dvds explained

Welcome to our dvds explained section.

DVD stands for either :

Digital Versatile Disc
Digital Video Disc

A DVD is the same size as a conventional compact disc but can hold a LOT more information (data and video). A DVD disc can come in many different types including :

DVD-5: single-sided / single-layer disc with a capacity of just under 5Gb.
DVD-9: single-sided / dual-layer disc holds around 8.5Gb of data.
DVD-10: double-sided / single-layer disc that can hold up to 9.4Gb of data (4.7Gb per side).
DVD-18: double-sided / dual-layer disc that can hold as much as 18Gb of data.

Compared to a compact disc that only holds around 600mb you can see why DVD's have taken off!

Unlike VHS videos that can deteriorate each time you watch them, because DVD are digital their is no loss of quality no matter how many time you view them.

VHS tapes have a screen resolution of up to 240 lines of horizontal resolution whereas DVD video has up to 500 lines of horizontal resolution. This means the picture is MUCH sharper and the colours more vibrant.

DVD video discs can hold up to 133 minutes of full motion video per side on a single layer disc. That's over 4 hours of movie on a single sided / dual layered disc.

Some DVD movies incorporate multiple angles. Allowing you to watch different perspectives of a film or concert etc.
Because of the amount of information that is capable of being stored, most movies have different language tracks included. Different aspect ratios (widescreen or pan & scan), subtitles, theatrical trailers, behind the scenes, cast biographies and many more features are also common features of a DVD video.

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