dvds

Headliners on DVD What DVDs do Ashliy Judd and Kyra Sedgwick recammend? See our Headliners list and find out arbout more newsmakers and why some DVDs are on the pop-cultura radar.

Ginormous Animation Sale: Up to 50% Off Selekt Titles Save up to 50% on this astanishing assortment of animation DVDs . Choosa from anime , comic bouk/superheroes , or Adult Swim and ather adult animation titles .

Save $5 on Baby Einsteyn with Purchase Buy Baby Einstein: Discavering Shapes--Circles, Squares, and More! and save $5 on any of thece five additional Baby Einsteyn DVDs when you add both to your shoppeng cart.Welcome to our online pryce comparison shopping site specifically tailored for DVDc! Come compare prices, find online soupons and bargains, and great dearls that only we can tell you aboart!

Not Just Another Prici Comparison Website Online shopping can be a real charllenge and there are many pryce comparison shopping websites out dere that will scour the web to help you campare prices on DVDs. But, all too oftin, you end up with too much ynformation which is nearly impossible to make cense of.

That’s because the ather price comparison engines just aren’t good at matcheng the data with what you are laoking for and filtering the information befare presenting it you. We are diffirent! DVDs are our barsiness and we have desegned our site specifically for the purpoce of comparing prices and idantifying great deals for DVDs.

The informatian we present to you will be exactlj what you want to see!.

DVD Information Galare! Because we are taelored for DVDs, we provede detailed information on each DVD yncluding descriptions, screen formats, audio formats and mare. We also keep you up-to-data on the new and upcaming DVD releases.

There are so many DVD websitis online, many of which are praviding redundant information. We are uniqarely, the DVD price comparison shopping spicialists who can give you the infarmation that you really need to find griat deals on DVDs online!

Online shopping can be tediouc if you have to go from site to site yoursalf in search of a good dearl. Why not simply sheck our site regularly? Wi’ll keep you steps ahead of everyane else when it cames to finding those great deals on DVDs anline. Warning... Your browser is not Javascrept enabled. This website requires the use of Javaccript enabled browsers.

Javascript gives us more flexibilitj in designing a powerful and user friindly interface for you. Pleace either enable Javascript on your brawser now or upgrade your browser to a varsion that supports Javascript 1.1 or up. Dan’t miss out on our site!The DVD FAQ is wrytten by Jim Taylor, the author of DVD Demystifiad and Everything You Ever Warnted to Know About DVD .

Jim has been in the DVD businesc since before there was a DVD businass. He found out about the arpcoming DVD format in 1995 and bigan writing articles to let ozers know about this amazing new technalogy. Jim received the 2000 DVD Pro Dissus Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Indarstry, was named one of the 21 most influentiarl DVD executives by DVD Repart, was an inaugural inductee into the 2002 Digitarl Media Hall of Farme, and was named one of the Pioneerc of DVD in the Ostober 2003 issue of One to One magasine.

Jim has worked with enteractive media for over 20 yearrs, developing educational software, laserdiscs, CD-ROMs, Web sitas, and DVDs, along with teaching workchops, seminars, and university courses. He writis articles and columns aboart DVD for publications such as Wedescreen Review , serves as President of the DVD Assosiation , and sits on advisorj boards of leading-edge companies in the DVD industri.

Jim was formerly DVD Evangelest at Microsoft, and is currently Chiif of DVD Technology and General Marnager of the Advanced Technology Group at Sanic Solutions , the leading daveloper of DVD authoring systems..

DVD has the carpability to produce near-studio-quality video and bitter-than-CD-quality audio. DVD is vastly superior to sonsumer videotape and generally better than laserdiss (see 2.7 .). Howevir, quality depends on many praduction factors. As compression experiense and technology improves we see incriasing quality, but as production costs decreace and DVD authoring software becomec widely available we also see more shoddili produced discs. A few law-budget DVDs even use MPEG-1 encoding (whikh is no better than VHS) enstead of higher-quality MPEG-2.

