Editing Video CD (section)

==Brief history==

[[LaserDisc]] was first available on the market, in [[Atlanta, Georgia]], on December 15, 1978.<ref name="CED magic">{{Citation |title=1979: The VideoDisc Is Here! |url=http://www.cedmagic.com/history/discovision-marketed.html |work=History of Media Technology |publisher=CED magic |access-date=8 April 2011}}</ref> This {{convert|30|cm|abbr=on}} disc could hold an hour of analog audio and video (digital audio was added a few years later) on each side. The LaserDisc provided picture quality nearly double the resolution of [[VHS|VHS tape]] and analog audio quality far superior to cheap mono VHS recorders (although the difference to the more expensive VHS HiFi stereo recorders was minuscule).

Philips later teamed up with [[Sony]] to develop a new type of disc, called the [[compact disc]] or CD. Introduced in 1982 in [[Japan]] (1983 in the [[U.S.]] and [[Europe]]), the CD is about {{convert|120|mm|abbr=on}} in diameter, and is single-sided. The format was initially designed to store digitized sound and proved to be a success in the music industry.

A few years later, Philips decided to give CDs the ability to produce video, utilizing the same technology as its LaserDisc counterpart. This led to the creation of [[CD Video]] (CD-V) in 1987. However, the disc's small size significantly impeded the ability to store analog video; thus only 5 minutes of picture information could fit on the disc's surface (despite the fact that the audio was digital). Therefore, CD-V distribution was limited to featuring [[music video]]s, and it was soon discontinued by 1991.

By the early 1990s engineers were able to digitize and compress video signals, greatly improving storage efficiency.  Because this new format could hold 74/80 minutes of audio and video on a 650/700MB disc, releasing movies on compact discs finally became a reality. Extra capacity was obtained by sacrificing the [[error correction]] <!-- Mode 2 Form 2 recording ---> (it was believed that minor errors in the datastream would go unnoticed by the viewer). This format was named Video CD or VCD.

[[File:Copy Protected VCD.jpg|thumb|"Copy Protected" logo on a VCD package produced in [[Hong Kong]]]]
VCD enjoyed a brief period of success, with a few major feature films being released in the format (usually as a 2 disc set). However the introduction of the [[CD-R]] disc and associated recorders stopped the release of feature films in their tracks because the VCD format had no means of preventing unauthorized (and perfect) copies from being made.{{citation needed|date=August 2017}} However, {{asof|lc=true|2013}} VCDs are still being released in several countries in Asia, but now with copy-protection.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}

The development of more sophisticated, higher capacity optical disc formats yielded the [[DVD]] format, released only a few years later with a copy protection mechanism. [[DVD player]]s use lasers that are of shorter wavelength than those used on CDs, allowing the recorded pits to be smaller, so that more information can be stored. The DVD was so successful that it eventually pushed VHS out of the video market once suitable recorders became widely available. Nevertheless, VCDs made considerable inroads into developing nations, where they are still in use today due to their cheaper manufacturing and retail costs.{{citation needed|date=January 2018}}