Converting Ordinary Cdrom Drives To Vcd Drives

M.H.A.Q.S.

New member
I know this isn't hard to do. But I can't seem to get an idea where to start.
 
J

Jet Set Willy

Guest
I don't think we understand the question. You can read VCDs on any CD-Rom drive.
 

Lefteris_D

Administrator
Staff member
You just need a software capable of playing VCD's to view them in your PC. Power DVD can play VCD's as well besides DVD's.
 

M.H.A.Q.S.

New member
I want a CDROM Drive to be used as a VCD player being stand-alone. Not connected to a Computer or something.

Infact its a project to use a CDROM Drive, without hooking it to a PC, as a multimedia player.

I just need the circuit diagram to do that.
 
J

Jet Set Willy

Guest
You'd need to program some DSP hardware as an MPEG decoder, I think. It would be hard.
 

Lefteris_D

Administrator
Staff member
Plus the fact that you are going to need alot more stuff than just a cd-rom like some circuit that handles video output as well as the MPEG decoding.

I've seen home made audio cd players made from cd-rom drives but vcd would be really hard to impossible to make without the proper equipment.
 

M.H.A.Q.S.

New member
Yup that's a project. Although I tried enough to find some circuits on the net for a normal VCD player. All that I could find was forum rubbish.
 

donkeyknob

New member
would buying an eternal hard drive, putting the VCD software on that and having the output connected to a TV be enough, or would the CDROM/HD still need the other components of a pc?
 

ScotchGuy

Board Addict
Without the operating system all that data on the hard drive means nothing.
 

M.H.A.Q.S.

New member
An audio cd player, which plays only audio CD, can be converted to play video CDs as well. To do this we have to add an MPEG card. This card decompresses the data available from the cd-player and converts it into a proper level of vedio signals before feeding it to the television. The card is redily availabe in the market. An ordinary CD-ROM used in computers (any speed) can play audio tracks by itself if proper power supply is provided and we can obtain analog audio as well as digital audio from it. But the same CD- ROM will not play VCDs unless it is used with computers and some movie controlling softwares.. What I want is to convert an ordinary CDROM drives used in computers, and normally which does not play Video CDs by itself ( It needs computer and related softwares) to a VCD drive. For that I want to know the DSP chip details and the RF EFMin pin number of the DSP chip ( If it is used)
 

El Fugitivo

New member
Oh, I understand what you mean. My laptop will let me play audio CDs when the computer is powered down. But I can't help you.
 

<><>

New member
As a tip:

Today a VCD player (harware) costs more than a DVD player. Ironic but true. So if you were to get parts to build a vcd playeryou would essentially be spending more than you would in building a DVD player.

Also, converting a CD-Rom drive into a VCD drive is not only very expensive way of making one but will also result in a deivce with a lot of needless parts.

All you need in a VCD/DVD player is the loader (the part that has the CD tray, lens and CD reading hw/sw), the Mpeg board and depending on the MPEG board HW you probably will need an A/D converter to get an analog out signal.

The CD rom will have the loader part but basically the rest of the circuitry the Mpeg board and A/D converter needs to be added on. Some HW manufacturers do provide CD ROM drives that have audio chipsets built into them, but today an MPEG board is a large PCB and costs too much to just tack onto the CD ROM Drive. Plus like I said, It would cost them less to tack on an MPEG board onto a DVD drive to make a stand alone/data DVD drive rather than a VCD drive.

You basically want a device that will take an IDE i/o and output analog A/V all the while decoding VCD format. If you want to build one yourself it will probably take a little time to get the info and specs for your CD-ROM Drive from the manufacturer.

It sounds like you know what you are talking about in the general device hierarchy (the audio CD player playing the loader part the Mpeg card playing the decoding and A/D conversion parts). I don't know much about CD Rom operation so I would not be able to tell you what parts you need for the IDE i/o.

What you could do though to make the task easier for you (this will make a dvice that has more parts than necessary and overly expensive but hey): Most CD Rom drives have a digital out for sound cards. Some laptops have an aditional sound cuircuit that will take the Digital Audio out from the Cd rom drive, and convert it into analog audio without going thgrough the main sound card. This is what El Fugitivo is talking about on his laptop that will allow him to play audio cd's when powered off.

Take this alternate audio circuit out (it must just have a power connection to the MB). tack it onto a stand alone CD ROM drive and add the CD audio to VCD MPEG card you are talking about to this.

CD ROM-> CD AUDIO -> MPEG CARD -> VCD signal

Very redundant and full of unnessecary parts but will work.

Otherwise you can use a cheap sound card with a digital audio in from the CD rom drive and tack your MPEG card onto that.

That would be:

CD-Rom ===[Digital Audio out]==>Sound Card ==[Analog Audio out]==>MPEG CARD==[VCD Out]==> TV

I'm not familiar with this card that takes the analog audio signal from a CD player and makes it onto a vcd signal though. So there might be something wrong with this setup (the card you are taling about may need an additional connection other than pure analog audio out).
 

M.H.A.Q.S.

New member
Any functional drive having a working tray mechanism can be used to connect to the MPEG-1 decoder card. Latest Decoder cards ( hardware version 3.0) of today are widely available and manufactured by some chinese companies that use SAMSUNG's or SONY Video Logic and motor servo controllers. As a result the existing motors i.e. SPIN servo, Eject servo and laser head servo can be used without the need of changing them. Firstly, remove the old PCB attached to the motors (For all systems, CD Drives etc.) and then Just connect the ready-to-use MPEG card to these motor and controls. What's great is that these MPEG cards come handy with remote controls and toggle button boards for media controls. These MPEG cards can play MP3, VCD, DVCD, SVCD, ACD, and even cards can support playstation standards. Morever nowadays, MPEG- 2 cards (that find use in DVD's) are approaching.

Connecting the MPEG card:- I suppose the older board must have been removed by now. now find a respectful place for the MPEG card and place it carefully, protect its electronics such that it does not get touched with any metal case or risk of shorting. Now connect the respective wires to the motors. Now u have to supply power to the card. These cards take 5V and 8V instead of 5V and 12V for computer system. So if u r using a computer interface to derive power, use some resistance to reduce it. Now u'll find that the card has ready-to-use stereo output, so it's not a big problem connecting to a TV system. Next the video has 4 cables; don't worry it's S-Video, so u'll need a small circuit or a cable that converts S-video to composite video(RCA) as older TV's don't have support for S-video. I bet the image is very detailed, crisp and clear. Not to mention the surround sound feature of this mpeg card, i recommend it to all who want to upgrade their drives to vcd/mp3/acd system at minimal fuss and cost. Item of surprise: This MPEG-1 card can be found in indian market for anywhere from 700 to 900 bucks.
 

<><>

New member
double post woot whoot..

you know you are quoting from a forum thread that is more than 2 years old right? DVD loader+MPEG board now costs USD$28 and the VCD feature is an additional USD$12.
 
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