Hi!

I get SouthPark movie in my hands in vcd format. I put it in my Philips DVD 750 and started to watch. It looks good, quality is just fine. But after few minutes (5-10) playing just hangs. And nothing helps... What could be the problem?

VCD is burned with Nero and it is not media problem.

-- Pekka Lillstrang (mazteri@iobox.fi), December 01, 1999

Answers

This is a common problem with copying VCDs. Most likely it's a scratch on the original disc surface. When you play said VCD the player can correct for the errors and either skip that frame (thus choppy image)or try the next track, etc. Things are different when you copy that scratched VCD: the errors produced by the scratch while it was being read prior to copying are permanently recorded now on the copy. If the error fell on an I-frame (VCD keyframes, or a whole bunch of GOPs with the error coinciding and starting on an I-frame) then there is no new data to reconstruct so it just hangs. Sometimes one gets luckier and the copied VCD will play, and substitute green blocks for unreadable data. Better than hanging, no? This is never a problem with VCDs authored from the original tape by hobbyists like U and me. Couldn't you watch South Park on DVD instead?

-- EMartinez (epmartinez@hotmail.com), December 04, 1999.