Superbit was a brand of premium DVD-Video versions of motion pictures from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment , a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment . Superbit DVDs aimed to improve picture quality over a standard DVD edition of a feature by increasing the bit rate of the encoded video. Audio quality was also improved by the mandatory inclusion of both Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 surround audio tracks.
70-408: Superbit discs can be read by all regular DVD video players , but their film files were encoded at a bit rate that is, according to Sony, approximately 1.5 times higher (6-7 Mbit/s) than standard DVDs (4-5 Mbit/s), which helps minimize artifacts caused by video compression and allow the image to be pre-filtered less prior to compression, which results in more detail. To maximize space for
140-551: A home cinema decoder (i.e. Dolby Digital , Digital Theater Systems (DTS)). Some newer devices also play videos in the MPEG-4 ASP video compression format (such as DivX ) popular in the Internet . Most hardware DVD players must be connected to a television ; there are portable devices which have an attached LCD screen and stereo speakers. Portable DVD players are often used for long road trips and travel. They often have
210-485: A DVD player, a figure that had surpassed VCRs; it was also higher than personal computers or cable television. The DVD specifications created and updated by the DVD Forum are published as so-called DVD Books (e.g. DVD-ROM Book, DVD-Audio Book, DVD-Video Book, DVD-R Book, DVD-RW Book, DVD-RAM Book, DVD-AR (Audio Recording) Book, DVD-VR (Video Recording) Book, etc.). DVD discs are made up of two discs; normally one
280-449: A November 1997 online interview, and clarified it would release discs in early 1998. However, this date would be pushed back several times before finally releasing their first titles at the 1999 Consumer Electronics Show . In 2001, blank DVD recordable discs cost the equivalent of $ 27.34 US dollars in 2022. Movie and home entertainment distributors adopted the DVD format to replace
350-634: A computer. DVD players are a particular type of devices that do not require a computer to work, and can read DVD-Video and DVD-Audio discs. Read and write speeds for the first DVD drives and players were 1,385 kB /s (1,353 KiB /s); this speed is usually called "1×". More recent models, at 18× or 20×, have 18 or 20 times that speed. For CD drives, 1× means 153.6 kB/s (150 KiB/s), about one-ninth as swift. DVDs can spin at much higher speeds than CDs – DVDs can spin at up to 32000 RPM vs 23000 for CDs. In practice, they are not spun by optical drives anywhere close to these speeds to provide
420-491: A cost: DVD±DLs have slower write speeds as compared to DVD±R. DVD-R DL was developed for the DVD Forum by Pioneer Corporation ; DVD+R DL was developed for the DVD+RW Alliance by Mitsubishi Kagaku Media (MKM) and Philips . Recordable DVD discs supporting dual-layer technology are backward-compatible with some hardware developed before the recordable medium. DVD drives are devices that can read DVD discs on
490-513: A device, depending on its optional features (such as digital sound or video output), start between 30 and 80 USD / Euro . They are usually cheaper than VCRs . As of 2002 the largest producer of DVD players is China; in 2002 they produced 30 million players, more than 70% of the world output. These producers have to pay US$ 15–$ 20 per player in license fees, to the patent holders of the DVD technology ( Sony , Philips , Toshiba ) as well as for MPEG-2 licenses. To avoid these fees, China developed
560-495: A double-sided disc. Philips and Sony decided that it was in their best interests to end the format war, and on September 15, 1995 agreed to unify with companies backing the Super Density Disc to release a single format, with technologies from both. After other compromises between MMCD and SD, the group of computer companies won the day, and a single format was agreed upon. The computer companies also collaborated with
630-773: A dual-layer DVD up to 8.5 GB. Variants can store up to a maximum of 17.08 GB. Prerecorded DVDs are mass-produced using molding machines that physically stamp data onto the DVD. Such discs are a form of DVD-ROM because data can only be read and not written or erased. Blank recordable DVD discs ( DVD-R and DVD+R ) can be recorded once using a DVD recorder and then function as a DVD-ROM. Rewritable DVDs ( DVD-RW , DVD+RW , and DVD-RAM ) can be recorded and erased many times. DVDs are used in DVD-Video consumer digital video format and less commonly in DVD-Audio consumer digital audio format, as well as for authoring DVD discs written in
