Which DVD player to buy for miniDVD?

[Daniel]

I have a miniDVD and have tried to play it on Shinco DVD2100 without success. I guess this model doesn't read miniDVD. I would like the miniDVD gurus out there to give me advice as to which model I should buy. I have looked through the list in this forum but somehow am not convinced that the info is 100% dependable.

All advice will be very much appreciated

[aldus4]

I use mini-DVD's on my Encore DV450 which is basically a rebadged Sampoo player. These "Hacker" DVD Players as they are often called, can usually play them. In my instance I had to upgrade the firmware from 3.4d to 3.5f for mini-dvd's to work.

[vitualis]

Robshot has done some good research in this area: http://www.robshot.com

Basicially, the AIWA portables and the Afreey and its clones are the only verified players to play back miniDVDs.

Regards.

[Daniel]

Michael,

I can't get to Robshot.com. Is it still around?

[vitualis]

No, it seems that Robshot is no longer on-line...

Regards.

[Gismo]

Hello All.

Hopefully there is not a thing like a stupid Q! These mini-DVD's, what is it all about? Do u buy them or are they made by means of ripping a DVD and burning it on a CD? Sorry for all the Q, but it sounded interesting...

[aldus4]

@ Gismo

The term "mini-DVD" means you have all the files and structure of a standard DVD on a CD-R. As you know DVD's can hold between 4.7GB and 9.4GB per side. A CD-R around 850MB (90+ CD-R's). This means that due to the file size etc. you can "only" store about 15mins of Audio/Video feed on this selfmade DVD on CD-R media. Compared to watching a standard DVD of around 2-3 hours it's rather "mini" - hence the saying "mini-DVD". I haven't come across commercially produced mini-DVD's yet, but they may be out there???

[vitualis]

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I haven't come across commercially produced mini-DVD's yet, but they may be out there???
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There are no commercially produced miniDVDs as miniDVDs are not a standard -- and that they don't play on most DVD players.

Regards.

[Daniel]

Has anyone ever used Shinco DVD 868 to play miniDVD?

[andydd]

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On 2001-07-06 03:54:01, aldus4 wrote:
@ Gismo

The term "mini-DVD" means you have all the files and structure of a standard DVD on a CD-R. As you know DVD's can hold between 4.7GB and 9.4GB per side. A CD-R around 850MB (90+ CD-R's). This means that due to the file size etc. you can "only" store about 15mins of Audio/Video feed on this selfmade DVD on CD-R media. Compared to watching a standard DVD of around 2-3 hours it's rather "mini" - hence the saying "mini-DVD". I haven't come across commercially produced mini-DVD's yet, but they may be out there???
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yes./.BUT..if you re-encode the dvd at a lower bitrate you can quite easily fit a movie across 2 cd-rs they are still very good qwuality and you can keep menus dts/ac3 if you want.
i have a afreey ld2060 that plays em fine but its no longer made and is now selling out fast !

andydd

[aldus4]

@andydd

There is no end to what you can and can't do with the afreey, sampoo, encore range of players One of the best buys I did in my life. Ever tried making a mpeg1 mini-DVD?

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: aldus4 on 2001-07-07 06:01:24 ]</font>

[Daniel]

[quote]
On 2001-07-07 06:00:46, aldus4 wrote:
@andydd

There is no end to what you can and can't do with the afreey, sampoo, encore range of players One of the best buys I did in my life. Ever tried making a mpeg1 mini-DVD?

--------------------

What is contained in these players that makes them able to read miniDVD? the drive type used? or decoder chip? or ROM??

[aldus4]

To be honest with you I have no idea what they contain, I was once told that their drive system is that of standard PC's - which apparently work better for different media, formats etc. Secondly the firmware is upgradable via CD. Only since version 3.3e for example the DVD Player can read mini-DVD's.

If you are interested in the Sampoo range, what's inside etc. I suggest reading http://www.area450.co.uk

[Iview]

I just swapped the drive in my Sampo 620 with a hacked ASUS 12x/40x DVD-Rom. Everything works even better now.

[andydd]

[quote]
On 2001-07-09 18:38:34, Daniel wrote:
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On 2001-07-07 06:00:46, aldus4 wrote:
@andydd

There is no end to what you can and can't do with the afreey, sampoo, encore range of players One of the best buys I did in my life. Ever tried making a mpeg1 mini-DVD?

--------------------

What is contained in these players that makes them able to read miniDVD? the drive type used? or decoder chip? or ROM??

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No..nothing amazing..thev reason they can play miniDVD is :

As soon as you put in a disk into a dvd standalone it first looks at the TYPE of disc if its a CD it just looks for Audio CD, VCD and maybe Mp3 or SVCD files..it doesnt look for 'DVD files' because as far as its concerned DVD files CANT be on a CD.

The Sampo/Afreey/Encore works differently (..It looks for DVD/VCD/Audio/whatever files irrespective of wether you have inserted a DVD or CD disc.the same as a DVD Rom drive in a PC does)..The drive in an Afreey Is a DVD-Rom drive with IDE connections and can be swapped with any CD/DVD PC drive which makes it very flexible.

Check out http://www.area450.co.uk for lots more info.

Yeah..The first miniDVD i made (End Of Days) was Mpeg-1/ac3..It plays ok on the afreey but some software players dont like it..interestingly most DVD authoring software wont let you use MPeg-1 BUT is is included in the DVD specifications as a valid format

andydd

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: andydd on 2001-07-10 04:21:47 ]</font>

[aldus4]

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On 2001-07-10 04:18:22, andydd wrote:
..interestingly most DVD authoring software wont let you use MPeg-1 BUT is is included in the DVD specifications as a valid format

andydd
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DVDit will let you produce Mpeg1 DVD's - I thought it was the most "popular" DVD authoring software

[Daniel]

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On 2001-07-06 23:53:00, Daniel wrote:
Has anyone ever used Shinco DVD 868 to play miniDVD?

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Can someone share his/her experience with Shinco?

[Iview]

Daniel,
I was looking at the Shinco DVD-868 before, it plays DVD/SVCD/VCD/CD/MP3. It also do CDR and CDRW, but have trouble with some CDRW. It has Kareoke and come with 2 controllers and 428 games on 9 discs. Firmware can be upgraded and there is hack for region free. outputs are: composite, S-vdieo, 5.1channel, analog stereo, coaxial and optical. you get a lot for the price.
However, I already have full size DVD players, so I bought the Shinco DVD-960 (portable with LCD screen) instead. Pretty good quality, plays DVD/(S)VCD/x(S)VCD/CD/MP3, and CDR only. All regions and Macrovision free. Had it for 9 months now, play everything it supose to pretty good, did not give me any trouble, quite happy with it. that's the extend I know about Shinco, hope this will help.