Official VCDHelp.com PAL/NTSC Demo VCD Reports

The following are three sample report cards from VCD compatible players:

1. PowerDVD XP (ver 4)
2. SAST AEP-800 DVD player
3. SAST AEP-627 VCD player

Report 1 - PowerDVD XP (ver 4)

Interpretation:

• The software player fails the "entrypoint <playlist> chapters" but this isn't surprising as very very few players support it.
• It fails the "<autowait> settings" which is disappointing
• It fails the "<loop> jump timing = delayed" which is disappointing
• PowerDVD critically lacks a default button and hence multi-default menus don't work either.  This is disappointing for a software player.
• As it is a software player, PAL and NTSC has no relevance and thus it plays them all perfectly.
• Similarly, software players are not constrained by hardware limitations like a stand-alone player and so it plays all the XVCD clips as well.

• The lack of support for <autowait> and <loop> jump timing = delayed are not that important, but not having the "default" button mapped is.  If this was a hardware player, you will definitely have to think twice before buying it.
• Apart from these issues, VCD support is generally good.  Of note, it supports audio only segment play items perfect which is very handy.

Report 2 - SAST AEP-800 DVD player

Interpretation:

• This is a stand-alone DVD player that defaults to NTSC settings.
• The player fails the "entrypoint <playlist> chapters" but this isn't surprising as very very few players support it.
• It has problems with the "<autowait> settings", specifically, it did not pause at BOTH points.  It only paused at the first one.
• It does not correctly play the audio only segment play item.  The player blanks the screen and the beginning of the audio clip repeats again and again.
• This player was able to play both PAL and NTSC well.
• However, converting an NTSC (29.97 fps) clip to a PAL signal (i.e., for a PAL-only TV) lead to a slightly choppy video.  Outputting the NTSC material as native NTSC (on an multisystem capable TV) was fine.
• It was able to play XVCD clips 1 and 2 well.
• The other clips lead to a completely distorted and unwatchable screen.  However, the audio up to clip 4 was smooth (i.e., 3000 kbit/s average VBR).  Thus, it can be extrapolated, that this player cannot play back XVCD clips on anything other than the standard resolution (352 x 240/288).  However, it does support variable bitrate encoding of at least up to 3000 kbit/s.

• This player passes all the critical tests and most of the non-critical ones.
• It has mildly dodgy support for <autowait> but this is relatively unimportant.   Lack of support for audio only segment play items is disappointing, but few players support this.
• This player is generally good at playing back both PAL and NTSC material, but it's NTSC to PAL conversion is sub-optimal (generally not required, however, as most PAL TVs are multisystem capable).
• This player is not as good if you are interested in creating XVCDs as it is incapable of playing back larger than standard framesizes.

Report 3 - SAST AEP-627 VCD player

Interpretation:

• This is a stand-alone VCD player that defaults to PAL settings.
• The player fails the "entrypoint <playlist> chapters" but this isn't surprising as very very few players support it.
• It has problems with the "<autowait> settings".  It does not honour the autowait setting of 0 seconds (still lead to a brief pause).  On the second test, it was able to pause at both points, however, the timing was a little bit off (rather than at 4 and 8 seconds, the player paused at 5 and 9 seconds).
• It fails the "<loop> jump timing = delayed" which is disappointing.
• It does not correctly play the audio only segment play item.  The player blanks the screen and the audio is played extremely fast.
• This player was able to play both PAL and NTSC well.
• It was not able to play any of the XVCD clips.  Skipping occurred on the first clip and AV sync problems occurred (with skipping) on the second clip.

• This player passes all the critical tests and most of the non-critical ones.
• It has mildly dodgy support for <autowait> but this is relatively unimportant.   Lack of support for audio only segment play items and loop jump timing = delayed is disappointing, but few players support this.
• This player is excellent at playing back both PAL and NTSC material and converts between both well.
• This player, being a stand-alone VCD player, is not appropriate for XVCD material.

Michael Tam <vitualis (at) michaeltam.com>
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(c) 27 December, 2002