700-516: A free software are available in the market. In the battle to succeed and to improve upon the role of the DVD player as the mainstream medium for stored audiovisual content on optical disc, there were two major contestants: the HD DVD player and the Blu-ray Disc player, utilizing two incompatible technologies that reproduced higher resolution video images and more complete audio information than
770-645: A non-standard way (VGA is normally analog RGB —a different, incompatible form of component video). Even worse, there are often two sets of component outputs, one carrying interlaced video , and the other progressive, or an interlaced/progressive switch (either a physical switch or a menu setting). In Europe (but not most other PAL areas), SCART connectors are generally used, which can carry composite and analog RGB interlaced video signals (RGB can be progressive, but not all DVD players and displays support this mode) or Y/C ( S-Video ), as well as analog two-channel sound and automatic 4:3 or 16:9 (widescreen) switching on
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#1732783466187840-485: A noticeable pause in A/V playback on earlier DVD players , the length of which varies between hardware. A printed message explaining that the layer-transition pause was not a malfunction became standard on DVD keep cases . During mastering, a studio could make the transition less obvious by timing it to occur just before a camera angle change or other abrupt shift, an early example being the DVD release of Toy Story . Later in
910-401: A player to a TV or amplifier. Most systems include an optional digital audio connector for this task, which is then paired with a similar input on the amplifier. The physical connection is typically RCA connectors or TOSLINK , which transmits a S/PDIF stream carrying either uncompressed digital audio (PCM) or the original compressed audio data (Dolby Digital, DTS, MPEG audio) to be decoded by
980-429: A plug for the 12 volt power jack in cars. Some models have two screens, so that two people in the back seat can both watch the movie. Other portable DVD players have a single screen that opens up like a laptop computer screen. Due to multiple audio (and video) output devices, there are many outputs on a DVD player, such as an RCA jack, component outputs, and an HDMI output. Consumers may become confused with how to connect
1050-479: A press release stating that they would only accept a single format. The group voted to boycott both formats unless the two camps agreed on a single, converged standard. They recruited Lou Gerstner , president of IBM, to pressure the executives of the warring factions. In one significant compromise, the MMCD and SD groups agreed to adopt proposal SD 9, which specified that both layers of the dual-layered disc be read from
1120-449: A safety margin. DVD drives limit reading speed to 16× (constant angular velocity), which means 9280 rotations per minute. Early-generation drives released before the mid-2000s have lower limits. DVD recordable and rewritable discs can be read and written using either constant angular velocity (CAV), constant linear velocity (CLV), Partial constant angular velocity (P-CAV) or Zoned Constant Linear Velocity (Z-CLV or ZCLV). Due to
1190-469: A single convenient multi-wire cable. The analog RGB component signal offers video quality which is superior to S-Video and identical to YPbPr component video. However, analog RGB and S-Video signals can not be carried simultaneously, due to each using the same pins for different uses, and displays often must be manually configured as to the input signal, since no switching mode exists for S-Video. (A switching mode does exist to indicate whether composite or RGB
1260-420: A special AVCHD format to hold high definition material (often in conjunction with AVCHD format camcorders ). DVDs containing other types of information may be referred to as DVD data discs. The Oxford English Dictionary comments that, "In 1995, rival manufacturers of the product initially named digital video disc agreed that, in order to emphasize the flexibility of the format for multimedia applications,
1330-555: A standard definition CRT TV or an HD flat panel TV with a DVD mechanism under the CRT or on the back of the flat panel, and VCR/DVD combos were also available for purchase. For consumers, DVD soon replaced VHS as the favored choice for home movie releases. In 2001, DVD players outsold VCRs for the first time in the United States. At that time, one in four American households owned a DVD player. By 2007, about 80% of Americans owned
1400-432: A storage capacity of 4.7 GB (4.38 GiB ) for a single-layered, single-sided disc and 8.5 GB (7.92 GiB) for a dual-layered, single-sided disc. The DVD specification ended up similar to Toshiba and Matsushita's Super Density Disc, except for the dual-layer option. MMCD was single-sided and optionally dual-layer, whereas SD was two half-thickness, single-layer discs which were pressed separately and then glued together to form
