I have a problem/situation that I havent seen addressed ANYWHERE.

I have a macintosh Performa 580CD, 68040k processor (I do believe), system 7.5.1. I do NOT have a PowerMac.

I have purchased 2 VCDs.....the first one I got works just fine.The VCD itself seems to have the film in TWO formats:

as a QUICKTIME file (with a .mov extension)

and in a format that appears to be for PCs (in files that have PC extensions, such as .exe)

I simply click on the quicktime .mov file and voila, the film plays just fine.

BUT the second VCD I purchased seems to only have the PC 'oriented' files (with extensions such as .DAT)

I can't get this VCD to work at all. I've tried opening the files through Quicktime and using the program SPARKLE (mpeg movie player) with absolutely NO success.

I'm disheartened because every FAQ I now read on playing VCDs on Mac computers seems to indicate you need a POWERMAC to view VCDs, but since I AM able to play the one VCD on my NON-PowerMac Mac, I'm a bit confused.

Will I ever be able to play this second VCD on my 68k Mac?

thanks, Janeana

note: when I try to open the .DAT file through Quicktime, it appears to be TRYING to CONVERT the file (presumably into a Quicktime file) but I can't find ANY info about "converting" files with Quicktime.

-- Janeana Ledoux (Janeana@space4less.com), July 09, 1999

Answers

You have one Video CD Movie and a CD Title Movie. Here are the differences:

Video CD:

This has the *.dat extension and does need a PowerPC. Video CD uses MPEG1 files but more compressed. Quality of VideoCD can range from Low Grade VHS(Chop-Shop Pirates) to DVD(Hong-Kong Released Warner Bros. Films). Video CDs are playable in PowerPC Macs, Pentium 100+ Intel Comp., DVD Players, VCD Players, and SVCD players.

CD Titles:

This is a universal CD-Rom movie. It contains a *.avi file for Pentium+ Intel Comp. and a *.mov for Macs. Quality of these can range from Low Grade VHS(some color films)to Standard Quality VHS(Black And White Films). These are only playable on PCs.

Also you cannot open the VCD from Quicktime unless you have the MPEG plug-in. If you do then Quicktime will open it for you but your machine will play the VCD very poorly.

-- The Lone Ranger (rutger_s@hotmail.com), July 09, 1999.

I've only found one application that can decode the .dat files its called VCD Gear adn works fine but it decodes to the HD before it can play.

-- Reece James (Reece_james@hotmail.com), March 30, 2002.