VCD, SVCD, DVD Quality, Compression, Capacity, and Media types

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VCD, SVCD, DVD Quality, Compression, Capacity, and Media types

VCD, SVCD and DVD are popular media for video content distribution.
Each medium is unique and has its pros and cons. With Digital Media
Converter, you can convert your videos to video file formats that can
be directly burned onto VCDs, SVCDs or DVDs.

VCD: VCD is a high-density, optical storage medium. It looks just like
a music CD, though it stores video data using compressed MPEG-1 video.
It has the capacity to hold up to 74/80 minutes on a 650MB/700MB CD
respectively, of video with stereo quality sound. VCDs are stored on
CD-ROMs, making them one of the least expensive, storage media and
compatible with a wide array of devices. You can play VCDs on most DVD
players and PCs with Windows Media Player. You can use any burning
software such as Nero to burn files in VCD format to CD-R.

It is also possible to add simple menus, and photo album/slide shows
with background audio. These features make it a good low-cost choice
for video authoring.

SVCD: SVCD stands for Super Video CD. It bridges the quality gap
between the traditional VCD and the DVD. The audio and video quality
of a SVCD is better than VCD because of the higher resolution of SVCD
and the fact that it stores MPEG-2 Video, though it also depends on
how much data you choose to store. Generally, the less data per CD,
the higher the quality. Like VCD, data is stored on a CD-R. The
typical running time for an SVCD disc (with full resolution and
quality) is 35-45 minutes. It can be played on most stand-alone DVD
Players and on PCs with a DVD-ROM or CD-ROM drive, with the help of
Windows Media Player and an MPEG-2 decoder. MPEG-2 decoders are not
pre-installed on Windows, you need to download and install an MPEG-2
decoder on your PC to view SVCD and MPEG-2 videos.

DVD: DVD stands for Digital Versatile Disc. A DVD-R can store up to 8
hours of very high quality DVD-Video encoded in MPEG-2 format. DVD
files can be burned on DVD-ROMs to play the video on stand-alone DVD
players. If you plan to play your DVD on a PC, then you need an MPEG-2
decoder. If such a decoder is not installed, Windows Media player will
display an error message that it was unable to find a codec to play
the file. DVDs have a fixed pre-defined dimension. If you play them on
your PC, they may seem to be distorted or stretched. However, the
video should look fine on your DVD player. If you intend to burn your
videos to DVD-ROMs, the dimensions should be compliant with the
dimensions listed in the table below.

Understanding DVD media can be puzzling at times. There are four
common DVD types based on file size:

DVD 5:- also called a Single Sided Single layered, with a capacity of
~4.7 GB.
DVD 10:- also called a Double Sided Single layered, with a capacity of
~8.75GB.
DVD 9:- also called a Single Sided Dual layered, with a capacity of
~7.95GB.
DVD 18:- also called a Double Sided Dual layered, with a capacity of
~17.95GB.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION:

Format VCD SVCD DVD
Resolution NTSC
PAL 352x240
352x288 480x480
480x576 720x480
720x576
Video Compression MPEG-1 MPEG-2 MPEG-2
Video Bit Rate 1150kbps ~2000kbps ~5000kbps
Frame Rate NTSC
PAL 29.97
25 29.97
25 29.97
25
Audio Compression MP1 MP1 MP1, MP2, AC3, DTS, PCM
Audio Bit Rate 224kbps ~224kbps ~448kbps
Size/min 10 MB/min 10-20 MB/min 30-70 MB/min
Compatibility Great Good Good
Computer CPU Usage Low High Very High
Quality Good Great Excellent
Maximum Storage capacity 650Mb-700Mb 650Mb-700Mb 4Gb-17Gb
MPEG-2 Decoder: To play SVCD and DVD videos on your PC, you need to
install an MPEG-2 Decoder. We recommend the Free MPEG-2 Decoder, which
you can download from http://dl.deskshare.com/download/mpeg2decoder.exe