Short for
Digital Versatile Disc or
Digital Video Disc, a
DVD or
DVD-ROM, is a disc capable of storing large amounts of data on one disc the size of a standard Compact Disc. DVD drives were first sold in 1997,
today they are widely used for storing and viewing movies and other
data. To play a DVD on a computer a user must have a DVD drive as well
as a DVD player, which is a software program designed to play and
control a DVD disc. The movie Twister became the first feature film put
on DVD on March 25, 1996. The picture is an example of what a DVD movie may look like, in this example it is a picture of the Matrix movie.
How much data can a DVD hold?
There are several capacities a single DVD disc is
capable of holding. Below is a listing of the different types of DVD's
and each of their total capacity.
- One of the most common DVD's is the single-sided, single-layer disc, capable of holding 4.7 GB.
- The single-sided, double-layer disc is capable of holding between 8.5-8.7 GB.
- The double-sided, single-layer disc is capable of holding 9.4 GB.
- Although rare, the double-sided, double-layer disc is capable of holding up to 17.08 GB.
What is the difference between a DVD and a CD?
Physically, a DVD and CD look the same. Both
discs are the same size and typically have one side with a label and the
other side that the laser reads, unless it is a double-sided DVD.
However, the technology that makes up a DVD allows for the same size
disc to hold a lot more data than a CD.
The future of DVD
DVD's are still very popular and widely used. However, more recent technologies like Blu-ray discs and streaming services like Netflix and other cloud services DVD sales and usage have been on a steep decline.v
Short for GNU Network Object Model Environment, GNOME is a graphical user interface (GUI)
and a set of computer desktop applications for Unix-based operating
systems, creating an easier to use Unix environment for end-users. In
the image to the right, is an example screenshot of GNOME 2.14 and what
it may look like.
1. Short for Blu-ray Disc, BD or BD-ROM, is an optical disc jointly developed by thirteen consumer electronics and PC companies such as Dell, Hitachi, Hewlett Packard, LG, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Sony, and TDK. The Blu-ray was first announced and introduced at the 2006 CES on January 4, 2006
and is capable of storing up to 25 GB on a single-layer disc and 50 GB
on a dual-layer disc, each disc being the same size as a standard CD.
The picture shows a blue laser in a Blu-ray disc player.
