DVD vs. VCD
 

Please could somebody explain the difference between these two! Also, do you know whether VCDs will work in a DVD player in the UK. <BR>I was hoping to pick up cheap DVDs in Malaysia, but I hear there are lots of VCDs about too....which should I get?! <BR> <BR>Thanks

VCDs are cheaper, but are usually not such good quality. I think they are as low as RM5 from street vendors. If you want DVD quality, get DVDs - though don't expect pirated ones to be perfect. They are still definitely better than VCDs. You'll more often find DVDs in shops in lower-scale malls, but not so much on the streets like with VCDs. They are usually about RM20. <BR> <BR>DVDs come in the hard plastic boxes, about the size of a video cassette but not as thick. There will only be one disc. VCDs come in plastic sleeves, and there are two discs (or more, if it's a really long movie). <BR> <BR>VCDs should work in your DVD. Is your DVD player a multi-system player? In any case, I know VCDs even work in computer CD-ROM drives, and I believe in playstation as well (or one of the game players that takes discs). Though if the disc is really poor quality our computer sometimes won't play them, but the DVD player will. Anyway, it's probably a go. I don't know about DVDs. We have a multi-system player. Plus we live in KL and bought it here! <BR> <BR>I would go with DVDs if you can find them. They are still cheap, and you can be assured that the quality will at least be decent. Sometimes VCDs come from videos done with a camcorder in a movie theatre - sometimes the picture is sideways, you hear the audience... sometimes they have audio problems or major glitches (like the movie cuts off in the middle and you can't see the rest). DVDs are copied from other DVDs, so the quality is usually pretty good.

Agree with Jen. The audio and video quality of DVD are much better than VCD (same for pirated ones). I would buy DVD, especially for those movies with special sound effect, like action movies.

I bought a load of VCDs in Chinatown in KL for about a quid each, most of them are fine (but then I'm a girl and not so fussed about 'top notch perfect quality of sound picture etc!) ANyway, for that price, you might as well really! Half the films I got were still in cinemas in UK and the rest hadn't even reached it yet!

Just went back to KL's Chinatown this past weekend and found that they are selling DVD pirates there now more than they were a year ago. They are RM10... maybe RM9 if you buy a few. We bought a stack!<BR><BR>VCDs are usually 3 for RM10. Music CDs are slightly more (we got 2 for RM10).<BR><BR>I'm still unsure whether DVDs here will play in North American systems, so anyone thinking of buying them should find out first!!