Heartland

I've managed to do something very silly. I was trying to create a DVD like selection background for chapters on a Video CD. The software I was using (Power Producer) uses a generic background and didn't seem to actually allow me to change it, despite suggesting I could. So, being hopeful but possibly quite stupid, I was trying to open the files on the Video CD to see which one contained the image in the hope I could change it. Don't laugh! All I actually managed to do was alter the 'opens with' property of the files from 'Unknown application' to the photo software I was using. Which now also means my Video CDs won't play as the computer is now trying to use the wrong application to open files on the disc. Is there any way of getting round this without resetting my whole system to an earlier point? I'll also promise not to mess about any more

If you go to Folder Options in Control Panel, then switch to the File Types tab, scroll down and highlight whatever the extension of the files is and click Remove it'll return them to 'Unknown application'. HTH

Cheers Dom!

Seems to all working fine again now so I'll leave it alone!

I've a friend with a bunch of vcds that I'd like copies of but he says they won't play in USA.

How can that be? The Mera Luna Vcd I have works in my windows media player and I got it from UK--JohnnyBoy to be specific.

What exactly is a VCD? Where's it meant to be played? Are they really PAL or NTSC formatted? If they are, how then can they play on window media player?

Forgive my ignorance, but I never heard of the things until JB asked me if I wanted Mera Luna. I just assumed they were like the other mpeg or avi vids I have only longer. Or not?

BP

And while we're on it, can one play VCDs in a DVD player?

markfiend wrote:And while we're on it, can one play VCDs in a DVD player?

mine says it will mark but it don't like anything that is a copy, so if it was a commercial pressing, I guess it would. A mate bought a DVD player in ASDA for £60 just before Christmas and it plays any disk you fire into it, PhotoCDs, MP3s you name it.

Red Sunsets wrote:

markfiend wrote:And while we're on it, can one play VCDs in a DVD player?

mine says it will mark but it don't like anything that is a copy, so if it was a commercial pressing, I guess it would. A mate bought a DVD player in ASDA for £60 just before Christmas and it plays any disk you fire into it, PhotoCDs, MP3s you name it.

@ RS DVD Buying "Mate"

I bought a generic "Technika" DVD Player from Tesco's for £49.95 about six months ago. It will play Anything!

It plays Jpeg CD's VCD's Mpeg CD's - all the media types I have downloaded from "The Web". It wont play AVI files but I have a program somewhere to convert AVI to MPEG !

VCD are Video Compact Disc - simply another Media Format - they should play on any DVD player - as the PAL/SECAM/NTSC format to not apply AFAIK - Hope that helps

Cheers ATG
I leapt into the DVD player market very early on after my tardiness with the CD revolution and my CD player had chucked it, so I thought 'brainy idea' replace it with a DVD. I bought a mid - high range Sony for £350, 6 years ago. Stunning sound on the CDs and DVDs, but it will not play a copy.
Sometimes consumer 'buy cheap, burn out fast' is the way to go.
Got a VCD Player for the Mighty G4 via Version Tracker, but M'era Luna is..... well... eh.... uhm.

@ATG Woo Hoo!!

Thanks for the info. That makes me very happy that vcd's play anywhere. I'll pass that on to my friend and will look forward to some goodies in future! :):)

Black Planet wrote:I've a friend with a bunch of vcds that I'd like copies of but he says they won't play in USA.

How can that be?

He's talking bollox.
VCD is just a type of mpg. They can be NTSC or PAL, but that only refers to the ratio. If you're trying to play them in a DVD player then possibly it might matter, but as most people play them on their pc it doesnt matter one bit.

(When I'm re-encoding avi files to mpg I always use NTSC rather than PAL for the simple reason they're either off American or Japanese TV, and both use NTSC and I wanna preserve the ratio, otherwise the picture looks stretched.)

markfiend wrote:And while we're on it, can one play VCDs in a DVD player?

Some DVD players can play VCD, but some are very fussy and the files have to be the right type, they won't play any mpg.
VCD [PAL] = 352 x 288 / 25fps / 1150kbps
VCD [NTSC] = 352 x 240 / 29.97fps / 1150kbps

You can use tmpgenc to convert files to VCD standard.

Then again I know some people whose DVD players play anything including .avi files.

So far, my DVD player has played anything I've thrown at it; mp3CD, CDR, CDRW, DVDR, multi-region DVD; I've never tried a VCD though.

I imagine I'll be in luck then