Questions about Video Compact Discs? (VCD and others)

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

If you had told me that researching the Saturn at the start of this year would lead to me discovering a defunct video format, I would have told you… “yeah. That checks out.”

The VCD is fairly simple: just a CD with video compression technology. Not a foreign concept (how do you think FMVs existed in games after all) but what I was unaware of was this as a dedicated format that many people had. Primarily in Asian territories, where ease of storage and shipment has always been valued higher than in the western market, the VCD was fairly popular. Relating back to the SEGA Saturn, many Saturns would come with their VCD card attachment, being marketed as an all in one media player for the home.

I wanted to ask: is anyone on the thread more familiar with the format than I? Any memories associated with it? My assumption is that it’s just CD’s playing video, including the primitive chapter selection features that comes with the format, but I’d love to be wrong.

 

[qw90700]

Things got confusing here!!!! lol

CD-V is an older one that basically had low space for video and music files. The yellow one you showed is CD-V, not VCD.

VCD is a technology mostly started to be known thanks to PlayStation 1. Don't mix them up.

And then we had this LaserDisc but that's another big story!!!!:

lolol

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

View attachment 117954

Things got confusing here!!!! lol

CD-V is an older one that basically had low space for video and music files. The yellow one you showed is CD-V, not VCD.

VCD is a technology mostly started to be known thanks to PlayStation 1. Don't mix them up.

And then we had this LaserDisc but that's another big story!!!!:

View attachment 117955

lolol

Had no idea there was MULTIPLE standard disc sized CD video formats. I was aware of LaserDisc, but they’re the size of a standard EP, so I wasn’t counting them.

I would love to see and know the difference between the physically smaller formats!

 

[Isegrim]

Before Netflix and streaming services closed up everything, there used to be video stores in my country similar to the U.S.'s Blockbuster video. First they sold and rented movies in Betamax tapes, switched to VHS later, then switched to VCD then DVD. All of these mediums were massively pirated and there were actually two types of stores, one that sold legit videos and the other, pirated.

Blu-Ray never became popular here though and you could only find them in legit stores. The pirates just copied from the Blu-ray discs and put it on DVD.

When the video stores were open, there were a number of old movies I was interested in but couldn't get on DVD, only VCD, they were too unpopular to get a DVD release. In any case, both formats were interchangeable since DVD players here could play both. Or just your use favorite freeware, the VLC player.

 

[Lod 10]

QueThese media formats run what and how it works

 

[Frickinfrik]

These things were like never a thing in my country.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

I miss old formats.

 

[MegaDrive1987]

I used to get pirated films on VCD back in the early 2000s, usually they would come split across two discs, I don't really remember the quality as it's been AGES since I watched one. Might burn one when I get some CD-Rs just for the nostalgia.

 

[Adrastia]

I remember them from anime import sites. But I didn't know what the difference was. Did they play on standard DVD players and PS2? In the US many people had the PS2 as their first DVD player. Including me.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I remember using it to watch movies on the Dreamcast.

I honestly thought that it was a far superior and more economic alternative to the DVD.

 

[UnDubious]

I remember seeing them mentioned in a games magazine or two in the '90s, but they were never remotely mainstream here and I never saw any in person. The idea of watching movies on my Saturn sounded cool though.

 

[Dyne]

This is my first time hearing about any of this

 

[Blamhammer]

VCDs were pretty much everywhere in the Asia region. Even Sony released a PS1 that could play them over in Hong Kong.

 

[qw90700]

Had no idea there was MULTIPLE standard disc sized CD video formats. I was aware of LaserDisc, but they’re the size of a standard EP, so I wasn’t counting them.

I would love to see and know the difference between the physically smaller formats!

Let me tell you about diskkkssssss:

lolol

Simply put:

- LaserDisc was first disk format for consumers that is analog. It offered better quality than VHS.

- CD: First digital disk format. It was only for audio.

- CD-ROM: It was for general usage beyond audio.

- CD-G (CD + Graphics): Imagine a disk also holds info for lyrics of songs, it is usable for Karaoke machines!!!

- CD-Video: It's da CD format with video support. But due to low video file size it supports and therefore its videos are like 5 minutes long it wasn't seen "useful" much.

- CD-ROM XA (Extended Architecture): It could support same disk can hold different file types at once.

- CD-R (Compact Disc-Recordable): CD-ROM was read-only so this one was recordable so it was a big deal.

- Photo CD: Kodak used it to store pictures.

- CD-i: Philips devices used it for games and media files.

- MiniDisc: For audio and was usable for MP3 players.

- Video CD (VCD): It was like the first "it does really matters for general usage" disk format and which is why it got so popular.

- CD-RW: The rewritable version of CD-R.

- Super Video CD (SVCD): It's literally super version of VCD but it came too late because DVD came lol.

- GD-ROM (Gigabyte Disc-ROM): SEGA Dreamcast used it.