Anyone remember PhotoCD?

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Jonathan
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I've dug a couple of PhotoCDs out from the back of my storage unit and I want to make sure I can properly access the contents now I've transferred them to my PC. Irfanview can view the .PCD files but only at 768 x 512 pixels. The files are just over 4MB each so capable of much more than 768 x 512 and I have some of them already on my PC as JPEGs at 3072 x 2048. Does anyone know if it's still possible to access the higher resolutions for these files?
 
Is a PCD almost like DNG or RAW, sometimes they seem far too small but when converted are a decent size.
In which case you probably just need software that understands the data.
What software for viewing or editing was around at the time.
 
Hmmm . . . I have one of these in a box of old pics - I must dig it out and have a look.
 
It's been many years since I had to convert one, but if you google PCD to JPG Converter you'll find plenty of options.
 
Thanks all. My googlefu must have been lacking when I searched as I missed the reference to pcdtojpg, a command-line utility which claims to extract the 3k x 2k version of the files.
PS versions 2 and 3 apparently handled .PCDs but not later versions. I have some old versions kicking about but not that old.....
 
Thanks all. My googlefu must have been lacking when I searched as I missed the reference to pcdtojpg, a command-line utility which claims to extract the 3k x 2k version of the files.
PS versions 2 and 3 apparently handled .PCDs but not later versions. I have some old versions kicking about but not that old.....


I think I might have a CD/DVD of PSE 2 somewhere if you get stuck and need an old version. Might take some digging so I'll wait for a PM to alert me to a wanted ad before starting any archaeological expedition!
 
The pcdtojpeg tool is probably the best option, unless you want to shell out for pcdMagic. Someone who has compared the alternatives isn't impressed by the support in old versions of PS, which used a plugin supplied by Kodak:
 
This is just showing the perils of archaic file formats... Especially proprietary ones (versus open source) - at least with open source you (or someone you commission) can access the data...
 
This is just showing the perils of archaic file formats... Especially proprietary ones (versus open source) - at least with open source you (or someone you commission) can access the data...
At least we now have free and open source code that can read the format, which effectively means it should be possible to support it indefinitely if anyone can be bothered. But to make it work, someone had to reverse-engineer the pcd file format in the first place, which really shouldn't be necessary. It's not as if keeping the format proprietary did Kodak much good in the end!
 
That's assuming that the hardware to read the medium is still available. Although there are archival-quality CD s and DVDs available the number of new drives to read and write them is steadily decreasing.
 
I'm pleased to say pcdtojpg is doing the job. I wrote a batch file to do a bulk conversion and just need to go through to re-do those that need a little further tweaking.
 
I got a PhotoCD made from some Kodachromes at one time. I don't recall there being a problem with converting the files to JPEG but it was a long time ago. I wasn't taken with the quality but here's one of the few shots that seems OK to me...

Diesel railway engine Crediton Devon IMG0023.jpg
 
I got a PhotoCD made from some Kodachromes at one time. I don't recall there being a problem with converting the files to JPEG but it was a long time ago. I wasn't taken with the quality but here's one of the few shots that seems OK to me...

View attachment 314595
If you shot that on Kodachrome and had a PhotoCD made, that train engineer we see in the window is enjoying his retirement. :)
-BD ((Wedding & Event Photography)
 
If you shot that on Kodachrome and had a PhotoCD made, that train engineer we see in the window is enjoying his retirement. :)
He may even have gone wherever my hair went! :naughty:
 
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