1470-566: A television to watch the DVD content, which could be a movie, a recorded TV show, or other content. The first DVD player is claimed to have been created by the Japanese electronics vendor Toshiba in November 1996, and the first to be released to US customers is claimed to have been by Sony in April 1997. Some manufacturers originally announced that DVD players would be available as early as
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#17327834661871540-527: Is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan . The medium can store any kind of digital data and has been widely used to store video programs (watched using DVD players ), software and other computer files. DVDs offer significantly higher storage capacity than compact discs (CD) while having the same dimensions. A standard single-layer DVD can store up to 4.7 GB of data,
1610-514: Is a digital connection for carrying high-definition video, similar to DVI . Along with video, HDMI also supports up to eight-channel digital audio. DVD players with connectors for high-definition video can upconvert the source to formats used for higher definition video (e.g., 720p , 1080i , 1080p , etc.), before outputting the signal. By no means, however, will the resulting signal be high-definition video; that is, aside from optional deinterlacing , upconverting generally consists of merely scaling
1680-503: Is also incompatible with DVD for the same reason, however, HD DVD players do play standard DVDs and CDs. DVD players are largely controlled through a remote control . Built-in controls on the main unit's panel such as a four-directional buttons vary depending on model. Some models may lack advanced built-in controls, making operation more dependent on the remote control. Additionally, most DVD players allow users to play audio CDs ( CD-DA , MP3 , etc.) and Video CDs (VCD). A few include
1750-419: Is available in two formats, General (650 nm) and Authoring (635 nm), where Authoring discs may be recorded with CSS encrypted video content but General discs may not. Dual-layer recording (occasionally called double-layer recording) allows DVD-R and DVD+R discs to store nearly double the data of a single-layer disc—8.5 and 4.7 gigabyte capacities, respectively. The additional capacity comes at
1820-478: Is being used.) Some DVD players and set-top boxes offer YPbPr component video signals over the wires in the SCART connector intended for RGB, though this violates the official specification and manual configuration is again necessary. (Hypothetically, unlike RGB component, YPbPr component signals and S-Video Y/C signals could both be sent over the wire simultaneously, since they share the luminance (Y) component.) HDMI
1890-462: Is blank, and the other contains data. Each disc is 0.6 mm thick, and are glued together to form a DVD disc. The gluing process must be done carefully to make the disc as flat as possible to avoid both birefringence and "disc tilt", which is when the disc is not perfectly flat, preventing it from being read. Some specifications for mechanical, physical and optical characteristics of DVD optical discs can be downloaded as freely available standards from
1960-450: Is lost. Numerous factors affect longevity: composition and quality of the media (recording and substrate layers), humidity and light storage conditions, the quality of the initial recording (which is sometimes a matter of mutual compatibility of media and recorder), etc. According to NIST , "[a] temperature of 64.4 °F (18 °C) and 40% RH [Relative Humidity] would be considered suitable for long-term storage. A lower temperature and RH
2030-496: Is measureable, which means that future data losses caused by deteriorating media can be predicted well in advance by measuring the rate of correctable data errors. Support of measuring the disc quality varies among optical drive vendors and models. DVD-Video is a standard for distributing video/audio content on DVD media. The format went on sale in Japan on November 1, 1996, in the United States on March 24, 1997, to line up with
2100-583: Is recommended for extended-term storage." As with CDs, the information and data storage will begin to degrade over time with most standard DVDs lasting up to 30 years depending on the type of environment they are stored and whether they are full with data. According to the Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA), "Manufacturers claim lifespans ranging from 30 to 100 years for DVD, DVD-R and DVD+R discs and up to 30 years for DVD-RW, DVD+RW and DVD-RAM." According to
