which has better viewing quality...VCD or VHS videotape?

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I hae been searching everywhere for a rare movie and I finally found some on e-bay, (the world's largest online auction site). I found one that was on a VCD for about $30.00, and found the same movie that was on a VHS videotape for $45.00. Each seller claims that their film is digitally mastered. The movie is a very rare music video with lots of quick dance movements and great costumes.

My question is which one do you think I should buy? I just want the one wih THE BEST OVERALL VIEWING QUALITY. THe VCD is cheaper than the VHS videotape,...but is the viewing quality better? (I know absolutely nothing about VCD's and I only know very little about DVD's - I just recently bought a DVD player and I m still slowly trying to learn how use it.)

If you could just tell me which one do you think would have the best overall viewing quality.....the VCD or the VHS videotape, I would greaty appreciate it. Thank you in advance :O)

-- ann (annmrlowe@aol.com), June 14, 2001

Answers

My best guess would be that the VHS would have better quality. VCD suffers from blockiness (you literally see blocks on the screen) during fast motion scenes. You should be aware that many DVD players do not support CD-R media and if the VCD was made on CD-R media and your player won't play it, you'd have wasted your money. You could go to www.vcdhelp.com and look at the compatibility list and see what it says for your player. If the VCD is a commercial one (looks silver on the data side like a commercial audio CD), any DVD player will play it, but if someone is selling it on Ebay and it's rare, my guess is it's made on CD-R.

-- Jason (Jason.Shumate@sita.int), June 15, 2001.

You are probably getting some sort of counterfeit if the only media available are VHS and VCD. VHS will be of higher quality. But the VCD might not be of much lower quality. It just depends upon how it was done. The problem is that sometimes homemade VCDs don't work so well.

-- ziggy (maugo99@hotmail.com), June 15, 2001.

This isn't an answer, but a question -- or maybe it's both.

Based on what I've heard, VCDs recorded on CD-Rs disappoint many people who bought software to turn their DVDs into VCDs or SVCDS. The real question is: how good are commercial VCDs in respect to VHS? The Ebay movies I'm interested in are commercial products with covers.

Can anyone offer any feedback?

Thanks.

-- John (jriler@hotmail.com), March 15, 2003.


VCD definetly has better audio Quaily. VHS has better viewing quaility but it degrades after a while. If it was me, i would buy the VHS and Record it onto my PC (via graphics card), then tweak the visual settings a bit to get it the way i want and burn it onto a DVD disc. But thats only because i have the resources and no life what so ever. :)

Peace

-- Dom de Luca (donamik_da_wuca@hotmail.com), January 24, 2004.


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