VCD poll

[Dekatophil]

MacOS X dosen't currently support VCD (WhiteBook format) playback. It could e.g. be incorporated into the DVD Player.
How important is VCD playback capability for you ?

Please rate the "importance" from 1-5, where
1 = "not important"
5 = "very important"

 

[julguribye]

huh?....dots?

It's not very important for the avarage consumer, but it would be a nice add and necceseary to make X more "complete"

 

[AdmiralAK]

I would like VCD support, but to be honest there arent that many out there. I would like SVCD support as well

 

[kenny]

Admiral, there are TONS of VCD's available. There are still quite a few titles that have not made it to DVD (in the US) that can be had on VCD. I've got the Indiana Jones trilogy on VCD, and although the quality isn't what you'd expect from DVD, it beats the hell out of VHS. Even current titles are available (not to mention pr0n... ) Have a look:

http://www.coolvcd.com/
http://www.eurekamovies.com/
http://www.vcdgallery.com/

You can even find titles on eBay.

I find the lack of Whitebook support in OSX to be limiting in another way.. I use the Terapin VCD recorder instead of VHS; I let the TiVo grab the shows, then I save them to VCD using the Terapin recorder. I currently have to rip the Mpeg files off the disk using a Windows (yech!) machine, since X doesn't have the support in the drivers.

Also, it's not enough for the DVD player to have the support. The CDROM drivers have to have the support for Whitebook. Just as the OS has to support UDF for DVD-video to play, VCD playback requires the support at the driver level (and then the quicktime player could do the playback).

... my $0.02...

 

[AdmiralAK]

since you know more about VCD than I.... can you point me in teh right direction for music videos ?

 

[kenny]

Well, I mostly use VCD for recording my own stuff, with the occasional purchase of films (I don't much look for music videos), but a quick glance reveals music videos at:

http://www.vcdgallery.com/musicvcd.htm
http://www.coolvcd.com/music-videos/index.html

And, of course, there's always eBay...

 

[ulrik]

This may sound a bit stupid, but where's the problem with playing VCDs under OS X? Worked for me since 10.1...

 

[rdhazrd]

Well, I just tossed in my Pirates of Silicon Valley VCD and neither one worked. QT said there was input/output errors.

 

[AdmiralAK]

I will take a look at those sites
Enrich my euro music video collection he he

 

[kenny]

Ulrik, the problem is that the Apple-provided CDROM drivers in X don't (yet) support reading Whitebook (VCD) CD's. The layout of the MPEG stream is an odd hybrid of ISO9660 and Redbook (the directory layout is 9660, but the video streams' error correction and encoding is similar to an audio CD), and requires special handling by the drivers.

The only thing that's stupid about it is that it's broken in the first place. The conspiracy nut in me want's to believe that there's some back-room pressure being put on Apple by the MPAA to prevent the use of an open format that would allow the trade of their precious IP. The reality is probably more like Apple didn't count it a high-priority item, and so didn't do it. Either way, it sucks, and I hope it gets fixed soon.

 

[byronw70]

A big fat 5. I have a problem playing SVCD from the machine when I know that the same codec is used as that for DVD. What a piss off

 

[ERICBRIAN2002]

I am thinking about joining cinemapop. They say they have 100's of vcd each month and i pay only 5 bucks should i join? are the movies any good?

 

[MacPain]

never used vcd's yet and it's unlikely i ever will, so i'm pretty neutral about this.