A DVD disc can output to your television screen three different types of image:
Pan & Scan, Letterbox and 16:9 Enhanced.   See Aspect Ratios for more information.

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Most DVD discs are encoded with copy protection called Macrovision 7.0 or APS (Analogue Protection System) which prevents the copying of DVD to VHS video tape.  Macrovision can show up as stripes of colour on the picture, black and white pictures or dark to light cycling pictures.

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There are four types of DVD discs:   1:  Single-layer single-sided holding 4.7 billion bytes of data storage.  This represents about 133 minutes, or one feature length movie.  2:  Single-layer double-sided with two layers bonded back to back holding 9.4 billion bytes of data storage.   3:  Dual-layer single-sided with two layers bonded together holding 8.5  billion bytes of storage.   4:  Dual-layer double-sided with two layers on each side holding 17 billion bytes of data storage.

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A DVD can be played on a computer only if you have the appropriate hardware.  In addition to a DVD-ROM drive, a hardware MPEG-2 decoder and Dolby Digital/MPEG-2/PCM audio decoder is required.  The computer must be a minimum 133 Mhz.  For best results we recommend a 350-400Mhz Intel® Pentium® II Processor.

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DVD players are not compatible with Laserdiscs.  Some manufacturers have released dual Laser and DVD players that play both.

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MPEG stands for Moving Pictures Experts Group and is a digital compression technology.   MPEG-1 is used for Video CD. MPEG-2 is used for DVD.

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DVDs may contain scenes which have been filmed simultaneously from a number of different camera angles. These scenes can be viewed from each of the different angles supplied on the disc.  Angles are usually indicated on the front panel of the player.

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Some DVDs are encoded with specific ratings levels.  This will disable the playing of specified DVDs which are unsuitable for children.

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These codes are entirely optional for the maker of a disc and appear on the back of the DVD case.  See Regional Codes for more.

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DVD has the capability to produce audio quality better then CDs.  Most DVDs have Dolby Digital audio (formerly called AC-3) which can have up to five discrete tracks.  See Dolby for more information.  Up to eight different language soundtracks can exist on one DVD which can be selected during playback.

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Many DVDs have up to eight different language subtitles.  During playback you can select between any of the subtitles supplied on the disc.

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DVD has the capability to produce near studio quality.  To take advantage of this technology your DVD player needs be connected via the S-Video connector to your television, or the Component output if it has one.  The in-store demos are to be viewed cautiously as the TVs have the sharpness set too high, the balance between contrast and brightness set incorrectly, and the TVs are not connected via the S-Video connector.

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DVD has the same NTSC versus PAL problem as video tape and laserdisc.  The image on a DVD is stored in the MPEG digital for one of the three television systems, NTSC 525/60, PAL 625/50 or SECAM 625/50.  There are two differences between NTSC and PAL namely picture size and frame rate.  NTSC has a picture size of 720 x 480 and a frame rate of 29.97 frames per second.  PAL/SECAM has a picture size of 720 x 576 and a frame rate of 25 frames per second.

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