Now that I have my burner, I still occasionally use Divx, Xvid and SVCD, but hey, the interesting stuff is all DVD now.

[energy80s]

It's interesting to read of how cheap things seem to be in the USA. The average price for a DVD burner is over £200 ($320) and blank DVD+R discs are about a fiver ($7.95) each here. Compare that to 35p for a CDR disc (55 cents) and you see why DVDR is still a rich mans game! Also I've never heard of any store giving rebates!

[SatStorm]

First of all, DVD-Rs is a US fashion right now. Once in a while a new fashion comes in town. Once was CVD, before it was xVCD, before was SxVCD, before was SVCD and once upon a time was VCD itself.
Now, there are new DVD based software programs in the net, so people wanna learn about them. Also, for US, DVD-Rs are turn mainstream. In Europe we have to wait 2 - 3 months. Personally, I expect the prices to fall about 250 euro (+ tax) to buy a burner. My salary is 600 euro per month, so you realise that it is a big move for me.
Also, today a DVD-R disc here costs 2.5 euro. 1X burn that is...

The way I see it, in a few months the new fashion gonna be the transfers. VHS to DVD, VCD/CVD/SVCD to DVD, etc... So, the main subject, the mpeg 2 encoding, gonna be the same. Because the media change, doesn't mean that mpeg 1, mpeg 2 and the VCD/CVD framesizes are dead. You can still burn your VCD like files to DVD-Rs, as you can with the CVD ones. It is the same thing. If you think that DVD is a big CD in a way, then this whole thing ain't nothing that a good upgrade!
Which, by the way, it is way cheaper to do in US.

[BJ_M]

i wonder if the next fashion will be re-introduction of hoop skirts

[Sefy]

Even when I get a DVD Burner, i'm still gonna make VCD's, only this time i'll
be able to put entire TV Shows on a single DVDR using VCD format, cause it
still is great quality for my purposes

Not to mention, that I still prefer buying the Original Movies instead of trying
to copy them to a DVDR, I just bought the entire James Bond Collection for 9
pound per movie, which I think is very well worth it!

There is no beating an Original DVD over copying it, by spending nearly the
same, if not half the amount of money on the Original, not to mention you'd
rent the original to copy it, so that's more money wasting.

VCD's are still currently (ask any Asian person ) the best archiving
method to date and most compatible one :P

[jurynel]

. . . but in my small corner of the world we have never heard of a VCD!!! Yet, I found the "vcdhelp.com" site about the most informative site I could find concerning issues like compression, Mpeg, Mp3 ect. We have been as unlucky to jump from VHS to DVD, and without a great site like this, there would be many lost and confused souls out there . . .

[herbapou]

I bought my Pioneer A05 for 425$ cdn and bought 300 Ritek G03 from the US (Rima).

After US to cdn conversion, the shipping cost, the tax at the border and the UPS brokage fee, my final cost was 2.25 cdn per disk. Not too bad.

I have seen some canadien sites selling Ritek G03 at 190$ for 100 and Ritek G04 at 375$ for 100.

The problem in canada is its very hard to get Ritek locally. You should be able to get Princo about everwhere but not Ritek. BTW dont touch those Princos.

[RichEtheridge]

By the time DVD burners are cheap enough for me to buy one, you guys will all have moved on to SDVD!

[RichEtheridge]

By the time DVD burners are cheap enough for me to buy one, you guys will all have moved on to SDVD!

Oops, better make that "Blu-Ray"

[metoo2]

If you get yourself a DVD-R/RW writer (mine is the Pioneer A05), your no-frills dvd player should play the video dvd's you create. My dvd player doesn't even recognize cd-r's, and it played the dvd-r's just fine.

Also, media has gotten cheaper and cheaper lately. I've been finding Verbatims for 8 bucks and less in Office Depo (Staples).

Plus, most of us who were 'pros' or 'semi-pros' at vcd's are now complete newbies again in regards to dvd-r's. Any advice we can get, we're grateful for!

[puertorican138]

By the time DVD burners are cheap enough for me to buy one, you guys will all have moved on to SDVD!

, Super DVD!!!

[alucard2050]

i think we should all push to get laserdisk back into the mainstream. to this day i have not seen a single video from laserdisk....anyway as things change people will change and yes even this site will change...when i first began here, i guess about a year ago or so i was really hard into vcd and dabbled with svcd....now i got a dvd burner and to backup my dvd's and create dvd's from my home movies is now sooo easy, i am now one thats looks at vcd and svcd as a thing of the past...and probably a year from now it will be something else......

[bokkasrealm]

I want a Laser disc Burner! Someone Photoshop one!

I predict by Christmas 2003 you will see DVDRW's at the $100 US mark. I expect them to be unbundeled barebones drives, and only maybe 2x, and finicky about media, but you will see them. Market demand will drive the manufacuring process.

DVDRW's are 4x and I got mine for $120 at Staples. The Pioneer AO5. There isnt a big drive yet to speed them up and for obvious reasons. Who can really master a DVD that quickly? I mean I am archiving some concerts I have on VHS and it takes forever to just get it in my system and captured correctly. Then I have to create menus and artwork. To do all of this succesfully, it takes a lot of time. I actually feel satisfied with the 2x burn.

Im not so big into copying DVD's except my own. I really prefer to buy the artwork and everything. I find good deals on them all the time.

[energy80s]

I just saw the AO5 today in a local computer shop for a whopping £350! That's over $560!! And in Curry's (one of the largest electrical retailer in the UK) DVD+R discs are still £5 ( $8 ) each! And no sign of any minus R discs in stock! As you can see, there's still quite a discrepency between the USA and the rest of the world.

[Craig Tucker]

There is also quite a discrepancy between UK high street retailers and UK online suppliers. I have seen the A05 online for around £160 and DVD-R's for a little as £0.59

[energy80s]

Yeah, although I still prefer to buy from a local supplier rather than online. It's much better to have someone to shout at!!

Incidently, most prices I quote are from trade only dealers, retail shops are a damn sight more expensive. Although I've noticed that very few computer companies are even offering DVD writers, preferring to bring one in on special order only ... not a good way to negotiate a discount!!