Can a CD drive read DVDs?

[snailboy]

@Meeko

Slight Hijack here.
FYI: As far as I can tell, in my own experience, you can Play SOME Playstation (The original PSOne) discs in a cd player. Especially the Demo discs you get with the system. The first few tracks may not play, but I can not see any damage to my only stereo player that Ive had for at least 12 years. (Yes, a Dial tuning wheel). :eek:

Do be careful with that. I believe Playstation discs have multiple sessions so that audio cd players ignore the data on the discs. However, older systems like the Sega CD and Turbo CD contained the data on audio tracks. They cause a nasty sound to come from the speakers which it is said could damage them. I’ve never damaged any speakers myself listening to Sega CD and Turbo CD games, but I’d at least turn the volume down until I verified which tracks are data, if any. Again, I don’t think this is a problem on the Playstation but do verify it first.

[spinky]

@Mangetout

Windows Media Player also seems to play DVD content quite happily now (for Windows users, obviously, yadda yadda)

Note that this is really only the case if you have a DVD decoder (e.g. the one that came with CyberLink PowerDVD or some other DVD player app) installed. WMP doesn’t actually know how to decode MPEG2.

[Rex_Fenestrarum]

@Mangetout

they are very often movies from studios that I would have thought would be unwilling to allow their content to be presented in a lower-quality medium.

Well, VCD has been a popular format in Asia for a couple of decades now. A few sites give two main reasons for this:

1. China missed out the popularity of VCRs. As you might recall, most early VCRs were made in either the US or Japan. By the mid-to-late 80s - when most of us had at least one VCR in the house - production started to shift to China. It was only then that most Chinese could even buy a VCR. However, because of video tape’s late arrival there, it never took off like it did in the rest of the world.

2. VCDs are an excellent medium for that other grand Asian passion: karaoke.

You also have to remember that back then you had several other formats that we don’t have today: Movie CD, Video Singles, etc. So VCDs aren’t that weird from a historical perspective. I’d also imagine that the relative poverty that huge parts of Asia lives in contributed to the growth of VCDs. After all, a few years ago a DVD player might have cost the average Chinese citizen MAJOR bucks, but VCD players have always been pretty cheap, since they’re based on a well-known technology (CD-ROM discs). Not that I’m a huge fan of VCDs or anything, I just had decent experiences with them back when lots of movies weren’t on DVD yet. MPEG-1 does indeed suck compared to MPEG-2.

@ntucker

WMP doesn’t actually know how to decode MPEG2.

This is true, although it’s not so much a question of “doesn’t know how” but more of a “DVD decoders cost money for licensing fees” one.

@Roadruner

Dont know if this will help but I have been using CyberLink PowerDVD and this will play dvd and all sorts of stuff. hope it helps

Yeah, check eBay. You can get OEM copies there for like $5.

One last thing: if you do decide to buy a DVD burner, try to get one that supports “dual layer” discs. Most of the DVD movies you buy come on dual layer discs - which, as the name implies, have two data layers on them and a capacity of 8.7GB. Most of the cheaper DVD burners (like mine) are “single layer” burners that only burn 4.35GB discs. Blank dual layer media is still pretty expensive these days, but I expect them to come down a lot this year. So it just makes sense to go ahead and spend a few extra ducats to get a burner that is “future proof”, ya know?