CineDisk

The CineDisk is a 5.25 magneto-optical disc-based digital home video format developed by Cinetron. It was introduced in late 1993 in Australia, North America, Siarlabar and in parts of Europe and the United Kingdom. It was one of the early home video formats to use digital compression before the introduction of the Video CD format, alongside Theorysonic's Titanium Video Disc and Videotronics Ltd.'s Video Rom Cartridge.

The capacities of the disks can range from 250MB to 1GB. A 250MB CineDisk disk can hold 30 minutes of prerecorded video/audio, whereas a 520MB disk can hold 60 minutes of prerecorded video/audio. The 1GB disk can hold 120 minutes of prerecorded video/audio.

The CineDisk was discontinued in 2004 due to its declining sales in the last few years as the viewer base switched to CineDisk SP and DVD in terms of sound and video quality. The last CineDisk releases were released in late 2006, while the production of the original CineDisk players were discontinued in 2010.

Audio encoding
The CineDisk uses a custom, proprietary audio codec that allows the audio to be encoded at either 128kbps or 224kbps and at a sample frequency of either 32KHz or 44.1KHz. It is similar to the MPEG-1 Layer 2 or MPEG-1 Layer 3 audio codec in terms of audio quality. The format supports the following modes:


 * Audio Mode 0 (128kbps bitrate, 44.1KHz sample rate, stereo or mono)
 * Audio Mode 1 (128kbps bitrate, 32KHz sample rate, stereo or mono)
 * Audio Mode 2 (224kbps bitrate, 44.1KHz sample rate, stereo or mono)
 * Audio Mode 3 (224kbps bitrate, 32KHz sample rate, stereo or mono)

Most releases would either use Mode 0, Mode 1 or Mode 3 for feature films, while Mode 2 is rarely used due to the size limitations of the CineDisk format.

Video encoding
The video compression format of the CineDisk is largely influenced from Intel's DVI (Digital Video Interactive) and Indeo video codec and the Cinepak video codec from Supermac. Development on the video format started in 1988. It uses DCT encoding and the maximum bitrate is around 1.2 megabits per second.

The CineDisk supports a resolution of either 220x274 (NTSC) or 220x330 (PAL) with a frame rate of either 24 or 30 frames per second for NTSC-encoded CineDisk tapes and 25 frames per second for PAL-encoded CineDisk tapes. The video quality is somewhat lower than VHS or even VCD.

CineDisk player
A CineDisk player is a device that plays CineDisks. These players either support CineDisk or CineDisk SP compatible disks. CineDisk players are connected to a television to watch the CineDisk content.

The first set of CineDisk players were launched in October 1993. They initially cost around $650-$1250. In 1999, prices for CineDisk players were available for as low as $200-$300. Similarly, CineDisk SP players were priced around $500-$1000 during launch.

A typical CineDisk player features RCA, S-Video and SCART video outputs, as well as RCA audio output. VGA output is only available on prosumer/professional CineDisk/CineDisk SP players, while component video output and TOSLINK audio output are only available on CineDisk SP players.

There are also CineDisk/CineDisk SP players for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS based computers. These players come with a 5.25 magneto-optical drive that's not only compatible with CineDisk/CineDisk SP disks, but also data-based magneto-optical discs. Early computer-based CineDisk players requires the VGA cable to passthrough with the computer's graphics card, then connect the VGA output cable from the PCI CineDisk player card to the monitor. Later computer-based CineDisk and CineDisk SP players don't require a passthrough cable since the hardware-based decoder is integrated into a video card, such as the ATI Radeon Xpert 2000.

CineDisk SP
CineDisk SP (also known as Super CineDisk in Japan and Asian countries) is an enhanced version of the CineDisk digital home video format. It was released in 1998 as a response to the DVD home video format. Capacities of CineDisk SP disk can range from either 2GB or 4GB. A 2GB CineDisk SP disk can hold 60 minutes of video/audio, while a 4GB disk can hold 120 minutes of video/audio.

The CineDisk SP supports MPEG-1 Audio Layer II or Dolby Digital AC-3 or Dolby Surround audio. It is backwards compatible with all of the modes of the CineDisk Audio format, which was used on the original CineDisk home video format.

Unlike the original CineDisk, the CineDesk SP features a resolution of either 550x480 (NTSC) or 550x576 (PAL), a far cry from the original format. The maximum video bitrate is around 4-5 MBits per seconds. This is due to the new and improved codec that was specifically designed for quality and efficiency. It also supports 16:9 anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio.

The CineDisk SP uses the Macrovision analog copy protection system. Video tapes copied from CineDisk SP disks encoded with Macrovision become garbled and unwatchable. The process works by adding pulses to analog video signals to negatively impact the AGC (automatic gain control) circuit of a recording device. The CineDisk SP features regional lockout similar to the DVD format. It uses the following region codes:


 * Region A - North America and Latin America
 * Region B - Europe and Oceania
 * Region C - Southeast Asia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau
 * Region D - Africa, India and the Middle East

CineDisk SP disks are incompatible with the original CineDisk players, but CineDisk SP players are backwards compatible with the original CineDisks.