Playing VCD on PC CDROM DRIVE?

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Video CD : One Thread

Hi Folks;

Is it possible to play a VCD on a standard PC CDROM DRIVE. What sort of software do I need ?. I loaded the VCD and it has couple of *.vcd files and a large .dat file. I have quicktime movie player software which I use to view movies..

Any reply would be appreciated

Cheers dennis

-- Dennis (dle@tm.net.my), January 08, 1999

Answers

Typically you can point an MPEG play (like MS media player) at the large .dat file. Xing also sells a software play (for around $30) that can play VCD. They are at http://www.xingtech.com/

-- Shawn Dempsay (shawn@huskers.com), January 11, 1999.

I am just in the process in doing just that... so like me share some problems I encountered. I downloaded XingPlayer which works fine with my Pentium 100 Mhz but only at 16 frames a sec when playing a video CD. I am buying a Pentium 166 CPU to install on my MB to get it up to 30 f/sec. Also, I encountered crashes and found out my older window 3.1 type video card did not support "direct draw" and conflicts with window 95. Lesson learned: You may encounter similar problems if your system is an "antique" (ie 4 yrs old) which can only be solved by upgrading.

-- Vic Chan (vchanpe@2xtreme.net), January 25, 1999.

First make sure your machine is Pentium 120+, if not opt for a MPEG Decoder. Yes MPEG-2 Decoders work on Pentium 75+ but you can't watch DVD happily. Just buy the board. If you have the right speed then with a minimum of 16 MB Ram(More the better). You can use XingMPEG Player or if you don't want to shell out 30 bucks for it get Windows Media Player 5.0. Using XING Just click FILE then OPEN VIDEO CD. For Windows Media Player 5.0 it is a little more tricky. Click FILE then OPEN. In the Dialog Box that opens up Click BROWSE. Click on the Drop-Down Arrow by LOOK IN. Click on your CD-Rom Drive, next double click on the MPEGAV Folder. Finally double-click the *.dat file to open it. (Lazy Man's Way of opening in Windows Media Player is just use Windows Explorer to find the file and double-click on it.) In all honesty just buy a Video CD player program like XINGMpeg. The playback is smooterh plus the player is more controllable. Glad to be of service. Any more help needed, just email me.

-- Rutger Stevens (rutger_s@hotmail.com), January 26, 1999.

Moderation questions? read the FAQ