I wanted to get into VCDs when I was a kid and I got a portable CD player that could also play VCDs, but the player was so buggy I just gave up. Maybe now is the time
I too was fascinated by VCDs for a stint during my younger years.
For me, the attraction was the potential of breeching the then-seemingly impenetrable wall between my computer and TVs. I had recently come into the possession of a CD burner (DVD burners were not yet available, at least not cheaply) and when my family picked up a dedicated DVD player that was advertised as also handling VCDs, I saw an opportunity.
The associated software ecosystem was quite flaky, though. I tried burning them with Roxio Toast and Nero among other utilities, but producing VCDs that player would actually play was hit or miss. I burned several coasters and eventually gave up.
exactly. i too remember getting into vcd and svcd as a way to get video to my tv. I remember making some sort of Matrox to SCART lead and later I eventually got a TV (sony tritron) with s-vid that also helped the transition. it wasn’t until I got a plasma (px80) and popcorn hour a110 that i freed myself up from hacky cds and trailing wires. this was early 2000’s
Yeah it was pretty rough up until the late 2000s. I had been running iMacs so video output add-in cards weren't an option so I had to resort to a variety of different tricks to achieve the desired result. One of the last ones I remember trying involved some sort of hijinks with my TiVo box to get it to pull stuff from my computer.
I eventually just gave up and watched things on my iMac G5 since its 20" screen wasn't all that much smaller than my CRT TV, and then later in college I upgraded to a 27" Intel iMac which had a nice IPS panel display and was better to watch things on than most flat panel TVs from that era around that size.
happyPersonR · · focus · HN ↗
nice to see something about this technology again. It was pervasive across SE asia for a little :).
NDlurker · · focus · HN ↗
cosmic_cheese · · focus · HN ↗
For me, the attraction was the potential of breeching the then-seemingly impenetrable wall between my computer and TVs. I had recently come into the possession of a CD burner (DVD burners were not yet available, at least not cheaply) and when my family picked up a dedicated DVD player that was advertised as also handling VCDs, I saw an opportunity.
The associated software ecosystem was quite flaky, though. I tried burning them with Roxio Toast and Nero among other utilities, but producing VCDs that player would actually play was hit or miss. I burned several coasters and eventually gave up.
jaffa2 · · focus · HN ↗
cosmic_cheese · · focus · HN ↗
I eventually just gave up and watched things on my iMac G5 since its 20" screen wasn't all that much smaller than my CRT TV, and then later in college I upgraded to a 27" Intel iMac which had a nice IPS panel display and was better to watch things on than most flat panel TVs from that era around that size.