Super Video CD

Super Video CDs contain MPEG-2 video sequences. Super Video CD is the technological successor to Video CD, and, from a visual point of view, is closer to DVD than to VCD.

On a Video CD the films are coded in MPEG-1 format (25 frames per second) at a resolution of 352 x 288 pixels (PAL, 25 frames per second) or 352 x 240 (NTSC, 29.97 frames per second). On an SVCD the data transfer rate is 2.6 Mbit/s, which is double that of a VCD. The MPEG-2 encoder for SVCD uses a resolution of 480 x 576 (PAL, 25 Hz) or 480 x 480 (NTSC, 29.97 Hz), which is two-thirds that of DVD.

The highest possible resolution for individual images is, however, the same: 704 x 576 or 704 x 480.

In addition, a variable bit rate can be used, which means that quiet scenes with few movements can be compressed more than hectic action scenes.

At the highest quality, around 35 minutes of film fit on a Super Video CD (using a standard blank disc with 74 minutes of storage capacity).

Today's Super VideoCD format is a combination of developments of the Super VideoCD (SVCD) format of the same name developed by the China Recording Standards Committee and of the High-Quality VideoCD (HQ-VCD) format of the VideoCD Consortium (Philips, Sony, Matsushita and JVC).


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