Video Technologies

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.

A VCD can be played on
Standalone VCD Players
Almost all standalone DVD Players
PC with a CD-ROM or DVD-ROMs and a software VCD/MPG Player.
 

PAL
 

Video:
1150 kbit/sec MPEG-1
352 x 288 pixels
25 frames/second

Audio:
224 kbit/sec MPEG-1 Layer2

Extra:
Menus and chapters
Still pictures in 704x576,352x288



 


(real size sample)
NTSC/NTSC Film
 

Video:
1150 kbit/sec MPEG-1
352 x 240 pixels
29,97 frames/second

23,976 frames/second NTSC Film

Audio:
224 kbit/sec MPEG-1 Layer2

Extra:
Menus and chapters
Still pictures in 704x480,352x240
 


(real size sample)


Video CD 2.0
About two years after the Video CD 1.1 specification came out, an improved Video CD 2.0 standard was published in 1995. This one added the following items to the features already available in the Video CD 1.1 specification:
• Support for mpeg segment play items (SPI ), consisting of still pictures, motion pictures and/or audio (only) streams was added. See Section 1.6.2 [Segment Items], page 9.
• Support for interactive playback control (PBC) was added.
• Support for playing related access by providing a scan point index file was added.(‘/EXT/SCANDATA.DAT’)
• Support for closed captions.
• Support for mixing ntsc and pal content.
By adding PAL support to the Video CD 1.1 specification, the following resolutions became
available:
• 352 x 240 @ 29.97 Hz (ntsc sif).
• 352 x 240 @ 23.976 Hz (film sif).
• 352 x 288 @ 25 Hz (pal sif).

For segment play items the following audio encodings became available:
• Joint stereo, stereo or dual channel audio streams at 128, 192, 224 or 384 kbit/sec bit-rate.
• Mono audio streams at 64, 96 or 192 kbit/sec bit-rate.
 

 

VCD File/Folder Structure
Folder Files Explanation
VCD INFO.VCD Album and disc identification
  ENTRIES.VCD Entry point list for up to 500 entries
  PSD.VCD Optional Play Sequence Descriptor
  LOT.VCD Optional List ID Offset file
MPEGAV AVSEQnn.DAT MPEG files, max 99 tracks, the main movie, trailers, extras, menus...
CDDA AUDIOnn.DAT Optional CD Audio files
SEGMENT ITEMnnn.DAT Segment play items, max 999 segments, still pictures or still menus
KARAOKE KARINFO.xxx Optional Karaoke information files
EXT PSD_X.VCD Optional extended version of PSD,VCD
  LOT_X.VCD Optional extended version of LOT.VCD
  SCANDATA.DAT Optional list of I-frame addresses
  CAPTnn.DAT Optional Closed Caption data
CDI (undefined) CD-i program and data files

 

Video File Compariso
 
VCD
SVCD/CVD
DVD
X(S)VCD
DivX
ASF
SMR/nAVI
RM
DV
Resolution NTSC/PAL
352x240
352x288
SVCD
480x480
480x576
CVD
352x480
352x576
720x480
720x576
720x480
720x576 or lower
640x480 or lower 320x240 or lower 320x240 or lower 320x240 or lower 720x480
720x576
Video Compression
MPEG1
MPEG2
MPEG2
MPEG1 or
MPEG2
MPEG4
MPEG4
MPEG4
RM
DV
Audio Compression
MPEG1
MPEG1
MPEG1, MPEG2, AC3, DTS, PCM MPEG1 MP3, WMA MPEG4 MPEG4 RM DV
Size/min
10 MB/min
10 - 20 MB/min
30 - 70 MB/min 5 - 20 MB/min 1 - 10 MB/min 1 - 5 MB/min 1 - 5 MB/min 1 - 5 MB/min 216 MB/min
Min/74 minCD
74min
35-60min
15-20min 35-100min 60-180min 120-300min 120-300min 120-300min 3min
Hours/DVDR
-
-
2-4hrs - 13-26hrs 13-26hrs 26-40hrs 26-40hrs 20min
DVD Player Compatibility
Great Good Excellent Low None None None None None
Computer CPU Usage
Low High Very High High Very High Low Low Low High
Quality
Good Great* Excellent* Great* Great* Decent* Decent* Bad* Excellent

* the quality depends on the size/min, more MB/min means generaly higher quality.
 

 

Transfer Your Videos:

Why Transfer Your Videos / mini-DV to DVD, VCD or SVCD?

Unlike videos, CD formats do not deteriorate over time. This is due to the media that the images are stored on. Video media is magnetic and can be affected by magnetic devices such as speakers, monitors and other magnetic field producing devices .

Another reason is indexing, find the scene(s) you want when you want without all the hassle of remembering want counter number your scene was at.

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What will the DVD, VCD or SVCD video look like?

Your DVD, VCD or SVCD will auto load with a video menu after the disk has been inserted into your DVD player. This will enable you to select the main video sequence you wish to play. Titles (optional) can be added to each main video section to add style and or to make the video clip more obvious.

Each main video will then be broken down into in chapters for easy location of the clip you want. You may wish, prior to sending your video into YourVHStoDVD.Com, select where you want the chapters to begin. This can be achieved by using the counter function on your video player and or mini-DV player.

Each DVD, VCD or SVCD arrives presented in a professional DVD jewel case.

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What can I expect?

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TV Broadcast Systems PAL NTSC SECAM