CDV's from the 80's/90's

[ChaunceyK]

(Thought I already posted this, but its not showing up. Maybe I hit Preview instead of Submit)

I have the chance to trade for some CD-Videos from the 80's (not VCD's). Observe...



...they're somewhat rare, but if I can't watch them then I'll probably pass on them. Is there any current software or dvd player that plays these? I could be wrong, but I think these are in the old LaserDisc format. Can someone help?

Thanks.

[guns1inger]

Don't know of any way to play them unless you have a compatible laserdisc player, but this guy might be interested in taking them off your hands : http://cdvideo.info/index.shtml

You have a at least one that he doesn't have.

[ChaunceyK]

Odd...I get an "Address Not Found" error for that site.

And I don't actually have these cd-v's, I just have a chance to trade some other Kiss stuff in order to get them. But like I said, if I can't at least play them, I'll probably just pass. I was hoping some new technology might have sprung forth in the way of software for viewing old cd-v's.

[guns1inger]

Addy works for me - don't know what is happening at your end.

But from what I could find, only some laserdisc players and dedicated CD Video players can read them. There doesn't appear to be an software player for them, unless it is something very esoteric

[ChaunceyK]

Weird...the site is working now. Guess maybe I caught it at just the wrong moment, site maintenance or something.

Anyway, thanks for the info.

[jman98]

It is quite impossible to play (or create - some people do ask about this) these discs on a PC. ONLY laserdisc players are capable of playing them. I have a few of these and if you have a capture card on your PC it's not difficult to capture the video from them when played on a laserdisc player and do whatever you want with it (convert to Divx, make a VCD, make a DVD, etc.).

guns1inger's link works fine for me.

CDV suffers from the same malady that effected laserdiscs. The manufacturing process was poorly designed and "laser rot" (do a search on this if you don't know what it is) will probably eventually happen. The smaller size of CDVs may mean that it will take longer to happen, but it's probably inevitable. By the way, CDVs contain a CD audio compatible section and this can be played on any PC or CD audio player. So I should modify my original statement and say that it's quite impossible to play the VIDEO component of these discs on anything but a laserdisc player, but the audio component (4 songs on each of your discs) should play fine on any device capable of playing audio CDs.