In 70’s VHS (Video Home System) was developed by JVC (Victor Company of Japan Limited) that dominates the video recording market. VHS uses a half-inch wide and 430 meter long magnetic tape to record movies. When CD and VCD were invented VHS tapes lost a large part of its market. CD and VCD use laserdisc technology that makes it smaller and thinner than VHS. When DVD was introduced in 1997, VHS lost its market. DVDs gave consumers the home theater experience that is a major upgrade from magnetic tapes.
DVDs or a digital versatile disk is one of the innovations of the 20th century especially for the entertainment and portable storage industry. DVDs nowadays are everywhere they are used as software storage, high quality movie disc and even private information storage or better known as personal information back-up disk. It can store as much as 4.7 gigabytes of data, that is almost 6 times more than a regular CD and far better than a VHS tape. CDs and DVDs are almost the same on physical attributes and concepts, both are made up of injection-molded piece of clear polycarbonate plastic. The difference is that DVDs has larger data capacity that enables it to store high quality movies with extra features such as subtitles and 5.1 channel Dolby digital surround (almost the same sound in a movie theatre).
Storing data on DVDs is almost the same as storing data on a CD. They are both encoded in the form of small pits and bumps in the tracks of the disc. A DVD is composed of several layers of plastic. Each layer is created by injecting and molding polycarbonate plastic, it creates a microscopic bumps arrange as a continuous and very long spiral track of data (from center to the edge). After the formation of the clear pieces polycarbonate, a thin reflective layer is sputtered onto the disc to cover the bumps. Aluminum is used behind the inner layers and a reflective gold layer is used for the outer layer to allow the laser to focus through the outer and onto the inner layers. After all of the layers are made, each one is coated with lacquer, squeezed together and cured under infrared light.
Movies are encoded onto DVDs using the format that Moving Picture Experts Group established (MPEG). Movies are first encoded to MPEG-2 format and then stored onto the disc that is then decoded by the DVD player upon playing the movie. MPEG-2 encoded movies are capable to be decoded on two standards mainly NTSC (National Television Standards Committee) that shows 30 frames per second and PAL (phase-alternating line) that shows 625 lines per frame at a field rate of 50 fields per second.
Now a new technology is being developed that will replace DVD, the Blue-ray Disc (BD). The BD technology uses blue laser (405 nanometers) that has shorter wave length than red laser (650 nanometers). The shorter the wave length the smaller the beam, the smaller the beam the more precisely it can focus on pits that is twice smaller than the pits of DVD. Because of this, BD can store up to 27 GB of information that is 2 hours of high definition video or about 13 hours of standard video. BD not only has higher capacity but also offers a new level of interactivity. Some of its features is BD user can connect to the internet and download subtitles of their choice and can record one program while watching another on the disc. Blue-ray being a fresh technology cost a lot higher than DVD but manufacturers said that the price will drop to within 10 percent of the price of current DVDs when BD gains popularity. BD can only be played to a BD enable devices. Electronic Manufacturing companies are planning to build BD players that are compatible with both blue and red lasers.
The corporate war for storage media is a never ending research and innovations for humanity’s need of new technology.
A computer is a very useful thing where you can do almost anything. You can type information into a computer, create word documents, create sound and video files, create images and do much more as long as you have the program or software needed to generate whatever file it is you need. The files you have created are then stored into the computer's memory. However, a computer has limited memory and usually, the computer starts running slow when its memory starts getting full. Because of this, you may need to get extra storage space for your files. You may also need to transfer some files from your computer to another one. Doing both of these is made possible through the use of computer drives and storage devices.
A computer may have a floppy, CD, DVD-ROM, or DVD-RW drive. A floppy disk drive is a computer drive that allows one to read and write from a floppy disk. A floppy disk is used for storing data from the computer through the use of a magnetic disk. This is more frequently called a diskette. This is not commonly used today as floppy disks are being used less and less because of its low storage capacity. A CD drive is a computer drive that allows one to read data from a CD or compact disc. A CD is a molded polymer used to store all types of files. A DVD-ROM drive is a computer drive that allows one to read data from a DVD. A DVD or Digital Video Disc is optical disc storage. A DVD-ROM is a disc which only allows data to be read from it and does not allow data to be stored in it. A DVD-RW drive is a computer drive that allows one to read and write date from a DVD. A DVD-RW is a DVD which allows data both to be read from and stored to it. RW mean rewriteable meaning that this disc can be used not only once and data stored in it can be deleted or changed.
The media storage used for the computer drives can be obtained blank, meaning it has no data inside it yet. Blank media storage devices can be obtained from stores. You can get any quantity you like according to your need. If you would like more storage space, you just need to get more blank storage media. Today, DVD's are commonly used as this provides a high memory capacity. To get additional memory for your computer in another form, you can opt to get a hard drive which can be internal or external. Internal hard drives are set up inside a computer while an external hard drive can be easily plugged in the computer. This provides additional storage space for computer programs and files. Another storage medium that can be used is a flash memory disk. The use of this device only requires that your computer has a USB drive to connect this disk to. This is gaining popularity as it provides a high storage capacity and is small, lightweight and portable. This together with the other storage media enables one to bring files anywhere and provides an easy way for file transfer.
A storage device is very much needed today. People are always on the go and need to keep their files with them most of the time. You might be looking for a storage device of your own, so go and visit now. This store will not only give you the extra storage space you need for your computer but also a lot more computer products.
Both Paul Zantander & Marshal Pull are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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