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  1. Member
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    I saw a cd-r recorded dvd files format in it and able to view with dvd players? Can someone tell me how did they do this? I try using nero to burn dvd format into a cd-r which is possible, but can't view. Drag and Drop can't view it too...
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  2. Banned
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    Im rather sure you didnt see real dvd-video file (VOBs) playing from a CD-R
    But there are two possibilities:

    1
    DVD Player is MPEG-4 compatible, and files on CDR were in that format

    2
    CDR was actually a VCD or SVCD or CVD.
    The latter format is fully DVD-compliant (if used with 48k audio).
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  3. Member Cornucopia's Avatar
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    What?!
    'Course you can have VOBs on CD-R! That's what's called "miniDVD" or "DVDonCD" or "cDVD".

    I have a couple of homemade ones (mainly for testers) in my living room right now, as well as a pressed one from Sonic Solutions.

    You just have to make sure that whatever burner app you're using understands that even though the media will be expecting "Mode1", that it should put "DVD Mode" on it instead (or rather looking the other way--the image is expecting DVDMode, but you're going to put it on the disc in Mode1). Everything will be alright, of course, as they're basically the same.

    The ability of a player to work with this is usually a firmware and CD speed issue (you can't give it regular bitrates; need to keep down to ~2.5-3.5Mbps or it skips).

    The other things DereX888 said could be true here, though--you might have actually seen something else.

    Scott
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    Originally Posted by Cornucopia
    What?!
    'Course you can have VOBs on CD-R! That's what's called "miniDVD" or "DVDonCD" or "cDVD".

    I have a couple of homemade ones (mainly for testers) in my living room right now, as well as a pressed one from Sonic Solutions.
    Scott, how many standalones support playback of "miniDVD"?
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  5. Member Cornucopia's Avatar
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    Don't know exact number, but I would guess about 15-25% of those post 2001 players out there (that's pretty much when they got CD-R playback ironed out).

    But it does play on 100% of software players.

    Scott
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    Originally Posted by Cornucopia
    Don't know exact number, but I would guess about 15-25% of those post 2001 players out there (that's pretty much when they got CD-R playback ironed out).

    But it does play on 100% of software players.

    Scott

    Up until about 2 years ago, I used to include miniDVD disc in my 'compatibility tests' on standalone players.
    It was a handful of Apex, City, etc unknown brands/models that were able to play miniDVDs without usual skipping due to bitrates exceeding CD playback standard (and often only after applying firmware hacks).

    I think 15% of standalones is a great exaggeration.
    Perhaps even a 1% would be too optimistic as well.
    Thus, IMHO, "miniDVD" is a strictly computer format.
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  7. Member
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    I'm pretty sure it's a CD-R with vobs inside the VIDEO FOLDER.

    So all I need is the application that understands it? Which program can I purchase?
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  8. Banned
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    Originally Posted by Johnnylee_hang
    I'm pretty sure it's a CD-R with vobs inside the VIDEO FOLDER.

    So all I need is the application that understands it? Which program can I purchase?
    If you have a VIDEO_TS folder on the CD-R and in this folder you have *.VOB and *.IFO files, then yes, you have a miniDVD. Any software DVD player (PowerDVD, WinDVD) will play this on a PC. DVD format video has never been official for CD-R discs, so most standalone DVD players have firmware that never checks for this type of disc. 5+ years ago, some people hacked firmware on certain Apex DVD players to play this type of disc, but Apex DVD players are almost impossible to find now. Standalone DVD players that play Divx discs MAY be able to play this type of disc. My Philips DVP-642 can play them, but it plays them in what I call "File play mode", which means that you have to go into the VIDEO_TS directory and select the VOB file to play manually. It won't automatically play. And also with my Philips DVD player, after it starts playing, you have to manually push the "Audio" button on the remote control a few times until the player can find the audio and play it. That may be because years ago when DVD burners and discs cost a fortune and I didn't have one, I had a very old DVD authoring program that I used to make miniDVDs of shows like Futurama. This authoring program only worked with MPEG audio, so that's probably why I had to press the Audio button on the remote control to find the MPEG audio as the player probably defaulted to AC3 and there was no AC3 on the disc.
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  9. Member
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    well, the disc that they burn can be play with my dvd player, but when I backup it up and burn it to cdr, it's not playable. If I burn it to dvd-r then it's playable.
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    Well, here go some facts about the "well-known" cDVD:

    -- outside of the U.S.A. (and outside of Europe too, I believe), the quantity of standalone DVD players that do support miniDVDs is not that small;

    -- if you are ready to accept inferior quality, miniDVDs can contain up to 2 hours of video;

    -- WMP 9 plays not only miniDVDs, but also VIDEO_TS directories recorded on the hard disk;

    -- LG 7352N handles non-DVD-standard video resolutions (480x320, 528x400, 576x432, etc.) without a problem;

    -- DVD Lab Pro accepts creating non-standard DVD-video stuff, with or without complaining about that ^_^ ;

    -- IIRC, some ancient DVD players were unable to play CD-Rs, but were able to play CD-RWs;

    That's all for now.

    =================
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