What is a DVD, VCD, CD and CDG?

I get a lot of people asking about the different karaoke disc formats that are available on the market and what to use them on. If you want to know but are not interested in the science then this article should keep you satisfied. 

CD

A CD or (Compact Disc) is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store sound recordings exclusively, but later it was used for other types of data.

CDG

A CDG or (Compact Disc plus Graphics) is just a normal Audio Compact Disc.

The difference between the two is that a CDG has extra information encoded with the audio or music tracks called bytes and they come up as lyrics (or Graphics) that you read along with when you sing the song.

To break it down, these little bits of information are store on things called sub-channels (every CD has them) and if you put the CDG in a standard computer or DVD player chances are that the drive will not pick up this extra information.

You will hear the music though (even on a car stereo player) because it is still just an Audio CD. If you wish to view the lyrics then you will need to purchase a proper karaoke player or software for your computer.

DVD & VCD

There are several standard methods for encoding both video and audio together for playback in DVD players and computers.

They are: DVD and VCD.

DVD's use the MPEG 2 and VCD's use the MPEG 1 standard.

Encoding and compressing audio and video data significantly reduces file size while keeping an acceptable quality.

The MPEG-1 video compression method in its simplest form removes duplicate video frames while reducing the image quality. 

It also uses something called psycho-acoustics-compression that removes the high and low frequencies in the music that a normal human ear cannot hear.

What is a VCD?

VCD stands for Video Compact Disc and in the karaoke format contain both music and video with lyrics.

VCD's are encoded onto a CD-ROM that can hold about 800 megabytes of data.

Most stand-alone DVD players can play a VCD.

What is a DVD?

DVD stands for Digital Versatile Disc and they also contain both music and video with lyrics for karaoke.

A DVD can hold a lot more information then a CD and usually has many more song titles available on one disc. (Remember that a VCD is encoded onto a CD)

There is information available for the more adventurous karaoke buff and I would be happy to send it to you. (Just flick me a email.)