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Another Hybrid CD/DVD Proposed with Single-Sided Playback
A hybrid that mixes video, CD and Super Audio CD music on one side of a disc is being touted as a solution to the music industry’s woes by its N.Y. inventor. The privately held company, named CS2CD after its hybrid, describes its “new DVD playable video CD enhancement technology” as the “hottest CD technology in the world... saving the music industry one day at a time.” The CS2CD concept dispenses with dual-sided “flipper” technology and would add DVD-playable video to a single-sided, dual-layer hybrid SACD. The company’s website provides no technical information on how the system
works, but a patent application (US 2003/0165328) filed by inventor William Grecia spills some beans. Although the patent doesn’t follow the usual legal-technical format, and appears to have been drafted without the help of a patent attorney, the general idea behind CS2CD comes through. The trick is to leave the SACD layer of the hybrid unchanged, but put White Book/Video CD MPEG-1 video on the Red Book CD layer, along with conventional CD Audio. The SACD layer would hold 5.1-channel high resolution surround and a stereo high resolution version of the same album, while the Red Book layer contains a standard stereo CD version of the album, plus 3 MPEG-1 music videos and a slide show that play on a DVD player. That combination yields a “consumer friendly CD” that plays video on DVD players --because most are designed also to play Video CDs -- and Red Book CD audio on CD and DVD players as well as PC drives. CS2CD made a point of claiming Red Book audio is retained for PC playback, not “inferior quality MP3,” and that the “unique format” of CS2CD discs prevents bit-for-bit copying in PCs. The company also said its Version 2.5 CS2CD uses Windows Media Player to run in PCs with a Pentium III 800-MHz processor or equivalent, but playback in Apple’s Macintosh computers isn’t yet offered.
The patent claims ways of avoiding distortion and loud pops from speakers when a consumer CD player encounters video-related data. The video and accompanying stereo sound is stored in Track 1 of the Red Book player as an MPEG-1 file, and the Red Book CD audio tracks follow as Tracks 2, 3 and so on. Meanwhile, the disc’s Table of Contents indexes dummy tracks, which mute a CD player at the points where video-induced distortion would normally occur. As a method of copy protection, the constant bit rate of 1.5 Mbps can be changed to a variable bit rate to deter copying with standard PC software such as Easy CD or Nero, CS2CD said. As with any digital audio disc, no regional coding is used, the company said. When playing the hybrids in a Video CD-capable DVD/CD player, users access the Red Book audio by pressing the number one on the remote control, then the Play button. To switch to MPEG-1 video, users press Stop and then Play. Most DVD players support Video CD playback, although the feature isn’t mandated by the DVD Forum. Some bargain models don’t make Video CD playback accessible because the manufacturer or retailer wished to avoid the $2.50 royalty -- especially in the U.S., where there’s virtually no Video CD market. CS2CD said it’s looking for partners to develop software and consumer products. --
A hybrid that mixes video, CD and Super Audio CD music on one side of a disc is being touted as a solution to the music industry’s woes by its N.Y. inventor. The privately held company, named CS2CD after its hybrid, describes its “new DVD playable video CD enhancement technology” as the “hottest CD technology in the world... saving the music industry one day at a time.” The CS2CD concept dispenses with dual-sided “flipper” technology and would add DVD-playable video to a single-sided, dual-layer hybrid SACD. The company’s website provides no technical information on how the system
works, but a patent application (US 2003/0165328) filed by inventor William Grecia spills some beans. Although the patent doesn’t follow the usual legal-technical format, and appears to have been drafted without the help of a patent attorney, the general idea behind CS2CD comes through. The trick is to leave the SACD layer of the hybrid unchanged, but put White Book/Video CD MPEG-1 video on the Red Book CD layer, along with conventional CD Audio. The SACD layer would hold 5.1-channel high resolution surround and a stereo high resolution version of the same album, while the Red Book layer contains a standard stereo CD version of the album, plus 3 MPEG-1 music videos and a slide show that play on a DVD player. That combination yields a “consumer friendly CD” that plays video on DVD players --because most are designed also to play Video CDs -- and Red Book CD audio on CD and DVD players as well as PC drives. CS2CD made a point of claiming Red Book audio is retained for PC playback, not “inferior quality MP3,” and that the “unique format” of CS2CD discs prevents bit-for-bit copying in PCs. The company also said its Version 2.5 CS2CD uses Windows Media Player to run in PCs with a Pentium III 800-MHz processor or equivalent, but playback in Apple’s Macintosh computers isn’t yet offered.
The patent claims ways of avoiding distortion and loud pops from speakers when a consumer CD player encounters video-related data. The video and accompanying stereo sound is stored in Track 1 of the Red Book player as an MPEG-1 file, and the Red Book CD audio tracks follow as Tracks 2, 3 and so on. Meanwhile, the disc’s Table of Contents indexes dummy tracks, which mute a CD player at the points where video-induced distortion would normally occur. As a method of copy protection, the constant bit rate of 1.5 Mbps can be changed to a variable bit rate to deter copying with standard PC software such as Easy CD or Nero, CS2CD said. As with any digital audio disc, no regional coding is used, the company said. When playing the hybrids in a Video CD-capable DVD/CD player, users access the Red Book audio by pressing the number one on the remote control, then the Play button. To switch to MPEG-1 video, users press Stop and then Play. Most DVD players support Video CD playback, although the feature isn’t mandated by the DVD Forum. Some bargain models don’t make Video CD playback accessible because the manufacturer or retailer wished to avoid the $2.50 royalty -- especially in the U.S., where there’s virtually no Video CD market. CS2CD said it’s looking for partners to develop software and consumer products. --
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