Can you watch VCD's on a North American 3DO FZ-1 or FZ-10?

[Rick Dangerous]

Hey People,

 

I have noticed that there is a video cartridge available for Japanese 3DO's that allows the user to play VCD's. Anyone ever attempted to set this up on a US model? What do I need?

 

If I plug this sucker into the side of my NTSC 3DO will it be able to play VCDs?

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JAPAN-NTSC-U-C-J-PANASONIC-REAL-3DO-FZ-FV1-FULL-MOTION-VIDEO-CD-ADAPTER-CIB-used-/221593125105?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3397fac0f1

 

Would it play the Phillips CD-i VCD's or are those proprietary to that system? Were there commercially released "general use" VCD's or would I have to burn my own?

 

Thanks!

 

 

[CatPix]

Unless I'm wrong, 3DO accessories are not region locked so yeh you can probably watch VCD with this cart.

 

For the CD-i, there is two flavors of Video-CD :

The pure Philips CD-i format, which saw release because the VideoCD format was not finalized before 1993 and the CD-i was release in 91,

and the VCD format, which is standard VideoCD.

 

But 180$ plus the 3DO to wach crappy videoCD? You're 100 times better buying a 15$ DVD player, most have VCD capabilities. Or even check your actual one, it probably can read them already.

Just saying tho, it's your money, not mine

Edited May 22, 2015 by CatPix

[Rick Dangerous]

Unless I'm wrong, 3DO accessories are not region locked so yeh you can probably watch VCD with this cart.

 

For the CD-i, there is two flavors of Video-CD :

The pure Philips CD-i format, which saw release because the VideoCD format was not finalized before 1993 and the CD-i was release in 91,

and the VCD format, which is standard VideoCD.

 

But 180$ plus the 3DO to wach crappy videoCD? You're 100 times better buying a 15$ DVD player, most have VCD capabilities. Or even check your actual one, it probably can read them already.

Just saying tho, it's your money, not mine

 

Thanks appreciate it.

 

I know i could watch vcd's on my DVD player, but it's so much cooler to watch them on $300 worth of obscure early 90's hardware! Lol..

 

Anyway to tell the difference between CDi propietary movies and regular Phillips VCD's? When you look up CDi VCD's on ebay, and they come in CDi packaging and look official, they must be proprietary right?

 

EDIT: There is actually a few solid places to find regular VCD's so i'm not overly worried about the Cdi movies not working on my 3DO. Would be cool if they did though..

Edited May 22, 2015 by travistouchdown

[phoenixdownita]

Pay attention that the VCD player itself does not work across regions.

I believe there was a thread on assemblergames about the same argument but in that case the OP was trying to also cross the NTSC/PAL boundaries.

In short the PAL VCD player did not work on the NTSC US console (or viceversa), they also found out the chips inside the carts were different.

 

Here's a link to Google cache (as assemblergames has been down for weeks):

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:t5wIq4OXO0IJ:https://assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php%3F56473-US-FZ-10-to-PAL-FZ-10-VCD-adaptor+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

 

Not sure anyone tried Jap <-> US combo.

 

There's not much info about it though.

 

I understand about the bragging rights but as to "it's cool" factor it's another story.

Edited May 22, 2015 by phoenixdownita

[Seob]

Titles that are only cd-i compatible are labeled "digital video on cd-i"

Here is a list with cd-i only movies

Black Rain (9/93)

Coneheads

The Firm (12/93)

The Hunt For Red October (9/93)

Indecent Proposal

The Naked Gun 2 1/2 (9/93)

Patriot Games (9/93)

Posse

Sliver

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (9/93)

Top Gun (9/93)

Wayne's World (2/94)

White Christmas (9/93)

The Addams Family (3/94)

[7800fan]

DVD players are still better. I used to make DVD-VCD hybrid, using MPEG1 VCD resolution but using correct DVD audio rate. I was able to squeeze 4 hours of video onto single layer DVD-R disc.

 

I wonder if I can make VCD-BD hybrid? Probably 20 hours on single layer BD?

[fiddlepaddle]

I've got a whole pile of Philips CD-i movies and nothing to play them on anymore (they used to be watchable on one of my old windows computers, maybe Win98 or 95, but not the new(er) ones I still have, as far back as ME). I couldn't even find anyone who wanted them. Most if not all are available on DVD I think, and I'm sure you can find torrents...

