Firstly, you may ask "What does DVD stand for?" Depending on which person you ask and which side of the bed they awoke from, DVD can stand for Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc. The DVD is the same size as a conventional compact disc but can hold a LOT more information (data and video).

Let's discuss the different flavours a DVD disc can come in:
DVD-5: which is a single-sided / single-layer disc with a capacity of just under 5Gb. That's impressive already. It gets better!
DVD-9: which is a single-sided / dual-layer disc holding about 8.5Gb of data.
DVD-10: which is a double-sided / single-layer disc that can hold up to 9.4Gb of data (4.7Gb per side). But wait, there's more...
DVD-18: which is a double-sided / dual-layer disc that can hold as much as 18Gb of data. Compare that to the common CD ROM which holds a small 600Mb, the compact disc is starting to look old and tired.

You can't be serious!
If you are impressed so far by the amount of storage space available on a DVD, you are going to fall over with joy when you find out what you can pack onto the shiny little disc. Picture this...sitting back in your favourite lounge room chair, a bowl of popcorn, playing you're favourite VHS movie which you have watched many times before. Comfortable? Good. With the constant wear of the video tape, the picture quality degrades every time you watch the tape. And the sound has that certain hiss about it. It will be soon time to purchase another video tape. Now, picture this. The same favourite lounge room chair, a bowl of popcorn, playing a DVD movie which you have played many times before. There is NO degradation in video quality, NO sound hiss, and you don't even have to rewind it when the movie is finished. Like a compact disc, nothing touches the surface of the DVD when it is playing. So the picture and sound quality is identical to when you purchased the disc.

More lines the better
Still not impressed. Well, let's see. Normal VHS tapes have a screen resolution of up to 240 lines of horizontal resolution. DVD video has up to 500 lines of horizontal resolution. This means the picture is MUCH sharper and the colours more vibrant. DVD video discs can hold up to 133 minutes of full motion video per side on a single layer disc. That's over 4 hours of movie on a single sided / dual layered disc. But wait, there's still more. Some DVD movies incorporate multiple angles. Imagine watching a music concert on DVD, hitting the angle button on the DVD remote control, and seeing the bands perspective of the concert, or the person sitting in the back row. This is possible with DVD. Ever wonder what your favourite movie might sound like in French or even Spanish? Because of the amount of information that is capable of being stored, most movies have different language tracks included. Different aspect ratios (widescreen or pan & scan), subtitles, theatrical trailers, behind the scenes, cast biographies and many more features are also common features of a DVD video. It is not uncommon that BOTH the widescreen version AND the pan & scan version are included on the same DVD disc.

Look how far we've progressed
Coming into the DVD player market are "progressive scan" players. These players produce even higher resolution of movie play back. Let me try to explain what progressive scan means. Unlike interlaced scanning (the NTSC standard which projects alternating frames of 262.5 lines of picture information every 1/60th of a second), progressive scanning transmits a full 525 horizontal lines (480 of which are displayed) in the same amount of time. With nearly double the number of lines, progressive scanning offers higher picture resolution and eliminates bothersome motion artifacts -- those jagged edges on moving objects that are typical of a converted interlaced signal.

DVD is recorded in the progressive scan format, so why not play it back that way? One reason is that the majority of TV sets today won't display a progressive scan image. But that is changing with the coming of DTV. Set manufacturers such as Toshiba now offer a number of progressive scan TV sets. It has also been available in large home theater systems using data or graphics grade projectors. DVD will be the first readily available format to take the entertainment industry into the progressive scan world.

Music to my ears
And finally - AUDIO. The audio is absolutely amazing! What more can I say?! With Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound (and now 6.1 & DTS), your favourite movie will hit another dimension. The depth and clarity of the DVD audio will envelop you and put you right in the middle of the action.