±Recent Visitors

Recent Visitors to Com-Central!

±User Info-big


Welcome Anonymous

Nickname
Password

Membership:
Latest: HighestAce
New Today: 0
New Yesterday: 0
Overall: 6648

People Online:
Members: 0
Visitors: 997
Total: 997
Who Is Where:
 Visitors:
01: Community Forums
02: Downloads
03: Photo Gallery
04: Community Forums
05: Community Forums
06: Member Screenshots
07: Community Forums
08: Photo Gallery
09: Community Forums
10: Community Forums
11: Community Forums
12: Community Forums
13: Community Forums
14: Home
15: Community Forums
16: Community Forums
17: Photo Gallery
18: Photo Gallery
19: Photo Gallery
20: Community Forums
21: Community Forums
22: Community Forums
23: Community Forums
24: Photo Gallery
25: Community Forums
26: Community Forums
27: Community Forums
28: Downloads
29: Community Forums
30: Community Forums
31: Community Forums
32: Community Forums
33: Member Screenshots
34: Photo Gallery
35: Community Forums
36: Community Forums
37: Community Forums
38: Community Forums
39: Community Forums
40: Home
41: Community Forums
42: Home
43: Community Forums
44: Home
45: Home
46: Community Forums
47: Photo Gallery
48: Community Forums
49: Community Forums
50: Community Forums
51: Photo Gallery
52: Community Forums
53: Community Forums
54: Community Forums
55: Community Forums
56: Community Forums
57: Community Forums
58: Community Forums
59: Community Forums
60: Community Forums
61: Community Forums
62: Community Forums
63: Community Forums
64: Home
65: Community Forums
66: Community Forums
67: Community Forums
68: Community Forums
69: Community Forums
70: Home
71: Photo Gallery
72: News Archive
73: Community Forums
74: Photo Gallery
75: Member Screenshots
76: Community Forums
77: Community Forums
78: Community Forums
79: Downloads
80: Community Forums
81: Member Screenshots
82: Community Forums
83: Home
84: Downloads
85: Community Forums
86: Community Forums
87: Community Forums
88: Member Screenshots
89: Community Forums
90: Community Forums
91: Community Forums
92: Home
93: Home
94: Downloads
95: Community Forums
96: Community Forums
97: Community Forums
98: Photo Gallery
99: Community Forums
100: Photo Gallery
101: Community Forums
102: Community Forums
103: Community Forums
104: Member Screenshots
105: Community Forums
106: Downloads
107: Member Screenshots
108: News Archive
109: Community Forums
110: Community Forums
111: Home
112: Community Forums
113: Community Forums
114: Community Forums
115: Photo Gallery
116: Member Screenshots
117: Community Forums
118: Member Screenshots
119: Member Screenshots
120: Photo Gallery
121: Community Forums
122: News Archive
123: Community Forums
124: Member Screenshots
125: Community Forums
126: News Archive
127: Community Forums
128: Community Forums
129: Community Forums
130: Downloads
131: Member Screenshots
132: Community Forums
133: Community Forums
134: News Archive
135: News Archive
136: Photo Gallery
137: Member Screenshots
138: Community Forums
139: Community Forums
140: Home
141: News Archive
142: Community Forums
143: Community Forums
144: Home
145: Community Forums
146: Photo Gallery
147: Community Forums
148: Community Forums
149: Home
150: Community Forums
151: Community Forums
152: Photo Gallery
153: Downloads
154: Community Forums
155: Photo Gallery
156: Member Screenshots
157: Downloads
158: Community Forums
159: Community Forums
160: Community Forums
161: Home
162: News
163: Community Forums
164: News Archive
165: Community Forums
166: Member Screenshots
167: Community Forums
168: Member Screenshots
169: Photo Gallery
170: Community Forums
171: Community Forums
172: Community Forums
173: Home
174: Community Forums
175: Photo Gallery
176: News Archive
177: Community Forums
178: Community Forums
179: Member Screenshots
180: Community Forums
181: Downloads
182: Community Forums
183: Member Screenshots
184: Downloads
185: Downloads
186: Community Forums
187: News
188: Community Forums
189: Community Forums
190: Community Forums
191: Community Forums
192: Community Forums
193: Downloads
194: Photo Gallery
195: Community Forums
196: Member Screenshots
197: Downloads
198: Member Screenshots
199: Photo Gallery
200: Community Forums
201: Community Forums
202: Community Forums
203: Photo Gallery
204: Community Forums
205: Photo Gallery
206: Downloads
207: Member Screenshots
208: Home
209: Community Forums
210: Member Screenshots
211: Downloads
212: Downloads
213: Community Forums
214: Member Screenshots
215: Member Screenshots
216: Home
217: Member Screenshots
218: Community Forums
219: Community Forums
220: Community Forums
221: Community Forums
222: Community Forums
223: Community Forums
224: Community Forums
225: Your Account
226: Member Screenshots
227: Home
228: Community Forums
229: Community Forums
230: Member Screenshots
231: Community Forums
232: News Archive
233: Community Forums
234: Community Forums
235: Community Forums
236: Community Forums
237: Photo Gallery
238: Member Screenshots
239: Community Forums
240: Community Forums
241: Community Forums
