I recently purchased my first VCD movie,it was Disney's "Alice in Wonderland".Upon discovering this "VCD FAQ" site,i have linked to other VCD sellers selling different versions of the same movie.The VCD i purchased is a little white box with 2.0 wriiten on it,But the one i saw for sale on VideoCDs.com has a different cover.What is the difference between these two versions? and what does the 2.0 numbers mean?. Please help me !!!

-- Chris Samarin (apezilla@webtv.net), June 16, 1999

Answers

Response to I am new to VCD's can someone please answer a few questions.

You have the Singapore Version. The one for sale at www.videocds.com is the Malaysian version. In Singapore, they are testing SVCDs(Super Video Compact Discs) which have better resolution and sound. They are not universally compatible however so they stamp the Version number of the VCD. I.E. VCD 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 3.0, SVCD, DVCD. In Malaysia they try to use the same covers as the US versions but sometimes modify it to look better or fit certain criteria. Singapore usually uses the White Boxes to sginify a collectors edition or limited edition(as in the case of Disney cartoons). Since they are cartoons, nothing has been changed or modified. They are the same movie but Live Action films in Malaysia cut the nudity and/or violence(Braveheart Malaysian release lost about ten minutes or more of violence and nudity). In Singapore and Hong Kong they leave the movies uncut but add Chinese subtitles. 1.0 was the first version of VCD created by Philips for the CD-I players. 1.1 was the newer standard made for VCD players and added universal compatiblity(and PAL/NTSC hard code). 2.0 is the final release used more widely. It has support for menus(Negotiator Chinese Release has menus), Dolby Digital(Surround only NOT DTS), better quality video, better NTSC/PAL hard code. 3.0 is under testing phase and improves on the menus(they now are animated), most of the features are the same as 2.0 but also makes the PAL/NTSC code work on computers. SVCD is a newer Video CD with MEPG2 streams(no PC can auto play these yet, you can only open the file from a software dvd player, and they do not work in stand alone DVD/VCD players), and makes the movie fit one disc. DVCD is the same thing but a different pressing process(MPEG2 as well but different encoding). As of yet, Singaporee and Hong Kong are testing SVCD, 3.0, and DVCD so to make selection less of a headache, they stamped the Version Number on the box. In the US, SVCD was merged with VCD 3.0 to make a DVD formatted movie.

-- The Lone Ranger (rutger_s@hotmail.com), June 17, 1999.

Lone Ranger, Are you sure Singapore Video CD are not cut, as far as I know Singapore cuts everything and Ban all very violence Movies. People there get caning for watching uncensored Video. Are you sure? unless it is ua pirated version, I think you are talking about pirated SVCD. A DVD picture and Sound quality on VCD.

-- Rycado (rycardo@excite.com), June 17, 1999.

Lone Ranger,

You seem to have confused SVCD information, SVCD format as at this stage is not able to fit a full length movie on 1 disc, it is more like three disks for a 120 min movie.

Also, can anyone verify that DVCD is actually a seperate format from VCDs? From my observations, I do not see any official or legitimate copies of DVCD discs in SEA, surely if this is a certified/recognised format, movie distribution companies would certainly be using them.

I believe the term DVCD is just a cheap marketing ploy used by pirates in SEA to boost the claims of quality in their products. For eg. If you frequent the Mandarin speaking Malaysian pirate markets in SEA, they do not use the terms screener for better quality movies, instead they term them as "LD Ban", Mandarin for "LD quality", and camcoder/telesync copies as "Master Ban", ie. recorded from a "master tape(?)".

Most "DVCD" movies are about 78+ mins in length and never longer, and this can also be done with normal VCDs, so I doubt that there is any grounds for their (pirates) claims that they are able to actually squeeze two discs into one.

On the issue of censorship, yes, movies in Singapore are censored, a rather kind contributer has given somewhat harsh comments on this issue in Singapore. Well it is true that unless you get a pirated version of a certain movie, it would certainly be censored for nudity, violence etc. etc., however it is just about half a step up from Malaysia, as there is currently a rating system for cinema screened movies, instead of just blanket censorship and outright banning of movies.

Cheers Sethsolo

-- Sethsolo (sethsolo@hotmail.com), June 18, 1999.

Malaysian does Ban certain Movies like Blade because of Violent and Price of Egypt because of Religion. Sethsolo is right, there is no legitimate copies of DVCD discs in SEA Majority of SVCD and DVCD are copied from DVD and you may find DVCD in MPEG 1 format where it is the same as VCD. Sethsolo. sorry if I offended Singaporean but I heard they do cain people for a very minor offence.

-- Rycardo (rycardo@excite.com), June 19, 1999.

According to plans from both fronts. SVCD is expected to allow for one movie to fit one disc, however these would require a new CD standard(maximum for CDs right now is 80 mins or 780 megs). The newer CD being tested(I have seen it from my friend who snail mails me about them) would contain 90 minutes AND ARE FOR SVCD USE ONLY but future expansion would make it go up to 110 minutes(like a cassette audio tape). As of right now DVD is getting a full steam in the US and many International Distributors are also jumping on the band wagon so the new 110 minute CD may never come out. As for DVCD it does exist but as my friend told me it is MPEG1 but a higher compression to get one movie to fit one discs, BUT it only works for movies less than 90 minutes. After that another disc has to be used. Also Singapore does censor the films(pirates exist more than you think) but as for caneing, that does not happen as often to people who view it but does occur a lot to the people who supply the unedited versions. After all a person is smart enoguh to know where to hide a movie but legitimate store fronts would have a harder time. Hope this clears up any misunderstanding, oh as for the rest of the info it is correct Singapore does stamp Version Numbers on the boxes and use different cver art to avoid problems.

-- the Lone Ranger (rutger_s@hotmail.com), June 19, 1999.

The safest way to go is Video CD 2.0. SVCD looks to be the next solid format but it is still "wait and see".

DVCD has been so confused by all these piraters and vendors. Some are calling DVD encoded to VCD DVCD here in Malaysia. Others, push up the compression (which actually degrades the quality) and cram in into 1 Video CD using the stand Video CD standard and call it DVCD. Whatever it is, the only solid format is SVCD right now and it cannot fit 74 mins on a normal CD-R. If a new format is being created, it will definitely cost more than the conventional Video CD production.

DVD looks to be getting more acceptance and penetrating the market. Even DVD mastering equipment is going down in prices.

Again we will all have to wait and see.

-- Digital Human Multimedia (wired@tm.net.my), June 28, 1999.

Chris Samarin, Your Disney whitebox does not have Walt Disney Logo and I found out that those white box only produce old Disney, it could be an old Walt Disney movies where it is no more copyrighted. I think is not licensed from Walt Disney whereas the Malaysian are Licensed from Walt Disney where you can see thier Logo and copyrighted statement.

-- Vm (v_i_d_e_o@hotmail.com), June 28, 1999.

hello,will my friend got me dvcd,vcd,cd,mp3 player will i tryed to play a dvd movie and it didnt work?

-- denis winter (dragon_boy69@hotmail.com), July 13, 2002.

who owns rights to DVCD, it must be a legit format for it to be listed here.

http://www.yanyan.com.hk/productsc11010309.php

-- Jimbo Jones (jimbojones217@yahoo.com), August 01, 2003.