>Uhmm... No... NOT very common in Japan, for anime... for "junk" type
>adult video, or remake version of adult video, it's becomming more
>common (but not yet that big...) It's more common in coutries which
>specializes in piracy and copy right violation (uhmm... not pointing out
>any specific coutry... but most of you can take a guess, I assume).
>

Well , in my beloved country (Singapore) VCD is just a part of everyday
life. Its is so popular back here and most people will rather choose a VCD
to a VHS or a LD.

>The retail price for the OFFICIAL copies of a VCD is outrageously high
>in comparison to it's quality, unless, except, of course, that is, you
>buy 1)pirate, or 2)"junk" type VCD. For anime, unless it's pirate, or
>purely for kids, don't exepect to find anything cheap (not to mention,
>it's hard to find one anyway)
>
>The quality is much lower then even a normal class VHS...

Regarding your comment on the quality of VCD , A vcd is definately of a
better quality than the VHS as it is digitally mastered. It also has a
longer life span than normal VHS .... yes, 100-120 years.

>The only reasons why you'd want to get VCD might be
>1)you hate VHS, and hi8, since they take up space (CDs are thin.....)

agreed !

>2)you're blind, so you don't care about quality, and you don't care
>about sound  quality either

Well , that applies only to LD , not VHS.

>3)You like the shiny silver color coating of a CD....

For your info , VCD comes in green, blue, greenish blue , gold (24k) ,
greenish gold ... each with its unique quality and life span. I personally
prefer the gold (24k) type.

>4)You want to drive Animation out of business (this is since most, or
>all Japanese animation is first released in LD/DVVD, etc... VCD formats
>are usually done when licenced out to second part, etc. so doesn't bring
>as much $$$ to the original anime creators... (gee, they are
>starving...?)), or LD/DVD/tapes makers out of business, or retaliers out
>of business....

Well , we are still paying a hell lot of money for anime recorded in VCD
form. for example, The complete set of AMG here in singapore can cost up to
US$50.

>7)you never heard of LDs or DVDs, or tapes....

In my country , LD WAS avaliable almost 2 years before VCD started to
become popular. Well , i guess we just kick LD out of the market. By the
way DVD is already popular here, for you info.

>9)you love how the image quality is deteriorates amazingly, as soon as
>they put out the subtitle... (for example... the official ah!
>megami-sama VCD out in Chinese, the quality is acceptable as a VCD when
>it's playing the OP, etc... but as soon as the characters starts to
>talk, and they put the Chinese subtitle, the quality of the picture
>suddenly drops.... (gee... what kind of technology do they use? ^_^;;;)
>This becomes really apparent when playing the VCD on a large projector
>TV, in a multi-disk player.... on a PC, you'd need a large screen
>(maybe) to sense this... if you live with like a small 15 inch monitor,
>maybe you won't feel anything... then again, your Belldandy will be
>smaller then a garage kit size belldandy (LOL)
>(Note. The AMG VCD (official Chinese re-release) comes in a box, doesn't
>it? The design looked OK)

Well , i am holding on to both the VCD and LD version of AMG ... i don't
really see the difference though.

>10)You can't speak/understand Japanese, and the only official translated
>thing out in your language is a VCD.... (gee, this would suck.... no
>other choice but to buy the trash quality VCD....)

I can understand japanese , but who cares i still prefer chinese to
japanese :)