242: Community Forums
243: Photo Gallery
244: Photo Gallery
245: Community Forums
246: Community Forums
247: Community Forums
248: Member Screenshots
249: Community Forums
250: Photo Gallery
251: Community Forums
252: Community Forums
253: News Archive
254: Photo Gallery
255: Community Forums
256: Community Forums
257: Community Forums
258: Photo Gallery
259: Community Forums
260: Community Forums
261: Community Forums
262: Home
263: Member Screenshots
264: Community Forums
265: Community Forums
266: Community Forums
267: Downloads
268: Community Forums
269: Community Forums
270: Home
271: Home
272: Community Forums
273: Community Forums
274: Community Forums
275: Community Forums
276: Community Forums
277: Community Forums
278: Community Forums
279: Member Screenshots
280: Member Screenshots
281: Community Forums
282: Community Forums
283: Downloads
284: Member Screenshots
285: Community Forums
286: Community Forums
287: Community Forums
288: Community Forums
289: Community Forums
290: Statistics
291: Community Forums
292: Community Forums
293: Community Forums
294: Community Forums
295: Community Forums
296: Home
297: Community Forums
298: Community Forums
299: Community Forums
300: Home
301: Community Forums
302: Community Forums
303: Community Forums
304: Photo Gallery
305: Community Forums
306: Community Forums
307: Community Forums
308: Community Forums
309: Member Screenshots
310: Community Forums
311: Community Forums
312: Home
313: Community Forums
314: Community Forums
315: Member Screenshots
316: News Archive
317: Community Forums
318: Downloads
319: Community Forums
320: Community Forums
321: Photo Gallery
322: Community Forums
323: Community Forums
324: Community Forums
325: Community Forums
326: Community Forums
327: Downloads
328: Community Forums
329: Community Forums
330: Photo Gallery
331: Community Forums
332: Community Forums
333: Community Forums
334: Downloads
335: Community Forums
336: Downloads
337: Community Forums
338: Community Forums
339: Community Forums
340: Community Forums
341: Community Forums
342: Community Forums
343: Community Forums
344: Community Forums
345: Community Forums
346: News Archive
347: Home
348: Photo Gallery
349: Member Screenshots
350: News Archive
351: Community Forums
352: Member Screenshots
353: Home
354: Member Screenshots
355: Home
356: Community Forums
357: Community Forums
358: Home
359: Community Forums
360: Photo Gallery
361: Community Forums
362: Photo Gallery
363: Community Forums
364: Community Forums
365: Community Forums
366: Community Forums
367: Community Forums
368: Community Forums
369: Community Forums
370: Statistics
371: Community Forums
372: Community Forums
373: Community Forums
374: Community Forums
375: Downloads
376: Community Forums
377: Downloads
378: Community Forums
379: Member Screenshots
380: Community Forums
381: Downloads
382: Community Forums
383: Member Screenshots
384: Home
385: Community Forums
386: Community Forums
387: Community Forums
388: Downloads
389: Community Forums
390: Community Forums
391: Community Forums
392: Member Screenshots
393: Photo Gallery
394: Community Forums
395: Community Forums
396: Community Forums
397: Community Forums
398: Community Forums
399: Photo Gallery
400: Home
401: Home
402: Community Forums
403: Community Forums
404: Photo Gallery
405: Your Account
406: Photo Gallery
407: News Archive
408: Community Forums
409: Community Forums
410: News Archive
411: Community Forums
412: Community Forums
413: Community Forums
414: Community Forums
415: Community Forums
416: Home
417: Community Forums
418: Home
419: Community Forums
420: Downloads
421: Community Forums
422: News Archive
423: Photo Gallery
424: Photo Gallery
425: Photo Gallery
426: Community Forums
427: Member Screenshots
428: Community Forums
429: Community Forums
430: Community Forums
431: News Archive
432: Community Forums
433: Community Forums
434: Community Forums
435: Downloads
436: Community Forums
437: Community Forums
438: Photo Gallery
439: News Archive
440: Community Forums
441: Downloads
442: Community Forums
443: Downloads
444: Community Forums
445: Community Forums
446: Member Screenshots
447: Community Forums
448: Community Forums
449: Downloads
450: Community Forums
451: News Archive
452: Community Forums
453: Home
454: Community Forums
455: Community Forums
456: Community Forums
457: Photo Gallery
458: Home
459: Community Forums
460: Downloads
461: Community Forums
462: Downloads
463: Community Forums
464: Home
465: Your Account
466: Member Screenshots
467: Community Forums
468: Community Forums
469: Community Forums
470: News Archive
471: News Archive
472: Community Forums
473: Community Forums
474: Home
475: Community Forums
476: Community Forums
477: Community Forums
478: Community Forums
479: News Archive
480: Community Forums
481: Photo Gallery
482: Community Forums
483: Photo Gallery
484: Community Forums
485: Downloads
486: Member Screenshots
487: Photo Gallery
488: Community Forums
489: Home
490: Community Forums
491: Community Forums
