What is a MovieCD?

MovieCD is a proprietary video format developed by Sirius Publishing that stores movies on a standard Compact Disc. It is not a Video CD (VCD) or Super Video CD (SVCD), nor does it use MPEG compression. Instead, it uses a proprietary codec called Motion Pixels. The Motion Pixels codec had two versions: MVI1 and MVI2. MVI1 was used to add video sequences to games, and MVI2 was used for both games and MovieCDs.

How did MovieCD compare to other video formats?

Sirius marketed MovieCD as being VHS-quality. That was overselling it. When recording NTSC, VHS was 320×480 at 29.97 frames per second. MovieCD had exactly half VHS' vertical resolution and frame rate, producing a digital image that was 320×240 at 14.985 frames per second. It also compared poorly against other formats that used Compact Discs to store video, such as the Video CD format, which used MPEG-1 compression to store 74 or 80 minutes of 352×240 NTSC video at 29.97 frames per second – doubling MovieCD's frame rate and nearly doubling its typical playtime of 45 minutes per disc.

The short play time of MovieCDs meant that feature films usually came on two or three CDs. The need to change discs in the middle of a movie would have been familiar to LaserDisc and VCD/SVCD users.

Why did MovieCD exist?

MovieCDs had worse video than the competing LaserDisc, VHS, and VCD formats formats, but it had one advantage: you could play them on your computer! Running in full screen mode on a CRT monitor at a close viewing distance, MovieCDs would have looked comparable to VHS tapes, but they didn't require a standalone player, or any hardware other than the computer you already had.

The introduction of DVD videos, DVD-ROM drives, and DVD video player software rendered the MovieCD format obsolete.

How much did MovieCDs cost?

MovieCDs were generally inexpensive. Almost all feature films had a manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) of $14.98. Videos from other genres were usually $9.98, while a few videos (mostly Playboy) were $19.98, and at least one music video was $29.98.

How do you play MovieCDs?

Each MovieCD came with the software necessary to play it. The disc would install the Motion Pixels codec and a video player specifically for playing Motion Pixel videos. Other video players could also be used once the codecs were installed. The system requirements are a 486 CPU with 8 MB of RAM and a 2× CD-ROM drive.

Three versions of the MovieCD player were developed, for Windows 3.1, Windows 95, and Windows NT. Windows XP was the last operating system capable of installing the Motion Pixels codec.

How many movies were sold in the MovieCD format?

That's hard to say, but there were at least 139.

