DVD Abbrev. for digital versatile disk. A disk format similar to a compact disk (see CD-ROM) but containing much more data. It was introduced in 1996. DVD disks are the same 120 mm diameter as CDs with potential capacities of up to 4.7 gigabytes for a single-sided single-layer disk.

The technology involved in DVD storage is similar to that in compact disks, but more precise. The extra capacity is achieved in a number of ways. The tracks on a DVD are closer and the pits are smaller, allowing more pits per unit area. The key to this was the use of a shorter wavelength laser (typically 635 or 650 nm in the red region for DVDs as opposed to 780 nm in the infrared for CDs). Moreover, a DVD can have two layers on the same side of the disk. The top layer is translucent and the bottom layer opaque. Data can be read from either layer by refocusing the laser. In addition DVDs may be double-sided. DVD formats also have a more efficient error-correction system. The potential capacity of a double-sided double-layer DVD is up to 17 gigabytes.

The early publicity and interest in the DVD format was as a video equivalent of the audio CD – i.e. a medium for distributing films that was cheaper than the VHS tape cassettes used by the film industry (DVD originally stood for digital video disk). There were delays in the introduction of DVD caused partly by disputes about format between large developers, and later by worries in the film industry about piracy.

Since then DVDs have been increasingly used in computing as a higher-capacity version of compact disks. As with compact disks, there are various types. DVD-ROM (DVD read-only memory) is similar to CD-ROM. DVD-R (DVD-recordable) is similar to CD-R. There are also different rewritable formats: DVD-RAM, DVD+RW, and DVD-RW. Unfortunately there are several mutually incompatible standards, each with its own claimed advantages. Philips, Sony, H-P, Ricoh and Yamaha support the DVD+R/DVD+RW formats while Pioneer and ECMA International Standard support the DVD-R/DVD-RW formats. It remains to be seen which format will win, but meanwhile more and more multiformat DVD drives are becoming available.

DVD

DVD. The Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) is an optical information storage technology with multiple applications. Lasers read pitted digital patterns stamped on DVDs. American, Dutch, and Japanese manufacturers, specifically Philips Electronics, Sony Corporation, Matsushita Electric Industrial Company, and Toshiba Corporation, innovated DVDs simultaneously to surpass compact disc (CD) memory capabilities. Industrial DVD standards were released in 1995 after producers of rival formats, Super Density and Multi Media Compact Disc agreed to coordinate efforts which resulted in the creation of DVDs.

DVDs consist of two extremely thin, round plastic discs known as substrates, which are sealed together. Each DVD can store 4.7 gigabytes of compressed information per side, enough to hold a two-hour movie. If the sides are double-layered, a DVD can contain 17 gigabytes.

American manufacturers first distributed DVD players and introduced DVD-Video for movie storage in 1997. Starting that year, people could also access computer programs stored on DVD-Read-Only Memory (DVD-ROM). In 1998, DVD-Random-Access Memory (DVD-RAM) enabled users to record data on DVDs. By 2000, DVD-Audio provided an alternative to CD players and acoustically supplemented DVD-Video. Consumers eagerly bought several million units of DVD products making them the most quickly adopted technology in the history of electronics.

Most computers manufactured since the late 1990s have incorporated DVD drives. In the early 2000s, engineers had refined DVD technology, issuing new types of recording players and disc polymers. Electronics companies continued to secure patents for innovative DVD designs.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

De Lancie, Philip, and Mark Ely. DVD Production. Boston: Focal Press, 2000.

Purcell, Lee. CD-R/DVD: Disc Recording Demystified. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2000.

Taylor, Jim. DVD Demystified. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001.

Elizabeth D.Schafer

See alsoComputers and Computer Industry ; Electricity and Electronics .

DVD see digital versatile disc .

DVD Computing digital versatile disc