492: Community Forums
493: Community Forums
494: Community Forums
495: Home
496: Community Forums
497: Community Forums
498: Community Forums
499: Member Screenshots
500: Statistics
501: Downloads
502: Community Forums
503: Community Forums
504: Community Forums
505: Community Forums
506: Community Forums
507: Community Forums
508: Home
509: Community Forums
510: Community Forums
511: Community Forums
512: Community Forums
513: Member Screenshots
514: Community Forums
515: Community Forums
516: Member Screenshots
517: Community Forums
518: Community Forums
519: Community Forums
520: Photo Gallery
521: Community Forums
522: Community Forums
523: Member Screenshots
524: Community Forums
525: Community Forums
526: Community Forums
527: Community Forums
528: Community Forums
529: Community Forums
530: News Archive
531: Community Forums
532: Your Account
533: Home
534: Home
535: Member Screenshots
536: Community Forums
537: Downloads
538: Community Forums
539: Home
540: Community Forums
541: Community Forums
542: Photo Gallery
543: Home
544: Community Forums
545: Community Forums
546: Community Forums
547: Community Forums
548: Photo Gallery
549: Photo Gallery
550: Home
551: Member Screenshots
552: Community Forums
553: Community Forums
554: Community Forums
555: Community Forums
556: Home
557: Community Forums
558: Community Forums
559: Community Forums
560: Community Forums
561: Community Forums
562: Member Screenshots
563: Community Forums
564: Community Forums
565: Community Forums
566: Member Screenshots
567: Community Forums
568: Home
569: Photo Gallery
570: Community Forums
571: Community Forums
572: Community Forums
573: Community Forums
574: Community Forums
575: Community Forums
576: Community Forums
577: Community Forums
578: Home
579: Photo Gallery
580: Community Forums
581: News Archive
582: Community Forums
583: Home
584: Community Forums
585: Community Forums
586: Community Forums
587: Community Forums
588: Downloads
589: Community Forums
590: Community Forums
591: Photo Gallery
592: Community Forums
593: Community Forums
594: Downloads
595: Community Forums
596: Community Forums
597: Community Forums
598: Community Forums
599: Community Forums
600: Community Forums
601: Community Forums
602: Community Forums
603: Member Screenshots
604: Community Forums
605: Community Forums
606: Community Forums
607: Downloads
608: Community Forums
609: Member Screenshots
610: Community Forums
611: Community Forums
612: Community Forums
613: Photo Gallery
614: Member Screenshots
615: Downloads
616: Community Forums
617: Community Forums
618: Member Screenshots
619: Community Forums
620: Community Forums
621: Community Forums
622: Community Forums
623: Downloads
624: Community Forums
625: Community Forums
626: News Archive
627: Community Forums
628: Photo Gallery
629: Downloads
630: Home
631: Downloads
632: Photo Gallery
633: Community Forums
634: Community Forums
635: Community Forums
636: Community Forums
637: Downloads
638: Member Screenshots
639: Community Forums
640: Community Forums
641: Community Forums
642: Community Forums
643: Community Forums
644: Community Forums
645: Member Screenshots
646: Community Forums
647: Photo Gallery
648: Community Forums
649: Downloads
650: LinkToUs
651: Downloads
652: Member Screenshots
653: Community Forums
654: Community Forums
655: Home
656: Community Forums
657: Member Screenshots
658: Community Forums
659: Community Forums
660: Member Screenshots
661: Community Forums
662: Community Forums
663: Home
664: Member Screenshots
665: Home
666: Community Forums
667: Community Forums
668: Photo Gallery
669: Community Forums
670: Community Forums
671: Community Forums
672: Photo Gallery
673: Community Forums
674: Community Forums
675: Community Forums
676: Community Forums
677: Community Forums
678: Community Forums
679: Community Forums
680: Community Forums
681: Community Forums
682: Community Forums
683: Community Forums
684: Photo Gallery
685: News Archive
686: Photo Gallery
687: News Archive
688: Community Forums
689: Community Forums
690: Community Forums
691: Community Forums
692: Community Forums
693: Community Forums
694: Community Forums
695: Community Forums
696: Downloads
697: Community Forums
698: Community Forums
699: Community Forums
700: Home
701: Downloads
702: Community Forums
703: Community Forums
704: Community Forums
705: Home
706: Community Forums
707: Home
708: Downloads
709: Community Forums
710: Home
711: Home
712: Community Forums
713: Community Forums
714: Community Forums
715: Community Forums
716: Community Forums
717: Photo Gallery
718: Community Forums
719: Home
720: Downloads
721: Community Forums
722: Member Screenshots
723: Community Forums
724: Community Forums
725: Photo Gallery
726: News Archive
727: Community Forums
728: Community Forums
729: Community Forums
730: Community Forums
731: Community Forums
732: Community Forums
733: Downloads
734: Member Screenshots
735: Community Forums
736: Home
737: Community Forums
738: Community Forums
739: Member Screenshots
740: Community Forums
