US Video CD information?

[phatrat1982]

I am not sure if this is the right place to put it so if not mods please move ok thanks. I don't know if a thread like this was started yet because the search function is not working for me right now so I can't find any of this info anywhere and I search google day and night long and hard and am making little to no progress.

I found a list of every movie Philips released in the US on the VCD format in relation to their CD-i format but I want to know the following,


1- Did any other company release movies on the format in the US?

2. IF yes to 2 what all movies are on VCD in the US?

3. Was Star Wars ever released on VCD in the US?



I am specifically seeking info on official US release not China or Honk Kong or UK releases just US specific info for now.

Any help would be greatly appreciated big time thanks.

Also if anyone knows of any forums or websites that might have some more information on the format from the US market perspective that would also be cool.

[edDV]

I don't recall VCD here but Philips and Warner were pushing CD-i back then and those could play VCD.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD-i
http://www.consoledatabase.com/faq/philipscd-i/phillipscdifaq.txt

23. WHAT ARE KARAOKE CD DISCS? Karaoke CD discs are a special kind of CD ROM/XA bridge disc that allow you to play Karaoke discs on a dedicated Karaoke CD player or on a CD-i player equipped with a Digital Video cartridge. The Karaoke CD standard was developed jointly Philips and JVC. It features the ability to play full-screen, full-motion video and CD-quality audio using the MPEG-1 compression standard. Note that CD-i players with an added Digital Video cartridge can play Karaoke CD discs; CD-i discs do not play on a Karaoke CD player. *****

24. WHAT ARE VIDEO CD DISCS? Video CD discs are a special kind of CD-ROM/XA bridge disc that allow you to play feature films and music videos on a dedicated Video CD player or on a CD-i player equipped with a Digital Video cartridge. A computer equipped with the appropriate hardware and software could also play Video CD discs. The Video CD standard is supported by Philips, JVC, Sony, and Matsushita. It is based on the Karaoke-CD standard and, thus, features the ability to play full-screen, full-motion video with CD-quality audio, using the MPEG-1 compression standard.

[phatrat1982]

No they did I have a few I also have a list of ones made by Philips all I want to know is if they were the only ones who made them or not. The CD-i could play VCD the same VCD's we use today. They also could play a different format but they switched to VCD right away.

[edDV]

I don't recall any promotion of VCD only players in the USA.

[Cornucopia]

In answer to your original questions -
1. Yes, but none of them were Hollywood major titles, all corporate & special interest (I've got 2 from NASA).
2. I don't think anyone's done a comprehensive list. Since there wasn't a "Hollywood/CE" distribution channel set up, no real way to track this without going through all the Pressing Plant & Dupe House logbooks. There were many done these ways. In fact, I probably did over 100 titles myself (all mass-duplicated, not replicated).
3. NO. Never. I can guarantee this.

Seriously, unless this is a Historian's project or a hobbyist whim, you'll do much better just looking at VHS & DVD titles. Heck, even LaserDisc had a larger catalog...

Scott

[phatrat1982]

Ok thanks that was what I wanted to know. I do have a list of every title Philips made and I just wasn't sure if they were the only ones who made movies in the format here. Thanks a bunch that was really all I needed to know. Well that and Star Wars but I actually found the answer to that at starwars.com by accident looking for something else. Thanks for the replies guys.