Black Box Explains... DVD technology
DVD technology.
A regular CD-ROM can hold 650 MB of data, but DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) technology can hold up to a staggering 17 GB (17,408 MB). That’s like storing up to eight hours worth of movies in Dolby® AC-3 Surround Sound—or a telephone directory of the entire United States!
How can one disc hold so much? Both DVDs and CD-ROMs have microscopic pits on the disc surfaces that represent data. But on a DVD, these pits are closer together and they’re read by a laser with a shorter-wavelength light. Furthermore, DVDs can have up to two layers of information on both sides of the disc!
Five different DVD formats have been developed:
• DVD-Video is a read-only optical disc used for video, audio, or graphics. It has many interactive functions such as navigation and search—it even has a lockout feature so you can control the content your kids see.
• DVD-Audio is a read-only disc for audio only.
• DVD-ROM is a read-only, data-storage medium for computers.
• DVD-R is a high-capacity, write-once optical disc.
• DVD-RAM is a high-capacity, read-write optical disc.
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