DVD Information and Technical Data

What is DVD?
DVD is movies on a shiny disc, and much more. It's an optical disc storage technology for video, audio, and computer data. DVD is essentially a bigger, faster CD that can hold high-quality digital video, better-than-CD audio, pictures, and any other sort of digital information. DVD encompasses home entertainment, computers, and business information with a single digital format. It replaced laserdisc, videotape, many video game cartridge formats, and many CD-ROM applications. DVD has widespread support from all major electronics companies, all major computer hardware companies, and all major movie and music studios. With this unprecedented support, DVD became the most successful consumer electronics product of all time in less than three years of its introduction. In 2007, ten years after launch, there were over one billion DVD playback devices worldwide, counting DVD players, DVD PCs, and DVD game consoles.

It's important to understand the difference between the physical formats (such as DVD-ROM and DVD-R) and the application formats (such as DVD-Video and DVD-Audio). DVD-ROM is the base format that holds data. DVD-Video (often simply called DVD) defines how video programs such as movies are stored on disc and played in a DVD-Video player or a DVD computer (see 4.1). The difference is similar to that between CD-ROM and Audio CD. DVD-ROM includes recordable variations: DVD-R/RW, DVD-RAM, and DVD+R/RW (see 4.3). The application formats include DVD-Video, DVD-Video Recording (DVD-VR), DVD+RW Video Recording (DVD+VR), DVD-Audio Recording (DVD-AR), DVD-Audio (DVD-A), and Super Audio CD (SACD). There are also special application formats for game consoles such as Sony PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Xbox.

What do the letters DVD stand for?
All of the following have been proposed as the words behind the letters DVD.

Delayed, very delayed (referring to the many late releases of DVD formats)
Diversified, very diversified (referring to the proliferation of recordable formats and other spinoffs)
Digital venereal disease (referring to piracy and copying of DVDs)
Dead, very dead (from naysayers who predicted DVD would never take off)
Digital video disc (the original meaning proposed by some of DVD's creators)
Digital versatile disc (a meaning later proposed by some of DVD's creators)
Nothing
And the official answer is... "nothing." The original initialism came from "digital video disc." Some members of the DVD Forum (see 6.1) tried to express how DVD goes far beyond video by retrofitting the painfully contorted phrase "digital versatile disc," but this has never been officially accepted by the DVD Forum as a whole. A report from DVD Forum Steering Committee in 1999 decreed that DVD, as an international standard, is simply three letters. Nevertheless, Toshiba —the maintainer of the DVD Forum Web site— still confusingly prefers "digital video disc." And after all, how many people ask what VHS stands for? (Guess what? No one agrees on that one either.)

What are the features of DVD-Video?
Over 2 hours of high-quality digital video (a double-sided, dual-layer disc can hold about 8 hours of high-quality video, or 30 hours of VHS quality video).
Support for widescreen movies on standard or widescreen TVs (4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios).
Up to 8 tracks of digital audio (for multiple languages, commentaries, etc.), each with as many as 8 channels.
Up to 32 subtitle/karaoke tracks.
Automatic seamless branching of video (for multiple story lines or ratings on one disc).
Up to 9 camera angles (different viewpoints can be selected during playback).
On-screen menus and simple interactive features (for games, quizzes, etc.).
Multilingual identifying text for title name, album name, song name, cast, crew, etc.
Instant rewind and fast forward (no "be kind, rewind" stickers and threats on rental discs)
Instant search to title, chapter, music track, and timecode.
Durable (no wear from playing, only from physical damage).
Not susceptible to magnetic fields. Resistant to heat.
Compact size (easy to handle, store, and ship; players can be portable; replication is cheaper than tapes or laserdiscs).
Noncomedogenic.


Most players support a standard set of features:

Language choice (for automatic selection of video scenes, audio tracks, subtitle tracks, and menus).*
Special effects playback: freeze, step, slow, fast, and scan.
Parental lock (for denying playback of discs or scenes with objectionable material).*
Programmability (playback of selected sections in a desired sequence).
Random play and repeat play.
Digital audio output (PCM stereo and Dolby Digital).
Recognition and output of DTS Digital Surround audio tracks.
Playback of audio CDs.