About Video CDs Like VHS videotapes, Video CDs are a great way to store and share video contents. One advantage of Video CD over videotape is that you can move rapidly from track to track, while videotape must be fast-forwarded or rewound at a slower pace. This makes Video CDs ideal for information kiosks, computer-based training, and other uses for which videotape would be impractical. Video CD Disc Structure A Video CD has a capacity of about 70 minutes of video. It contains several tracks: • The first track is a standard ISO 9660 data track containing files that tell the Video CD player how to locate and play the other tracks on the disc. It may also store still pictures, playlists, and menus. The menus let you select from various tracks or "scenes" to play, and playlists let you present the various tracks in different orders. • The other tracks on the disc are audio and video tracks (one or more) that have been compressed into MPEG-1 format. Toast 5 Titanium can automatically compress digital video content into MPEG-1 format and record Video CDs that are playable on a wide variety of devices. What Do You Need to Play a Video CD? There are many options for playing Video CDs. A Macintosh with a CD- or DVD -ROM can play Video CDs using QuickTime Player or one of the many shareware Video CD player applications. There are also dedicated Video CD players, but you won't easily find one outside of Asia. For most people, the best way to play Video CDs is on a Video CD-capable DVD player. Most manufacturers clearly indicate when their DVD players are Video CD capable, but there are varying degrees of capability. Any Video CD-capable DVD player can play a commercially stamped, silver Video CD. However, if you want to play Video CDs you have recorded yourself, the DVD player must be capable of reading CD-R or CD-RW media. Testing a DVD Player for Video CD Compatibility Here's a simple procedure: 1 Buy or borrow a commercially pressed Video CD. 2 Using Toast 5 Titanium, copy the Video CD, once on a CD-R disc and once on a CD-RW disc. Take the original and both copies to a store with a selection of DVD players. Test the players by inserting each disc in turn into the player you wish to test. This tells you what kind of media the player can handle. Most DVD players should play the commercial Video CD, and probably the CD-RW copy. Many DVD players handle CD-RW discs better than CD-R, so it's least likely to play the CD-R disc. If possible, check the DVD player's manual to see what it says about CD-R support. If a player cannot play CD-R or CD-RW discs, then it probably won't be able to play homemade Video CDs. However, many DVD players can play back Video CDs recorded on some brands of CD-RW discs, and not others, showing a preference for one particular brand over all others. So don't give up until you try a few brands of both DVD players and CD media. When to Choose Video CD Format Use the Video CD format to write a White Book-compatible Video CD that can be played on Video CD and CD-I players, Video CD-capable DVD players, and on most CD-ROM or DVD-ROM players on computers.   Upgrading to Toast 5 Titanium

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