VCD ripping, macro block errors and other anomalies

[dave_van_damme]

Hello! It's 2026 and I've got some questions about Video CD and their general weirdness

Over the years I've tried backing up VCDs with various degrees of success. AI isn't very helpful so I thought I'd ask you guys.

1. I've been using imgburn to rip discs to a bin/cue and VCDgear to convert the bin into MPEG1. If I select "Fix Mpeg errors", there's often upwards of 900 errors per video file. What's the likely cause of these errors? Is there a way to repair them without losing video frames?

2. All of my discs play fine in a DVD player but VLC often displays macroblock errors. I assume this is related to the issue above. Why would a regular dvd player cope with these errors and not VLC? I've tried turning hardware acceleration off but no joy.

3. Discs from the mid 90s seem to be the worst for VCDgear errors/VLC macroblock errors (although 00s discs have it too!). Aside from disc rot (which I'm ruling out due to the lack of any visible decay) what else could be the cause? Could it simply be that discs were authored with poor encoding? These are official releases btw. Did VCDs have error correction? There was some discussion about it here but there wasn't really a conclusion.

4. Sometimes the .bin (or .DAT) contains multiple video files. VCDGear is able to extract some of these files, but not others. Is there any other tools I could be using?

Thanks! I realise this is an antique format that nobody likes, but with the Sega Saturn supporting the VCDs and the recent release of a VCD player for the Dreamcast I figure it might be good to have some definitive answers for future generations to refer back to

[Forgotten]

Hi,
This seems too complicated, I don't think you have to RIP VCDs, just copy video files from it.

Only if there are physical problems with old media, I would use ImgBurn or any other tool (under Linux or Windows) to set CD drive to low speed and retry until success.

Good media: > copy files and rename them (starting from biggest, there is usually one file) to .mpg
Bad media: > use tool to rip to lets say iso. Mount iso, extract files and rename to .mpg

The file extension is just a convention. Use MediaInfo to identify file format but AFAIK it is mpeg1.

After renaming, you might try a loseless fmpeg remux

   ffmpeg -i input.mpg -c copy output-fixed.mpg

[lingyi]

@Forgotten

DAT is a specialized container (just as TS for DVD, M2TS for Blu-Ray and UHD) that contains additional information in the header for the VCD, et.al. disc format. While just changing the extension to MPG or MPEG will likely work, it may also cause playback issues that are solved by extracting the MPEG-1 video from the DAT container.

The video format in VCD is always MPEG-1, with very specific parameters. https://www.videohelp.com/vcd

[lingyi]

@dave_van_damme

I suspect disc degration errors. Try ISOBuster and see how many copy errors occur. The trial doesn't allow access to the more extensive modes, but it will at least give you an overview of what may be the cause of the errors you're seeing. As an analogy, while there are many programs that will RIP CDs, but only some software like EAC will hammer at the errors and possibly correct them.

It's also possible there's some type of copy protection (numerous types where tried over the decades) that's causing the errors. Other than some VCDs from India and Pakistan(?), no VCD copy protection has ever prevented just copying the DAT from the disc.

[cholla]

@ dave_van_damme,
I have no experience with VCD discs but I did some searching.
This topic seemed informative:
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/398959-Found-a-copyrighted-copy-protected-VCD-from-Hong-Kong

[lingyi]

Hello! It's 2026 and I've got some questions about Video CD and their general weirdness

2. All of my discs play fine in a DVD player but VLC often displays macroblock errors. I assume this is related to the issue above. Why would a regular dvd player cope with these errors and not VLC? I've tried turning hardware acceleration off but no joy.

4. Sometimes the .bin (or .DAT) contains multiple video files. VCDGear is able to extract some of these files, but not others. Is there any other tools I could be using?

2. Standalone optical disc players generally have very robust error correction,* prioritizing seamless video/audio playback over accuracy. On the other hand, PC optical drives are designed to provide bit for bit accuracy, especially for data .**

*The legendary Apex AD-1200 and its clones were renown for for playing discs that other players wouldn't, but it was never known for its high picture quality.

**By the same token, software media players are generally optimized to provide pixel for pixel accuracy. Same with your PC monitor or HDTV in Game or PC mode, shutting down filters to smooth out the picture.

4. If your .DAT has several videos within, its multiple videos stitched together or non-compliant VCD, in which each .DAT is a single MPEG-1 video wrapped in a .DAT container.

