Q. Is DVD superior to VHS and regular audio CD’s?

A. Heck yes. A DVD can hold many times the amount of data compared to an Audio CD or VHS tape. A standard DVD can store 4.7 Gigabytes up to 17 Gigabytes of information, many times more than the two older technologies.

Q. What about the next generation of DVD?

A. During the first quarter of 2008, Sony’s Blu-Ray disc won the format war against Toshibas HD-DVD when Warner Bros. announced it would be Blu-Ray exclusive starting in the spring. This created a domino effect when other studios and retailers announced their plans to discontinue HD-DVD support. Toshiba soon announced in February that it would halt production of its HD-DVD players.

Blu-Ray: Developed by Sony Corporation it has a storage capacity of 23-27 GB single layer and 46-54 GB dual layer. Its name is derived from the blue/violet laser technology it uses instead of typical red laser found in cd-roms and players. Blu-Ray players are backwards compatible (although this requirement is not mandatory for manufacturers), so you won’t have to worry about your collection becoming obsolete overnight. But note that you cannot play HD-DVD discs in a Blu-ray player and vice versa. As it is still early in its product development lifecycle, the Blu-Ray disc spec has not yet been finalized. Currently there are three disc profiles on the market, and some players which have an early profile (Profile 1) version may not be able to play to final disc spec once it becomes commonplace. The final disc spec called Profile 2 or BD-Live will require, among other things, an Internet connection. See also Blu-Raydisc.Com for more info or Wikipedia.

Q. What are the requirements to watch a Blu-Ray movie on my television in true High Definition?
A. First, you must have television that has at least a 720P display resolution capability. Older tube style televisions will most likely not be capable, but televisions such as a plasma or LCD should have no problem. The second requirement is that the connection between the player and screen must be all digital, using an HDMI connector. This standard came into effect recently so there are many older Hi Def capable televisions out there that have now been left out in the cold, those only typically have component video or s-video type connectors. Sorry, once again early adopters are out of luck.

Q. What is a regional code?
A. The entertainment industry and most manufacturers have decided to keep consumers from obtaining and playing DVD’s from other regions of the world. They have created a security feature so that only DVD’s purchased in your region can play on your DVD player. If you dig around, Region Free players can be obtained, and some players that are locked have been known to be , ahem, hacked open. The world has been split into these zones:

1: U.S., Canada, U.S. Territories
2: Japan, Europe, South Africa, and Middle East (including Egypt)
3: Southeast Asia and East Asia (including Hong Kong)
4: Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Central America, Mexico, South America, and the Caribbean
5: Eastern Europe (Former Soviet Union), Indian subcontinent, Africa, North Korea, and Mongolia
6: China
7: Reserved
8: Special international venues (airplanes, cruise ships, etc.)

Q. What does Dual Layer mean?
A. A dual-layer disc has two layers of data, one of them semi-transparent so that the laser can focus through it and read the second layer. Since both layers are read from the same side, a dual-layer disc can hold almost twice as much as a single-layer disc, typically 4 hours of video.

Q. What is a layer change? Why does the movie freeze briefly when I watch it?
A. This is dual layer in action and is quite normal. The pause is very brief, and usually happens at the end of certain chapters. It pauses because the DVD player is switching to the second layer of the disc, and the laser moves back to the center of the DVD.

Q. What the heck is Anamorphic video?
A. Anamorphic DVD’s have the ability to automatically stretch the video picture to fill the entire screen, thus eliminating all or most of the black bars present in widescreen movies.

Q. OK, so then what is widescreen and why should I care? I hate those black bars.
A. Widesceen will open your eyes to a new world my friend, plus get used to it as it is here to stay. In my opinion, and many others, widescreen is vastly superior over fullscreen. You get the entire picture, whereas in fullscreen the sides are cut off to fit a standard television losing about 30% of the picture. The future HDTV television standard will only be in widescreen format, so everything including television will be broadcast in widescreen.

Q. What is an aspect ratio?
A. Aspect ratios are the different screen sizes that a movie can be filmed in. Also known as OAR (Original Aspect Ratio). This is usually the director’s choice, and it usually can range from 1.85:1 to 2.35:1. That is, the screen is 1.85 times wider vs. tall. Standard television is currently 1.33:1.