Can you play data files such as movies on DVD players?

[AndrewS16]

i have this dvd player and i was hoping that someone would tell me if i could do this, I wanted to know if i can burn a movie such as MPEG-(1,2,3,4..) on to a CD-R as DATA and try to play the CD-R on my DVD player? I read my manual but i stil didnt get what it said about the playable formats. It plays CD-R, CD-RW, SVCD, well and also DVD. Please answer this and tell me if any players play, or do such thing that i just mentioned. Its an PIONEER Home Theatre. GO TO THIS SITE TO SEE EXACTLY HOW IT LOOKS LIKE.

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/Pioneer/CDA/HomeProducts/HomeProductDetails/0,1422,423,00.html

[BJ_M]

no

[Nicolaus]

no

[cartamy]

I hope the two prior replies said "no" because they know a great deal about Pioneer DVD players. I know nothing about that brand. I can tell you that my Apex model AD-5131 will definitely play mpeg files saved as a data disc on CD-R media. This is how I'm storing all of my digital camcorder downloads. When I load the disc in the player, it brings up a menu for me to select which files I would like to play. I like this because when I made a VCD out of a lot of small mpegs, it is stored on the VCD as one big generically named file (AVESEQ01 or something close to that). By saving as a data file, I can keep a short description (the name of the file) of what is in the clip. I don't know how prevalent the ability is of DVD players to read data files, but yours just might do it as well.

[furball6969]

Yes you can, depending onthe player though.

Cheap DVD players rock. Get an Apex 1200 and play all the mpeg1 ISO files you want from cd or DVD-R.

[BJ_M]

i said no because you can't on the pioneer home theatre system(s) -- at least the ones i tried ..

that was his question basicly though he has edited it few times since i first answered ..

[Thorn]

The ability to play video files burned as data (especially mpeg4) is usualy reserved to off brands and is often a gimmick to garner more sales (not that it isn't useful... it just hasn't caught on enough for the main brands to pay much attention). Usually this feature is advertised. DVD, SVCD, and VCD are specific formats and don't allow for the files to be just burned as data.

BTW there is no mpeg 3, so you'd be hard pressed to find a player to play it . On the other hand, many players play mp3s (which are mpeg1 layer 3). It is relatively common for players to read mp3s on a data disc, but again the player usually advertises it (I think all of the newest batch of pioneers can do it, but I only looked at a few of them).

[crahak]

Off brands play mpeg4 eh?
Only "divx" players do that, and they're not really an option either imho.
As far as "off brand" goes, I guess you mean all these "shinco clones" (like most routers are "amit clones" and such) Well, they usually play it all, also because they're chinese based, and they have to have support for these formats. Those also ususally play mpeg1/2 burned as data (mine does, it lists them in the mp3 player, and it plays em as video)

If you really want total support for everything, you're more or less stuck getting yourself (making) a htpc. (support for all mpeg4 codecs, mp3s on dvd, X(S)VCDs with basically any specs, basically everything...)

It's surprising to see when you buy a DVD player that is supposed to "do it all", most of the time you'll manage to find some restrictions. I've heard of some that only played mp3's named in 8.3 format, some that didn't play VBR mp3's properly and the like. (most have an ugly player interface too, and no support for ID3 tags) Lots of players are really restrictive on bitrates, what resolutions they support, or no 23.976 fps support in (X)(S)VCD (only 25 and/or 29.970)... Very very very few players will do it all, and on top, have a great quality video output (and overall build quality) and everything... I like my GE 5803P, but it's not perfect either...

[Thorn]

Yea, a homebuilt player is probably the best option for divx/mpeg4...

As for set-top players for mpeg4/divx the forum only has listings for offerings by Kiss, Nuestron, Revoy, and Xbox. Only the XBox would count as anything but off-brand, but even that requires a mod-chip (the XBox does sound like a the best option short of building your own, unless it has other shortcomings).

As for quality, my old Apex was a lot more lenient (including being region hackable) but the video quality was inferior. I like my new Pioneer much better for video quality, but it's missing a few features. Oh, well.