The Benefits of DVD : A guide to DVD hardware and DVD software   By : Date: 05th july 2000

Introduction

In the early 80's when Philips first invented the CD ROM it opened a new chapter in digital storage devices. The first CD ROMs that came out were not aimed at the pc industry, rather CD ROMs were mainly used as a medium of storing digital audio and not as a medium of storing data. However after the CD ROM drive was invented soon CD ROMs were used as a form of storing data as well instead of just audio. Even though most hard drives at that time were able to hold only around 300MB of storage space, CD ROMs in turn were able to hold upto 650MB of storage space. Considering the time I would say this was rather phenominal. SInce CD ROMs were portable and held twince the amount of storage space as a hard drive at that time, it wasn't long before CD ROMs hit the critical mass stage. Just within a few years CD ROM prices plummeted as you could not have imagined and speeds increased drastically. Just over a couple of years CD ROM technology has increased considerably with regard to speed.At first CD ROMS could only support speeds upto 4X or below,but over the years technological advances have made it possible for CD ROMS to reach speeds like 32X,40X,48X and now in its peak,a stagering 54X.WIth regard to CD ROMS one can never complain regarding thier speeds since, hey some are as fast as your hard drive. Even though CD ROM speeds have reached sky high over the years, one factor remained unchanged from the time CD ROMS came out. Yes, it's the storage capacity. When they first came out they could store 650 MB & it hasn't changed since. At that time it surely would have felt like an unlimited world of storage space,but times have changed folks and it's time to move on. With todays ever increasing competition people wanted something more versatile and more efficient and that gave rise to the DVD.

Digital Versatile Disks or better known as DVDs came out in the late 90's to solve all the limitations and drawbacks of CD ROMs. Even before DVDs hit the market LDs or Lazer DIsks were already in the IT market, but they weren't able to catch the attention of the consumers as they were expensive( they still are) and very large in size. In fact they remind us of old records of the 60's. The future of this pc industry depends on how portable and versatile new hardware gets, and believe me no one would want to carry around a record size LD and needless to say a LD player. So the next best thing that hit the market was the DVD.

What makes a DVD so special is that its incredible storage capacity. The defualt storage capacity of a DVD is 4.7GB. But it does not stop there, DVD manufactures doubled the storage capacity of a DVD by packing data on both sides of it. This gave the DVD ROM a great storage capacity of 9.4GB. However for some reason or the other they did not stop there either. By including a special semitransparent data layer on either side of the DVD they were able to increase the sporage capacity of each side to 8.5GB which gave a total storage capacity of 17GB. What will they think of next.... Most DVDs that are avialble today come mostly in the 17GB format. With this amount of storage capacity the bouderies seem limitless. When DVD drives first came out they weren't as great they said it would be. Theire performance on CD ROMs were very slow and sometimes they weren't able to read recordable CD ROMs at all. However through technical advancements through the years have made it possible for DVD drives to perform as well as a CD ROM drive. The first DVD drives that came out were able to reach speeds of upto 1X or 2X, which in CD ROM terms would be similar to a 9X or 16X CD ROM drive. Yet today DVD drives are capable of reaching 6X which is around the speed of 32X of a CD ROM drive, and they perform equaly well on CD ROMs, Audio CD's, CD RW's

The potential for DVDs in the future seem very good. DVD ROMs first came out as a medium of providing high quality motion pictures. But today they have expanded the bounderies of DVDs from entertainment to education as well. Some of you might think that the prices of DVDs are still a bit too high, but considering the fact that a set top DVD player is well over the $500 mark DVD drives are quite cheap. You could expect the prices of DVDs to go further down when they eventually reach the critical mass stage, and the way things are going it won't be long. Even though DVDs are of the size of a normal CD ROM they hold a stagering storage space of 17GB and are capable of displaying full screen motion pictures with incredible picture quality and impresive digital stereo sound, and are also able to read CD ROMs, Audio CDs, CD RWs. So with this amount of versatility we could surely expect DVDs to outrun CD ROMs for good very soon.

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