VCDs....

[tgpo]

All I make...mainly because it's all my DVD Player wil play.

[Tommyknocker]

Until the DVD writer drops below $100, I think I will stay with VCDs.

[mattscholey]

VCD's are on the rise. Since recordable DVD is not yet at a price range most people will pay, VCD's are still the best option for recording higher quality video, (Ok, VCD quality is not as good as VHS, but think about XVCD or SVCD), and playing their own videos back on their DVD player. With mini-DV camcorders and editing software, coming into a growing number of homes, people are increasingly putting their home videos on their computer. For me, and I'm sure many other people who edit home videos on their PC, using my CD burner to put the video on VCD (actually XVCD for me) to play back with a little more quality and with assurance that the video quality won't degrade over time, sounded like the sensible thing to do.

Before DVD players, most people in the western world had probably barely heard of VCD, but now since many people are discovering they have the ability to play the format in their household, their looking into it. Once we all get DVDR, you can be sure we'll never touch a VCD again, but for now their are people switching from VHS to VCD every day.

Matt

[adam]

As far as the home author is concerned, I'd have to say that VCDs are on the steady decline. As far as a commercial product, however, they are as strong as ever. I don't know the exact statistics, but I believe that VCDs still outsell DVDs worldwide.

As long as hardware is being manufactured which supports VCD, the format is far from dead.

[Poplar]

S/VCD is poor man's DVD. It was designed to be that way and has done a wonderful job. The fatal blow to S/VCD will be the price of DVD media. Until the price of DVD media falls to the level of CDR media (dollar per GB), I will not switch.

[AarontheRipper]

I definately don't see VCD's on the rise. Although I am sure that there are those of you who would beg to differ, as DVD burners keep getting cheaper and cheaper, more people will be going to them. I too was once a VCDer, but a huge rebate at Staples changed that for me. It's really not that expensive (atleast in the US). My burner was $150 and I pay just over a buck a disk. For those who have a computer and are cash strapped, I imagine VCDs will continue to do well, but I believe that most people have a couple hundred bucks to blow on entertainment, and so I don't see many new users of the VCD format. I think that most who are currently using it will switch eventually to DVD's, and those who are coming in will probably jump right into DVD's. Anyway you slice it, in places like the US, Europe, etc. I don't see VCD's gaining any popularity because they're just not as good as DVD's. I love the fact that I don't need 3 CDs to fit one quality XVCD. This may not be the case in other parts of the world, but VCDs are definately on the way out in the US, Europe, and the other more developed places on the planet.

[txpharoah]

Hey adam, if we take Asia out of the picture, VCD is dead isn't it? That's what my research has shown, with the rest of the world solid in the DVD market.

[adam]

Well I suppose for the most part that's true txpharoah but you can't just ignore the most populous continent on the planet. I would also argue that no format is dead unless it is officially defunct and everyone stops producing hardware that supports it, and that is not going to happen to VCD for many years to come regardless of how many are sold in Asia.

VCDs never really sold much outside of Asia. They are still exported all across the world, yes even to the US, but the number sold pales in comparison to DVD pretty much everywhere except Asia.

[K2]

I will use VHS before a VCD !!!

I can ask if the dot matix printer is dead. It still serves a very small niche market. But no one I know would trade in a inkjet for a dot matrix.

[adam]

Ok, but I would't exactly define Asia as a niche market.

[rhegedus]

Until I discovered this site, I would play downloaded clips through my video card to VHS then watch them on TV.

This site taught me about VCD and I've watched many DVD rips (my own DVDs) in order to learn first the basics, then the finer points of VCD.

But since I've bought a DVD burner, all of my films have gone to DVD (I've only made VCDs/SVCDs for 10 minute clips at very high bitrates). Now a DVD burner might not be in everyone's reach, but with media prices at below $1/£1 a disk more people will move over to DVD (when I first bought a CD writer, blanks would be about £2).

I had loads of fun learning how to make VCDs and great pleasure watching the fruits of my toils, but now the time has come for VCD to move over. DVD is the big driving force now.

Regards,

Rob

[EddyH]

VHS got more rez, but VCD has rez enough and far less noise (if done right). Add in the quasi-DVD conveniences eg size, instant skippability, menus, multiple tracks etc.. winner.
Most VHS except for very good grade can't stand up to it... well... except recording time perhaps... you can't stretch a VCD realistically past two hours whilst still even being close to SP.. so a max of an E90 or E120 tape, which are hardly ever sold any more. I got *five* hour VHSs on the shelf, with a string of related movies or stacks of music videos in 2xLP mode

like i'd ever have the time though!

And DVD will have to do better than dollar per gig, when was the last time you paid 0.70 or so on a CDR unless it was very high grade? (my answer: today, a pack of 10 for 6.99, but it was paid under duress.. bloody memorexes as well, but clutching at straws)

in the end... VCD simply more compatible as well

For the absolute-quality discussion: now where did i put that betamax..?

