A VCD alternative????

[vcdforme]

Having a hard time with your VCD's
playing properly on your stand-alone?
I do, usually having about a 50/50
VCD success rate.

What are the drawbacks of just having a dedicated computer sitting next to your TV, for the purpose of
playing Mpeg1/2 files directly from
the computer into TV? If you need to share with someone else, simply
burn the raw mpeg file to disc and
send to someone with a similar rig.

Similar to TIVO, but you can archive/burn copies.

Seems to me, this would eliminate
these crappy incompatibilities between DVD/VCD/MP3 players.
Playback benefit: instantaneous random access.

I'm considering going this route,
and would appreciate anyone's thoughts.

[wolleric]

The first drawback is of course that a lot less people have a complete PC-to-TV equipment than just a simple stand-alone DVD player.
Also, if you burn an MPEG track to (S)VCD, the whole sector capacity of 2324 bytes is used (instead of only 2048 bytes + 276 bytes for error correction information), so it can hold about 13% more than a data disc.

[hiblueice]

I had a semi-dedicated computer for a while setup next to my TV - The only problem I had was the convienance disadvantage of having the use the keyboard everytime I wanted to pause it or something (no remote) and also my parents can never get the hang of starting a dvd on the computer or any other file for that matter

[sterno]

More and more people are doing things like this just for home use, but it's still not quite a perfect solution because you generally have to actually use the computer like a computer. You can make it more convenient by using an infrared keyboard/mouse, maybe buy a video or sound card with a standard IR remote for basic things.

A typical computer will also be relatively loud, so you may want something like Shuttle's mini-PC which doesn't use fans for cooling. Of course, that makes it hard to use big, fast hard drives like you'd want for a TIVO-like application, so if you want to do that you'll probably have to either live with the noise or homebrew a liquid cooler for your drives. You can also reduce the noise by spending some extra money and using notebook drives with 2.5"->3.5" adapter brackets, but notebook drives don't have the same high capacities as current desktop drives.

[arealgijoe]

:P

Do NOT LOL!

My first DVD player was Creative DVD-ROM with hardware decoder card. I used the video and audio out on it and a RF transmitter/link to send the video to my living room A/V center for watching DVD. I decided that I liked DVD but that it was best suited for Home entertainment than computer watching. I bought a DVD-ROM title and a movie. The DVD-ROM was JUNK, pure junk and not near as good as what I already had on good old CD-ROM.

Of course I went out and bought a DVD player later.

J :P E

[Nicola]

I totally agree...and actually is what I have at my house.
The drawback? It is not so easy to use and basically no remote.
The positives? Too many to tell...cheaper (considering what you get), upgradable all the file formats you want etc etc.

No way I would think about a different solution for my home entertainement: vcd, dvd, mpeg, divx etc etc all from the same machine!

I connected my pc to the television and my soundcard to my home theater system.
The Cable tv is connected to the pc, so if I need to tape something I just need to program the computer and can watch it at any time.
I can save my taped movie to cd (as a raw file) or VCD if I need to share.

I can't think about a more flexible tool...

[Cornucopia]

yeah, but could you send a disc copy to your aunt? bet she doesn't have a similar rig, or understand one for that matter.

[vcdforme]

Thanks all for the GREAT replies!

Yes! you could still burn that MPEG
file to VCD "for your aunt", and hopefully she won't notice that the
audio is slightly out of sync.
(I don't mean to sound sarcastic)
Meanwile, you have the raw mpeg that plays great with no problems.

I am so frustrated with the
hit/miss of making a perfect
VCD. I follow all of the rules
of bitrates and audio rates,
yet there's no consistant quality
to my VCD's.
Even tho' Nero and EasyCD say I'm
"compliant", my odds are that every
other one of my discs have some sort of slight Video lag to audio.

Yes, dealing with another computer has its drawbacks.
There are capture cards out there
with remotes. Kworld? ATI?
(a little easier)...
And I have to deal with my wife who
says she doesn't want to see another damn computer! haha.
*Not as effecient-as Wolleric says,
and in VCD, effeciency is EVERYTHING isn't it? Ugh!
a small-size IR keyboard would
be very cool.

I know I could learn a hell of alot
more about the specifics of video.
But I want reliability, and I'm getting impatient, and I want it
simple.

Sorry for rambling on. Sigh....
The things I go thru just to watch
Sanford and Son.
Thanks everyone! Cheers!

[vitualis]

Having a hard time with your VCD's
playing properly on your stand-alone?
I do, usually having about a 50/50
VCD success rate.

I don't. 8)

If you make your VCDs properly, there is no problem. Of course, if you are converting from DivX, it can be somewhat more difficult but that is really a conversion issue.

Otherwise, it is relatively easy to make standard VCDs. Just use the standard templates and don't deviate from anything with your MPEG encoder. Use a good quality VCD authoring program (e.g., like VCDImager / VCDEasy). I get perfect results everytime.

What are the drawbacks of just having a dedicated computer sitting next to your TV, for the purpose of playing Mpeg1/2 files directly from the computer into TV? If you need to share with someone else, simply burn the raw mpeg file to disc and send to someone with a similar rig.

I think that its been covered by others, but my suggestions include:

• lack of remote control that functions EXACTLY as intended all the time -- an IR keyboard is big and clunky (show me a keyboard the same size and as easy to use as a DVD remote)
• cost of the machine compared to a stand-alone DVD player
• aesthetics
• noise (e.g., from fans)
• quality of output (for example, ever seen component output from a video card? and how about full and consistent support for digital out of DTS and AC3?)
• boot up time (DVD player -- essentially none)
• the list goes on and on...

Basically, I think that I can fairly confidently say that for the cost of a PC that can do most things that we EXPECT a standard DVD player to do (flawless playback of DVDs/VCDs, remote control, S-Video out, digital audio out, you could get a very high quality DVD player.

Seems to me, this would eliminate
these crappy incompatibilities between DVD/VCD/MP3 players.

Possibly. However, at the cost, you could simply buy a high quality player that doesn't have these problems either.

Sometimes there are simpler solutions to problems...

Regards.