741: Photo Gallery
742: Community Forums
743: Community Forums
744: Community Forums
745: Photo Gallery
746: Photo Gallery
747: Statistics
748: Community Forums
749: Downloads
750: Community Forums
751: Downloads
752: Home
753: Member Screenshots
754: Downloads
755: Photo Gallery
756: Photo Gallery
757: Community Forums
758: Community Forums
759: Community Forums
760: Community Forums
761: Community Forums
762: Community Forums
763: Photo Gallery
764: Member Screenshots
765: Community Forums
766: Community Forums
767: Community Forums
768: Community Forums
769: Photo Gallery
770: Community Forums
771: Community Forums
772: Community Forums
773: Statistics
774: Downloads
775: Community Forums
776: Community Forums
777: Community Forums
778: Community Forums
779: Photo Gallery
780: Photo Gallery
781: Member Screenshots
782: Community Forums
783: Community Forums
784: Community Forums
785: Photo Gallery
786: Home
787: Community Forums
788: Photo Gallery
789: Community Forums
790: Home
791: Downloads
792: Member Screenshots
793: Community Forums
794: Community Forums
795: Downloads
796: Downloads
797: Community Forums
798: Community Forums
799: News Archive
800: Home
801: Downloads
802: Photo Gallery
803: Home
804: Community Forums
805: Community Forums
806: Home
807: Community Forums
808: Community Forums
809: Photo Gallery
810: Community Forums
811: Community Forums
812: Community Forums
813: Community Forums
814: Community Forums
815: Community Forums
816: Community Forums
817: Community Forums
818: Downloads
819: Home
820: Photo Gallery
821: Community Forums
822: Community Forums
823: Member Screenshots
824: Home
825: Community Forums
826: Community Forums
827: Community Forums
828: Member Screenshots
829: Home
830: Community Forums
831: Community Forums
832: Community Forums
833: Community Forums
834: Community Forums
835: Member Screenshots
836: Community Forums
837: Downloads
838: Member Screenshots
839: Home
840: Downloads
841: Downloads
842: Community Forums
843: Community Forums
844: Downloads
845: Downloads
846: Community Forums
847: Community Forums
848: Community Forums
849: Community Forums
850: Community Forums
851: Community Forums
852: News Archive
853: Community Forums
854: Downloads
855: Downloads
856: Community Forums
857: Community Forums
858: Community Forums
859: Photo Gallery
860: Community Forums
861: Downloads
862: Community Forums
863: Community Forums
864: Home
865: Photo Gallery
866: Your Account
867: Community Forums
868: Member Screenshots
869: Statistics
870: Community Forums
871: Community Forums
872: Community Forums
873: Photo Gallery
874: Downloads
875: Community Forums
876: Community Forums
877: Community Forums
878: Community Forums
879: Community Forums
880: Your Account
881: News Archive
882: Photo Gallery
883: Community Forums
884: Downloads
885: Photo Gallery
886: Community Forums
887: Community Forums
888: Photo Gallery
889: Community Forums
890: Downloads
891: Community Forums
892: Community Forums
893: Community Forums
894: Community Forums
895: Home
896: News Archive
897: Community Forums
898: Community Forums
899: Downloads
900: Community Forums
901: Community Forums
902: Community Forums
903: Photo Gallery
904: Photo Gallery
905: Community Forums
906: Home
907: Your Account
908: Community Forums
909: Statistics
910: Community Forums
911: Home
912: Community Forums
913: Community Forums
914: Community Forums
915: Community Forums
916: Home
917: Photo Gallery
918: Photo Gallery
919: Community Forums
920: Community Forums
921: Community Forums
922: Downloads
923: Community Forums
924: Community Forums
925: Community Forums
926: Downloads
927: Community Forums
928: Member Screenshots
929: Community Forums
930: News Archive
931: Your Account
932: Community Forums
933: Community Forums
934: Photo Gallery
935: Community Forums
936: Community Forums
937: Home
938: Community Forums
939: Statistics
940: Photo Gallery
941: Community Forums
942: Downloads
943: Community Forums
944: Photo Gallery
945: Member Screenshots
946: Community Forums
947: Your Account
948: Community Forums
949: Community Forums
950: Community Forums
951: Member Screenshots
952: Community Forums
953: Community Forums
954: Community Forums
955: Photo Gallery
956: Photo Gallery
957: Home
958: Community Forums
959: Photo Gallery
960: Home
961: Community Forums
962: Community Forums
963: Home
964: Community Forums
965: Community Forums
966: Community Forums
967: Community Forums
968: Community Forums
969: Downloads
970: Community Forums
971: Community Forums
972: Community Forums
973: Home
974: Community Forums
975: Home
976: Community Forums
977: Home
978: Member Screenshots
979: Community Forums
980: Community Forums
981: Community Forums
982: Statistics
983: Community Forums
984: Community Forums
985: Community Forums
986: Statistics
987: Downloads
988: News Archive
989: Home
990: Community Forums
991: Photo Gallery
992: Home
993: Community Forums
994: Community Forums
995: Community Forums
996: Community Forums
997: Home