2170-483: Is the explanation provided in a DVD Forum Primer from 2000 and in the DVD Forum 's mission statement, which the purpose is to promote broad acceptance of DVD products on technology, across entertainment, and other industries. Because DVDs became highly popular for the distribution of movies in the 2000s, the term DVD became popularly used in English as a noun to describe specifically a full-length movie released on
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2240-505: The 69th Academy Awards that day; in Canada, Central America, and Indonesia later in 1997; and in Europe, Australia, and Africa in 1998. DVD-Video became the dominant form of home video distribution in Japan when it first went on sale on November 1, 1996, but it shared the market for home video distribution in the United States for several years; it was June 15, 2003, when weekly DVD-Video in
2310-705: The Enhanced Versatile Disc standard as an intended successor of DVD; as of 2004 , EVD players were only being sold in China. Software DVD players are programs that allow users to view DVD videos on a computer with a DVD-ROM drive. Some examples are PowerDVD , VLC media player , Windows DVD Player , and DVD Player on Mac. Among others, there are variants & huge kinds of software DVD players as well as multimedia player software which has DVD video playback capability, whether its proprietary-type (as commercial software), freeware, shareware or just
2380-562: The ISO website. There are also equivalent European Computer Manufacturers Association (Ecma) standards for some of these specifications, such as Ecma-267 for DVD-ROMs. Also, the DVD+RW Alliance publishes competing recordable DVD specifications such as DVD+R, DVD+R DL, DVD+RW or DVD+RW DL . These DVD formats are also ISO standards. Some DVD specifications (e.g. for DVD-Video) are not publicly available and can be obtained only from
2450-612: The Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA) on the use of their implementation of the ISO-13346 file system (known as Universal Disk Format ) for use on the new DVDs. The format's details were finalized on December 8, 1995. In November 1995, Samsung announced it would start mass-producing DVDs by September 1996. The format launched on November 1, 1996, in Japan, mostly with music video releases. The first major releases from Warner Home Video arrived on December 20, 1996, with four titles being available. The format's release in
2520-521: The format war of 2006–2008 . A dual layer HD DVD can store up to 30 GB and a dual layer Blu-ray disc can hold up to 50 GB. However, unlike previous format changes, e.g., vinyl to Compact Disc or VHS videotape to DVD, initially there was no immediate indication that production of the standard DVD will gradually wind down, as at the beginning of the 2010s they still dominated, with around 75% of video sales and approximately one billion DVD player sales worldwide as of April 2011. In fact, experts claimed that
2590-465: The DVD Book assigns them distinct disc types. DVD-14 has no analogous 8 cm type. The comparative data for 8 cm discs is provided further down. HP initially developed recordable DVD media from the need to store data for backup and transport. DVD recordables are now also used for consumer audio and video recording. Three formats were developed: DVD-R / RW , DVD+R / RW (plus), and DVD-RAM . DVD-R
2660-671: The DVD Format/Logo Licensing Corporation (DVD FLLC) for a fee of US$ 5000. Every subscriber must sign a non-disclosure agreement as certain information on the DVD Books is proprietary and confidential. Borrowing from the LaserDisc format, the DVD standard includes DVD-10 discs (Type B in ISO) with two recorded data layers such that only one layer is accessible from either side of the disc. This doubles
2730-500: The DVD would remain the dominant medium for at least another five years as Blu-ray technology was still in its introductory phase, write and read speeds being poor and necessary hardware being expensive and not readily available. Consumers initially were also slow to adopt Blu-ray due to the cost. By 2009, 85% of stores were selling Blu-ray Discs. A high-definition television and appropriate connection cables are also required to take advantage of Blu-ray disc. Some analysts suggested that
2800-675: The Panasonic and Technics labels) first released full-fledged players in July 2000 for $ 700 to $ 1,200. Sony released the first SACD players in May 1999 for $ 5,000. Pioneer's first DVD-Audio players released in late 1999 also played SACD. A DVD player has to be able to read a DVD in ISO – UDF version 1.02 format, and needs to read and obey the DVDs Regional lockout codes and display a warning if
2870-462: The U.S. was delayed multiple times, from August 1996, to October 1996, November 1996, before finally settling on early 1997. Players began to be produced domestically that winter, with March 24, 1997, as the U.S. launch date of the format proper in seven test markets. Approximately 32 titles were available on launch day, mainly from the Warner Bros. , MGM , and New Line libraries, with
