i have bought several phillips vcd, and other brands, and they all use .dat files, not .mpg, if i make a vcd can i use .mpg instead of .dat? also, correct me if i have the provess of vcd making wrong, does it go like this: capture to avi, then encode to mpg, burn a vcd using vcd software, use .mpg you created for vcd file.

-- evan young (evan@cdyoung.com), June 29, 1999

Answers

*.dat was conceived by Philips in the Early 1990s. At this time only Philips dared to enter this domain(Much like DVD in 1996 where Warner Bros. was the first then Columbia Tri-Star followed shortly, then the rest of the studios) along with Paramount Pictures. Through a distribution deal Philips would distribute part of Paramount's film library through Video CDs in America. Orion Pictures and Live Entertainment(Orion owned a part of Live Entertainment) also allowed some of their films to be sold on VIdeo CD in the United States. Later Europe followed suit with Philips and then Asia. It became a niche market in America but very popular in Asia. Soon in 1995 many films were transfered to Video CD but only in Asia. Philips stopped distribution in America with Paramount Pictures' Forrest Gump and the last Studio to do Video CDs in America Polygram Pictures' Four Weddings and a Funeral. That was in mid 1995. Asia did not stop and to this date has stuck by Video CDs wholeheartedly. Since the *.dat file was the first to be introduced, it stuck. *.mpg was created by the Moving Pictures Expert Group(MPEG) later after *.dat was voted as the MPEG1 standard file format. Hence the reason why MPEG1 exists, 1st version MPEG1, DVD uses 2nd Version->MPEG2. *.mpg was announced so that movie clips would be distributed on the internet easily but Video CD players(made at the same time Philips brought Video CD to Asia) read the *.dat files so the extension is it. As for the encoding of Video CDs, I will email you your options.

-- The Lone Ranger (rutger_s@hotmail.com), June 29, 1999.