	Title	Genre	Year	IMDB	MSRP	Discs
	Urotsukidoji III: Epsiode 1 Return of the Overfiend	Adult Anime	1989		$19.98
	Urotsukidoji III: Epsiode 2 Return of the Overfiend	Adult Anime	1989		$19.98
	Urotsukidoji III: Epsiode 3 Return of the Overfiend	Adult Anime	1989		$19.98
	Urotsukidoji III: Epsiode 4 Return of the Overfiend	Adult Anime	1989		$19.98
	Betty Boop	Animation			$9.98
	Beyond the Mind's Eye	Animation	1992		$19.98
	Computer Animation Festival Volume 1.0	Animation	1993		$14.98	1
	Computer Animation Festival Volume 2.0	Animation	1994		$14.98
	Cyber City Oedo	Animation	1990		$14.98
	Dominion Tank Police Part 1	Animation	1988		$14.98	2
	Dominion Tank Police Part 2	Animation	1989
	Gate to the Mind's Eye, The	Animation	1994			1
	Genocyber	Animation	1994		$14.98
	Ghost in the Shell	Animation	1995		$19.98	2
	Imaginaria	Animation	1993		$14.98
	Imaginit	Animation			$14.98
	Macross Plus Part 1	Animation	1994		$14.98	1
	Macross Plus Part 2	Animation	1994		$14.98	1
	Macross Plus Part 3	Animation	1994		$14.98
	Macross Plus Part 4	Animation	1994		$14.98	1
	Mind's Eye, The	Animation	1990		$19.98	1
	New Dominion Tank Police Part 1	Animation	1993
	New Dominion Tank Police Part 2	Animation	1994		$14.98
	Ninja Scroll	Animation	1993
	Cabbage Patch Kids: The Clubhouse	Children	1996		$19.98
	Cabbage Patch Kids: The New Kid	Children	1996		$19.98	1
	Cabbage Patch Kids: The Screen Test	Children	1997		$19.98
	Cartoon Festival	Children			$9.98	1
	Classic Cartoons	Children			$9.98
	Mole's Christmas	Children	1994		$9.98
	Mumfie's Quest: The Movie	Children	1996
	Mumfie's White Christmas	Children	1995		$9.98
	Wind in the Willows, The: The Adventures of Mole	Children	1995		$14.98
	Wind in the Willows, The: The Adventures of Toad	Children	1996		$14.98
	Best of Saturday Night Live, The: Classic Years Collection Volume 1	Comedy			$14.98
	Best of Saturday Night Live, The: Classic Years Collection Volume 2	Comedy
	Best of Saturday Night Live, The: Hosted by Eddie Murphy	Comedy				2
	Best of Saturday Night Live, The: SNL Goes Commercial	Comedy	1991		$9.98
	Best of Saturday Night Live, The: The Best of Dan Aykroyd	Comedy	1986		$9.98
	Best of Saturday Night Live, The: The Best of Gilda Radner	Comedy	1989		$14.98
	Best of Saturday Night Live, The: The Best of John Belushi	Comedy	1985		$9.98	2
	Comedy Capers	Comedy			$9.98
	Comedy Greats	Comedy			$9.98
	Comic Relief VII	Comedy	1995		$14.98
	Dr. Katz Vol. 1	Comedy	1995		$14.98
	Dr. Katz Vol. 2	Comedy	1995		$14.98
	Kids in the Hall	Comedy	1988		$14.98	2
	Monkees, The: Volume 1	Comedy			$14.98	2
	Monkees, The: Volume 11	Comedy			$14.98	2
	Politically Incorrect	Comedy			$14.98
	Blood Sucking Freaks	Cult Classic	1976
	Class of Nuke 'Em High	Cult Classic	1986		$14.98
	Little Shop of Horrors, The	Cult Classic	1986		$14.98	2
	Night of the Living Dead	Cult Classic	1968		$9.98
	Reefer Madness	Cult Classic	1936		$9.98
	Secret Adventure of Tom Thumb, The	Cult Classic	1993		$14.98
	Sex Madness	Cult Classic	1934		$9.98
	Surf Nazis Must Die	Cult Classic	1987		$14.98
	Toxic Avenger, The	Cult Classic	1984		$14.98
	Tromeo & Juliet	Cult Classic	1996		$14.98
	Arcade	Feature Film	1993		$14.98
	Clones of Bruce Lee	Feature Film	1980		$9.98
	Don Juan DeMarco	Feature Film	1994		$19.98	2
	Dragon Fist	Feature Film	1979		$9.98
	Dumb and Dumber	Feature Film	1994		$19.98	2
	Friday	Feature Film	1995		$19.98	2
	House Party	Feature Film	1990		$14.98
	Jason Goes to Hell - The Final Friday	Feature Film	1993		$14.98
