Space
to spare
When
the DVD was first introduced in 1996, it was not the movie
studios that were pushing heavily for the adoption of the
technology, but it was the computer users who were salivating
at the potential for huge storage in a portable package.
At
a time when a typical desktop computer only had a hard drive
with 4 to 10 gigabytes of space, the DVD offered almost 16
gigabytes of storage. That is almost equivalent to 25 regular
CD-ROMs. The movie industry, on the other hand, was mostly
concerned with the ease of copying one DVD unto another at
a click of a mouse. The thought of having a potential intellectual
property violator in every home, school and office didn’t
go down to well for most studio executives. It was only later
when region codes and other copy protection schemes were
devised that the deluge of movies in DVD format started coming
out.
Despite
a few problems regarding formats and standards, the DVD as
a data storage device offers the following: for a single-sided/single-layer
disc, up to 4.38 GB of data; for a single-sided/dual-layer
disc, up to 7.95 GB; for a double-sided/single-layer disc,
8.75 GB; and for a double-sided/dual-layer disc up to 15.9
GB. Most consumer DVD burners can currently only write to
the single-sided/single-layer disc that has become the standard
for the moment. A regular CDR can only store up to 700 megabytes
of data. A number of digital camera manufacturers have even
incorporated mini DVD as a storage medium in their cameras
for photographs, being cheaper than their flash memory counterparts.
Another
area where DVDs have become quite popular for data storage
is in the interactive and multimedia department. An encyclopedia
that used to fill 6 CD-ROM discs can now fit on one DVD with
better quality photos, videos and audio. The same is true
for interactive telephone-directory programs that are popular
in the United States. This gets rid of the annoying practice
of having to shuffle so many CDs to get the information you
want. Some of the newer games with photo-realistic textures
and 3d animation also ship on DVD-ROMs instead of multiple
CDs. The option of providing the user branching video streams
and multiple camera angels gives content developers unparalleled
storytelling opportunities. With surround sound and full-screen,
full motion video, these capabilities are setting new standards
for interactivity.
DVD
vs. CD