DVD Conventions And What They Entail

Have you ever wondered what the difference between a DVD-R and a DVD+R is? Have you ever pondered why you can’t play an NTSC disc on your PAL DVD player? Have you ever wanted to know how a DVD gets made it the first place? Don’t panic! Because in this blog post we have the answers to all your questions and more to equip you with the knowledge of DVD conventions you could ever want to know, just refer to the list of subjects bellow and find what you need to become a knowledge pool of DVD conventions.

DVD-R – A DVD-R is a single layered disc that can be used as a data storage/playing device. Information is burned onto it via a series of microscopic pitch pits (think like a vinyl record but much smaller), unlike CD’s, more smaller pitch pits are created which results in a much higher memory of around 4.7GB; these pitch pits are read by a computer or DVD player by a laser which translates them into 1’s and 0’s which the device can enterprise into either a data storage file or an image with sound accompanying it.

DVD+R – DVD+Rs are almost identical to DVD-Rs (despite being more expensive), the difference is though that DVD+Rs are double layered discs that can have up to 8.5GB of memory on them, they also burn faster and have a better quality error manager which keeps files in high quality when burned.

DVD-RW – DVD-RWs are essentially DVD-Rs that can be re-written, meaning they can be used over and over again for up to 1000 times! Besides the higher price tag, the only other differences are that they require a more powerful computer and burning drive to do the job.

Duel Layer Discs – As I mentioned earlier, a Duel Layer Discs is a disc with another disc stuck on top of it using a thin layer of reflective solution (a liquid DVD), this enables a disc to have double its original memory so more data can be burned on to it. The discs are more expensive than single layered discs and most modern disc burners are capable of burning these.

Writing Speed – A DVDs Writing Speed is how long it takes to burn information onto a disc, when burning a disc in a computer you are given a choice of what speed you would like to use; it’s highly advisable you choose the MAXIUM or FASTEST speed to ensure your disc burns as quickly and effectively as possible, a DVD burning at the 8X burning speed usually takes between 10-20minuets on most modern computers.

Dolby Digital – Dolby Digital is an advanced way of DVDs emitting high quality sound that is tailored to suit human hearing. When doing this sound can be projecting in both mono and stereo audio formats; in mono a DVD will play the exact same sounds through every speaker you have plugged into your media device, in stereo the DVD can play up to 5 different sound layers through 5 different speakers to create one very high quality soundtrack for the media, this is called surround sound and it’s used to truly immerse yourself in the DVD and keep you on the edge of your seat while watching. A good example of surround sound being used is in the following scene from the 1998 movie ‘Toy Story 2’, when watching with Dolby Digital surround sound you can hear everything the characters can hear and more happening around you as if you are in the movie itself, it makes for a truly brilliant experience and is why Dolby Digital has become a standard for DVD creators.

DTS – Digital Theatre Sound (or DTS) is another DVD sound system like Dolby but with many differences. Dolby transmits sound at a bit rate of 684kbps which is the standard quality of DVD sound, DTS is able to transmit sound at a bit rate of 1500kbps; this is due to the sound not being compressed making it in theory sound much better, most people are unable to tell the difference in sound quality however and the only other differences are the amount of memory used on the DVD disc and the cost which is more for DTS on both accounts.

DVD-Audio – DVD Audio is a specialised variant of DVD discs made for playing audio files in high quality. They are able to play audio at a fantastic 24-bit quality, when you consider that CDs only support 16-bit audio quality, it shows you just how good a DVD can sound; they also have the DVD standard memory space of 4.7GB when a CD only has 0.7GB of memory, plus the DVD can be dual layered so that it can have up 8.5GB of memory! The audio files can also be played through 6 different sound channels through surround sound, an example of this would be the DVD-Audio copy of Deep Purple: Live In Copenhagen in 1972, when listening to it you feel fully immersed in the sound coming out of every speaker and you feel just like you're at the original concert from over 30 years ago.

DVD-Video – DVD-Video is a system that can be pre-installed onto DVD discs that makes it possible for digital video files to be played on devices such as DVD players. Due to memory limitations, the videos can only be played in standard 480p video quality, this means that the pixel ratio of the picture is 720 x 576 pixels, when compared to Blu-Rays which can play up to 1920 x 1080 pixels it seems lacklustre, however standard definition play perfectly fine on most TVs and is used by the majority of TV channels; it's worth pointing out that DVD-Video also installs a Content Scrambling System (CSS) that makes it so the data on a disc cannot be copied or duplicated.

