What is VCD and DVD

How to Play VCD/DVD on your standalone DVD player & on your PC?
What is DVD?

DVD stands for Digital Versatile/Video Disc. It has high storage capacity. A DVD stores a very good quality DVD-Video, including several audio tracks in formats like stereo, Dolby Digital or DTS and also advanced menu systems, subtitles and still pictures that can be played by many standalone DVD Players and most computer DVD-ROMs. It is also possible to have up to 4.37 GB ordinary data or mix DVD-Video and data on a recordable DVD that can be played by most computer DVD-ROMs..

What is VCD?

VCD stands for 'Video Compact Disc' and basically it is a CD that contains moving pictures and sound. A VCD has the capacity to hold up to 74/80 minutes on 650MB/700MB CDs respectively of full-motion video along with quality stereo sound [normally a hindi movie VCD comes in 2 disc]. VCDs use a compression standard called MPEG to store the video and audio. A VCD can be played on almost all standalone DVD Players and of course on all computers with a DVD-ROM or CD-ROM drive with the help of a software based decoder / player. It is also possible to use menus and chapters, similiar to DVDs, on a VCD and also simple photo album/slide shows with background audio. The quality of a very good VCD is about the same as a VHS tape based movie. If you want better quality go for DVD.

A VCD can be played on:

Standalone VCD Players (very common in ASIA)
Almost all standalone DVD Players
And of course on all computers with a CD-ROMs/DVD-ROMs with a software VCD/MPG Player.

How to play DVD in your PC?

In Windows :- To play a DVD you need a software DVD Player, then it is just to insert the DVD in your DVD-ROM and hit Play.

How to play VCD in your PC?

In Windows :- You can play VCDs with Windows Media Player, insert the VCD in your CD-ROM or DVD-ROM and browse to the MPEGAV folder and double click on the .dat file and associate it with Media Player and open them with that.

To play a VCD with menus and still pictures use VCD/MPG Player software, insert the VCD and just hit Play.

Download VCD/MPG Player software

Xing MPEG Player - 30 day free trial mpeg player
Subash VCD Player
Use a low resolution, like 640x480, on the monitor when watching a VCD to get best quality.
How to watch VCD or DVD on your TV with a standalone DVD Player?

Insert the VCD or DVD in your DVD Player and hit Play if the movie doesn't start automatically.

If you want menus and still images in VCDs refer your DVD Players manual for more information how to do that.

Whether a VCD will autorun/auto play or not on a standalone player is hardware dependent. It depends completely on the player. There is nothing that you can do to the VCD itself to make it autorun or not. Some players will autorun all VCDs and some not.