DVD Media Formats
Considerable confusion exists concerning DVD media
formats. As DVD media catches on, new drives are becoming increasingly compatible
with multiple types of media. Still, today's DVD uses tend to dictate the
type of media you should consider when making drive and media purchasing decisions.
DVD-R
Today, there are two DVD-R categories—authoring and general use. The first
category DVD-R—authoring—was designed to meet the needs of professional
content developers and software producers. The general category DVD-R was developed
for business and consumer applications: Data archiving and one-time video recording.
Both authoring and general media can be read by all DVD drives.
DVD-RW
DVD-RW is officially referred to as a "re-recordable" format but is
commonly called a "rewritable" format. The general-purpose media contains
protection technology that prevents copying of CSS-protected discs. DVD-RW media
is a sequential read/write media. DVD-RW discs can be overwritten 1,000 times
and have a data storage life of 30-50 years.
DVD-RAM
DVD-RAM (DVD Random Access Memory) is the official DVD Forum-approved rewritable
format. DVD-RAM provides 4.7 GB per side storage capacity and uses phase-change
technology for recording. Data on the media can be accessed in the same fashion
as a hard drive and discs can be overwritten 100,000 times. The 4.7GB single-sided
disc is available as a bare disc or with a removable cartridge for reading by
a growing number of shipping DVD-ROM readers, DVD players, and DVD-R recorders.
DVD+RW
DVD+RW is an alternative rewritable format that has a capacity of 4.7GB per
side and is ideal for real-time video recording and random data recording. DVD+RW
media is the DVD+RW Alliance's standard media. Each disc can hold 4.7GB of information,
which translates to more than two hours of high quality MPEG2 DVD video with
excellent picture quality. Designed to be used for both data and video content
across PC and entertainment applications, the discs are compatible with both
DVD-Video and DVD-ROM equipment. DVD+RW also offers the possibility to combine
digital video and digital data in a single file system as required for multimedia
recording systems. DVD+RW media can only be used successfully
in burners that exhibit the DVD+R/+RW logo.
DVD+R
DVD+R extends the functionality of DVD+RW in a unique write-once format. The
media provides permanent storage of up to 4.7GB of data, and is compatible with
both DVD-Video and DVD-ROM equipment. DVD+R media can
only be used successfully in burners that exhibit the DVD+R/+RW logo.
