Video Formats

Video Formats: What should I use?
Many of us out there have heard of DVDs before -- but what are VCDs, SVCDs, or miniDVDs?

With VCDs and SVCDs, you can burn your movies to standard CD discs using a CD burner. They are ideal formats for people that have not yet purchased a DVD burner. VCDs and SVCDs are also compatible with most standard DVD players, so it is easy to share these formats with friends. Note that compared to DVD-quality video, the quality of SVCD and VCD video is reduced.

Alternatively with MiniDVD, you can share DVD-quality video on a standard CD, using a standard CD burner. Again the advantage is that you do not need a DVD burner. This format is ideal if you want to share high-quality video with your friends. However, due to the increase in quality, you will only be able to burn about 15 minutes of video. MiniDVDs can be watched on most PCs, but are rarely supported by standard DVD players.

These alternative formats provide a good economical solution for distributing your movies on CD-R/RW discs that can be played on computers and many home stand-alone DVD players.

For a complete guide on the advantages, required settings and playback options of each format, please refer to the tables below.

DVD is DVD-Video recorded on a DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, or DVD-RAM disc, which contains superior quality video (MPEG-2) and audio. Typically, a DVD can hold more than one hour of video.

DVD Video Parameter Settings

• Frame Size: 720x480 (NTSC) or 720x576 (PAL)
• Frame Rate: 29.97 frames/second (NTSC) or 25 frames/second (PAL)
• Video Data Rate: 4~8 Mbps CBR or VBR (Constant/Variable Bit Rate)
• Audio Settings: Stereo, 48 kHz and 192~384 kbps MPEG audio

DVD Playback Options:

• Stand-alone DVD players
• Computer DVD drives with playback software
  

miniDVD is DVD-Video recorded on a CD-R, CD+R, CD-RW, or CD+RW disc. Typically, a miniDVD can hold about 18 minutes of video encoded at 4 Mbps.

miniDVD Video Parameters Settings*

• Frame Size: 720x480 (NTSC) or 720x576 (PAL)
• Frame Rate: 29.97frames/second (NTSC) or 25 frames/second (PAL)
• Video Data Rate: 4~8 Mbps CBR or VBR (Constant/Variable Bit Rate)
• Audio Settings: Stereo, 48 kHz and 192~384 kbps MPEG audio

miniDVD Playback Options:

• A very limited number of stand-alone DVD Players with CD-R or CD-RW playback capabilities (See DVD player manufacturer for compatibility)
• Computer DVD/CD-ROM drives with playback software

A CD-ROM disc that contains video and audio. Typically, a VCD can hold about 74 minutes (650MB) of video and stereo-quality audio. The video and audio are stored in MPEG-1 format and follow certain standards (White Book). VCD video quality is roughly the same as VHS video.

VCD Video Parameters Settings

• Frame Size: 352x240 (NTSC) or 352x288 (PAL)
• Frame Rate: 29.97 frames/second (NTSC) or 25 frames/second (PAL)
• Video Data Rate: 1152 kbps
• Audio Settings: Stereo, 44.1kHz and 224kbps audio bit rate

VCD Playback Options:

• Almost all stand-alone VCD or DVD Players with CD-R or CD-RW playback capabilities (See DVD player manufacturer for compatibility)
• Computer DVD/CD-ROM drives with playback software

A CD-ROM disc that contains high quality video and audio. Typically, a SVCD can hold about 35~45 minutes (650MB) of video and stereo-quality audio (depends on the data rate used for encoding). The video and audio are stored in MPEG-2 format, much like a DVD. SVCD video has better quality than VHS video.

SVCD Video Parameter Settings

• Frame Size: 480x480 (NTSC) or 480x576 (PAL)
• Frame Rate: 29.97 frames/second (NTSC) or 25 frames/second (PAL)
• Video Data Rate: Variable bit rate up to 2600 kbps
• Audio Settings: 32~384 kbps MPEG-1 Layer 2 audio bit rate

NOTE: The maximum audio and video combined data rate cannot exceed 2750kbps.

SVCD Playback Options:

• Some stand-alone DVD Players with CD-R or CD-RW playback capabilities (See DVD player manufacturer for compatibility)
• Computer DVD/CD-ROM drives with playback software