Menus – There is very likely that if you buy a DVD from a shop and put it in your DVD player it will have a menu. A menu is a navigation point (which is usually animated) on media DVDs where you can access all of a disc’s content and select it for viewing on a DVD player, you navigate it using the buttons on your DVD remote and when you find what you want to watch you hit play, sit back and relax; this system means that having multiple media files on a single DVD is convenient and much simpler to do and use, this is evident when looking at the menu of 'Skyfall', all the features on the disc can be easily selected from the list and a visually apealing video is playing in the background which makes the watcher excited to watch the full feature.

Subtitles – Subtitles are a text version of a piece of media’s soundtrack which makes it so everyone can understand what is happening. On DVDs they usually appear on the bottom of the screen so as not to divert attention away from the original media, they can be in many different colours which is necessary when more than one character is talking as it helps us to distinguish who is saying what; subtitles can be loaded in a variety of languages and has made it so films from other cultures in other languages can be understood, they have also aided those who cannot hear very well has they can read the soundtrack and dialogue and still find the film as enjoyable as everyone else does. Japanese anime DVDs utilise subtitles all the time as it provides audience members with the option to watch the DVD in the original Japanese recording with English subtitles so it can be understood, or in the English 'dubbed' version with all the voices re-recorded in English.

Easter Eggs – Much like the treat of the same name, Easter Eggs on a DVD are hidden pieces of media that the user has to find/discover for themselves to access it. They are usually found by pressing a certain combination of buttons on a DVD remote or by selecting a certain area on a DVDs menu, Easter Eggs are usually outtakes, others deleted scenes or some additional documentary footage that relates to the media on the disc. A famous example of this is the Easter egg hidden on the 'Doctor Who' Series 3 4th DVD disc where if you press the 9 button on the DVD remote on the episode menu you'll see the following video which is used in the 'Doctor Who' episode 'Blink', as the video is a DVD Easter egg in the episode as a plot device it is a really good example of how popular and effective Easter eggs are in DVD production.

Printable Discs – Printable discs are DVDs with a coating of inkjet ink layered on top, this allows DVD creators to print a graphic onto the disc directly via a special CD/DVD/Blu-Ray printer. Although printable discs are more expensive than regular DVD discs, they provide a much easier and effective method of applying graphics to discs which makes them look more appealing and more professional; they are also notably cheaper and safer than making separate labels and sticking them onto DVD discs as doing so risks messing with pitch pits.

Region Codes – DVD region codes are a method of digital rights management that allows film distributors to control aspects such as when a DVD is releases, how much it will cost and what content is on it according to where in the world the DVD is released. The different DVD regions are:

• Region 1: USA and Canada
• Region 2: Japan, Europe, South Africa, Middle East and Greenland
• Region 3: South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and parts of South East Asia
• Region 4: Australia, New Zealand and Latin America (including Mexico)
• Region 5: Eastern Europe, Russia, India and Africa
• Region 6: China
• Region 7: Reserved for unspecified special use
• Region 8: Reserved for cruise ships, airlines and other places like that
• and all-region discs which are un-coded and can be played worldwide

DVD players build in these regions are region-locked so they will only read DVDs from their respected region, this is to make it so DVDs that are cheaper in certain regions cannot be bought for the cheaper price then be played in a region where the DVD would be more expensive; it is also done to stop DVDs which have been outlawed (because of controversy or copyright reasons) in certain areas of the world being played in said area.

Parental Controls – When a DVD disc is being burned it can be programmed with a Parental Management Level (PML), PMLs are numbered from 1 to 8, 1 being appropriate for all ages and 8 being adults only. This is done to stop children from viewing media that they should not watch yet without adult consent but to allow adults to view content for all ages at the same time, the PML is burnt into the pitch pits and dictates so when a child signs into the DVD player and tries to watch and adult rated feature, they are stopped; it can also be used to just block out certain chapters of a piece of media and allow younger viewers to watch everything else. Not many DVDs use this feature anymore and leave it to the parents best judgement on what their children can watch.

I hope this article has been enlightening for you and thank you for reading.