What is a VCD any way?
VCD, or Video CD, is a format for digital video storage that is very popular in Asia. Basically, it’s MPEG video stream saved to a regular CD in a specific format. Most movies in Asia are distributed on VCD (esp. bootleg versions) as it is so easy to master. Your computer at home with a regular CD-R/W drive can make VCD’s with the right software. There are actually multiple formats of VCD. VCD itself uses MPEG1. A newer version, SVCD, uses MPEG2. There’s recently a newer version called XVCD, which is regular VCD with some nonstandard encoding to improve quality. VCD can only store about 1 hour of video, so most movies will take two CD’s unless you are willing to lose more quality. The picture and audio quality will also be noticeably less than that of a DVD depending on the bitrate chosen. For more info, see www.vcdhelp.com.
