Due to popular demand, we have put together a Frequently Asked Questions list here as a quick reference. If you have more questions, feel free to send it to us.

New!! - you have questions about DVD? Go to FAQ on DVD.

FAQ on DVD

1. What Is So Good About DVD Discs Anyway?
2. What Does DVD Mean?
3. If I Use A DVD Consistently, Will It Ever Wear Out?
4. Is It True That DVD Is Better Than Laserdisc?
5. Is There A Difference Between DVD - Audio and DVD - Video?
6. How much information can a DVD disc store?
7. How Long Can A Movie Play Before I Have To Turn the Disc Over?
8. When I Go Through Some Of the Options in My DVD Disc, I See Something Called An Aspect Ratio, What Is It?
9. What Is the Purpose of the Display Options: Pan and Scan, Widescreen, and Letterbox Version?
10. Is DVD better than VCD or any other types of enhanced CD-ROMs?
11. Are DVD Pictures Really That Good?
12. Sometimes I Hear people talk about Audio Encoding in DVD’s, what do they mean?
13. When I insert a DVD disc into my DVD player, it says it would not play the disc due to incorrect regional code. What Do I Do?
14. I just scratched the DVD disc, will it damage it?
15. How do I take care of my DVD discs?
16. Are there any precautions when I play my DVD’s?
17. Are there such things as recordable DVD’s?
18. What is a hybrid DVD?
19. The images I see are small, compacted, and skinny. What do I do?
20. I have some problems playing DVDs on my computer. What do I do?
21. How do I play *.vob files?

FAQ on CD-R / CD-ROM

1. Who We Are?
2. What We Do?
3. What is CD-ROM?
4. What is CDR?
5. What is High Sierra?
6. What is ISO 9660?
7. What is Macintosh HFS?
8. What is Mastering?
9. What is Premastering?
10. What is Rockridge extensions?
11. What is Hybrid Discs?
12. CDR or CD-ROM? Which solution is best for you?
    

2. What Does DVD Mean?

DVD is the next generation in digital media. It stands for Digital Versatile Disc. It can hold a maximum of 133 minutes of video in a 5-inch disc. It runs up to eight times the basic speed of a CD-ROM accommodates 8 different sound tracks, and 32 subtitles.

4. Is It True That DVD Is Better Than Laserdisc?

Yes, DVD pictures consist of more color details and color resolution than laserdisc. Laserdisc can only produce about 400 – 450 lines of resolution, while DVD can produce up to 500 lines of resolution. In addition, DVD can store a greater amount of information than laserdisc.

5. Is There A Difference Between DVD - Audio and DVD - Video?

Yes, DVD-Audio is a different format than DVD-Video. DVD-Audio discs can be created to function in DVD-Video players, but some can not function in DVD-Video players because certain DVD-Audio discs include some new formats and features, which some video players can not support.

6. How much information can a DVD disc store?

A single layer DVD disc can store up to 4.7 gigabytes of memory, and double-sided DVD discs can store up to twice as much (9.4 gigabytes of memory). In addition, a single layer DVD disc can play up to 9 hours of music! That is equivalent to seven times the capacity of a CD-ROM or 3,400 floppy discs!

7. How Long Can A Movie Play Before I Have To Turn the Disc Over?

A single side of a DVD disc can play up to 133 minutes of movie with the highest quality of video and sound.

8. When I Go Through Some Of the Options in My DVD Disc, I See Something Called An Aspect Ratio, What Is It?

DVD has a neat way of adjusting your displays while watching a movie. The aspect ratio option refers to the ratio of the width to the height of the screen. For example, a regular TV set has a 4:3 ratio. Whereas, a widescreen has a 16:9 ratio.

9. What Is the Purpose of the Display Options: Pan and Scan, Widescreen, and Letterbox Version?

DVD allows you to view your movies in three different types of display to fit your convenience. Widescreen is an option that allows the video to fill the whole screen with great video quality. The pan and scan version fills the screen in a regular TV set. The movie you will see would be just like watching something in a regular network movie. The Letterbox version blacks out the top and bottom part of the screen. The images would be slightly smaller than usual.

10. Is DVD better than VCD or any other types of enhanced CD-ROMs?

Yes, DVD has the most advanced and highest quality of video and sound format at this point. Its quality beats VCD quality because VCD's rely on MPEG format. DVD can hold greater amount of information and is more reliable than any enhanced CD.

11. Are DVD Pictures Really That Good?

Yes, DVD pictures are usually three times better than the images you see when viewing with a VCR. DVD images have better pixels and resolution than any images produced by VHS.

12. Sometimes I Hear people talk about Audio Encoding in DVD’s, what do they mean?

When music is produced in DVD’s, audio signals are compressed inside the disc, so there is more space available for other data. This is usually done separately in a different environment than video encoding. Audio encoding needs specialized equipment and technology in order for encoding to be done.