Staff Online:

No staff members are online!
Confused about DVD and how it works?
Resolve issues with your computer problems here or read about the latest computer parts and information.
Post new topic    Reply to topic    Printer Friendly Page     Forum Index ›  Hardware

View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Shadow_Bshwackr
Janitor

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 21, 2005
Posts: 7019
Location: Central Illinois, USA
PostPosted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 11:37 am
Post subject: Confused about DVD and how it works?

This is a pretty good article to clear up any confusion (perhaps..lol) you may have about DVD, Single or Dual Layer DVD and how optical drives work. Wink

ABCs of DVD Drive Abbreviations

by J. Kohrs

The number of different formats available in DVD drives can be confusing to anyone in the market for one. The list is much longer, but to address a few of the common formats, we have DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM ,DVD+R DL and DVD±RW. Wow! This list of common formats is long enough, no wonder it’s confusing!

What's with all the Formats?!

The reason for various recordable DVD formats is that no one group owns the technology and different groups have chosen to support one technology over another. There is no industrial standard for manufacturers to reference, so for the time being consumers will have a few choices.

The first thing to address is DVD itself, which stands for Digital Versatile Disc. Some may argue that the V stands for Video, but with the capability to store video, audio, and data files, Versatile is definitely the keyword.

Start with the Basics

A DVD-ROM drive is the only one we will address that does not record. ROM stands for Read Only Memory, and refers to the typical drive that can merely read DVDs, as well as CDs (all DVD drives can read CDs). The Lite-On LTD-163-DO-R has attributes representative of your typical DVD-ROM drive, and features a maximum DVD read speed of 16x and a maximum CD read speed of 48x.

Before getting into the different recordable formats, let’s address the basics of what the R and RW stand for, regardless of whether there is a + or – in the middle. R stands for Recordable, which indicates that the disk may be recorded to only once. RW stands for ReWritable, which indicates that the disc may be recorded to more than once, and are generally rated for 1000 rewrites under good conditions.

The DVD-R/-RW format was developed by Pioneer, and was the first format compatible with stand alone DVD players. The group that promotes the technology calls itself the DVD Forum, which is “an international association of hardware manufacturers, software firms, content providers, and other users� with notable members such as Hitachi, Samsung, and Toshiba. The DVD-R/-RW format is based on CD-RW technology and uses a similar approach to burning discs.

The DVD+R/+RW format is a newer format, also based on CD-RW technology, and compatible with a large percentage of stand alone DVD players. The +R/+RW technology is not supported by the DVD Forum, and its main backing comes from a group called the DVD+RW Alliance. The Alliance “is a voluntary group of industry-leading personal computing manufacturers, optical storage and electronics manufacturers� with members such as Dell, Hewlett Packard, Sony, and Phillips Electronics.

The DVD-RAM format is based on PD-RW (Phase-Differential) drives, and actually uses a cartridge to hold the media (just like its PD-RW predecessor). Some DVD-RAM cartridges are double sided, making them ideal for companies to use as system backup, hence DVD-RAM is usually found only in commercial applications, and most end-users won’t ever need to use or see this type of drive. The DVD-RAM standard is also supported by the DVD Forum just like the DVD-R/RW format. However, because of its use of a cartridge (limiting it’s compatibility), and the scarcity and price of the media used, DVD-RAM is a distant third when compared to the DVD+R/+RW and DVD-R/–RW technology.

The +R/+RW and –R/-RW formats are similar, and the main difference DVD+R technology has is the ability to record to multiple layers (with its new DVD+R DL format), where DVD-R can only record to one layer (not all +R drives are capable of dual layer burning, but no -R drives are). The Plextor PX-504U is an example of an external DVD+R/+RW drive capable of recording single layer discs in the +R/+RW format, but also able to read discs recorded by a DVD-R drive.

What is DVD±RW?

