Anyone know about standalone VCD players?

[JoeNixon]

I have DVD player which plays VCDs, but it doubles up the VCD resolution to DVD resolution, which is fine on bought VCDs but on the one's I make myself from TV recordings aren't sharp enough and although they look fine on 100% on the computer, when the DVD player doubles them up that don't look that great. So I was wondering - do standalone VCD players (opposed to DVD) just keep the resolution the same? I'm really looking at one of those NAPA thingies, so if anyone could tell me if they just stick with the set VCD resolution or start fiddling around changing it?

Thanks,


Joe

[vitualis]

The concept of "doubling" the resolution isn't quite correct... Whether it is playing a DVD or VCD, your hardware player is simply converting the digital video data to an analogue signal that your TV will understand. Whether or not it is a DVD or VCD player, the concept is the same.

Some DVD players don't play VCDs as well though, and this may be your problem... However, I would make sure by testing out any stand-alone VCD player you are considering of buying FIRST. It could be that you simply have poor quality VCDs.

Stand-alone VCD players are made by a number of Chinese companies (e.g., Shinco and Sast) which can be of quite good quality. A number of better know companies also make stand-alone VCD players, including Sony and Panasonic. Stand-alone VCD players are not common in the Western world, but you should be able to find them for purchase if you look hard enough.

Regards.

[valzuniga]

my napa dav 311 sucks, dont buy one!

[vitualis]

Agreed.

If you plan on getting a VCD player for quality VCD playback, get a proper full-sized one.

Regards.

[SatStorm]

Another solution, is a DVD standalone, based on a DVD rom...
Those "standalones" plays everything and have very good quality.
In Europe we are full of those, the best ones are Cyber-home (which they are chinese, but they made them for germany and then E.U.)and amoisonic

A very good standalone VCD player, is Amoisonic MP3 957
Check out http://www.amoisonic.gr/en/VCD957.html

Also Napa ain't good... Very bad picture...

[SatStorm]

Also, Television sets with 100HZ picture looks better that simply televisions..
I have 2 29'' television sets. One cheap, one good...
Well, the difference is HUGE!!!!

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: SatStorm on 2001-07-17 02:23:18 ]</font>

[JoeNixon]

No, it's weird 'cos the DVD player plays back VCDs made from DVDs ~perfectly~ i mean the picture quality is great it's not all blocky at all and it looks pretty much as good as digital TV, but once I put in a VCD made from another source other than a DVD it look awful. First I though it was my crappy recordings, but then I downloaded some from the internet that look great really fine and sharp on the computer, but on the DVD player they go all blocky, especially when there's loads of action, and even when they isn't details all blury. So I really don't know why it has such a problem with VCDs that aren't ripped from DVDs, the only thing I can think of is something weird like how the DVDs were in MPEG2, so the DVD player prefers them since it is designed to play MPEG2. Also i have a 100hz TV aswell, so it's not like the TVs crappy.

[SatStorm]

Then, you have problem to the grabbing...
You have noise to your grabbs!
You need a TBC unit for sure....
It really Helps!