Formats comparison
The principal technical characteristics of the digital video formats discussed above are summarised in the following table:
| VCD | SVCD | X(S)VCD | DivX | DV | DVD | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Formal standard? | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Resolution NTSC/PAL |
352×240 352×288 |
480×480 480×456 |
720×480 720×576 or lower |
640×480 or lower |
720×480 720×576 |
720×480 720×576 |
| Video compression | MPEG-1 | MPEG-2 | MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 |
MPEG-4 | DV | MPEG-2 |
| Audio compression | MPEG-1 | MPEG-1 | MPEG-1 | MP3 WMA |
DV | MPEG-2 AC-3 |
| MB/min | 10 | 10-20 | 5-20 | 1-10 | 216 | 30-70 |
| DVD Player compatibility | Very good | Good | Good | None | None | Excellent |
| How CPU intensive | Low | High | High | Very high | High | Very High |
| Quality | Good | Very good | Very good | Very good | Excellent | Excellent |