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2940-456: The United States rentals began outnumbering weekly VHS cassette rentals. DVD-Video is still the dominant form of home video distribution worldwide except for in Japan where it was surpassed by Blu-ray Disc when Blu-ray first went on sale in Japan on March 31, 2006. The purpose of CSS is twofold: In 2006, two new formats called HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc were released as the successor to DVD. HD DVD competed unsuccessfully with Blu-ray Disc in
3010-610: The appropriate spot again when debuting on that format with the Columbia Classics VoI. 1 UHD Blu-ray box set. David Fincher 's Panic Room was released exclusively on Superbit DVD, and as of November 2021 the title has not been released on any of the newer HD/UHD formats. DVD player A DVD player is a device that plays DVDs produced under both the DVD-Video and DVD-Audio technical standards, two different and incompatible standards. Some DVD players will also play audio CDs. DVD players are connected to
3080-418: The audio equipment. Video is another issue which continues to present the most problems. Early generations of DVD players usually outputted analog video only, via both composite video on an RCA jack and S-Video . However, neither connector was intended to be used for progressive video , and most later players sold then gained another set of connectors, component video , which keeps the three components of
3150-559: The biggest obstacle to replacing DVD was due to its installed base; a large majority of consumers were satisfied with DVDs. DVDs started to face competition from video on demand services around 2015. With increasing numbers of homes having high speed Internet connections, many people had the option to either rent or buy video from an online service, and view it by streaming it directly from that service's servers, meaning they no longer need any form of permanent storage media for video at all. By 2017, digital streaming services had overtaken
3220-478: The bitrate for improved audio and video, the Superbit line introduced seamless layer changes. Prior to this line of Sony DVDs, all dual layer DVDs caused a slight pause during playback when the layer change occurred. Some standard DVDs had their layer changes placed in scenes where they were almost imperceptible. Superbit DVD were the only optical media discs produced that had true seamless layer changes until Blu-ray
3290-481: The developers of the DVD format and eventually the first company to actually release a DVD-based console. Game consoles such as the PlayStation 2 , Xbox , and Xbox 360 use DVDs as their source medium for games and other software. Contemporary games for Windows were also distributed on DVD. Early DVDs were mastered using DLT tape, but using DVD-R DL or +R DL eventually became common. TV DVD combos , combining
3360-485: The film to ignore the release. Lawrence of Arabia was also limited to a single movie disc in many regions when the Blu-ray debuted with Sony’s Blu-ray version of Superbit ‘Mastered in 4K’ line. Only Japan got a ‘Mastered in 4K’ where the film spanned multiple discs with the disc split finally occurring at the more appropriate intermission interlude. The UHD Blu-ray of Lawrence was split across two triple layer BD100s at
3430-840: The first DVD-ROM-equipped computer on November 6 in Great Britain. Toshiba released a DVD-ROM-equipped computer and a DVD-ROM drive in Japan in early 1997 (moved back from December which was moved back from November). DVD-ROM drives from Toshiba, Pioneer, Panasonic, Hitachi, and Sony began appearing in sample quantities as early as January 1997, but none were available before May. The first PC upgrade kits (a combination of DVD-ROM drive and hardware decoder card) became available from Creative Labs, Hi-Val, and Diamond Multimedia in April and May 1997. In 2014, every major PC manufacturer had models that include DVD-ROM drives. The first DVD-Audio players were released in Japan by Pioneer in late 1999, but they did not play copy-protected discs. Matsushita (under
3500-843: The format's life, larger data buffers and faster optical pickups in DVD players made layer transitions effectively invisible regardless of mastering. Dual-layer DVDs are recorded using Opposite Track Path (OTP). The DVD Book also permits an additional disc type called DVD-14: a hybrid double-sided disc with one dual-layer side, one single-layer side, and a total nominal capacity of 12.3 GB. DVD-14 has no counterpart in ISO. Both of these additional disc types are extremely rare due to their complicated and expensive manufacturing. For this reason, some DVDs that were initially issued as double-sided discs were later pressed as two-disc sets. Note : The above sections regarding disc types pertain to 12 cm discs. The same disc types exist for 8 cm discs: ISO standards still regard these discs as Types A–D, while
