DVD Information
DVD stands for Digital Versatile Disc, originally it was Digital Video Disk but the name was changed to widen the appeal with the use a DVD ROM. DVD discs are 12cm / 8cm (5" / 3") in diameter which is the same as CD, the difference is that narrower tracks are used on DVDs to allow more data to be stored in the same surface area, mastered DVDs come in 4 types, see the table below.
| Video Compression | MPEG 1 MPEG 2 (standard) |
| TV Standard | PAL / NTSC |
| Frame ratio | 4:3 4:3 letterbox 16:9 anamorphic |
| Frame size MPEG 1 |
PAL 352x288 @ 25fps NTSC 352x240 @ 24 or 29.97fps |
| Frame size MPEG 2 |
PAL (625/50) @ 25fps 720x576 704x576 352x576 352x288 NTSC (525/60) @ 24 or 29.97fps 720x480 704x480 352x480 352x240 |
| Bitrate | 9.8 megabit max |
| Audio Standards | PCM (48 kHz) Dolby Digital (AC-3) DTS |
| Audio Tracks | 8> |
| Subtitles | 32 |
| Video angles | 9 |
| Parental Control | Rating of video clips Player restriction of playback |
| Region coding | 1-6 (see table) 0=all, 7=reserved 8=in flight entertainment |
| Copy protection | Analogue - Macrovision Digital - CSS |
DVD Disc capacity is quoted as if 1 GB is 1000 MB, actually 1 GB is 1024 MB, therefore a single layer DVD R disc can contain approximately 4.38 GB of actual data (4,700,000,000 bytes).
Generally DVD R discs are single sided although double sided discs do exist.
Disc Capacity
| Type | Format | Quoted Capacity |
Actual Capacity |
| DVD 5 | SS, SL | 4.7 GB | 4.38 GB |
| DVD 9 | SS, DL | 8.5 GB | 7.95 GB |
| DVD 10 | DS, SL | 9.4 GB | 8.75 GB |
| DVD 18 | DS, DL | 17 GB | 15.90 GB |
| DVD R | SS, SL | 4.7 GB | 4.38 GB |
| DVD R DL | SS, DL | 8.5 GB | 7.95 GB |
Key
SS - Single Sided
DS - Double Sided
SL - Single Layer
DL - Dual Layer
Region Codes
For Region 2 Europe discs you may find a sub-code as follows, D1 UK only release, D2 and D3 DVDs not for sale in UK and Ireland and D4 Europe Wide Distribution.
Region 1
U.S., U.S. territories, Canada
Region 2
Europe, Japan, Middle East, Egypt, South Africa, Greenland
Region 3
Taiwan, Korea, Philippines, Indonesia, Hong Kong
Region 4
Mexico, South America, Central America, Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Caribbean
Region 5
Russia (former USSR), Eastern Europe, India, most of Africa, North Korea, Mongolia
Region 6
China