Parameshwara Bhat wrote:
Hello List,
I have played files with extensions *.dat with both 'xine' and 'mplayer'.The vcd of the film "Unfaithful" has three files in the 'MPEG' folder,Music01.dat,Music02.dat,Music03.dat.I played this file from the cd in Windows Media player as well as SiS mmplayer.Now I copied those files to a separate directory and later opened them using both Mplayer and Xine.
Xine even has a file filter for *.dat type of files.Mplayer like its namesake Mediaplayer doesn't automatically filter the files but once selected using filter "all files",it plays it anyway.But both these programs fail to run the same files from the CD when tried with Play File.(They can very well play the VCD containing these files)whereas if these files are copied to harddisk they can play it.
Curiously within Linux,these files cannot be copied off CD.But,once in Windows,you can copy them and store them.Both Xine and Mplayer play them now once they are stored like this. And that's how VCDs are kept on the harddisk by all my friends here.
This is curious.Could anybody shed more light?
This discussion has been had before. A .DAT file on a VCD is not simply a renamed MPG file, but very similar.
The VCD format has less check summing bits on the CD than a standard data CD, as an error on the disk is less likely to cause serious problems, and you can actually fit more data on a VCD than a regular one. Not significant amounts, but a little more.
If you're going to store .DAT files on your hard drive like that to play them, you're wasting space. I suggest stripping the extra overhead of the DAT and leave yourself with an mpeg instead.
Search google on how to do it. I've done it before - there's not much to it.
Regards, Ed.