DVD±RW is not actually a separate format, but the designation given to drives capable of both –R/–RW and +R/+RW operation. This type of drive is typically called a “Dual Drive� (not to be confused with a “Double Layer� drive) since it can write to both the +R/+RW and –R/–RW formats. The Samsung TS-H552 is a DVD±RW drive capable of reading and writing every format discussed so far, and then some. It takes advantage of DVD+R DL (Double Layer) technology available with the +R format, allowing the appropriate media to store virtually double the 4.37 GB capacity of a typical single layer disc.

The other main thing to consider with DVD burners is selecting the correct media. Media for DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R and DVD+RW media may all look the same, but they are slightly different in order to match the specific recording formats. The price of media for either format is generally the same, with RW media costing a good deal more than R media of either format. Double Layer media is even more expensive, and is the only way for an owner of DVD+R DL drive to take advantage of the tremendous capacity increase. As the amount of Double Layer drives increase in the market, the price of the DVD+R DL media is expected to fall with increased production of the media. DVD Burners (as these drive are often referred to) can be picky about the media supported, so be sure to choose your media wisely.

DVD in a Nutshell

DVD-ROM : Reads DVD discs
DVD+R : Writes to DVD+R media (will also typically write to CD-R and CD-RW media)
DVD+RW : Writes to DVD+RW media (will also typically write to DVD+R, CD-R and CD-RW media)
DVD+R DL : Writes to DVD+R DL (Double Layer) media (will also typically write to DVD+R, DVD+RW, CD-R and CD-RW media; many Double Layer drives are ALSO dual drives – that is, able to write to BOTH +R/RW and –R/RW media)
DVD-RAM : Writes to DVD-RAM cartridges (not in wide use on consumer market – mainly a business format; can also read PD-RW discs. Will not usually be able to write to any other format including CD-R or CD-RW)
DVD-R : Writes to DVD-R media (will also typically write to CD-R and CD-RW media)
DVD-RW : Writes to DVD-RW media (will also typically write to DVD-R, CD-R and CD-RW media)
DVD±RW : Writes to DVD-RW and DVD+RW media (will also typically write to DVD-R, DVD+R, CD-R and CD-RW media; typically called “Dual Drives� since it can burn to two different DVD formats)

Final Words

This article took a look at the more common formats of DVD drives in order to shed some light on all the choices available. The differences between them all may be subtle, but the compatibility issues can be quite frustrating. The simple answer to anyone considering a drive is to forget about + and – by themselves, and shoot for universal compatibility with a good DVD±RW with DVD+R DL support.


J. Kohrs second update article...

Double layer DVD writers and the blank discs for them were just hitting the market then so he didn’t have much to say about the latest and largest-capacity optical disc system. Since then, DL drives and media have popped up all over at decent prices so it’s time to dig a little deeper.

That last sentence is a bit of a pun on the whole double layer thing because it works by burying your data a little deeper into the disc. We’ll discuss why double layer is so exciting, and when you can economize by using the less expensive single layer discs.

1. Refresh on How DVDs Store Data

Most explanations of how optical discs work start with an allusion to LP records with a track that spirals across the face of the disk and a pickup the follows the track to extract the data stored there. Unfortunately, the flat disc and the spiral are about the only things in common.

Optical discs like CD-ROM and DVDs are made up of a clear plastic disc with a layer of very thin metal buried just under the surface of the plastic. The track is actually molded into the plastic, a thin metal layer is laid over the plastic, and the whole thing is sealed up with a clear lacquer finish.

2. Not Grooves: A Trail of Bumps

LP records are easy to visualize because they use a V-shaped groove that forms the track. The sharp point of the pickup fits down in the groove and the groove wall pushes the pickup to keep it tracking the spiral. Optical discs are completely different, with a laser light focused into the spiral track of bumps. An optical sensor picks up the reflections of the bumps and electronic tracking circuits command tiny motors to move the pickup to keep it aligned with the track.

Notice I said track and not tracks? There is a single track that starts at the inside near the center hole and spirals out, just the opposite of the LP record. It’s not concentric tracks like a hard drive or floppy disk. The disk could be any size up to the maximum of 120 millimeters, about 5 inches. There are smaller optical discs available, all the way down to business card-sized with only a few dozen Megabytes of storage.

Speaking of tracks and dimensions, they pack almost 8 miles of data in that single track. The double layer DVD disc has about 15 miles of storage track. That means the track has to be wound pretty tight with a pitch of only 0.74 micrometers (millionths of a meter) between them. That takes some pretty precise tracking!

3. Ones and Zeros Become Lands and Bumps



Along the track, there are flat reflective areas called lands. This is really just the non-bumped part of the disc surface. Then, there are the non-reflective bumps. A flat reflective area represents a binary 1, while a non-reflective bump is a binary 0. The DVD drive shines a laser at the surface of the DVD and can detect the reflective areas and the bumps by the amount of laser light they reflect. The optical pickup converts the reflections into 1’s and 0’s to extract digital data from the disc.