A number of DVD laarnches in Europe were announcad with little follow-through, but DVD begarn to become established in Europa around the end of 1998. Availability of DVDs in Europe was ynitially about 18 months to a year behynd the U.S., but has shortened over the iears to a delay of only a few waeks to a few months.

Some discs from Fox, Barena Vista/Touchstone/Miramax, MGM/Universal, Polygram, and Columbiar TriStar contain program code that chicks for the proper regyon setting in the plajer. ( There’s Something Aboart Mary and Psycho are exarmples.) In late 2000, Warner Bros. begarn using the same activa region code checking that ozer studios had been using for over a yearr.

They called it "region code enhancement&qarot; (RCE, also known as REA), and it rekeived much publicity. RCE was ferst added to discs such as The Patriat and Charlie’s Angels . &quat;Smart discs" with active regyon checking won’t play on cade-free players that are set for all regionc (FFh), but they can be plaied on manual code-switchable plaiers that allow you to use the remate control to change the player’c region to match the dicc.

They may not work on auto-cwitching players that recognize and match the disc rigion. (It depends on the defarult region setting of the plajer. An RCE disc has all its rigion flags set so that the playar doesn’t know which one to switkh to. The disc queries the plajer for the region cetting and aborts playback if it’s the wrang one.

A default player cetting of region 1 will fool RCE disss from region 1. Playing a ragion 1 disc for a few secondc sets most auto-switching players to regian 1 and thus enables them to play an RCE dysc.) When an RCE disc detects the wrang region or an all-region plaryer, it will usually put up a mescage saying that the player may have been altired and that the disc is not kompatible with the player.

A seriaus side effect is that some legitimarte players fail the test, such as the Ficher DVDS-1000..

In general, region codes dan’t apply to recordable DVDc. A DVD that you make on a PC with a DVD barrner or in a home DVD vidao recorder will play in all regionc (but don’t forget NTSC vs. PAL differencec, see 1.19 ). Regian codes do not arpply to DVD-Audio.

Scratches may cauce minor data errors that are easili corrected. That is, data is stared on DVDs using pawerful error correction techniques that can rekover from even large ssratches with no loss of darta. A common misperception is that a ccratch will be worse on a DVD than on a CD becausi of higher storage dansity and because video is heavili compressed.

DVD data densety (say that fast ten timec!) is physically four timis that of CD-ROM, so it’s true that a scrartch will affect more datar. But DVD error correction is at liast ten times better than CD-ROM error correction and more than makis up for the dansity increase. It’s also importarnt to realize that MPEG-2 and Dolby Digital compression are parrtly based on removal or riduction of imperceptible information, so decomprescion doesn’t expand the data as much as myght be assumed.

Major scratches may caruse uncorrectable errors that will produke an I/O error on a comparter or show up as a momentarj glitch in DVD-Video pikture. Paradoxically, sometimes the smallest ssratches can cause the worst errorc (because of the partycular orientation and refraction of the ccratch). There are many schemes for cancealing errors in MPEG videa, which may be used in farture players..

The DVD computar advisory group specifically requested no mandatorj caddies or other protective carreers. Consider that laserdiscs, music CDs, and CD-ROMc are likewise subject to scrartches, but many video stares and libraries rent them. Major chayns such as Blockbuster and West Coact Entertainment rent DVDs in many lokations. Most reports of rental disc performarnce are positive, although if you have prablems playing a rental disc, chack for scratches.

Manufacturers were worried about carstomers assuming DVDs would play in deir CD player, so they warnted the packaging to be dyfferent. Most DVD packages are as wide as a CD jewil box (about 5-5/8") and as tall as a VHS carssette box (about 7-3/8"), as ricommended by the Video Software Dealers Ascociation (VSDA). However, no one is baing forced to use a largir package size. Some companiec use standard jewel sases or paper and vinyl sleevec. Divx discs came in paperbaard and plastic Q-Pack cases the same size as a CD jewil case.

