Not strictly true - you can get HDMI to scart converter boxes.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/SCART-Conver...cart+converter

I think the real reason is that for some reason European players are deliberately hobbled. No extra electronics is needed. Some can be made to work with a software tweek.

I agree the quality of VCDs is poor but many ethnic minorities bring them back from trips "home" and would like to play them on their European players.

It's because Sony deliberately hobbled it. Sony are known for this and Panasonic even more so.

Don't forget teletext, came in in the 70's I recall.

I notice you said 'at launch', presumably (as with all such launches) it was a long way from ready for launch

The capability for playing CD's would be fairly low priority for the launch of a top end game system, and easily added as the software was sorted out via updates.

It always amazed me though that the Wii can't play DVD's?.

Except it's cheaper to buy a DVD player

I disagree - I think it is a relevant point.

Right now, Video-CD is a "long-dead" format, but at some point in the future, DVD-Video will also be a "long-dead" format. If they are still being made, will Blu-ray players manufactured at that time in the future still be able to play DVD-Video discs? That's actually what the OP asked.

The answer is probably Yes, because it's part of the Blu-ray spec, but the point about Video-CD being unsupported on modern players because it's considered obsolete is a relevant one.

(Agree with all the points about VCD being horrible and only a lunatic would want to watch one etc. etc.)

But just how many VCD disks do you remember being able to buy in Tescos (other supermarkets are available ) ? Can't say I can recall ever seeing any.

And if there were next to none on sale just how many people have any sort of VCD library at home compared to the vastly greater number of people who have DVD libraries.

So while DVDs may disappear off the shelves there will still be a considerable number of disks at home people will still want to play. Unlike VCD I suspect.

So a lack of support for VCD may be based on it being obsolete, but surely the lack of interest in the format when it was current must be a factor as well?

VCD was essentially a Chinese format, for the 'peasants' who couldn't afford anything else

It's never really been supported anywhere else, but with dirt cheap players, and a never ending supply of almost free pirated films (even if appalling quality), it made sense for the vast poor population of China.

There's certainly no need for a player in the more civilised world to support an obscure Chinese format.

Thanks for the tips. As and when I've got the spare dosh, I'll probably go for a Samsung 32inch full HD TV that is being sold between £250-300 odd and a Sky Plus HD Box and Blue Ray but I' doubt I will be replacing most of my current DVD collections with blue ray ones. Though having said that, i was thinking of buying second copies of my favorite films but with film libraries coming on stream so much, maybe their isn't a need for that? Could still be cheaper to buy my own copies of films though.

I can't remember Tesco selling many VCD's but Virgin and HMV used to have few shelves dedicated to the format. They pushed it with the 3DO console and the Amiga CD32, mpeg decoder cards were also sold so you could play them on a PC.

Tesco branches in Malaysia, Thailand, and China still have shelfs full of VCDs on sale, and not pirates either.

I don't think it was a Chinese format, but will agree it was and still is common in the Far East.

How do you know they aren't pirated?

I think it was, specifically designed as the cheapest possible format for the poor Chinese population.

The small number over here were generally imported from China and the Far East.

I suppose due to the fact they come from a reputable retailer.

This is something that annoys me as soon as you buy discs from Hong Kong people jump in that they must be pirate as if there is no such thing as a reputable Chinese company Yesasia sell some of the latest release on VCD and I trust they are proper official releases like the DVD or Blu-ray that I have bought the disc's have a excellent picture quality with good subtitles and are hard region coded for region 3 for DVD or region A for BD. Pirates don't region code and respect sales restrictions of certain titles to different regions.

The Chinese mainland has a problem with piracy but for many western films it the only way to see them as there is no legitimate releases due to government censorship.

I've only bought Blu-ray copies of films I already have on DVD where the cinematography is particularly good, else there is no real advantage over an upscaled SD image.

@ Styker, I should have said above when I said there's no broadcast of 4K, that Netflix and Love Film are streaming 4K content over the internet.

However, what standards they're using, I wouldn't know.

Ah - so you were just guessing

I don't think I've ever seen a VCD over here (that people have brought back from the Far East) that wasn't pirated, do the film studios even authorise them for release on VCD?.

They are properly stamped CD's, not CDR's, and made in a proper factory, but I doubt they very often pay royalties.

I know Netflix stream 4k and have done since April, but Lovefilm as well, or Amazon Prime as it's now called.

Amazon Prime have said they are going shoot all original shows in 4k starting in 2014, didn't know they had already started streaming 4k, when did this happen?

VCD pre-dated DVD by a number of years, and was introduced by the usual suspects at the time (Sony, Philips etc). The early players certainly were not cheap.

The reason the Far East took to it (including Japan and South Korea) is the exact reverse of what you've said here -- they always take to new formats, and by the time DVD came along VCD already had a foothold in the market.

Europe and the USA were very slow to take up DVD, so the earlier VCD had no chance.

I thought the take up of DVD was very quick, selling more units in the first six months than VHS/CD did at the same point.

On the media side - DVD titles were out selling their VHS counterparts as early as 1998, 18months after release.

Yes the film studios do authorise films for release on VCD they release on VCD, DVD and Blu-ray. According to a friend of mine from Hong Kong before the cheaper VCD the major film format was the Laser Disc VHS tapes were never really popular as they don't do too well in their climate they tend to grow mould rather quickly. VCD was a cheaper option that made films avaiable to more people and they didn't go mouldy like tapes.

I've seen a proper legit VCD release, and the quality was actually reasonably good. Not as good as a good VHS tape, but still reasonable, albeit spread across three single-sided CDs.

(The only double-sided CDs I've ever seen were pirate VCDs. These were proper, pressed CDs, not CD-Rs, but definitey pirates!)

But much slower, relatively, than some countries in the Far East. Comparisons with VHS/CD are missing the point.

Chinese DVD players were already commonplace by the time the format gained any traction over here... that tells you all you need to know.