[+thegoldenband]

I've got a whole pile of Philips CD-i movies and nothing to play them on anymore (they used to be watchable on one of my old windows computers, maybe Win98 or 95, but not the new(er) ones I still have, as far back as ME).

 

Can VLC do anything with them? If they don't currently support the format, maybe they'd be willing to add it.

[CatPix]

If it's VCD, I think VLC can read them natively. CD-i I'm not so sure since it's a proprietary format.

Most DVD players from Asia read VCD as they are immensely popular here for karaokes and cheap promotionnal movies (as well as movies altogether)

[Seob]

The only vcd you don't want to buy is the hunt for red october. It's the worst possible version of any vcd movie. The compresion they used is so high most of the time you'll be looking at screens futuring less then sega cd video quality

[CatPix]

That's if you really need to buy VCD Gotta prefer Laserdiscs if you want the trouble of fiddling with obsolete format :U

[fiddlepaddle]

 

Can VLC do anything with them? If they don't currently support the format, maybe they'd be willing to add it.

 

I haven't tried it (yet)...I'm downloading it now, but the format doesn't show up on their website. My suspicion is it won't work. My guess is Philips pulled all licenses (or priced them too high), and that's why Microsoft stopped supporting it.

 

I suppose someone could reverse engineer it, but i bet it would be lots of work with very few people who need it.

[fiddlepaddle]

OK, VLC will play the FBI warnings, but as soon as the movie should start, it quits.

 

So, VLC does NOT work with Philips CD-i (at least under linux).

[mickcris]

I tried to put the one CD-i movie I have (Patriot Games) in my Windows 7 PC to see if it would work. The disc drive does not even recognize there is a disc inserted.

[7800fan]

You should try looking for LotR VCD. Some years ago I found Fellowship of the Ring VCD, one disc nearly 4 hours extended version. It looked like I was playing Real Video (the old pre-21st century format) on an old computer with max 256 color.

[Seob]

Think on the mac cd-i dv was supported on os's before os X.

read somewhere that after they started to use a 32bit mscdex in win 95, support for green book video was dropped.

You should be able to run it on an old pc using xing mpeg player or a dedicated mpeg hardware card.

[tripletopper]

The 3DO requires a cartridge for that particular model (I need a Goldstar model for my Goldstar 3DO)

 

But seriously, a lot of the last model Laser Discs, and quite a few DVD players AND recorders have them. But DVDs have 8 times the storage of a CD for twice the cost per disc.. I transferred my friend's winning performance on Life to the Power of X from BetaMax, to a RCA video adapter and burnt it on a VCD, before I a) Had a Mac with a Superdrive, and b) I found a VCR-Style DVD Recorder. We got the video recorder shortly after Life to the Power of X, so we transfrrd straight from Betamax to DVD recorder, and it looks good. That's the video Jamal uploaded to youtube.

 

If you're looking for a game console that can easily do VCD, try a Sega Dreamcast, just burn a boot disc that's a combined MP3/VCD player, eject and play VCDs and MP3CDs until you turn the power off. They are free online. I've even bought one with a physical remote control that plugs into Joyport 1. But my DVD recorder can play VCDs so who cares.

[haightc]

I have one that came with a Japanese 3DO for like $10. It work just fine between the US and Japanese model. The board is also the same between the FZ1 and FZ10 model, the module is powered separately so it'll need an additional power supply.

[Andromeda Stardust]

only vcds ive ever seen were bootlegs. even vhs transfers look 1000% better on one of those cheap dvd recorders...

[haightc]

Some professional VCDs look pretty good. I have several low quality VCDs that came out of HK, but I also have some that look better than their VHS counterparts.

For example I have the Matrix on legit VCD and it's some places looks worse or better than the VHS. However Ayumi Hamasaki's a Film for XX looks way better on VCD and is argurably better than even better than DVD release. In general though I put most VCD when professional master slightly better than VHS. Early DVDs were pretty sh!t, had lots of artifacting so LaserDisc and sometimes even VCD was preferable especially since you now got unskippable advertising and movie previews.