VCD player

[gubaba]

I have been having trouble with a particular VCD. CCN has replaced the set but I am still having problems.

CCN is suggesting a Chinese VCD player.

Does anyone have a link to such a thing? I am looking for a Chinese version of Windows Media Player that would be Windows XP compatible.

[asharpe]

A VCD is basically a series of mpeg videos. Any mpeg software player should be able to play them. Microsoft themselves has a media player for Chinese Windows, which I'm sure you can download from their site, but the fact that the player has been localized for Chinese will not play the VCD any differently, as far as I know,

I have many VCDs, from China as well as here, and they all can play on my computer.

Perhaps if you could be a little more specific about what does or doesn't happen when you try to play the VCD, and on what device you are try to play it, I could be more helpful.

[davidmdahl]

gubaba said:

I have been having trouble with a particular VCD. CCN has replaced the set but I am still having problems.
<snip>.

I have quite a few VCDs from Vietnam, and many of them have quality problems. One method I have found effective is to make a copy of the VCD on my computer. Often times the copy works fine. Of course, check the VCD for scratches and grunge. At times it appeared that who ever copied the VCDs was also having lunch at the time.

One typical VCD problem that I have not found a fix for is a synchronization problem between sound and video. As far as I know, the only fix for this is using DVDs instead. <g>

Best wishes,

David Dahl
Portland, Oregon

[Vi An]

See if you can get the PHILIPS DVP642 at your nearest BEST BUY. It plays all formats of VCDs and I find it to be very stable.

I find burning speed has a drastic effect on the quality of copied VCDs. Super fast burning speeds used will produce degraded video quality especially for tracks 7 and beyond. This also causes program crashes if you have a slower running machine.

Rule of thumb -- when burning CDs, its worth the time and patience to burn it slower to maintain quality reproductions each and every time!

Scratches have just alittle effect on playability, actually the updating of your drivers and condition of your lazer lenses are most essential.

Best,

Vi An.

[Charlie Huang]

Agree with Vi_an-san. I burned some VCDs at a fast rate and the quality is so poor, I had to chuck them in the bin. There were lots of skips and cuts throughout. Best to burn at the lowest speed. For music, it is less important, but recording at a high speed does affect the quality slightly.

And yes, VCDs should work in any computer (as long as you have the correct software to play it on, like PowerDVD, etc), or a DVD player that can play VCDs.

[Vi An]

CD burning in general if it exceeds 8 tracks, burning it at too high of a speed causes tracks past 8 will skip and not play at all. Burning (write) speeds max of 24X is plenty fast enough, I'm still burning at 8X.

Most DVD players out there play mpeg1 and mpeg2 so you can pop any VCD in, but its Asian VCDs that require specialized DVD players. The PHILIPS I mentioned above is the way to go. Only cost me 70USD

Vi An.

[taron]

Hi.
Yes VCD is normal MPEG1 and every DVD Player can play it. If you have problems to play them maybe they are burnt to fast.
Download Isobuster from Internet it´s freeware. Start the program and insert you VCD. Go to the directory with the dat file. Ricght click with your mouse on it and extract the MPEG Stream. Save it on your HDD as file.mpg
If the percent go on and the frames do not go on the file is broken else you can see it on PC.
If you want a VCD again take one Burningprogram (like Nero) and burn it again.