VCd Media DIfferences

[JeffH]

I have been looking through the posts in this section and haven't run across this question so I thought it may help others as well as myself.

What are the differences in media. Specifically, the CD-R media and the media that is designed for audio?

Here is my reason for asking... I have a DVD Player, RCA RC5225P, that I would like to put a home video on a VCD and play in it. The Player supports DVD, VCD and Audio playing. My daughter has a VCD that she bought that works fine.

The differences between this CD and one I'm trying to burn are:
1. It only has a number of 2233-4 on the inside hub.
2. The folder /ext does not have the file scandata.dat in it. (VCD v2.0 supposedly adds this so I suspect that it's VCD v1.1)
3. The CD that I am burning has CD-r on the inside hub.

I've tried burning using Roxio and Nero per this site. I've tried MPEG1 and MPEG2 as well.

Now the manual for the DVD player has very little information in it. What is did say was that Laserdisks, CD-I, CD-RW, CD-R, CD-ROM and DVD-ROM are not compatible.

So are these formats the media format or the format burned by the software? And if it's a media format what CD can I use to burn the VCD's? Is there a VCD formatted media? What about DVD-ROM? What another DVD media format that can be burned for playing in this player? IS there a good source and brand for these blank media?

TIA for any help that can be provided.

Jeff

[tacosalad]

Unfortunately, the DVD laser in the RC5225 just cannot "see" the dyes used in any type of CD-R. This is a physical limitation of many DVD players, so it doesn't matter what format the disc is recorded in. If you copy your daugter's VCD (or an audio CD) the copy won't work even though the original does. Even if it's an exact copy.

Sigh.

Luckily, some brands of CD-RW discs do work in the RCA RC5225. I can't suggest a particular brand, but if you have any CD-RW discs, try one.

To test a particular CD-RW disc, copy an audio CD onto it using your software's "CD Copy" feature. If the copy works as well as the original, then you've found a disc that'll work with your player. Using this method you don't need to worry about the format of the disc--just copy something that works.

[JeffH]

So if I want to make a VCD from a home movie.. would I go through the normal vcd burning process or would I just copy the contents from the cdr I burnt and see if that works?

Also, do you have a recomendation of the brand of DVD player that works with burnt CD-Rs and DVD-Rs ?

[tacosalad]

Yes, you would go through the normal VCD burning process to make a VCD of a home movie, but you would need to record it onto a CD-RW disc that works with your player. That's why I suggest that you just copy an ordinary audio CD onto a CD-RW first, just to make sure the disc itself will work in your player. Then you can re-use the CD-RW disc.

Pioneer DVD players are most people's favorites--they will play just about anything. VCDHelp also has a database that collects people's comments and observations about DVD players:

http://www.vcdhelp.com/dvdplayers.php

-tacosalad

[tacosalad]

Yes, you would go through the normal VCD burning process to make a VCD of a home movie, but you would need to record it onto a CD-RW disc that works with your player. That's why I suggest that you just copy an ordinary audio CD onto a CD-RW first, just to make sure the disc itself will work in your player. Then you can re-use the CD-RW disc.

Pioneer DVD players are most people's favorites--they will play just about anything. VCDHelp also has a database that collects people's comments and observations about DVD players:

http://www.vcdhelp.com/dvdplayers.php

-tacosalad