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Where to Obtain
Hong Kong and Malaysian DVDs and VCDs

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How to play a VCD in a PC's CD-ROM drive

You will need a sound card and Windows Media Player. The latest version of Windows Media Player (Version 7) can be downloaded for free off the World Wide Web from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/ by entering the product name "Windows Media Player" and selecting your operating system.

Windows Media Player will play most VCDs, but there are a handful that will only play in a DVD-ROM, and a very small amount that will not even play in a DVD-ROM but must be played in a DVD player. That said, many DVD players cannot play VCDs at all. Buying and playing VCDs can be dicey. It requires trial and error to see what equipment will be able to run them, but if you have something to play them on, they are a terrific alternative to the more costly DVD format.

Windows Media Player Version 7 is 340k in size, and in many ways is less user-friendly than Version 6 (which is only 5k in size!), so I suggest using Version 6 if at all possible.

Here's how to play a VCD in your PC's CD-ROM drive . . .

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Using Windows Media Player Version 6.4.07.1112

  1. put the VCD disc into your CD-ROM drive
  2. double-click on MPLAYER2.EXE to open Windows Media Player 6
  3. click on FILE, select OPEN and click on it
  4. a box with. . .OK. . .CANCEL. . .BROWSE.... . .will appear
  5. click on BROWSE...
  6. you will see a box that says LOOK IN: at the top and FILES OF TYPE: at the bottom
  7. where it says FILES OF TYPE, change the selection to the D: drive (or wherever else you have your CD-ROM installed) and double-click on the D: drive
  8. you will see a folder called MPEGAV
  9. double-click on MPEGAV
  10. where it says FILES OF TYPE: "Media files (all types)" will be selected.
  11. change the selection to "All files (*.*)"
  12. you will see a file called either Avseq01.dat or Music01.dat
  13. double-click on Avseq01.dat (or Music01.dat)
  14. a box called OPEN will come up
  15. click on OKAY
  16. the movie will start
  17. right-click on the movie screen itself (or click on View on the menu bar)
  18. choose ZOOM and select 200% (or double-click on the menu bar to get an almost-full screen-sized image)
  19. if you don't see the slider control, double-click on the menu bar (which will expand the image to almost full screen) and at the bottom, you'll find the slider control, along with the play and pause buttons
NOTE: sometimes, there will be more than one .DAT file. There might be, for example, Music01.dat and Music02.dat and Music03.dat. Usually, this is because the opening credits are in a different file or some such. The one you want will probably be the highest numbered of the three files.

WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER VERSION 6.4.07.1112 VIEWING TIPS:
If you right-click on the movie screen itself (or click on View on the menu bar) and select Full Screen, the image will be bigger than if you double-click on the menu bar, but the image will be slightly cropped. The slider control will disappear after about 4 seconds, and if you want it back, simply jiggle the cursor.
To get out of Full Screen mode, either use the ALT + TAB key combination (this will give you the same image size as if you double-clicked on the menu bar), or right-click on the movie screen, choose ZOOM and select 100% or 200%.
Left-clicking on the screen will toggle between Play mode and Pause mode.

IF THERE ARE TWO LANGUAGE TRACKS ON THE VCD (OFTEN, CHINESE VCDs HAVE MANDARIN ON ONE CHANNEL AND CANTONESE ON THE RIGHT CHANNEL), HERE IS WHAT TO DO:

  1. When you are watching the movie, you will hear two sets of dialog running at once
  2. right-click on the movie screen itself, select OPTIONS, and click on it
  3. a window will come up
  4. select the PLAYBACK menu tab by clicking on it
  5. change the VOLUME slider to MAX
  6. change the BALANCE slider to either L (for LEFT) or R (for RIGHT) depending on whether you find Cantonese preferable to Mandarin, because these are the two languages that tend to be on VCDs from Hong Kong

IF THERE IS ONLY ONE LANGUAGE TRACK ON THE VCD, THIS IS WHAT YOU DO TO MAKE SURE YOU GET STEREO SOUND:

  1. When you are watching the movie, if you will hear only one soundtrack, and the sound seems sort of flat, it might be because the PLAYBACK controls are set all the way to the LEFT channel or all the way to the RIGHT channel
  2. right-click on the movie screen itself, select OPTIONS, and click on it
  3. a window will come up
  4. select the PLAYBACK menu tab by clicking on it
  5. change the VOLUME slider to MAX
  6. move the BALANCE slider to the center if it is not already there