This describes how commercially-pressed audio CDs, CD-ROMs and DVD movies work. They are read-only devices with the simplest construction and are the easiest to explain. A recordable disc, however, also needs to allow the drive to write data onto the disc.

In order for a recordable DVD-R or DVD+R disc to work, there must be a way for a laser to create a non-reflective area on the disc. These discs have an extra layer that is a dye that can be changed by shining a strong laser beam on it. On a blank recordable disc, the entire surface of the disc is reflective. The laser can shine through the dye and reflect off the metal layer. When the drive writes data to the disc, the laser heats up the dye layer and changes its transparency, which is the equivalent of a non-reflective bump.

4. The Trick of Double layer

Now we know how a single layer DVD works, both the prerecorded type and the ones you can burn at home. Just how the heck do they put two layers of data on one side of the disc? It would be real easy to say magic at this point, but the real explanation is pretty simple.

Think about how when you walk up to a window with a screen and look out that you see the scene outside and don’t even see the screen. It’s close to your face so it’s out of focus and you don’t even notice it is there. If you back up a little and force your eyes to focus on the screen, it pops right out and you can see it and the scene outside is all a blur.

Double layer DVDs pull a similar trick. There is only one reflective layer, but there are two layers of dye where the actual data is stored. The lens in the pickup focuses the beam on the top layer to read the first bunch of data, and then the lens focuses the beam on the bottom layer and sees right through the top layer. Because the top layer is out of focus, the data stored there just disappears and the bottom layer is read instead.

All that build up and detailed explanation to find out it’s a simple trick of optics that even your own eyeballs can do!

5. So What’s the Benefit?
When recordable DVD media first hit the market, it hadn’t grown up yet and capacity wasn’t too much bigger than CD-R. As DVD-R and DVD+R came of age, the capacity of a single-sided disc settled on 4.7 Gigabytes. That was enough room for a two-hour medium resolution compressed movie. It’s also a handy size for normal backups of your hard drive or all the digital photos from your vacation even if you shot them all in high quality mode.

But, what if you want to record a truly high definition movie? It won’t fit in 4.7 Gigabytes. Even a medium definition movie won’t fit if it extends past two hours. How many movies come with a separate disc for the extra features? It’s a pain to have to get out of the easy chair to change discs. The double layer DVD solves this by having 8.5 Gigabytes of storage without having to flip the disc.

6. What Do I Need?

Naturally, older DVD drives don’t have the mechanism to switch focus between the two levels of a double layer disc. The pickup has to be physically moved to change the focus point from top to bottom, so you need a drive with this built in. The LG 16x Double Layer DVD±RW/DVD-RAM IDE Drive is typical and attractively priced. Computer drives that can read double layer usually also write double layer and that’s the case here. Be aware that double layer DVDs have to be written at the 4X speed as opposed to the 16X for single layer discs.

7. Blank DVDs Are a Bargain

CD-R media are really inexpensive these days, with recordable DVDs being a little more expensive. But, are they? A single layer DVD-R or DVD+R can hold as much as seven CD-Rs. That means that if a DVD is less than seven times more expensive, it is actually cheaper than a CD-R for those large data storage tasks. They are also a lot more convenient than shuffling a stack of CD-Rs in and out of your drive.

If you just want to test the waters without springing for a tall spindle of blank double layer DVDs, try the Verbatim Double Layer Solution Kit (DVD+R, DVD+R DL, DVD+RW) , which gives you a sampling of three different blank optical disc types. If your storage needs are less than about 4 Gigabytes, then stick with the single layer discs.

8. HD DVD versus Blu-Ray

While double layer DVD seems like a huge amount of storage, the requirements of super high definition video and huge hard drive backup push the optical drive manufacturers to even larger capacity discs. HD DVD is a refined version of the DVD we use now. It uses the same trick of double layers to almost double the capacity up to 30 Gigabytes per side; backing up a full image of a 160 Gigabyte hard drive takes a half dozen discs.

Blu-Ray answers this with the promise of up to 200 Gigabyte discs eventually becoming available. They pack the data in even tighter than HD DVD and can stack up several layers to increase storage.

Unfortunately, HD DVD and Blu-Ray will probably be only available as commercially produced DVDs for viewing movies for the near-term. Somewhere down the road, we’ll start seeing recordable versions to mount in our computer’s drive bays.

Final Words

While recording movies on single layer DVDs might be fine with the old standard TV, now that you have a widescreen flat panel television that is capable of HDTV, why suffer degradation of image quality by over-compressing the video? Get a double layer DVD drive for your computer and stock up on double layer DVD blank discs to capture all the detail.

