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Demystifying DVD
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The DVD is all set to replace the CD and promises to be a superior storage medium
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FIRST IT was the invention of the Compact Disc (CD) that changed the concept of hardware storage in PCs. The magnetic flat disc took the cyber world by storm and replaced the Floppy Disk by moving a step further and penetrating into the audio-visual world as well. Typically, one CD equals as many as 450 floppy disks in terms of available space.
Add to this the superior visual and sound quality, and today, the CD is by default THE storage medium for external computer data.
An advanced version of the CD technology promises to give the user more disc space in a single disc and is all set to be the next landmark in storage technology. The DVD is what we are talking about.
The website, www.dvddemystified.com defines DVD as "a new generation of optical disc storage technology."
Essentially, it is a bigger and faster CD that can hold video, superior quality audio that would beat the quality that a CD can provide apart from still photos, and computer data. DVD aims to encompass home entertainment, computers, and business information with a single digital format.
The Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc (both the nomenclatures are convincingly true and accepted) can typically provide over two hours of high-quality digital video and eight tracks of high-quality audio (each track can have multiple songs or other audio output).
In comparison to this, the CD today can hold a maximum of 80 minutes of streaming video.
Also, in terms of data storage space, a CD today can hold between 650-700 Megabytes (MB) of data, and in comparison, a DVD holds the same amount of data that would take seven CDs to equal.
Also, an offshoot of the DVD is the double-sided DVD that promises to hold data that would amount to equal that of 25 single-sided DVDs or 12,000 CDs.
Though this is a practically viable technology, industry `gurus' seem rather sceptical as to whether users would actually be able to afford such a superior technology.
Now that the technology about DVDs is clear to us, let's take a look at the players that support this format.
In 2003, six years after the introduction of DVD, there were over 250 million DVD playback devices worldwide, counting DVD players, DVD PCs, and DVD game consoles.
This was more than half the numbers of VCRs, setting DVD up to become the new standard for video publishing and distribution.
If you're in the market for a DVD recorder, you will find out that currently one of the major issues is the `DVD format war', as many people describe the competition between the DVD+R/DVD+RW (DVD+ or DVD plus) and the DVD-R/DVD-RW (DVD- or DVD minus) formats.
Both are DVD recordable formats and developed to store data on a DVD recordable disc that can be played on a DVD (ROM) player.
DVD+/-R stands for DVD recordable (can only be recorded once), DVD+/-RW stands for DVD re-writeable, (can be written, erased and modified). Many compare this to the BetaMAX versus VHS war that took place when the video recorder came into the living room.
Both formats were incompatible with each other and without a winner a lot of consumers would be left in the cold.
DVD plus and DVD minus are for a large share compatible with each other, and a real winner is not necessary.
Also there are dual format recorders on the market, which are able to record to both the DVD plus and the DVD minus format.
Although many people see them as a solution, as a consumer you will still need to decide which DVD recordable disc you need to buy.
Typically, an entry-level DVD drive today would cost something like Rs. 2,000 upwards, making it comparatively affordable for the home PC user.
Here's hoping that the DVD would change the way people store files, listen to music and view movies.
A. VISHNU
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
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