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.
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PAL Video: |
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NTSC/NTSC Film Video: |
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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.
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.
What can I expect?