VCDs/SVCDs Play in cheap players, but not name brand?

[LordThing]

Couldn't find a good category to put this in, so I figured I would ask my ATOT clan. Is there a better way to burn SVCDs or VCDs so that they are more compatible? It seems like when I create them or copy them from other sources, the super cheap players (Apex/Cyberhome) or PCs can play them just fine, but self proclaimed VCD/MP3 playing name brand (Samsung, phillips, sony to name a few I have tried) just don't know what to do with them.

Is there some better way of burning than just doing them in Nero? Is there a faq I can check or follow to make sure my VCDs are as universal as possible?

 

[MustISO]

My panasonic and samsung play all VCD's and SVCD's I've put in them. Get a DVD burner and stop playing with VCD's and SVCD's.

 

[lokiju]

Use a rewritable disc, will work with most any DVD player that supports VCD/SVCD, btw you can always check out www.dvdrhelp.com for all video/dvd/vcd/encoding/decoding needs/questions.

 

[yukichigai]

Number one, try burning them at the lowest speed you can. I find more often than not DVD players glitch on VCD playback of recordable media because the reading laser needs a deeper bit depth to read at high speeds.

Number two, try different media. Different brand and different types. Some DVD players only read CD-Rs, some only CD-RWs. Some of the reading lasers are a color calibrated for maximum DVD reading efficiency, but as such have issues with certain tints of recordable media.

Number three, go to videohelp.com and check their DVD Player compatibility list. Some DVD players can indeed read VCDs and SVCDs, but can't read recordable media. (meaning you're limited to "printed" (S)VCDs)

Oh yeah, Apex DVD players generally handle any MPEG-1/2 format you throw at 'em. Cyberhome has similar compatibility as well. Both primarily make "cheap" players.

 

[yukichigai]

Originally posted by: MustISO
My panasonic and samsung play all VCD's and SVCD's I've put in them. Get a DVD burner and stop playing with VCD's and SVCD's.

Lesse, pay ~$1 a disc to use DVDs, or 10¢ a disc (or less) to burn your own (S)VCDs... gotta go with the latter. Unless you've got an HDTV and a nice Surround system there's no pressing reason to make DVD-quality stuff. (though that DVD I made with the entire first and second season of Family Guy on one disc is pretty cool) Once the price of DVD media comes down it'll be a different thing, but for me that 100 pack of CD-Rs I got for free at BB's Black Friday sale is mighty appealing.

LordThing, if you're interested in some awesome new (S)VCD stuff check out the KVCD format. It's an optimization of the MPEG-1/2 quantization matrix, resulting in the sort of bastard-child of DivX and MPEG-1/2; you can fit 2 hours of video with virtually no noticeable glitches on one 80 minute CD-R. Videohelp.com's compatibility list doesn't cover it unfortunately, but in general if it does X(S)VCD there's a good chance it does K(S)VCD. The best part is that you can make KVCDs for 100% free, thanks to the demo version of TMPGEnc and MPEG-1 licensing rules.

 

[Childs]

Most name brand players more than a couple of years old will not play SVCD/CVDs/VCDs. Maybe VCDs, but SVCDs are pushing it. Its not that they couldn't do it, they just didn't support the format in their players. Thats why the Apex-like players became popular.

For example, my Sony player from a few years ago wouldn't play SVCDs, but I could rewrite the header of the file to be a MPEG1 VCD and it would play fine. Not reencoding the file, just rewritting the header info. Just a bunch of BS, and I won't buy expensive name brand, specifically Sony anymore.