The different variations on the term DVD (e.g.

Often called a format war, both the industry and consumers are still waiting to see which format will emerge as the industry standard. Similar to the old VHS/Beta tape wars when VCRs first hit the markets, different manufacturers support different standards. The crucial difference among the standards is based on which standards each manufacturer adheres to. View all terms in the Webopedia DVD Category. With Divx, a movie (or other data) loaded onto a DVD-ROM is playable only during a specific time frame, typically two days. Key Terms To Understanding DVD FormatsĭVD: Short for digital versatile disc or digital video disc, a type of optical disk technology similar to the CD-ROM.ĭVD-Video: A video format for displaying full-length digital movies.ĭVD-ROM: A type of read-only compact disc that can hold a minimum of 4.7GB (gigabytes), enough for a full-length movie.īurn: Slang term meaning to write data to a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM.ĭivx: Short for Digital video express, a new DVD-ROM format promoted by several large Hollywood companies. With so many different formats DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD-ROM how do users know which DVD format is compatible with their existing systems, and why are there so many different formats for DVDs? The following information sheds some light on DVD‘s different flavors, the differences between them and the incompatibility issues that the differing technologies have sprouted.

But just as compact disc (CD) technology evolved so that users could record and erase and re-record data onto compact discs, the same is now true of DVDs.

When DVD technology first appeared in households, users were simply popping DVD discs into their DVD players to watch movies an attractive option to the then-conventional VCR. With so many different formats how do users know which DVD format is compatible with their existing systems, and why are there so many different formats for DVDs?

Disk formatting explained