Memory Alpha
Register
Advertisement
Memory Alpha
Real world article
(written from a Production point of view)
VCD

VCD (Video CD also referred to as View CD or Compact Disc Digital Video) is an optical home media format and the first format which distributed motion pictures on the standard 120mm optical discs and was the hoped-for replacement for the VHS magnetic videotape. Introduced at the start of the 1990s by Philips, it was a further development of the music Compact Disc (CD), also developed by Philips, whose compression technology served as the basis for the new format. Compared to later 120mm optical storage formats like the DVD and Blu-ray Disc, storage capacity was limited, resulting in features that were typically spread over two discs with picture quality comparable to the contemporary LaserDisc format competitor.

Early releases were on the VCD variant, the CD-i disc, which was only playable on Philips' own CD-i player, before a industry standard was agreed upon in 1993. Philips had made a grave error in marketing their players in that a cartridge had to be separately purchased before a CD-i movie was playable, which became a major contributing factor to the commercial failure of the product. It was not the first time Phillips exhibited very poor judgement in their marketing strategies, and the company had actually to set something straight; previously, believing that their technologically far superior Video 2000 videotape would sell itself, it was in effect the very first one to fall early on in the magnetic videotape format war, ultimately decided in the favor of the poorest in quality one, the VHS.

The commercial failure of the CD-i player meant that the VCD format did not gain any traction in North America, Europe and Australia, though there were several additional reasons as well, aside from the one already mentioned, chief amongst them the advent of the qualitative superior DVD format (ironically co-developed by Philips), introduced hard on the heels of the VCD. Ultimately, Philips released around 125 titles, including seven Star Trek titles, in the aforementioned markets, before they threw in their lot with DVD in the latter half of the 1990s.

VCD however, was a commercial success in regions where average per capita income was substantially lower than in the developed western world, such as Russia, Turkey, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa, the Indian subcontinent, mainland China, as well as Central and South East Asia (published under Deltamac), due to the relatively low cost of both players and discs. It turned out that the format became successful in the more affluent Asian territories as well, to wit Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, South Korea and even Japan to a certain extent – which however, became also the first of those regions to fully transition to the DVD. It explained why the majority of the older DVD players, the Japanese and Korean brands in particular, were still capable of playing the format long after the format had disappeared from the western markets. In recent years however, VCD started as of 2011 to rapidly lose market share to DVD in these areas due to the fall of DVD prices, they themselves losing market share to the Blu-ray Disc and, more recently and more importantly, to the rapidly increasing worldwide popularity of the digital video-on-demand streaming services by such companies as, most conspicuously, Netflix. This is emphasized by the fact that most of the newer generations of DVD/Blu-ray players no longer support the format. Whether or not by design or by coincidence, this has also helped to thwart the circumstance that the VCD had in the intervening years become the medium of choice for the dissemination of pirated copies, especially in Africa and eastern Asia where the problem of piracy was particularly pervasive.

Star Trek release chronology[]

One of the studios Philips obtained licenses from was Paramount Pictures and, starting in 1993, began to release the Star Trek films in the new format in Europe and North America. The first release was Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, concurrently one of the very first titles released in the new format, which for the US, UK, France, and Germany was pressed on the CD-i disc variant, whereas the rest of Europe received the proper VCD variant. In the end, before the format was abandoned seven titles were released in America and Europe. While no longer a viable format in these markets, Star Trek titles continued to be released on VCD well into the 2010s in those regions where the format was still in use.

Date Country Product released
1993
October US Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
1994
Unknown US Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Unknown Europe Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
1995
Unknown US Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
18 July US Star Trek Generations
Unknown Europe Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Star Trek Generations
1996
Unknown Italy
Sweden
Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Star Trek Generations
2001
21 April Hong Kong Star Trek: Insurrection
17 May Hong Kong Star Trek: First Contact
30 July Hong Kong Star Trek Generations
10 August Hong Kong Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
22 August Hong Kong Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
27 November Hong Kong Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
27 December Hong Kong Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Unknown Indonesia Star Trek: First Contact
Unknown Malaysia The Star Trek Collection
2002
24 May Hong Kong Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Unknown Indonesia Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Unknown Malaysia Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Star Trek Generations, Star Trek: First Contact
Unknown Turkey Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
2003
May India Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek Generations
Unknown India Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Unknown Malaysia Star Trek: Insurrection, Star Trek Nemesis, Trekkies
Unknown Taiwan Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek Nemesis; Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country re-released
Unknown Turkey Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Star Trek Generations
2004
26 April Hong Kong Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
5 May Hong Kong Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Star Trek Generations, Star Trek: First Contact re-released
3 June Hong Kong Star Trek Nemesis
Unknown India Trekkies
2005
18 July China Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
2009
May India Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home re-released
28 October India Star Trek
29 October Hong Kong
Thailand
Star Trek
30 October Malaysia
Philippines
Turkey
Star Trek
2013
12 September Thailand Star Trek Into Darkness
29 September India Star Trek Into Darkness
4 October Hong Kong Star Trek Into Darkness
Unknown Malaysia Star Trek Into Darkness
Unknown
Unknown China Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Star Trek Generations, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, Star Trek Nemesis
Unknown Indonesia Star Trek Generations, Star Trek: Insurrection, Star Trek Nemesis
Unknown Philippines Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Star Trek Generations
Unknown Taiwan Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Star Trek Generations, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection
Unknown Thailand Star Trek: Insurrection, Star Trek Nemesis
Unknown Turkey Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, Star Trek Nemesis
VHS • VCD • LaserDisc • DVD • Blu-ray • 4K Ultra HD • Digital

External links[]

Advertisement