[EddyH]

Defining asia as "niche" is the reason things take an age and a lot of complaint to get even the roughest of PAL transfers sometime.. no matter that there's probably more people use it than NTSC (um. maybe. who knows), but it's america and japan's format of choice so "screw everyone else"

K2, more than twice over the past couple months have i been tempted to hove my epson inkjet in the direction of trash, and nip off to get PC world's one remaining FX-80e.. no ink nozzles means no clogging means no cleaning for half an hour at a time and losing 3/4 of the cartridge so that the letters don't have big bands through them wiping out the middle bar on all your Es and Fs.. dotters surely have banding but only as darkness differences, not that kind of inkjet nonsense. And the rez is good enough.. ribbons last for ever. Just got to deal with lightness and slowness of print, noise..

or perhaps a 2ndhand laser?

[Nelson37]

As long as they can do something DVD's can't, they will live on.

Dot-matrix still exists because it can do something laser/ink-jet printers can't, namely make legal carbon copies.

VCD's (S, X, or C for me) advantage is cost, particularly in any kind of multiple-copy distribution. Family movies for relatives, or freely distributed "infomercials" are two examples I have done, DVD will be too expensive for these uses for some time yet. For $50 bucks, including the burner, I can easily crank out 50 copies. DVD won't touch this for at least a year or two.

Also, SVCD is perfect for individual TV episodes for immediate viewing, with DVD you have to collect several episodes before burning or be very wasteful.

[RayS]

I still like VCDs best. Plenty of free (after rebate) media, new software makes it a breeze, fast to burn, quality of image is good enough.

DVD media is still costing way too much. Too many coasters with certain batches of media. Worst of all, some problems don't show up until the middle or near the end - so you don't know the job was bad unless you view the entire disc.

Quality of CD media greatly improved over past two years. I no longer get drop-outs or blocking like several years ago. (I wish I could say the same for current DVD media) All my DVD players play VCDs well. For now its VCDs for me and I'll wait until DVD media gets lower in price, and more reliable.

[shochan]

I never did dabble in the rebat mess. But now im paying about a dollar a dvd disc thats not a dollar a gig but a dollar a disc. thats like 25 cents a gig and you still get the extra 400 meg. So if you break it down even further to how many cdrs you can fit on a dvd I pay 16 cents per cdr disc thats like 16 dollars for 100 of them, so for the money im actually getting more.

when I did burn svcds and vcds it took 2 cds to do 1 move at good quality(sometimes 3) and i was paying 20 to 25 dollars a spindle of 50 so that is like 40 to 50 dollars for 50 movies and im paying the same buying the dvds and they are a hella better quality. SO i dont know what people are complaining about. but here is the link to where i get my dvds

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?DEPA=&submit=Go&description=optodisc

look at the 47.99 discs

[MOVIEGEEK]

I still make the occasional slideshow VCD,I figure waste a $2 DVD-R when the resolution is the same(704x480) on a .25 CD-R.
As was said earlier as long as they make VCD compatible DVD players I will continue to make VCD's.

[twodogs]

VCDs are good for rips to watch in the car on a 6inch screen.
Other than that, I don't have much use for them.

SVCDs/CVDs are good for VHS/8mm conversion.

Therefore, VCD is dying , but SVCD is here to stay.

[vitualis]

As what adam said really.

VCDs will be on a steady decline but they are far from dead.

In the non-US world (which is the vast majority of the world... ) DVD burners and DVD media aren't really that cheap when compared to CD burners and CD-R media.

I would say that for home produced content, VCD production is on the rise and will do so for a while yet (similarly, DVD production is also on the rise).

World wide, VCD is slowly being replaced by DVD (and the VCD trade in Asia is HUGE) but there is still quite a lot of material that can be purchased on VCD but not DVD.

Regards.

[Super Warrior]

DEAD!!!!!! Or at least it's dead to me.VCDs were just lame.So what if they're cheap and easy to make? The quality is lame,the storage is lame,etc.They are just not worth taking the time to make at all.

DVD-R is the stuff and they are coming down in price nicely.You can get a good quality 50 pack of Princo DVDR's for $40, that both burn good and play good at www.allmediaoutlet.com

[energy80s]

I think it wil be a year or two yet before recordable DVD takes off with the masses. Currently its just too bloody dear! The prices quoted so often in these forums from Americans BEAR ABSOLUTELY NO RELATION to prices anywhere else on the planet. And all this talk of rebates is irrelevant too. Even CDR's aren't as cheap as they appear to be in the USA, but at least they are affordable, with CDR burners available from about $60 upwards.