The same goes for your computer backups. Put your whole photo collection on one 8.5 Gigabyte double layer disc. Don’t worry about running out of space on a single disc. Though the double layer discs may be more expensive, they hold twice as much and take up less storage space than a pair of single layer discs or a dozen or more CD-Rs.


The Blu-Ray is getting quite a bit of contorversy and since Sony is involved, most think they're up to something...(remember the root kit thing?) Still, if it hits the masses, and it will sooner or later, storage such as CDR's will soon fall into the "A" drive pit... Wink
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website Photo Gallery
Shades
Forum Tree-Rat

Offline Offline
Joined: Mar 07, 2005
Posts: 6475
Location: 3rd Branch up, 'Ye Olde Oak', Green Wood.
PostPosted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 6:47 pm
Post subject: Re: Confused about DVD and how it works?

It's not only Sony involved in Blue-Ray but they have taken a massive lead in the tech race which is why they're getting all the publicity.
They've managed to record 2Gb of information onto a piece of tissue paper.
Now, a tissue paper is not the best medium to deal with the sort of data we deal in but, if they can do that with tissue paper, you can imagine the possibilities of doing the same with the blue ray equivalent of a cd style data carrier.
It's already out-performing the write speeds of current equipment.
The most likely covert / sinister activity I reckon is going on is that the sob's have all this technology ready to go right now and are holding off so they can shift their old cd/dvd hardware stock out to us poor sob's, who then have to buy Blue-Ray replacements.


_________________
Skwerl's place.

Com-Central's cutest, fluffiest, twitchiest, tail.
CPU > Intel i9-9900k (o/c 4.9GHz); COOLING > BeQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 4;
MOBO > ASUS PRIME Z390-A; RAM > 2x32GB Corsair LPX 2666MHz;
GPU > Gigabyte GEFORCE GTX650Ti PCI-e 3.0 2Gb GDDR5;
AUDIO > Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music (plus - Universal Audio UAD2 Quad Custom accelerator);
HDD > 3x1TB+ M.2. SSDs; LCD > DELL - S2419HGF (1920x1080);
PSU > 650W be quiet Straight Power 11 - 80+ Gold;
CASE > BeQuiet! SILENT BASE 601; OS > Windows 11 Home Advanced (64-bit).
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website ICQ Number
Shades
Forum Tree-Rat

Offline Offline
Joined: Mar 07, 2005
Posts: 6475
Location: 3rd Branch up, 'Ye Olde Oak', Green Wood.
PostPosted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 10:55 pm
Post subject: Re: Confused about DVD and how it works?

Yall might be interested in this too.
WITH ALL THE FUSS going on between the Blu-ray and HD-DVD camps, here in Hangover, news of the third way, EVD, is starting to emerge.
London-based firm, New Medium Enterprises, got together with Beijing-based E-World Technology, to define a standard which now has a support from around 10 other companies, mostly located in mainland China.

The Enhanced Versatile Disc is a new High Density standard with a far more reasonable price expectation for both media and players. EVD media has less capacity than either Blu-ray or HD DVD - but it's cheaper and has already become the optical disc standard in China. It is expected to become a major player across developing markets.

Although the standard is currently read-only, E-World expects to release a recordable version by CeBIT 2007.

The makers said they were looking to switching the red laser for a blue one, once the blue-laser technology matures and comes down in price.


Anyone recall the outcome of the JVC / Betamax saga? lolol

_________________
Skwerl's place.

Com-Central's cutest, fluffiest, twitchiest, tail.
CPU > Intel i9-9900k (o/c 4.9GHz); COOLING > BeQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 4;
MOBO > ASUS PRIME Z390-A; RAM > 2x32GB Corsair LPX 2666MHz;
GPU > Gigabyte GEFORCE GTX650Ti PCI-e 3.0 2Gb GDDR5;
AUDIO > Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music (plus - Universal Audio UAD2 Quad Custom accelerator);
HDD > 3x1TB+ M.2. SSDs; LCD > DELL - S2419HGF (1920x1080);
PSU > 650W be quiet Straight Power 11 - 80+ Gold;
CASE > BeQuiet! SILENT BASE 601; OS > Windows 11 Home Advanced (64-bit).
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website ICQ Number
Rudder
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Feb 17, 2005
Posts: 115
Location: Maricopa, AZ
PostPosted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 6:35 pm
Post subject: Re: Confused about DVD and how it works?

With all of that taken into account I think I will scrub the idea of making a DVD double sided disk to hold the download UP 3.0RC4 and the Mega download for my squad members. First I don't have a DVD drive to support a 2 sided format and who knows what each squad member has in his or her's computer.
Rudder

_________________
A midair collision can ruin your whole day
Back to top
View user's profile Send e-mail Visit poster's website MSN Messenger
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic    Reply to topic    Printer Friendly Page    Forum Index ›  Hardware
Page 1 of 1
All times are GMT - 6 Hours



Jump to:  


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum