(S)VCD - What's the point?

[Firefly]

DVD Writers for PCs are starting to get very cheap.

I was just wondering if it is fair to ask Jdiner to spend time developing Tytool variants to cope with (S)VCD, when surely this is going to be a twilight format pretty soon?

[KEC]

DVD Pros:

DVD is easier to use if you are archiving a movie because there probably is no (big studio) movie that fits on one SVCD.

You can fit multiple TV shows on one disk.

The majority of all DVD players (probably allmost all current) can read DVD-R and/or DVD+R.

DVD Cons:

People that are anal about standards (and some DVD players) don't like the non-DVD compliant video.

There is still an extra cost to using DVD recorders and media. That continues to become less and less significant. Try getting a recorder for <$20 and media to archive four hours of video for pennies. (1x DVD-R may be reachig that point now.)


SVCD Pros:

Closest video disk standard to the standard Ty stream video resolution (480x480).

Easy to organize TV shows. One disk for each one hour show. (The size that I am archiving.)

Cheapest recorder, software, and media.

SVCD Cons:

Takes more disks to archive the same number of hours.

Fewer DVD players support SVCDs. (I bet few peolple in the Americas or Europe bought SVCD players. SVCD support actually is better than it used to be when I first started making SVCDs.)


Non issues:

Video quality is usually very good for both because the video is the same (when archiving a Ty stream).

Audio quality is usually very good for both. (It takes better hearing than mine to tell 44.1KHz sample rate from 48KHz sample rate.)

Currently, there no major difference between the amount of time required to write four hours of video using fast CD or fast DVD recorders. (But there will be a big price difference.)


In case you were wondering, I actually have good tools for both SVCD and DVD. (e.g. Philips SVCD authoring tools and ReelDVD.)

[Zak0]

I think KEC makes all the important points. I'm happy with SVCD for now because I can archive one hour-long episode or two half-hour episodes on a single disc using the 24x CD-R drive I already own and the media costs pennies each.

As soon as I can afford a DVD writer (and I'll probably wait until I can afford one that does ALL of the different standards), I'll switch. Until then, SVCD is very important to me.

-Zak

[lmurray]

I'm currently using SVCDs, and have asked jdiner to support it. So i'll figure i'll comment.

I'll be moving to DVD shortly. Right now, making SVCDs for tv shows is cheap and easy. Dvds would cost significantly more. For movies and shows beyond 1 hour, I'd never bother w/ a SVCD. It would never fit on a single CD.

If I understand the dll that jdiner is writing, he'll probably just substitute a 48 for a 44.1, and the audio will convert properly. The same thing for the MPG conversion to SVCD. Of course, I'll let jdiner comment on that, because I've never seen the code. I can only assume as a fellow software engineer that his code is this modular.

In the end if jdiner chooses not to support SVCD, i'll live. I've had a working process using his older tools for months.

I realize that dvds are currently the way to go, and will get cheaper (both the media and the writers).

hope this helps,
-lloyd-

[Pro-289]

I use SVCD because that's what I can create and burn right now. I don't own a DVD burner, since when I got this writer they were really expensive at the time, and the + - format usability wasn't quite known yet.

I'd like to get a DVD burner with CDR/W capabilities some year, but what I have now works well. I mainly archive programs on CDR, so being able to create an SVCD is just a bonus. I have stacks of CDR media I've bought which had rebates, so the the end price for each disc was just pennies.

Maybe if I didn't own a burner right now, it'd be worth while to get a DVDR/W/CDR/W burner. But currently I'm not burning more than 1 hour anyway. So if I have a need to do so, I will then upgrade to DVD burning.

[Toyz]

For me it’s simple dollars and sense. I have both a DVD and CD writer. For shows that are one hour or less, I don’t need to be top quality and I don’t want multiple episodes on one disk, I still prefer (S)VCD ($0.20 each.) Otherwise I use DVD’s ($2.00+ each)

Even though the price of DVD’s is coming down it’s still 10x the price of CD’s and will continue to be for some time. So it sure would be nice if I could continue to use CD’s. And jdiners tytool ROCKS, so it sure would be nice if it did it. No matter what it still rocks.