How are VCDs? (1 Viewer)

[StephenA]

I heard they were pretty bad in quality, sometimes worse than VHS. Is this true? If not, I was wondering if I should replace my Star Wars OT SE VHS with the VCDs. Is Star Wars VCD set worth 60 bucks?

 

[Max Knight]

I personally would not pay $60 for a star ways VCD set. VCDs are usually about the same quality as VHS (though the won't deteriorate if you play them a lot like a tape will). Oftentimes a movie has to be split onto two different VCDs if it is a decent transfer, so you may want to think about that (some people hate to get up in the middle of a movie and flip it or swap discs).

The VCD market is also rife with poorly made pirated copies of movies, so buyer beware.

-Max

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I own them and quite enjoy them. However, some things to consider:
- Pan & Scan
- Two Discs
- PAL Format (DVD Player must handle PAL->NTSC conversion)
They do, however, sport digital stereo sound which is simply fantastic. They also include the "Making Of Episode II" from the latest VHS release.

 

[donovan_chin]

The above post on the PAL to NTSC conversion requirements of the DVD player is incorrect. All PAL VCDs can play perfectly on NTSC DVD players.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Audio is worse than a properly recorded VHS Hi-Fi tape.

If there is a lot of on-screen movement and detail, picture is worse than a properly recorded VHS Hi-Fi tape.

Picture is WAY worse than SVHS.

Still, it has its place.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Virtually every movie must be split onto 2 discs because they're longer than 74 minutes. VCD uses a constant bitrate of 150KBps, which is adequate for VHS level quality. The format is prone to artifacting as well

If you have the widescreen VHS tapes, keep them as the VCDs are P&S and suffer from PAL's 4% speedup.

You should be paying $20-30 for those discs BTW, not $60.

 

[Leon Liew]

VCDs are very popular here. Nine out of ten stores sells

90% of VCDs & 10% of DVDs. Only selected stores have equal

percentage of both. This is due mainly to the price factor.

A lot of do not care for the audio,video,extras,widescreen

formatwhich DVDs provide. As long as there are audio & video

from the VCDs they are a happy lot. Well they do not realise

what's they are missing. Anyway as the saying goes 'To each

his own'

 

[rutger_s]

Not all VideoCDs are PAL formatted. Many distributors in Hong Kong format their VCDs for NTSC, Era Home Entertainment & DeltaMac Ltd. for example.

VideoCDs vary in quality dependent on the source. A lot of distributors in Hong Kong do take great pride in making sure a VideoCD does look good. Some distributors do not.

There is a big difference in quality between the DeltaMac Ltd. distributed version of The Star Wars Trilogy and the VideoVan Lit.d distributed version of The Star Wars Trilogy.

DeltaMac Ltd. distributes that particular title in Hong Kong with a new beautiful NTSC transfer. VideoVan Ltd. distributes that title in Malaysia with poor PAL transfer which is the same as the VHS tapes.

In fact, most VideoCDs of Columbia Tri-Star, Universal, Warner Brothers, and 20th Century Fox films are NTSC formatted in Hong Kong.

Also not all DVD players can play back PAL on an NTSC monitor properly. Sharp DVD players have distorted images.