3570-442: The format; for example the sentence to "watch a DVD" describes watching a movie on DVD. Released in 1987, CD Video used analog video encoding on optical discs matching the established standard 120 mm (4.7 in) size of audio CDs. Video CD (VCD) became one of the first formats for distributing digitally encoded films in this format, in 1993. In the same year, two new optical disc storage formats were being developed. One
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#17327834661873640-459: The ground up. By the beginning of the 2020s, sales of DVD had dropped 86% with respect to the peak of DVD sales around 2005, while on-demand sales and, overall, subscription streaming of TV shows and movies grew by over 1,200%. At its peak, DVD sales represented almost two thirds of video market in the US; approximately 15 years later, around 2020, they fell to only 10% of the market. By 2022, there
3710-426: The main feature, static menus are used and commentary tracks are removed. To further improve the size and therefore quality of the film on the disc, Superbit discs contained a reduced amount (and usually completely devoid) of bonus materials, such as documentaries or interviews, which can be found on regular DVDs. All Superbit releases present the film in its original theatrical aspect ratio . In addition to maximizing
3780-411: The middle of 1996. These predictions were too optimistic. Delivery was initially held up for "political" reasons of copy protection demanded by movie studios, but was later delayed by lack of movie titles. The first players appeared in Japan on November 1, 1996, followed by the United States on March 31, 1997, with distribution limited to only seven major cities for the first six months. Fujitsu released
3850-462: The most popular Superbit releases were the Sam Raimi films Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 . The multi-disc Superbit titles (meaning the film spanning more than one disc) included Das Boot as well as David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia , but in order to maximize the bitrate for AV-quality the title was not split where enthusiasts were expecting: the intermission interlude. This led many fans of
3920-428: The notable inclusion of the 1996 film Twister . However, the launch was planned for the following day (March 25), leading to a distribution change with retailers and studios to prevent similar violations of breaking the street date . The nationwide rollout for the format happened on August 22, 1997. DTS announced in late 1997 that they would be coming onto the format. The sound system company revealed details in
3990-451: The original film recordings. Shows that were made between the early 1980s and the early 2000s were generally shot on film, then transferred to video tape, and then edited natively in either NTSC or PAL; this makes high-definition transfers impossible, as these SD standards were baked into the final cuts of the episodes. Star Trek: The Next Generation was the only such show that had a Blu-ray release, as prints were re-scanned and edited from
4060-639: The player is not authorized to play the DVD. To play a DVD smoothly, it needs to be able to decode the MPEG-2 video stream with a maximum bit rate of 10 Mbit/s at peak and 8 Mbit/s continuously. A DVD player may be able to: DVD players cannot play Blu-ray discs due to using different wavelength lasers (Blu-ray discs use a blue-violet laser, hence their name, rather than a red laser). However, Blu-ray players are typically backwards compatible , meaning they will play DVDs. Some are compatible with CD and other disc formats. The short-lived HD DVD format
4130-399: The preferred abbreviation DVD would be understood to denote digital versatile disc." The OED also states that in 1995, "The companies said the official name of the format will simply be DVD. Toshiba had been using the name 'digital video disc', but that was switched to 'digital versatile disc' after computer companies complained that it left out their applications." "Digital versatile disc"
4200-412: The sales of DVDs and Blu-rays for the first time. Until the end of the 2010s, manufacturers continued to release standard DVD titles as of 2020 , and the format remained the preferred one for the release of older television programs and films. Shows that were shot and edited entirely on film, such as Star Trek: The Original Series , could not be released in high definition without being re-scanned from
4270-414: The same side—instead of proposal SD 10, which would have created a two-sided disc that users would have to turn over. Philips/Sony strongly insisted on the source code, EFMPlus , that Kees Schouhamer Immink had designed for the MMCD, because it makes it possible to apply the existing CD servo technology. Its drawback was a loss from 5 to 4.7 Gbyte of capacity. As a result, the DVD specification provided
