135 minutes on one side of a single disc (covering 99% of all movies).
Video resolution better than Laserdisc (LD).
CD quality surround sound for true home cinema listening.
3 to 5 languages (audio) per title on one disc
4 to 6 subtitles per title on one disc
Pan-scan, letterbox and widescreen formats
Parental lockout features
Copy protection
Compatibility with existing CDs
Chapter division and access (like Video CD)
Manufacturing cost similar to current CD costs.
A format called VCD (Video Compact Disc) was tried but did not fulfil the requirements as the sound was not very good and the playing time was not very good either as some films were too long for the disc.
Most DVD-Videos also include extras that cannot be included on a VHS, such as biographies, director's commentary, making of the movie etc. An increasing number include DVD-ROM content, which can range from links to relevant websites to a full game based on the movie. The use of websites can allow the disc to be used in different ways with updated text and graphics information on the website complementing the video on the disc.
There is also a change in DVD types between countries. You get certain DVDs types in certain countries and they call these regions. You use region 2 in UK and region 1 in America, there are also other regions for other countries. Yet you can buy Multi-Region DVD players which can play all regions of DVD.
DVD-ROM Drives are just a sort of DVD player that is attached to a PC like a CD-ROM Drive. They can be used to store games, programs and any computer data. This can be an advantage because it enables you to be able to store massive applications or lots of smaller applications. Modern Game consoles also use DVD-ROM drives for example Microsoft’s X-Box and Sony’s PS2 so they can have more realistic and sophisticated games.
The Technical Working Group, representing the computer industry, listed the following requirements for a DVD-ROM specification for multimedia, games and other computer applications.
Single format for computer and TV-based applications
Backward read compatibility with existing CD-ROMs
Forward compatibility with future R/W and WORM discs
A single file system for all content and disc media types
Low cost drives and discs
No mandatory container
Reliable data storage and retrieval
High on-line capacity
High performance for both sequential and non-sequential data types
DVD-ROM drives and PCs with DVD capability are now widespread in the USA, Europe and Japan. Generally these will also include MPEG-2 decoders either in hardware or, for high end PCs, in software. They will then be capable of playing DVD-Video discs as well as DVD-ROM applications.
DVD-Audio is the newest form of DVD; it is designed to be the next generation of music storage. Audio DVDs have really high quality sound and are optimised for surround sound systems. They can also have longer playing times and extras like the music videos and other things not available on CD. This type of DVD can be played both on normal DVD players, special DVD-Audio players and DVD-ROM drives but not CD Players. It is also believed that due to the popularity of DVDs, companies will start releasing DVD-Audio players for cars.
DVD-RAM, DVD-RW and DVD-R are also now available which are recordable and are used with DVD-Writers, these are used mainly for recording from TV or other DVDs and also because they can store a lot they are used on computers as a replacement for CDs.
DVDs first started in 1996 where the first DVD-Video players were sold in Tokyo and DVD was released in the USA, 1998 was the full launch of DVD in Europe, In 1999 DVD-Audio players were first released in the USA. In the year 2000 DVD-audio and DVD-Audio players were released throughout Europe and then last year DVD-Video Recorders were released in Europe and everywhere else.
DVDs are aimed at a massive range of people. Almost everyone owns some type of DVD hardware, almost every new PC comes with a DVD-ROM drive, so do games consoles and people are now no longer buying VCRs but their replacement DVD players. The prices of DVD players are not too bad but the price of DVDs is still quite high between £10 and £20 for a single DVD. There are all types of DVDs ranging from children’s cartoons to aerobics. This shows that DVDs are aimed at everyone from kids to the elderly, the children can’t exactly afford to buy a DVD or a player but most parents could afford them and DVDs make quite good gifts.