VCD vs SVCD - Whats the main differences?

[martyn]

hi,

im a newbie to vcds and stuff. i have just ordered my first capture card (hauppauge win-tv) and i am planning to create a nice collection of programmes onto cd. what is the difference in the two formats vcd and svcd? also, what other kinds of video can you get on a cd? thanks

martyn

[geek rock]

VCD stands for 'Video Compact Disc' and basically it is a CD that contains moving pictures and sound. If you're familiar with regular audio/music CDs, then you will know what a VCD looks like. A VCD has the capacity to hold up to 74/80 minutes on 650MB/700MB CDs respectively of full-motion video along with quality stereo sound. VCDs use a compression standard called MPEG to store the video and audio. A VCD can be played on almost all standalone DVD Players and of course on all computers with a DVD-ROM or CD-ROM drive with the help of a software based decoder / player. It is also possible to use menus and chapters, similiar to DVDs, on a VCD and also simple photo album/slide shows with background audio. The quality of a VCD is about the same as VHS tape based movies.

SVCD stands for "Super VideoCD". A SVCD is very similiar to a VCD, it has the capacity to hold about 35-60 minutes on 74/80 min CDs of very good quality full-motion video along with up to 2 stereo audio tracks and also 4 selectable subtitles. SVCDs use a compression standard called MPEG to store the video and audio. A SVCD can be played on many standalone DVD Players and of course on all computers with a DVD-ROM or CD-ROM drive with the help of a software based decoder / player. It is also possible to use menus and chapters, similiar to DVDs, on a SVCD and also simple photo album/slide shows with background audio. The quality of a SVCD is about the same, but usually better than SVHS tape based movies but it depends how many minutes you choose to store on a CD, less minutes/CD generaly means higher quality.

basically though..

VCD - Mpeg-1 compression, 80 mins on a disc, 352 x 240 resolution
SVCD - Mpeg-2 compression, 40 mins on a disc, 480 x 480 resolution

-Mark

[ya_jai]

First you can read the first two sections on the left "VCD & SVCD". The different I guess it's only how or method to encode mpeg1 and mpeg2 which is include spec of each have a few differences.

VCD, you can expect more complatible with stand alone player (dvd player)

SVCD, you can expect better video quality than VCD.

And also you can do MiniDVD but not so many players can handle this format right now.

[DJRumpy]

Don't forget CVD (China Video Disc). If your player supports it, you can squeeze much more onto an SVCD.

Calling VCD the same is VHS quality is streching the truth somewhat. Most people do not have the quality hardware/software to produce a VCD of any quality. They tend to be blurry, contain alot of macroblocks on high motion, and overall, look worse than VHS. If you find one that is professionally produced, then it would approach VHS for quality. The types that you make at home will probably fall short of that mark.

If you player supports it, I would definately suggest SVCD, or CVD. They have at least twice the video resolution, and the change in quality can be drastic. Try some of the samples under the VCD, and SVCD sections to the left. If you player supports CD-R or CD-RW, burn the samples, and watch them on your TV, see which you like and go from there.

If you eventually plan to move your movies to DVD, then consider that CVD is DVD compatible as far as resolution is concerned and SVCD is not. Using the CVD format, only the audio would need to be resampled if you later tried to move your movies to DVD.

[vitualis]

It is probably fair to say that making a VCD from an inexpensive capture card would probably lead to sub-VHS video quality.

However, if your source quality is good (e.g., DVD rip, self made animation, miniDV), a well made VCD will definitely look on par with VHS. There are some things that VHS does better and some things that VCD will do better (e.g., letterboxed material). Although VCDs will suffer to some degree from MPEG compression artifacts, VHS suffers from analogue ones.

VCDs offer near CD quality stereo audio, however, and the video quality will not degrade noticeable with time.

For the original poster, I concur with the comments of the posters before me. For what you want to know:

• VCDs have better compatibility over SVCD
• You can generally fit more video onto a VCD compared to SVCD per disc
• A well made SVCD will look greatly superior to that of a well made VCD (somewhat comparable to SVHS vs. VHS).
• A standard VCDs tends to be easier to make when compared to a standard SVCD
• However, SVCDs allow more flexibility in encoding the video
• Both offer near CD quality stereo audio (and hence you can use Dolby Surround)
• Both offer high resolution stills and menuing capabilities.

For your purpose, it may be easier to start with VCD. You can/will get better quality with SVCD but it will be a steeper learning curve.

There are non-standard variants (XVCD and XSVCD) but I suggest that you have a good idea what standard VCDs and SVCDs are/can do first before going down that path.

Read widely and good luck!

Regards.