From https://www.videohelp.com/vcd
MPEGAV AVSEQnn.DAT MPEG files, max 99 tracks, the main movie, trailers, extras, menus...


Edit: My VCD experience is almost exclusively Asian releases. I can't access my ripped VCD collection right now, but as I recall, the only time there were multiple videos in a single .DAT was on karoke releases and each song was accessed by a chapter.

[lingyi]

3. Discs from the mid 90s seem to be the worst for VCDgear errors/VLC macroblock errors (although 00s discs have it too!). Aside from disc rot (which I'm ruling out due to the lack of any visible decay) what else could be the cause? Could it simply be that discs were authored with poor encoding? These are official releases btw. Did VCDs have error correction? There was some discussion about it here but there wasn't really a conclusion.

VCDs, being CDs are much more prone to physical corruption than DVDs and Blu-Rays because there's no protective polycarbonate layer. I have dozens of commercial VCDs that I ripped long ago and wouldn't be surprised if they've degraded over the decades. Non-visible to the naked eye pinholes will cause errors that may not be perfectly corrected during the RIP.

Edit: I believe this may be relevant, since VCDs use CD media. Even the drive used to RIP the disc may affect the error correct. For audio CDs, certain Plextor drives were renown for providing better error correction.

[dave_van_damme]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I have a lot of VCDs in my collection and an overwhelming number have macro block errors which occur periodically when played with VLC. As I mentioned in my first post, when opening these discs with VCDGear, if I click "fix mpeg errors" there's often hundreds of errors listed.

My newest disc is from 2012 and it also has macro block errors on VLC (and from memory, it also displayed these errors when I first bought it). I find it highly unlikely that it's due to disc degradation.

I'm led to believe that the errors that are occuring due to either poor authoring. It's interesting to me that quality control was so poor in Hong Kong in the 90s and even 00s to allow this to happen. But as lingyi pointed out, if standard disc players have robust error protection most people would never have known.

[lingyi]

As I stated, VCDs were always a low cost / low quality alternative to Laserdiscs and later DVDs. In additon, I would contend that many/most Hong Kong and Taiwan disc manufacturers are not highly motivated to produce quality products. Even Tai Seng, who I consider one of the top disc distributors, produced releases in both DVD-9 and lower priced DVD-5, with the latter being signficantly lower quality. I believe this this continues with Blu-Ray and UHD releases. And there's bottom of the barrel distributors like Ocean Shores and Long Shong? who produced utter trash! But sometimes this is the only way to get certain releases.

Try different media players as I believe VLC is know to strive for accuracy, which highlights blemishes. Personally, I've been using PotPlayer for years because of features such as frame by frame playback forward and back. And of course you can use filters/parameters in the player to hide the errors.

Edit: An analogy may be...DVD/Laserdisc (at the time) is an A5 Wagyu steak. VHS is that steak very lightly sliced, retaining some of the texture. VCD is a finely ground hamburger, nearly completely losing the texture of the steak. The source in all three is the same and at some diminishing level, the taste is similar, but the texture is lost with the treatment.

[lingyi]

You're very likely very aware of the following, but posting for those who may not be so familar with VCDs and why some like you and I may have chosen them.

Prior to 1995, when DVDs were released to the general public, there was only Laserdisc*, videotape and VCDs. Asian (Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan) laserdiscs were $100+. Many Hong Kong releases were purposely split to two discs so they could be sold for $150-200! Videotape releases were in the $40-80 in my area. But even if I wanted to buy LDs or videotapes, they were near impossible to purchase in Hawaii without a direct Asian connection. In addition, LDs were apparently released in very limited quantities. In the pre-DVD era, I offered to buy their LD copy of my favorite movies, but no store would sell then at any price. Some stores in the late 90's/early 2000's would sell their use stock, but even then, they were never bargain basement priced.

*Laserdisc was the king of quality for the Asian market, but I believe some Asian videos had releases on VHD and possibly CED.

So, often VCDs were the only available and affordable way to own physical copies of your favorite videos. At one point, I owned VCD, VHS, LD and DVD releases of a Japanese JPop group. I first bought the VHS because the LD was not yet released. Then bought the LD when it became available through an online store. I later bought the VCD when it was released just to complete the then, set. When the DVD was eventually released, I bought that.