New, very new to this..

[Megagiga]

Just started hearing about VCds, never mind all this ripping, burning, scorching, chewing...Have a couple of questions so take a seat and put the kettle on:

1. If you get a vcd (copied) and it has all the different folders;vcd,mpegav,etc. To play on a stand alone dvd will it do it automatically or do you have to put the .dat file ONLY on new media? (does play on media player)

2. Tried film above on stand alone dvd (thomson dth4000) and won't play (keeps displaying no disk). Don't think its able to play cdr/w's but that does'nt seem to stop you if you change around the media. So do I have to change media and copy the vcd or do I have to burn or convert to some new format?

3. Am i wasting my time with this stand alone player and should i get a new one? If so which would be the best for region hacks, mp3's and not fussy about media?

4. Lastly (I promise) whats the idea of burning, is that when you download a film from the net and burn to a cdr or what? Should i be burning for previous questions.

Excuse my ignorance,thanks in advance and god bless.

[aldus4]

1.) If you copy a VCD - it's should be identical to the original - hence no changing things. Some commercial VCD's come with their own software players on the CD itself, therefore again no need for Windows Media Player. If you extract the *.dat with VCDGear to your hard drive you can watch the mpeg file (VCDGear converts a dat file to an mpeg file) in the Media Player.

2.) If you check the DVD Player compatibility list for your specific brand http://www.vcdhelp.com/dvdplayers.php?DVDnameid=455&Search=Search&list=0 you'll find a list of CD-R. CD-RW that your player should accept. You should also read the comments left by others, it might prove useful (region hack) etc. The second part of your question depends on if it is a valid copy and that the files are not corrupted in any way.

3.)Up to you. If you are interested in different players that do more, do a wider search using the DVD Player compatibility list, leaving the name open, and checking (ticking) each box of extras you'd like to have. Then read the user comments.

4.)Burning is generally referred to here, as copying the data, files or whatever to CD-R(W).(If anyone here suggests burning something other than your CD-R(W) DON'T!!) If you download an mpeg from the net, you can't just burn it to CD, put it in your player and expect it to work....there's a little more to it (Read the Guides "How To&quot

You should familiarise yourself with the Guides on this website that give excellent advise on "how to", "what is" etc.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: aldus4 on 2001-07-13 12:55:01 ]</font>