DVD

Perhaps the most common form of digital video today is DVD video. A lot of us have DVD players at home, or DVD-ROM or DVD-RW drives that we use to watch DVD movies with. All home theatre systems are based on DVD video quality, and newer technologies such as High Definition Television (HDTV) will allow us to watch movies in even better quality.

The DVD is as good as it gets for personal entertainment currently, and it’s necessary that we understand what all that jargon means when talking about DVDs.

Given below is a jargon buster that will demystify a lot of terms and specifications that you will come across, and also help you understand how DVD video works.

DVD: Digital Video Disk / Digital Versatile Disk. This is a media format that can hold between 4.7 GB and 17 GB of data. Physically, it is the same size as a Compact Disc (CD)

DVD-ROM: The first DVD format, or a DVD drive that can read, but cannot write to a DVD disc

DVD-5: Single-layered, single-sided DVDs with a capacity of just under 5 GB (4.7 GB approximately)

DVD-9: Dual-Layered, single-sided DVDs with a capacity of 8.5 GB

DVD-10: Double-sided, single-layered DVDs with a capacity of 9.4 GB

DVD-18: Dual-layered, double-sided DVDs with a capacity of about 18 GB

DVD-R and DVD+R: A DVD disc that can be written to once, the + and - stand for the different formats supported by different DVD manufacturing conglomerates

DVD-RW, DVD+RW: A re-writable disc similar to CD-RWs, where data can be written and then erased and rewritten

DVD-RAM: A now outdated re-writable disc that needs a special hardware recorder. DVD-RAM discs generally come enclosed in plastic cassettes with a sliding opening that gives access to the disc-much like a floppy

Single-layer: A DVD disc that has only one writeable layer per writeable side. Data is “burnt” onto this layer using a laser when storing data

Dual-layer: A DVD disc that has two writeable layers per writeable side, effectively doubling the capacity of the disc as compared to normal single-layer DVDs

DVD-Video: This is the most common usage of DVDs today, and is almost always what people relate the word DVD with. A DVD movie disc is an example of a DVD-Video disc

DVD-Audio: A relatively new form of audio discs that can contain 5.1 channel sound, instead of the normal stereo sound of CDs. These discs contain high definition, high bit-rate audio that has been recorded in true surround (5.1 channel). Though still rare, this format is likely to grow more popular as more audio is recorded for DVD-Audio distribution

DVD Region Code: Every DVD disc can be coded specifically for use only in a particular geographical region. In order to assist this, DVDs can be region coded.

DVD players have a fixed region code that can only be changed a maximum of five times. This region coding is especially used in DVD movies to prevent people from viewing a movie on DVD before it is released in theatres.

For example, say a movie is released on DVD in the US, but has still not even been shown in theatres in India, then without region coding, people would import discs from the US to India and distribute them freely here. This would affect box office sales, and directly hurt the pockets of the movie’s producers. There are six regions in total, read on…

DVD Region 1
USA, Canada

DVD Region 2
Greenland, Europe, the Middle East, Egypt, South Africa, Japan

DVD Region 3
Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, Indonesia

DVD Region 4
South America, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Caribbean

DVD Region 5
India, Russia, Eastern Europe, Most of Africa, North Korea, Mongolia

DVD Region 6
China

Region Free DVD
In addition to the six regions, there is another symbol you might see on your DVD which symbolises that the DVD does not have region coding, and can be played on a DVD in any zone.