Digital Picture and Sound, 7GB Capacity per DVD disc, Multiple Camera Angles - and that's just for
starters!
DVD is a new technology, it is at the cutting edge of
home entertainment and has already taken movie enthusiasts by storm. All
major Hollywood film studios are now releasing new, old and classic titles
on DVD, letting movie enthusiasts watch their favorite movies in a digital
format never seen before.
Warner Brothers who initially released
movie DVD's in seven test US cities have now released them country wide
due to DVD's success. Even Disney who originally waited to see if DVD was
a success is now releasing their titles on DVD format.
We have
attempted to give you a brief rundown of DVD and how it is going to effect
home entertainment in the next decade. There is some excellent information
available on the web, check at the bottom of this document for links to
other resource sites.
DVD Definition
DVD Picture Quality
DVD Sound Quality
DVD Viewing Choices
DVD Discs, The Facts
DVD Collectors
Renting DVD Movies and Recordable DVD
Players
DVD Links
DVD Definition
DVD can mean one of two things depending upon what who you're
talking to. The two most two definitions are Digital Versatile Disc or
Digital Video Disc. Toshiba was one of the first big players to get
involved and committed more than 100 engineers to a two year research
& development project and helped establish a set industry standard,
remember the VHS Vs BETA war? DVD is has a recognized standard so people
can go ahead and start collecting their favorite DVD's without fear of the
technology becoming redundant.
DVD Picture
Quality
DVD technology
offers the most spectacular motion pictures you will have seen. The
standard VHS resolution is 210 horizontal lines, laser disc comes in
second at 425 lines but DVD wins with 540 lines of resolution. That's not
all, DVD technology allows you to chose from different viewing formats.
You can watch your movies in the:
Windscreen
format 20:99
Letterbox format 16:9
Panned format
4:3
The viewer
can select the format of choice depending upon what type of TV they are
using.
DVD Sound Quality
All DVD players allow you to listen to audio CD's. The sampling
rate is higher than with audio CDs giving a much richer sound. DVD brings
Dolby AC3 sound to your own house, you can experience the same audio
performance as the best movie theaters. Six audio channels envelop you in
the most realistic sound you've ever experienced.
Does this mean you will have to purchase a new amplifier to
accommodate this system? Some DVD Players come with the AC3 sound decoder
included such as the Panasonic A-300 which would means all you have to do
is hook your player up to a receiver which can handle AC3 and your set. If
you purchase a DVD Player without the AC3 output you would need to
purchase a decoder unit along with a receiver. If sound is an important
issue it is well worth checking the specifications of all the players on
the market before you purchase.
DVD Choices
Parents? Not a native English Speaker? then DVD technology is the
system you have been waiting for. DVD allows you to change languages at
the switch of a button, normally the choice is English, French or Spanish
but the producers can also add any other languages. You can also select 32
different language subtitles with charts, dvd/graphics and icons included.
DVD allows parents to control the rates from G, PG, PG-13, R or NC-17. DVD
also allows a password system to avoid any abuse of the
system.
One
of the most impressive features of DVD is the choice of different camera
angles, you can be your own director switching from long shots to close up
shots, low - high angles, the choice is yours. Producers can also offer a
different choice of ending on the same DVD disc.
DVD Movie Collectors
DVD format must is a movie collectors dream, do you like watching
the same movie over and over again? Do you live in the tropics and
experience laser rot? A DVD disc is like a CD but a little more robust,
providing you take care of the disc and it should last for your whole
lifetime. Tests have shown that you could watch the same movie 5000 times
and the picture quality will be the same as the first time you watch the
movie.
DVD Discs - the facts
DVD is a format based on the audio CDs, it is 4 3/4 inches in
diameter and can have two layers on each side. DVD technology squeezes all
the data onto a normal CD by putting its tracks closer together with the
pits in each track being smaller. In addition the data compression
technology is highly efficient, minimizing the need to store repetitive
unneeded data. The second layer on the CD is read by changing the focus of
the laser.
This means that a standard DVD disc can hold 4.7
gigabytes per side, that's seven times the capacity of a ordinary CD, it
gives you 133 minutes of video on side of the disc which is sufficient to
handle 92 % of all feature-length films.
The dual layer DVDs can
hold 8.5 gigabytes on a single side which leads to a very impressive 17
gigabytes on dual sided DVD CDs, that's 26 times the capacity of an audio
CD or CD-ROM . If you compare that to a 9'" laser disc which can hold
about 30 minutes of information per side then you can see that DVD is the
way ahead.
Renting and Recording DVD Discs
Will I be able to rent DVDs?
DVD
rentals are already available in the United States. Blockbuster Movies
Rentals will have DVD demonstrations in major store across the States and
will rent DVDs at similar prices to VHS videos. Until the major video
renters like block busters start to rent DVDs your best bet is to check
out the places that used to rent laserdiscs, they will normally stock the
DVD movies and also rent them for a small fee
Can I record on
DVDs?
At the moment there are no recordable DVDs on the market but
that technology has been promised by the year 2000. Did you know that over
70% of the people use VHS equipment never actually do any recording !
DVD - The Future
All the major film studios are now releasing their titles on DVD
which are available in Video stores. As mentioned above DVD videos are now
available for rental in the States and will soon be available as video
rental stores like Blockbusters.
DVD may also become a storage
method for computer systems, There are already a number of DVD-ROM drives
on the market (see what we have to offer) with all the major manufacturers
getting their models out on the market. DVD software is still not widely
available but when it arrives should offer some amazing features not heard
of or seen before.
DVD Links
One of the best link page for everything to do with DVD is
Roberts resource page this is
a great starting point to start learning more about DVD technology and
also link to all of the manufacturers sites. We have listed a few of the
main links which we feels are good places to start:
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