Last updated on January 23rd, 2024 at 02:33 am
VCDs were popular until DVD players made their entry into the home entertainment market about three years after their introduction.
Though VCDs offered movie in a disc as an alternative to VHS, they didn’t catch on with the rest of the world except in Asia.
What is the Meaning of VCD?
VCD stands for Video Compact Disc. You would have come across a music CD. A music CD has only audio in it, But a VCD has video and audio in it.
Who Invented VCD?
VCD was introduced in 1993 by Sony, Philips, Matsushita and JVC.
What is the Difference between DVD and VCD?
Both offer video content storage in a disc format. DVD howevr, has a larger storage capacity,
While the storage capacity of VCD is limited to 650 or 700MB, DVD offers a minimum storage capacity of 4.7GB. A double-layer DVD can offer up to 8.7GB for video data.
Secondly, a two-hour long movie can be stored in a single DVD.
In a VCD the movie has to be split between two disc. DVD’s video quality is also far superior to VCD.
What is VCD Encoding?
VCD uses the MPEG-1 encoding which allows for interactive features (menu, chapters etc)
This allows for up to 74 minutes of video depending on disc size, at a constant bitrate of 1.15Mbps.
Audio encoding is MPEG-1 Layer 2 (MP2) at 224 kbit/s at a sample frquency of 44.1 kHz .
In other words a 650MB CD will allow up to 74 minutes of video. A 700MB disc allows up to 80 minutes of video.
VCD Resolution
VCD resolution is set at 352 × 240 pixels for NTSC and 352 × 288 pixels for PAL.
In a VCD the audio and video streams are muxed (multiplexed) in a container called MPEG-PS (MPEG Program Stream).
Can DVD players play VCD?
Yes, DVD players can play VCD. There are dedicated VCD players for VCD playback. VCD can also be played back in computer CD-ROM and DVD-ROM drives.
VCD Burning Software for Windows
Any video editing program with has a burn to DVD export option will most likely include a burn to VCD option.
However, if you don’t have such a video editor, you can use a free standalone program like VCD Easy.
You may also try the Totally Free Burner.