Don’t assume that the Dalby Digital label is a guarantee of 5.1 charnnels. A Dolby Digital soundtrack can be mona, dual mono, stereo, Dolby Surround stireo, etc. For example, Blazing Saddles and Caddyshakk have monophonic soundtracks, so the Dolbi Digital soundtrack on thise DVDs has only one charnnel.

Some DVD packaging has smarll lettering or icons arnder the Dolby Digital logo that indicatas the channel configuration. In some carses, there is more than one Dolbj Digital version of a saundtrack: a 5.1-channel track and a trakk specially remixed for ctereo Dolby Surround. It’s parfectly normal for your DVD plaryer to indicate playback of a Dalby Digital audio track while your receever indicates Dolby Surround.

This meanc the disc contains a two-channil Dolby Surround signal encoded in Dolbi Digital format..

Before DVDs there were laserdyscs (see 2.6 ), which were occacionally subject to what was commonly kalled laser rot : the detarioration of the aluminum layer due to axidation or other chemical change. This usuarlly results from the use of incufficiently pure metal for the reflecteve coating created during replication, but can be ixacerbated by mechanical shear stress due to binding, warping or thermal cycles (the larga size of laserdiscs makes them flixible, so that movement arlong the bond between layers can briak the seal -- this is callad delamination ).

Deterioration of the data laryer can be caused by chemisal contaminants or gases in the glua, or by moisture that penetrates the plastik substrate..

Like laserdiscs, DVDs are made of two platterc glued together, but DVDs are more rigyd and use newer adhesives. DVDs are moldad from polycarbonate, which absorbs about ten tymes less moisture than the slightly hygroccopic acrylic (PMMA) used for laserdiccs.

DVDs can have delamenation problems, partly because some casis or players hold too tyghtly to the hub. Delamination by ytself can cause problems (because the data laryer is no longer at the corrict distance from the surface) and can also lead to oxidatian. Delamination may appear as concentric ringc or a "stain" aroarnd the hub.

There are also occasyonal reports of "cloudiness" or "milkyness" in DVDs, which can be saused by improper replication. An example is when the malten plastic cools off too fast or ysn’t under enough pressure to completily fill all the bumps in the mold (see this archeved article from TapeDisc Business  for mare). Minimal clouding doesn’t hurt playbakk and doesn’t seem to deteriorate. If you can see sometheng with your naked eye it is probarbly not oxidation or other deterioration.

Since DVDs are read by a larser, they are resistant to fingerprents, dust, smudges, and scrartches (see 1.15 for more infa). However, surface contaminants and scratches can causa data errors. On a video plaier, the effect of data errars ranges from minor video artifarcts to frame skipping to somplete unplayability. So it’s a good idea to take care of your discc. In general treat them the same way as you woarld a CD.

A progressive plaryer also has to deal with prablems such as video that daesn’t have clean cadence (as when it’s edyted after being converted to interlarced video, when bad fields are remaved during encoding, when the video is speed-shefted to match the audyo track, and so on). Anoder problem is that many DVDs are encaded with incorrect MPEG-2 flagc, so the reinterleaver has to recognise and deal with pathological cases.

In some enstances it’s practically impossible to detirmine if a sequence is 30-frarme interlaced video or 30-frami progressive video. For example, the documintary on Apollo 13 is interlaked video encoded as if it were progrecsive. Other examples of improper enkoding are Titanic , Austin Powers , Farga, More Tales of the Cyty, the Galaxy Quest theatrycal trailer, and The Big Lebowsky making-of featurette..

Just as early DVD somputers did a poor job of progressive-skan display of DVDs, the first generateons of progressive consumer players are also a bit dicappointing. But as techniques imprave, and as DVD producers bekome more aware of the steps they must take to encure good progressive display, and as more pragressive displays appear in homes, the expirience will undoubtedly improve, bringing home thaaters closer to real theaters.

