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This article is from the DVD Formats FAQ, by jtfrog@usa.net (Jim Taylor) with numerous contributions by others.

2.4.5 Is Video CD compatible with DVD?

Sometimes. It's not required by the DVD spec, but it's trivial to support
the Video CD (White Book) standard since any MPEG-2 decoder can also decode
MPEG-1 from a Video CD. Panasonic, RCA, Samsung, and Sony models play Video
CDs. Japanese Pioneer models play Video CDs but American models older than
the DVL-909 don't. Toshiba players older than models 2100, 3107, and 3108
don't play Video CDs.

VCD resolution is 352x288 for PAL and 352x240 for NTSC. The way most DVD
players and Video CD players deal with the difference is to chop off the
extra lines or add blank lines. When playing PAL VCDs, the Panasonic and
RCA NTSC players apparently cut 48 lines (17%) off the bottom. The Sony
NTSC players apparently scale all 288 lines to fit.

All DVD-ROM computers can play Video CDs (with the right software).

Standard VCD players can't play DVDs.

Note: Many Asian VCDs achieve two soundtracks by putting one language on
the left channel and another on the right. The two channels are mixed
together into babel on a stereo system unless you adjust the balance or
disconnect one input to get only one channel.

 

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• prev: 2.4.4 Is CD-RW compatible with DVD?
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• next: 2.4.6 Is Super Video CD compatible with DVD?

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