VCD General Information Page | Promo Videos VCD | See No Evil VCD | VCD General Info Page | What is a VCD? VCD stands for 'Video Compact Disc' and basically it is a CD that contains moving pictures and sound. If you're familiar with regular audio/music CDs, then you will know what a VCD looks like. A VCD has the capacity to hold up to 74/80 minutes on 650MB/700MB CDs respectively of full-motion video along with quality stereo sound. VCDs use a compression standard called MPEG to store the video and audio. More information on VCD's can be located here. How can I play a VCD? A VCD can be played on almost all standalone DVD Players and of course on all computers with a DVD-ROM or CD-ROM drive with the help of a software based decoder/player. The file will appear on your CD-ROM drive in an MPEGAV folder; inside each track appears as a .DAT file which CAN be opened with Windows Media Player or similar programs. It is also possible to use menus and chapters, similar to DVDs, on a VCD and also simple photo album/slide shows with background audio. Each Cocteau Twins VCD comes with a free player, details in the section below. Other than a computer you can also play your VCD on the following: Standalone VCD Player, standalone DVD Players, Playstations with VCD-addon (Playstation 2 does NOT support VCDs), Sega Saturn with VCD-addon, Dreamcast with VCD-addon Where can I find out more information about VCDs? The best website for information is vcdhelp.com. This website also has a list of compatible DVD players so you can check to see if your machine will play a VCD. VCD Player The Cocteau Twins VCD's includes a free I-ON VCD player, read me file and a user's manual (in an Adobe Acrobat PDF format). (This player is located in the XTRA folder on the VCD). You do not have to install the player that comes with the VCD to view it; you can opt to use one of your own players. This player, however has an auto-play function and recognizes a VCD in your CD-ROM drive. It also comes with an on-screen remote control and full-screen capability. The country I live in uses a different format from that of North America; can I still view the VCD? If you live in a region that uses NTSC then you can play the VCD on the various players as listed above. If you live in a region that does not use NTSC, you can ONLY VIEW THE VCD ON YOUR COMPUTER! Scanning Tracks Many VCD's do not come with the ability to scan through the tracks, by this I mean that you would normally have to scan through the VCD to get to the track you wish to hear, this is similar to scanning through an audio cassette tape. However, the Cocteau Twins VCD DOES have track scanning capabilities, allowing you to select tracks as you would with a regular audio CD. What do these VCD's look like? The cover artwork for the Promo Videos VCD was designed by Brian Shanks The cover artwork for the Live VCD (See No Evil) was designed by Leesa Beales Are these official releases? No, these VCD's were created for fans because there was never any official release of Cocteau Twins videos, with the exception of the appearance of the odd song on a few video compilations (examples: Lonely Is An Eyesore, Rock Video Monthly, etc.) Are there any plans for an official release? To date the only official release scheduled will be from 4AD; they are planning a release of a Cocteau Twins DVD sometime in the near future. More details will be posted here when the item is available. Keep in mind, however that the 4AD release will only contain Cocteau Twins videos from the 4AD era. Capitol Records (distributor for all Cocteau Twins recordings in North America) has refused to release a Cocteau Twins Video Collection due to copyright concerns between copyright holders owners, distribution companies and video directors! What is the quality like? Because these are not official releases, we have tried to obtain the best copies that were circulating amongst fans to use as the source material. For example - in many cases there were two copies of the same video, one with a cut off ending but good sound and another with good visuals but poor sound. The videos had to be edited together to try get the best possible copy of the video available. A few of the tracks therefore have poor intros and then the quality improves after a few seconds. Much of the footage is quite old and therefore unstable. The purpose was for fans to at least get an opportunity to see some of the footage even though in many cases it's not the best possible quality. Many of the more recent videos are very good quality. How did you put all these clips together? The VCDs were edited on an AVID MEDIACOMPOSER 1000 editing system. What do people who already own this VCD have to say about it? Read some comments about the VCD here! How long is the Cocteau Twins Promo Videos VCD? The running time is 50 minutes 11 seconds. How long is the See No Evil VCD? Disc One is 54:37, Disc Two is 46:32, for a total running time of 101:09! How long will it take to get my copy? Depending on the number of orders, please allow up to 6 weeks for delivery after your order date. Shipping to Canada and the U.S. is sent via surface mail, which normally takes approximately to 2 weeks. International shipping is sent via air mail, which takes roughly 8 business days. Once your donation has been received and your VCD has been shipped you will receive an email notification of the shipment which will include an order number, please keep this for future reference. Can I get a refund if i'm not happy with it? There are NO REFUNDS ON VCD's. These VCD's also contain copy protection.