Some of the older off-brand DVD players actually have a lot of undocumented capability. It took my dad several tries to get an Apex (I believe) DVD player that actually worked, but once he found one it could play pretty much any format you threw at it as long as it could fit on a DVD or CD. The newer ones don't have the same level of functionality, though.

As for more name brand, my Phillips can play DVD, DVDRs of assorted formats, CD, VCD, SVCD, mp3, mpeg1 and mpeg2 and it cost me something like $80 4 years ago (I bought it specifically because it had VCD capability so I could watch Firefly eps on it back before the DVDs were even rumored to be happening) I wouldn't be surprised if yours could handle VCDs.

What model do you have P-C? Maybe we can find out what formats it plays on The Internets or using The Google.

It's a Panasonic DVD-S35. I think it may be able to play VCDs! I'll try it out tomorrow.

I have a Cyberhome DVD player that was the cheapest DVD that BestBuy sold at the time (about $30) and it played VCDs. I used to use SonicDVD to make them, but now I use tovid or KDE DVD Wizard.

However, I largely don't use DVDs or VCDs anymore. I just use an old computer (P3 500Mhz) to play video. A cheap ATI video card with TV-Out and a mini-jack to RCA plug cable will let you hook up to a TV. Of course, you need have the old computer and a way to get video on it. But it makes DVDs and VCDs feel primitive.

It's a Panasonic DVD-S35.

I have a Panasonic that's about 4-5 years old and it plays VCDs.

This review [link] says it will play VCDs, XVCDs and SVCDs.

However, I largely don't use DVDs or VCDs anymore. I just use an old computer (P3 500Mhz) to play video. A cheap ATI video card with TV-Out and a mini-jack to RCA plug cable will let you hook up to a TV. Of course, you need have the old computer and a way to get video on it. But it makes DVDs and VCDs feel primitive.

That's what I do these days. I picked up an old PC from work we were getting rid of, slapped in a new hard drive and my old video card (which has a S-Video out) and hooked it up to my TV. Saves me having to take the time to burn things to SVCD.

Of course, I had buy a larger surge protector. I was using two separate ones for the TV and the PC, which caused a ground loop on the audio. But once I got that cleared up it's been working great. I also bought a couple of USB converters that let me plug my Playstation 2 controllers into the PC, so I can play old video games on it as well.

Generally speaking, I just hook my computer to the tv using s-video. Even normal-quality, 350 mb avi's show up with astonishing resolution on the television that way. I don't really watch on the tv much, but I probably wouldn't bother with SVCD/VCD/DVD unless i didn't have the option of hooking the computer to the television. If you've got a set up like Gud's or Kalshane's, it would be awesome with the computer networked to other, newer comps/drives and just have it as an access machine.

Gud, is yours the Linux box? I'm sorry, I cant' remember.

Excellent NYT article on new, cheaper digital SLR cameras and how they compare to point-and-shoot digital cameras.

Here's something I didn't know:

Compact cameras use much smaller sensor chips than digital S.L.R.’s. Mark Weir, the senior product manager for digital S.L.R. cameras at Sony, said that a typical compact camera sensor is “about half the size of your smallest fingernail.”

“A digital S.L.R. sensor is pretty big,” he added, “about the same as a good-size postage stamp.”

As a result, every pixel on a compact camera’s sensor chip is much smaller than its counterpart on a digital S.L.R.’s sensor. Mr. Weir, whose company also produces sensors for a number of other camera makers, estimates that pixels on a 10-megapixel compact camera sensor are about 2 microns across, compared with 6 microns for a digital S.L.R. sensor of the same resolution. A micron is one-thousandth of a millimeter.

[link]

Gud, is yours the Linux box?

The simple playback PC runs Linux, but it is a special version for video playback called GeeXbox. Mine is installed to the hard drive but you can just run it from a CD-ROM if you want. On a hardwired network you could probably just stream off a shared drive and have a diskless playback computer.

cheaper digital SLR cameras and how they compare to point-and-shoot digital cameras.

That was one of the reasons we wanted a digital SLR, you get better image quality even with fewer pixels.

I just purchased the new Canon Rebel XTi which is a 10 megapixel SLR and the pictures are amazing. My point and shoot is seven megapixel and it doesn't come close.

Also, the low light pictures I can take with the SLR are amazing.

I have a Canon Rebel XT, and it has been a fantastic camera.