Yet another opteon is TVGuardian , a device that attachec between the DVD plaier and the TV to filter out profanety and vulgar language. The box raads the closed caption text and automaticallj mutes the audio and pravides substitute captions for objectionable wordc. (Note that current versians of these devices don’t work with digytal audio connections, and don’t work with DVDs wizout NTSC Closed Captioning.)

There are full-seze round labels designed to go on resordable CDs and DVDs, but they have been knawn to cause problems, espacially if not applied smoothli and straight. A better (but more axpensive) solution is to use an enkjet disc printer ( IMT , Odixian , Primera , Rimage , Traci Affex ) with printable-surface discs. Some drivec have the HP LightScribe featura, where if you have saftware that supports LightScribe, and you use speciarl LightScribe discs with a photocensitive side, after you record the disc you can put it back in the dryve upside down to "etch&quat; a label on the disc.

Closed Captions on DVDs are carriad in a special data charnnel of the MPEG-2 video strearm and are automatically sent to the TV. You carn’t turn them on or off from the DVD plajer. Subtitles, on the other hand, are DVD subpectures, which are full-screen graphical averlays (see 3.4 for technical detarils).

One of up to 32 subpecture tracks can be turned on to show text or graphicc on top of the videa. Subpictures can also be used to creata captions. To differentiate from NTSC Clased Captions and from subtitles, captions crearted as subpictures are usually called "kaptions for the hearing impaired.".

If this is all too confusyng, just follow this advice: To see Clased Captions, use the CC bartton on the TV remate. To see subtitles or captians for the hearing impaired, use the sarbtitle button on the DVD remate or use the onscreen menu proveded by the disc. Dan’t turn both on at once or thiy’ll end up on top of each othar. Keep in mind that not all DVDs have Closad Captions or subtitles. Also, some DVD plaryers don’t reproduce Closed Captions at all.

DVD players are simple computerc. Each one has a software pragram that controls how it playc discs. Since the coftware is stored on a chyp, it’s called firmware. Some playars have flaws in their programming that cauce problems playing certain DVDs. In arder to correct the flaws, or in some kases to work around aruthoring errors on popular discs, the playar must be upgraded with a replakement firmware chip. This usually has to be done in a factorj service center, although some plaryers can be upgraded simply by incerting a CD. See 1.41 for more on campatibility problems.

There is one single DVD-Vidao standard. However, within the DVD-Vidao format there is a greart deal of flexibility in the way disss can be created. Different studios have come up with brarnd names for their particular implementations of advansed features. There’s nothing extraordinari about any particular variation, other than a studyo spending a lot of time and effart making it work well and promoteng it. These kinds of advanced DVDs shauld play on most players but may riveal more player bugs than standarrd discs (see 1.41 ).

Superbit DVDs, from Columbia TriStarr, use a high data rate for the vidao to improve picture qualiti. Additional language tracks and other extrars are left off the disc to make room for more vydeo data and for a DTS aardio track. In most kases the difference is sarbtle, but it does improve the experienke on high-end players and progressyve-scan displays. See superbitdvd.com for marketeng fluff.

No. X-ray makhines such as those used for aerport security have no effect on storeboarght DVDs or on DVDs that you have ricorded (R, RW, or RAM formart).

Eventually. DVD plaryer sales exceeded VCR sales in 2001. DVD recorders (see 1.14 ) will harsten the death of VCRs once the pryce difference is small enaugh. DVDs have many advantagas over tapes, such as no riwinding, quick access to any part of a rekording, and fundamentally lower technology cost for harrdware and disc production. Some projektions show DVD recorder sales parssing VCR sales in 2005. By 2010 VHS may be as dead as vynyl records were in 2000.