I intend to buy a DVD burner within the next few months but it still will cost me over a week's wages to do so! Until then xCVD's will do quite nicely. I think that VCD's and SVCD's still have some life left in them yet.

[Oracle]

Forget the boring Polls check out this ONE

[tgpo]

Forget the boring Polls check out this ONE

Wow, having my polls called boring just makes me wanna jump up and vote in yours...

[LanEvo7]

VCDs are nowhere near dead. The whole Asian market uses it, I don't understand why the Americans don't. Whether VHS or VCD quality is better, is debatable. I see them as about the same. VCDs are easier to store and they don't degrade. When was the last time you heard of a VCD player getting its tape stuck in the heads. This has happened many times to me on my VCR. I had to open up the damn thing just to get it out. Besides DVD recorders and discs are still very expensive. I have one myself, but I rarely like to encode something at full DVD resolution and bitrate. I usually use half d1 with svcd bitrates. Honestly, I really can't tell the difference. Of course there are people out that with picky eyes and say "see I can see the fuzzy line there when I sit two inches away from the TV on VCD.

[Sefy]

I Do believe most people know my opinion on this specific topic no ?
Either way, I believe VCD's are far from dead, they will always be easier to
make then Authoring a DVD, they give great picture quality when done right!
Most importantly, they are alot more portable then any other format that at
this moment exists in the market, and you can't beat that! :P

I Rather take a VCD on the road then a DVDR, cause lets face it, DVDR are a
very expensive, not to mention, a DVD Portable isn't exactly as cheap as one
of the VCD Portable, and if you got an old Laptop with just a CD drive, VCD's
are just perfect for it, as they don't require alot of processing power!

Much easier to backup a VCD to another CDR media unlike a DVDR which as
much as you'd all like to think, is NOT yet as easy for a newbie, there also is
the matter of not everyone yet has a DVD Drive, while everyone has a CD in
their PC! therefor the matter of portability and compatibility comes in handy!

[sweetwayne]

As far as the home author is concerned, I'd have to say that VCDs are on the steady decline. As far as a commercial product, however, they are as strong as ever. I don't know the exact statistics, but I believe that VCDs still outsell DVDs worldwide.

As long as hardware is being manufactured which supports VCD, the format is far from dead.

I take an opposite view here. I personally have never bought a commercial VCD or even seen them for sale other than online auctions/websites. But I regularly burn them for my own homw use. I did just recently get an old pioneer DV-104 so maybe (S)VCD will be a thing of the past for me soon. But in the meantime, since CDRs are so cheap, I'll just stick to them.

[Conquest10]

As far as the home author is concerned, I'd have to say that VCDs are on the steady decline. As far as a commercial product, however, they are as strong as ever. I don't know the exact statistics, but I believe that VCDs still outsell DVDs worldwide.

As long as hardware is being manufactured which supports VCD, the format is far from dead.

I take an opposite view here. I personally have never bought a commercial VCD or even seen them for sale other than online auctions/websites. But I regularly burn them for my own homw use. I did just recently get an old pioneer DV-104 so maybe (S)VCD will be a thing of the past for me soon. But in the meantime, since CDRs are so cheap, I'll just stick to them.

go to your closest china town and you'll see them.

[adam]

sweetwayne: Please read the whole thread before posting. Like I said, with the exception of a few countries here and there, VCDs do not sell much outside of China. But in China they are huge, much moreso than DVD and in fact, worldwide VCDs may still outsell DVDs. You simply cannot deny that VCDs still constitute a massive commercial market worldwide, but if you live in the States than chances are you have never even heard of a VCD.

As far as my statements about a diminishing home authoring market, well I just base those observations on this forum. Over the past few years there has been a steady progression from VCDs toward SVCDs, and now more and more people are switching over to DVDr. Sure some people are just now discovering VCD, but I think that as DVDr prices continue to drop, VCD for home authoring will become less and less popular.

[keithsebastian]

Hey, everyone seems to be talking about authoring VCD's and authoring DVD's. But, what about buying original movies ? DVD's are grossly overpriced compared with VCD's. You may say "what about all the extra content?...the quality?....etc." But as long as there are people out there who don't give a damn about these things, I believe VCD's will live.

Here's a comparison : LOTR - The fellowship.... VCD = Rs. 199 ; VHS = Rs. 299 ; DVD = Rs. 850

Rent/day - VCD Rs.20 ; VHS Rs.8 ; DVD Rs. 75 ... there u go again

So you gotta remember that most people out there aren't ripping from an original, but renting them out or buying.

[pacmania_2001]

I think that they have a future, if only for illegal activities.

For piracy they will remain around for ages as they offer the quality that is needed whilst keeping a reasonable file size. I personally don't know anyone who would download a 4.3GB just to watch a cammed version of a new release movie when you can get that same movie (in the same quality) in an 800mb file.