One channel sound with several VCD players

[kevinkobelsky]

When I play a VCD with WMP, Mediamatics, and I-VCD, I get video but only one channel of sound (same channel out of both speakers). So I lose the lead singer (NOT good). These programs don't have similar (or any other) problems with audio CDs nor DVDs.
One player (STHSDVD) does provide 2 channels, but isn't XP compatible, so it locks up regularly after a few minutes.
I checked the herovision website (they produced STHSDVD) but it's in Mandarin, with no English information. I see something that looks like an XP product, but there's no way to order it.

Why does this happen with the well known players but not the STHSDVD, and more importantly, any suggestions on what to do?
I'm running XP Pro on a Toshiba Portege notebook (PII 366 with 192 meg of memory).
I would really appreciate your ideas here.

[kevinkobelsky]

I figured it out
WMP (Windows Media Player for XP) can't handle audio properly in .dat or .mpg format.
RealOne player can handle video and audio properly, but only in .mpg format, not .dat, so...
If you convert the .dat file to an .mpeg file (i.e., .mpg not mp3 - so that it still has both video and audio), using freeware like VirtualDub or VCD Gear (freeware/sharewareand great for converting and cutting and pasting clips), then, RealOne Player will play it perfectly (but WMP won't)

To rip the sound (and not the video), remove the video from the .mpg file using TMPGEnc, then use VirtualDub to convert the format to a wav file, then rip away.