i would like to know if could copy a VCD karaoke from a CDrewritable using a CDR disk and if the answer is yes can i play it on a regular dvd player with VCD compatible. and how about the quality of picture and sound? Please let me know before i buy the cd rewritable. thank you!!

-- robin t (gnadnes@aol.com), December 25, 1999

Answers

Yes, you can copy that VCD karaoke on a CD-R disc using standard CD copy s/w, etc, like Easy CD Copier and CD-Copy of Nero, if they support the CD-RW of your choice, installed properly of course. Chances are, if you did the copying correctly, you end up with a legit VCD and everything. What you really have to think about is not really whether you can copy or not, but if in fact your DVD player is able to reliably recognize CD-R and CD-RW media. If you are not aware, MOST currently available DVD set-tops DO NOT reliably recognize CD-Rs and CD-RWs. You should try to find out where your current DVD player falls on this divide. This topic has been discussed time and again on this forum, and in fact the question preceding this one you posted was about problems with the Toshiba 3109. DVDs require a different beam diameter as well as wavelength for playing. The ideal situation would be for a player to have two separate lasers, each optimized to read DVD- and CD-based media, for it to reliably recognize different media thrown at it, CD-R/CD-RW included. Most manufacturers, though, to decrease costs probably, as well as to implicitly discourage disc copying on CD-R media, use only one laser and through a sophisticated method of mirrors, lenses, gratings, and electronics modify the properties of the one existing laser beam on the fly to suit the media to be read. The one side effect of this arrangement is that often, the beam loses brightness to the point that while it will always recognize conventional CDs, the same thing can't be said for CD-R/CD-RWs. The same limitations do not apply to the latest DVD-ROM drives, however, because these same manufacturers have to grudgingly acknowledge that in a PC environment, CD-R use is expected and ofetn called for. For example it's ironic that while its DVD-ROM drives read CD-Rs, none of Toshiba's DVD set-tops past and present can reliably read them. Sony, in its first and second-generation set-tops boasted of 'dual-discrete optical pickups' which incidentally made these players able to read CD-Rs reliably. In its newest players, however, shockingly, Sony deliberately hobbled capabilities so that they no longer read CD-Rs. Pioneer has done exactly the opoosite and ALL its current DVD players read CD-Rs well. Philips has ALWAYS been able to read CD-Rs. Panasonic, JVC, Sharp, and all others sometimes see and sometimes do not. If all this info is to be spread consistently it is hoped that these DVD player manufacturers will be bulldozed into making set-tops that read CD-Rs reliably; otherwise I truly and fervently hope the Y2K bug hits them hard between the balls and eyes.

-- EMartinez (epmartinez@hotmail.com), December 26, 1999.

i have cd copier

-- enkhbold (enkhbold11@yahoo.com), May 24, 2001.