	Lawnmower Man	Feature Film	1992		$14.98
	Lawnmower Man 2: Jobe's War	Feature Film	1995		$14.98	2
	Leprechaun	Feature Film	1993		$14.98
	Leprechaun 2	Feature Film	1994		$14.98
	Mask, The	Feature Film	1994		$19.98	2
	Menace II Society	Feature Film	1993		$14.98
	Mortal Kombat	Feature Film	1995		$19.98	2
	Nightmare on Elm Street 4, A: The Dream Master	Feature Film	1988		$14.98
	Player, The	Feature Film	1992		$14.98
	Poison Ivy	Feature Film	1992		$14.98
	Princess Bride, The	Feature Film	1987			3
	Pump Up the Volume	Feature Film	1990		$14.98
	Puppet Master	Feature Film	1993		$14.98	2
	Quadrophenia	Feature Film	1979		$14.98
	Seven	Feature Film	1995		$19.98
	Subspecies	Feature Film	1991		$14.98
	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles	Feature Film	1990		$14.98	2
	Trancers III	Feature Film	1992		$14.98
	Warlock	Feature Film	1989		$14.98
	Warlock: The Armageddon	Feature Film	1993		$14.98
	Wes Craven's New Nightmare	Feature Film	1994		$19.98	2
	Whore	Feature Film	1991		$14.98
	Witchcraft	Feature Film	1988		$14.98
	Cher - Extravaganza: Live at the Mirage	Music	1992		$19.98	2
	Grateful Dead: Dead Ahead	Music	1981		$19.98	3
	Grateful Dead: Ticket to New Year's	Music	1987		$29.98	4
	Jimi Hendrix - Plays Monterrey	Music	1986		$14.98	2
	Jimi Hendrix - Rainbow Bridge	Music			$14.98	3
	Monterrey Pop Festival	Music			$19.98
	Paul McCartney - Paul is Live in Concert on the New World Tour	Music	1994			3
	Rutles, The: All You Need is Cash	Music	1978		$14.98	2
	VH1: Guitar Legends	Music			$9.98	1
	VH1: Psychedelic High	Music			$9.98
	VH1: Rock in the U.K.	Music			$9.98
	Who, The: The Kids Are Alright	Music	1979		$19.98
	Best of Playboy's Strip Search	Playboy	1997		$19.98
	Jenny McCarthy: The Playboy Years	Playboy	1997		$19.98
	Playboy Video Centerfold: Pamela Anderson	Playboy	1992		$19.98
	Playboy's 21 Playmates Centerfold Collection Volume One	Playboy			$19.98
	Playboy's Biker Babes: Hot Wheels & High Heels	Playboy	1997		$19.98
	Playboy's Cheerleaders	Playboy	1997		$19.98
	Playboy's College Girls	Playboy	1994		$19.98
	Playboy's Girls in Uniform	Playboy	1997		$19.98
	Playboy's Girls of the Internet	Playboy	1996		$19.98
	Playboy's Sorority Girls	Playboy	1997		$19.98
	Playboy's Video Playmate Calendar 1997	Playboy	1996		$19.98
	Playboy's Video Playmate Calendar 1998	Playboy	1997		$19.98
	Playboy's Voluptuous Vixens	Playboy	1997		$19.98
	Playboy's Wet & Wild VIII: Bottom's Up	Playboy	1996		$19.98
	Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction?	Specialty	1995		$14.98
	Art of Nature, The	Specialty	1995		$14.98
	BullySmart	Specialty	1991		$9.98
	Chronos	Specialty	1985		$14.98
	Elvis in Hollywood	Specialty	1993		$19.98
	Louvre, The: The Jarvis Collection	Specialty	1978		$19.98
	Military Aircraft	Specialty			$9.98
	Poetry Hall of Fame, The: Volume 1	Specialty			$14.98
	Poetry Hall of Fame, The: Volume 2	Specialty
	Roswell: Cover-ups and Close Encounters	Specialty	1997		$14.98
	StrangerSmart	Specialty	1995		$9.98
	Time Capsule: WW II - War in the Pacific & WW II - War in Europe	Specialty	1994		$19.98
	Endless Summer, The	Sports	1966			3
	Power Moves	Sports	1995		$14.98
	One Step Beyond	TV Classic	1959		$9.98
	Beach Babes from Beyond	Adults Only	1993
	Femalien	Adults Only	1996
	Hot Body: California Girl	Adults Only
	Hot Body: Bikinis & Bikes	Adults Only
	Hot Body: Beverly Hills Finals	Adults Only
	Hot Body: Best of II	Adults Only
	Virtual Encounters	Adults Only	1996