My question is if onyone has ever succeded in playing a "miniDVD" in their set-top DVD-player using the 12-step "how to make a miniDVD" found at http://tech-dvd.itgo.com/12steprev.htm I have a Pioneer DV-515 (dual lasers, PAL/NTSE)It plays homemade vcd4s on cdr without problem, and i now wonder if the above tutorial could be useful for me?

regards Johan

-- Johan (Johan.hagerstrom@pcexpress.se), January 19, 2000

Answers

I have tried it and could not succeed to play it on my Pioneer 525 player. I think, miniDVD concept is worng & not going to work on CD-Rs (may be on DVD-R !!)

-- Vzok (vzok@usa.net), January 19, 2000.

OK...sad to hear....did you try cdrw as well?

And yes...dvd-Ram probaply works because of the media type.

J

-- Johan (Johan.hagerstrom@pcexpress.se), January 20, 2000.

Sorry guys to be the heartbreaker here. I began to read those 12 steps expecting some nonsense, but it's not: the author states clearly that it is ONLY intended for playing in a PC. Though, it's fair to say, he gives out false hope when he says "this may or may not work for a standalone player". Well, don't waste your CD-Rs. I know they are cheap, but your time isn't. Why is the MiniDVD a fake?

The theory is all built around the hypothesis that the DVD player will be fooled by a CD with identical directory structure/files as a DVD, so it will just "play" it like a DVD. Why won't this happen?

Our eyes can be easily fooled and not distinguish between a CD and a DVD. The standalone players do not: once a disk is inserted they know perfectly well what that disk is. The player is not a computer, so it doesn't seek for directories, files, etc at a first glance. It seeks for a finite number of preprogrammed standards: DVD-Video, Video-CD, Audio-CD, (maybe Super VCDs according to some guys of this forum?). If such a standard is not found, then it simply defaults to "Failed to recognize disk", but it won't *think* "err.. what the hell is this VOB file doin'in a CD?? maybe I can play it, let's see what happens". This is the kind of thinking of a PC user with a mouse in the hand. DVD players are not that smart. Unless Mini-DVD becomes a standard AND as such is incorporated into *future* DVD players, it will never EVER play in a set-top.

-- Matias (petrellm@telefonica.com.ar), January 20, 2000.

Sorry guys to be the heartbreaker here. I began to read those 12 steps expecting some nonsense, but it's not: the author states clearly that it is ONLY intended for playing in a PC. Though, it's fair to say, he gives out false hope when he says "this may or may not work for a standalone player". Well, don't waste your CD-Rs. I know they are cheap, but your time isn't. Why is the MiniDVD a fake?

The theory is all built around the hypothesis that the DVD player will be fooled by a CD with identical directory structure/files as a DVD, so it will just "play" it like a DVD. Why won't this happen?

Our eyes can be easily fooled and not distinguish between a CD and a DVD. The standalone players do not: once a disk is inserted they know perfectly well what that disk is. The player is not a computer, so it doesn't seek for directories, files, etc at a first glance. It seeks for a finite number of preprogrammed standards: DVD-Video, Video-CD, Audio-CD, (maybe Super VCDs according to some guys of this forum?). If such a standard is not found, then it simply defaults to "Failed to recognize disk", but it won't *think* "err.. what the hell is this VOB file doin'in a CD?? maybe I can play it, let's see what happens". This is the kind of thinking of a PC user with a mouse in the hand. DVD players are not that smart. Unless Mini-DVD becomes a standard AND as such is incorporated into *future* DVD players, they will never EVER play in a set-top.

-- Matias (petrellm@telefonica.com.ar), January 20, 2000.

I made a mini-DVD and then took it to the store where sells many stand-alone DVD players and to see which model can play it. There were only few of SAMPO (a brand in Taiwan) models could play my mini-DVD, and eventually I bought one of them. That means, now I can successfully play my mini-DVD on my stand-alone DVD players.

-- Frederic (frederic@eltw.nec.com.tw), March 12, 2002.