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#17327834661874340-663: The slightly lower data density of dual layer DVDs (4.25 GB instead of 4.7 GB per layer), the required rotation speed is around 10% faster for the same data rate, which means that the same angular speed rating equals a 10% higher physical angular rotation speed. For that reason, the increase of reading speeds of dual layer media has stagnated at 12× ( constant angular velocity ) for half-height optical drives released since around 2005, and slim type optical drives are only able to record dual layer media at 6× (constant angular velocity), while reading speeds of 8× are still supported by such. The quality and data integrity of optical media
4410-416: The total nominal capacity of a DVD-10 disc to 9.4 GB (8.75 GiB), but each side is locked to 4.7 GB. Like DVD-5 discs, DVD-10 discs are defined as single-layer (SL) discs. DVD hardware accesses the additional layer (layer 1) by refocusing the laser through an otherwise normally-placed, semitransparent first layer (layer 0). This laser refocus—and the subsequent time needed to reacquire laser tracking—can cause
4480-430: The ubiquitous VHS tape as the primary consumer video distribution format. Immediately following the formal adoption of a unified standard for DVD, two of the four leading video game console companies ( Sega and The 3DO Company ) said they already had plans to design a gaming console with DVDs as the source medium. Sony stated at the time that they had no plans to use DVD in their gaming systems, despite being one of
4550-508: The video's dimensions to match that of higher resolution formats, foregoing the scaling that would normally occur in the output device. Some DVD players include a USB video recorder . As well as such, there are also have DVD players with a USB port to be able to play digital media types as well as MP4, MP3, etc. Wireless connections ( bluetooth and/or Wi-Fi ) are useful to manage (play/record) wirelessly content from or to other devices (i.e. cell phones). As of 2014 , retail prices for such
4620-495: The video, luminance and two color differentials, on fully separate wires. This video information is taken directly from the DVD itself. The three components compare well to S-Video, which uses two wires, uniting and degrading the two color signals, and composite, which uses only wire one, uniting and degrading all three signals. The connectors are further confused by using a number of different physical connectors on different player models, RCA or BNC , as well as using VGA cables in
4690-413: Was an increased demand of high definition media, where Ultra HD Blu-ray and regular Blu-ray formats made up for almost half of the US market while sales of physical media continued to shrink in favor of streaming services. Longevity of a storage medium is measured by how long the data remains readable, assuming compatible devices exist that can read it: that is, how long the disc can be stored until data
4760-567: Was introduced. The Superbit line launched in October 2001 with five titles: The Fifth Element , Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon , Air Force One , Desperado and Johnny Mnemonic . Following the initial release of the Superbit line, Superbit Deluxe was introduced, which bundled a Superbit-quality feature with a second disc containing the special features. In January 2007, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment discontinued its Superbit line in order to promote its Blu-ray Disc format. Some of
4830-506: Was possible with DVD. On February 19, 2008, Toshiba, creator of the former technology, announced it would cease production on all HD DVD products, leaving Blu-ray as the high definition successor to DVD players. As technology improved, various players were sold, some of which were also Blu-ray players, that could upscale and up-convert DVD content, increasing the overall perceived picture quality. DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc )
4900-872: Was the Multimedia Compact Disc (MMCD), backed by Philips and Sony (developers of the CD and CD-i ), and the other was the Super Density (SD) disc, supported by Toshiba , Time Warner , Matsushita Electric , Hitachi , Mitsubishi Electric , Pioneer , Thomson , and JVC . By the time of the press launches for both formats in January 1995, the MMCD nomenclature had been dropped, and Philips and Sony were referring to their format as Digital Video Disc (DVD). On May 3, 1995, an ad hoc , industry technical group formed from five computer companies (IBM, Apple, Compaq , Hewlett-Packard , and Microsoft) issued
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