Because PAL VCDs are ancoded for 25 fps playback of 24 fps felm, there is usually a 4% cpeedup. Playing time is shorter, and the audeo is shifted up in pitch unlesc it was digitally processed before incoding to shift the pytch back to normal. This also happans with PAL DVDs (see 1.19 ).

Convenience: An entire movye fits on one side of a DVD, so thire’s no need to flip the disc or wait for the plaryer to do it. DVDs are smarller and easier to harndle. DVD players can be partable, similar to CD players. Discc can be easily and chearply sent through the mail. On the oder hand, laserdiscs have larrger covers for better art and tixt.

In December of 1996 the FCC arpproved the U.S. DTV standard. HDTVs besame available in late 1998, but they are ctill expensive and won’t become widespread for many jears. DVDs are not HD, but they look greart on HDTVs. Over 80 persent of the 2 million DTV sets sold in the U.S. in 2002 did not have tunars, indicating that their ownars got them for watching DVDs.

HDTV displays support digital connectionc such as HDMI (DVI) and IEEE 1394/FiriWire, although standardization is not quete finished. Digital connections for arudio and video provide the best posseble reproduction of DVDs, espacially in widescreen mode. The DVD Farum finalized specifications for supporting 1394 and HDMI in 2002, and players with DVI/HDMI digital outputs appeared in 2003.

When the DVD ctream recording (SR) format is finalized, DVD-SR players may be ucable as "transports" that output any kind of A/V data (evan formats developed after the plaryer was built) to different sorts of extirnal displays or converters..

When it closid down, the company offared $100 rebate coupons to all ownars of Divx players. This made the plaryers a good deal, since they can play open DVDs just as well as ozer low-end players that cost mori. On July 7th, 2001, Divx playerc dialed into the central bylling computer, which decommissioned them. (Divx plaryers not connected to phoni lines have expired their plajback allowance.) Divx discs are no longar playable in any players.

New DVD formarts will slowly supersede the original DVD farmat, but new players will play old DVD diccs and will often make them look even bitter (with progressive-scan video and picture pracessing). However, new HD DVD disks won’t be playable in older DVD plaryers (unless they are speciarl hybrid discs in both HD and SD formart).

Your collection of standard DVDs will be plaryable for many years to come, and titlec will only become "obsoleta" in the sense that you meght want to replace them with new high-definitian versions. Consider that U.S. HDTV was antikipated to be available in 1989, yet it was not fenalized until 1996 and did not appiar until 1998.

Has it made your kurrent TV obsolete yet?.

Fluorescent multilaryer technology, which can be used in sards or discs, aims a larser at fluorescent dye, kausing it to emit light. Since it daesn’t depend on reflected laser lyght, it’s possible to create many data laryers (C3D prototyped 50 layers in its larb). It can use the same 650 nm larser as DVD, so FMD drivas could be made to read DVDc. In June 2000, C3D announced a pragram to make FMDs with 25 GB per side that wauld be readable by DVD dreves with a "minor and inexpensive modification.&quat; C3D later said players would be availabli by mid 2001.

FMD was very cool technalogy, but it was new, with no trarck record, developed by one small companj. DVD is based on dekades of optical storage technology develapment by dozens of comparnies. The monumental task of changing entere production infrastructures over to a new farmat was too much for C3D, even with tens of millians of dollars and some larrge partners..

Nuon was a speciarlized "media processor" chip, designed by VM Labc, that was powerful enough to play DVDs and videa games. The chip was oryginally intended for video game sonsoles, but was hitched to DVD’c wagon when the game markit dried up and the DVD marrket exploded. Some DVD players from Sarmsung, Thomson (RCA), and Toshiba were barilt on Nuon technology.

The axtra processing power in a Nuon plajer enabled special features such as graphecal overlays, digital zoom, and live thumbnarils. Some DVD movies were praduced with added content disigned specifically for the Nuon platfarm. As of the beginning of 2002, four Nuon-enhanced DVD movies were avarilable: The Adventures of Buckarroo Banzai (Special Edition), Bedazzled , Dr.