IF YOU NEED TO USE YOUR REGULAR VOLUME CONTROL,
THIS IS HOW TO GET TO IT:

  1. right-click on the Volume control in your system tray (the icon will look like a speaker). If you don't have the Volume control icon in your sys tray, click on START, then choose PROGRAMS, then choose ACCESSORIES, then choose ENTERTAINMENT, then click on VOLUME CONTROL. If you don't find it there, even, click on START then choose FIND then choose FILES OR FOLDERS then type in the box VOLUME then double-click on the VOLUME CONTROL icon. Presto!
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Using Windows Media Player Version 7.00.00.1956
  1. put the VCD disc into your CD-ROM drive
  2. double-click on WMPLAYER.EXE or otherwise open Windows Media Player 7
  3. click on FILE, select OPEN and click on it
  4. you will see a box that says LOOK IN: at the top and FILES OF TYPE: at the bottom
  5. where it says FILES OF TYPE, change the selection to the D: drive (or wherever else you have your CD-ROM installed) and double-click on the D: drive
  6. you will see a folder called MPEGAV
  7. double-click on MPEGAV
  8. where it says FILES OF TYPE: "Media files (all types)" will be selected.
  9. change the selection to "All files (*.*)"
  10. you will see a file called either Avseq01.dat or Music01.dat
  11. double-click on Avseq01.dat (or Music01.dat)
  12. a box called OPEN will come up
  13. click on OKAY
  14. the movie will start
Note: sometimes, there will be more than one .DAT file. There might be, for example, Music01.dat and Music02.dat and Music03.dat. Usually, this is because the opening credits are in a different file or some such. The one you want will probably be the highest numbered of the three files.

IF THERE ARE TWO LANGUAGE TRACKS ON THE VCD (OFTEN, CHINESE VCDs HAVE MANDARIN ON ONE CHANNEL AND CANTONESE ON THE RIGHT CHANNEL), HERE IS WHAT TO DO:

  1. When you are watching the movie, you will hear two sets of dialog
  2. Go into Media Player Version 7 and make it full size.
  3. In the top right corner, you will see a pulldown menu that probably has All Audio selected. To the left of this are three round icons. If you place your cursor over them, yellow boxes describing what they are will appear.
  4. Choose round icon that looks like a skyline. It is the graphic equalizer.
  5. Click twice on the round graphic equalizer button and you will see at the bottom of the screen ten equalizer sliders and a balance slider.
  6. Move the balance slider bar all the way to one side and you will hear one language on the VCD. Slide it all the way to the other side, and you will hear the other language on the VCD.

IF THERE IS ONLY ONE LANGUAGE TRACK ON THE VCD, THIS IS WHAT YOU DO TO MAKE SURE YOU GET STEREO SOUND:

  1. When you are watching the movie, if you will hear only one soundtrack, and the sound seems sort of flat, it might be because the PLAYBACK controls are set all the way to the LEFT channel or all the way to the RIGHT channel
  2. Go into Media Player Version 7 and make it full size.
  3. In the top right corner, you will see a pulldown menu that probably has All Audio selected. To the left of this are three round icons. If you place your cursor over them, yellow boxes describing what they are will appear.
  4. Choose round icon that looks like a skyline. It is the graphic equalizer.
  5. Click twice on the round graphic equalizer button and you will see at the bottom of the screen ten equalizer sliders and a balance slider.
  6. move the BALANCE slider to the center if it is not already there

IF YOU NEED TO USE YOUR REGULAR VOLUME CONTROL,
THIS IS HOW TO GET TO IT:

  1. right-click on the Volume control in your system tray (the icon will look like a speaker). If you don't have the Volume control icon in your sys tray, click on START, then choose PROGRAMS, then choose ACCESSORIES, then choose ENTERTAINMENT, then click on VOLUME CONTROL. If you don't find it there, even, click on START then choose FIND then choose FILES OR FOLDERS then type in the box VOLUME then double-click on the VOLUME CONTROL icon. Presto!
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This page first constructed by Steven Feldman <scfeldman@juno.com> 3/21/01. Last update: 10/1/09.
Copyright © Steven Feldman, 2001, 2009.