Chapter 1

DVD Production 171
The only known players that can play a cDVD are the Afreey/Sampo
LD2060 and ADV2360 models, and the Aiwa XD-DW5 and XD-DW1. Some
of these players use 1x or 2x readers so they can’t handle data rates over
4 Mbps. It’s possible to replace the IDE drive mechanism in the player with
a faster drive, which can then handle higher data rates. See robshot.com for
details on cDVD-capable players. (Note: there have been many reports of
players able to play DVD content from CD-R. Upon investigation it turns out
that they play Video CDs but not cDVDs. The players mentioned above
have been verified to play DVD-Video files (.VOB and .IFO) from CD media.)
Computers are more forgiving. DVD-Video files from any source with fast
enough data rates, including CD-R or CD-RW, with or without UDF formatting,
will play on most DVD-ROM PCs as long as the drive can read the
media (all but early model DVD-ROM drives can read CD-Rs). On a Mac,
you need version 2.3 or newer of the Apple DVD Player.
To create a cDVD, author the DVD-Video content as usual (see “What
DVD Authoring Systems Are Available?”) then burn it to a CD-R or CD-RW.
If your authoring software doesn’t write directly to CD-R/RW discs, use a
separate utility to copy the VIDEO_TS directory to the root directory of the
disc. To be compatible with the few settop players that read cDVDs, turn on
the UDF filesystem option of the CD burning software. To achieve longer
playing times, encode the video in MPEG-2 half-D1 format (352 � 480 or
352 � 576) or in MPEG-1 format.
An alternative is to put Video CD or Super Video CD content on CD-R
or CD-RW media for playback in a DVD player. Set-top DVD players that
are VCD or SVCD capable and can read recordable media will be able to
play such discs (see “Is Video CD Compatible with DVD?” in Chapter 2).
The limitations of VCD apply (MPEG-1 video and audio, 1.152 Mbps, and
74 minutes of playing time). All DVD-ROM PCs able to read recordable CD
media can play recorded VCD discs. An MPEG-2 decoder (see “Can I Play
DVD Movies on My Computer?” in Chapter 4) is needed to play SVCDs.
See “How Do I Copy My Home Videos/Movies/Slides to DVD?” for more
on creating Video CDs.
How Do I Copy My Home Video/Film/Photos to DVD?
This used to be almost impossible, but luckily for you it’s getting cheaper
and easier all the time.
For a simple video-to-DVD transfer you can buy a DVD video recorder
($500 to $3,000) and connect it to your VCR or camcorder. It works just like
a VCR but it records onto a disc instead of tape.