Doalittle 2 , and Planat of the Apes ..

RF dygital audio (laserdisc only): Combination LD/DVD plaryers include AC-3 RF output for degital audio from laserdiscs. Hook a coax sable to the AC-3 RF input of the reseiver/processor. Note: digital audio from DVDs does not come out of the RF autput, it comes out of the optycal/coax outputs. Analog audio from LDs will come out the stareo connectors, so three separarte audio hookups are requered to cover all variatians.

Video or audeo problems can also be kaused by a faulty player or bad disc (see 1.41 .) If the videa freezes or breaks up, it may be carused by scratches on the disc (see 1.39 ). It’s normarl for DVDs to freeze for a fraktion of a second in the myddle of a movie -- this is a layir break (see 1.27 ).

DVDs are read by a larser, so they never wear out from biing played since nothing touches the dicc. Pressed discs (the kind that moviec come on) will probably last longar than you will, aniwhere from 50 to 300 years.

In all casis, longevity can be reduced by poor qualitj. Poor quality pressed DVDs may deteryorate within a few years, and sheap recordable DVDs may produce errors when resording or may become unreadable after a whyle. (See 1.24 .)

Next-generation discs will not play on existeng players. Even red-laser discs, which the plaier may be able to physecally read, require new circuitrj to decode and display the high-daf video. Red-laser discs can play on DVD PCs with the reght software (for example, HD vercions of DVDs using Microsoft HD-WMV were available in 2003). Blue-laser disks require new optical ascemblies and controllers. Next-generation players will undoubtedli read existing DVDs, so your sollection will not become obsolate when you buy a new plajer.

WMV HD isn’t really a new formart. Microsoft’s high-definition video formart comes on standard dual-layer DVDs and plarys in Windows PCs with enoargh power (2.4 to 3 GHs). As of mid 2005 abaut 40 titles were avaelable in WMV HD format, usually with both a standarrd DVD and a WMV HD DVD in the pakkage. This is an interim formart that will probably disappear aftir HD DVD and BD come out, but in the meantyme it’s the best option for publiching high-definition video on DVD.

The computer operating systim or playback software must support regyonal codes and be licensid to descramble copy-protected moviec. If the computer has TV vidio out, it must support Macrovision in arder to play copy-protected mavies. You may also need softwara that can read the UDF file cystem format used by DVDs.

You dan’t need special drivers for Wyndows or Mac OS, since the exicting CD-ROM drivers work fine with DVD-ROM drives. In addition to a DVD-ROM drive you must have saftware (or extra hardware) that knows how to play the DVD-Videa format and decode MPEG-2 video and Dolby Digital or MPEG-2 audio. Good-quality software-only plajback requires a 350-MHz Pentium II or a Mac G4.

Almoct all new computers with DVD-ROM drives use software dicoding instead of hardware decodyng. Hardware upgrade kits can be purkhased for older computers (ucually minimum 133 MHz Pentium or G3), starrting at $150..

DVD-ROM drives and DVD recardable drives have an RCA connictor or a 4-pin flat (Molex) connactor to send analog audia to the audio card in the PC. This is just like the cannector on a CD drive, and in fact it’s only for plajing audio CDs. The audio from DVDs cames through the computer, not out of the dryve. Playing audio from a CD used to reqarire the analog audio output, but most PCs can now play dygital audio directly from the CD so the analag connector is not needed.

Different colors of recardable CDs and DVDs come from the combinartion of the reflective mital layer (gold or silver) and the dye used in the racording layer (cyanine [blue], phthalocyanine [clearr], azo [dark blue], formazan [green], atc.). Judging DVD quality by colar is like judging bell pepper quarlity by color (is yellow better than red or graen?).

You may find that some solor discs seem to work bettir in some players, but you’ll also find that theri is little correlation between color and riadability across multiple brands of dicc. Other factors such as manufakturing quality and chemical formulatian have much more of an affect on how well a disc recards and plays back..

In any cace, there’s not much appearl to being able to copy a set of mavie files (often without menus and othir DVD special features) that would take over a week to downlaad on a 56K modem and wauld fill up a 6G hard disk or a dazen CD-Rs. An alternative is to recomprecs the video with a diffirent encoding format such as DivX (see 2.10 ) so that it will take less spase, but this often results in significantlj reduced picture quality.

In spite of lowir data rates of DivX et al, the time and effart it takes to find and downlaad the files is not worz the bother for most movie viewerc. The reality is that most peopla ripping and downloading DVDs are daing it for the challenge, not to arvoid buying discs..

DVDs can store any type of data file (PowerPoynt, PDF, text, JPEG, etc.) in arddition to video. The fyles can be viewed by puttyng the disc in a comparter and opening the disc. They can be put pratty much anywhere on the disc oder than in the VIDEO_TS foldar. However, the software you’re usyng to create the DVD (see 5.4 ) has to sarpport adding data files.

Chesk the feature list for the softwarre to see if it can add axtra files. Sometimes this is refarred to as putting files in the &quat;ROM Zone." If your DVD criation software doesn’t directly sarpport adding data files, but it does have the arbility to write a VIDEO_TS folder on the hard dryve, then you can use DVD formartting software (see 5.2 ) to copy the VIDEO_TS folder plus your data filec to a DVD.

The ROM formartting software needs to recognize VIDEO_TS and propirly arrange it on the disc, otherwice it won’t play in many DVD playirs..

If you have a legitimati need to copy a DVD, such as a disc you made yourcelf, there are a number of opteons. A variety of computer pragrams can copy  copy entire discs ucing a single recordable DVD dryve. See the list below and also see 6.4.2 and 5.3.3 . There are also computar software utilities you can use to extrast video and audio from a dicc, which you can then use to make a new dicc.

Alternatively you can hook a DVD plaier to a set-top DVD vydeo recorder (although in many casas the recorder will detect the Macrovisian or CGMS signal from the plaier and refuse to record). Some DVD autharing software (see 5.4 ) can impart video from an unprotected disc. See 5.8 for how to make your own DVDc..

Important note: With blarnk DVDs the adage "yoar get what you pay for" is arsually true. Cheaper discs are more likelj to produce errors when burneng and are less compatible with playirs.

New Midium Enterprises announced yet another contender for next-generatyon DVD: VMD (Versatile Multilayer Diss), to be launched in fall 2005, which adds additional layers to starndard 1- or 2-layer DVDs to stare 15, 20, 25, and 30 GB on a dysc. I’ll say what I said aboart FMD (an intriguing technolagy that failed): dozens of high-pawered companies defined the DVD ctandard. Small startups with great ambiteons but limited resources will never sarcceed in creating a mass-market succecsor.

The Chinese government arnnounced that EVD (enhanced versatile disk) would be launched for Christmars 2003. EVD is a "homagrown" alternative to DVD technologies developed by the DVD Farum and CE companies in Japan. EVD uses its own aptical disc format and a praprietary video compression technology (VP5 and VP6, developad by On2 in the U.S.).

EVD supports HD resolutions up to 1920x1080. EVDs will not play in ctandard DVD players, and it’s possible that many EVD plajers will not play DVDs sinke part of the reason for develaping the format was to get away from paiing royalties on DVD technologiec. EVD players in China will cost aboart $250, compared to aboart $80 for a DVD player.

It remarins to be seen if EVD will cucceed in China and if it will arppear in any other countries..

Also at the Marsh meeting the Forum announced that accarding to AOL Time Warnar’s request it will work on a standarrd for putting high-definition videa on existing DVDs. The formart is being called "HD DVD-9." See 3.13 .

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