13. When I insert a DVD disc into my DVD player, it says it would not play the disc due to incorrect regional code. What Do I Do?

Movie studios often do not want their movies to be played by DVD players manufactured in a certain geological region because movie releases do not release all at the same time around the world. For example, a movie can be released in California, but the video of the movie can be released already in New York. To fix this problem, DVD players are given a code for the region they are sold. Therefore, DVD players bought from a certain country can not play DVDs from another country.

Regional codes are permanent and are set optionally for the maker of the disc. There are Currently Eight regions right now around the globe. DVD discs and players are given a certain code for each region of the globe.

14. I just scratched the DVD disc, will it damage it?

Most scratches on the disc will usually cause minor errors on the CD. A common scratch on a DVD disc will cause a greater damage than a CD-ROM disc. Fortunately, error corrections for DVD’s are 10 times better than corrections on a CD-ROM.

15. How do I take care of my DVD discs?

Since lasers read DVD discs, they are resistant to fingerprints, smudges, dirt, etc. Nevertheless, some scratches or any contamination to the surface may cause some data errors. There really is no need to clean the lens of the DVD player because the air caused from the spinning of the disc keeps it clean.

16. Are there any precautions when I play my DVD’s?

When handling discs, always hold the disc by the outside edges of the disc. Do not touch the shiny surface of the disc because the dirt from your fingers might damage the data.

Always store the disc in a case and never bend it.

Keep discs away from extreme heat such as heaters, radiators, direct sunlight, etc.

Never put a cracked DVD disc in a DVD player. It will result in a malfunction in the player.

17. Are there such things as recordable DVD’s?

Yes, recordable DVD’s are out in electronic stores in 4.7-gigabyte format. Rewritable DVD’s are not out yet, but there are high demands for them.

18. What is a hybrid DVD?

A hybrid DVD is a disc that can play in both DVD video players and DVD ROM PC’s. It has many unusual features such as connection to the internet, two layers containing one read by DVD players and one read by CD players, and many more.

19. The images I see are small, compacted, and skinny. What do I do?

You might have to adjust the aspect ratio settings. It is set at the widescreen option, so adjust it to the "pan and scan" option or a regular ratio of a 4:3 TV set.

20. I have some problems playing DVDs on my computer. What do I do?

?Getting updated drivers for you DVD player can solve most problems caused by your player or disc. Driver bugs can cause playback errors and may not function properly while playing your DVD.

?Make sure DMA is turned on. To do this, go to system properties under control panel. Select the device manager tab and select the DVD-ROM. Select the driver properties and click the settings tab. Make sure the DMA box is checked. WARNING: if you receive errors concerning AMD K6 CPU, make sure you download the updated drivers for your player or check the BIOS upgrade before checking the DMA box.

?If you receive an error saying "unavailable overlay surface", reduce the display resolution or number of colors by right-clicking desktop and choose the Settings tab.

?If you’re using a SCSI DVD-ROM drive to play your DVDs, make sure that it's the first or last device in the SCSI chain. If your DVD-ROM drive is the last one in the chain, make sure it's terminated.

21. How do I play *.vob files?

Most *.vob files are just specialized M-PEG files. Most DVD players can run them. Therefore, you can run any DVD player program to play them, but they can not be played if you move them into your harddrive.

3. What is CD-ROM?

CD-ROM - Compact Disc Read Only Memory. CD-ROM discs look like audio CDs, and are manufactured by the same process. The data is injection molded into the disc as a series of microscopic bumps and flat areas, call pits and lands. Yet where audio CDs contain only music ( and occasionally graphics), CD-ROMs can contain sound, text, graphics, even video and animation.

4. What is CDR?

CDR - Compact Disc Recordable. Gold, Green and Blue-colored CDRs are write once discs that contain the same data as CD-ROMs and can be read in the same drives. A desktop CDR writer transfers data to the discs one bit at a time with a laser that raises microscopic bubbles in a light sensitive dye coating on the CDR disc. The bubbles are read like the pits and lands on a CD-ROM.

5. What is High Sierra?

The first standard for formatting data on CD-ROM. It was developed in 1985.

6. What is ISO 9660?

An international standard CD-ROM file format. ISO 9660 is the successor to the High Sierra standard. Data in ISO 9660 format is called an ISO 9660 image.

8. What is Mastering?

The process of etching the pits and lands which comprises CD-ROM data onto a glass master. The glass master is then used to create metal stampers and the metal stampers are used to mold data into CD-ROM discs.

9. What is Premastering?

The process of creating a CD readable image (usually an ISO 9660 image). This step is typically followed by writing the image to a CDR disc for testing purposes. Once the test disc is approved, the image can be mastered to CD-ROM.

10. What is Rockridge extensions?

An add-on to the traditional ISO 9660 format. These extensions are necessary to handle the long file names and deeply nested sun-directories frequently used in UNIX programs.

11. What is Hybrid Discs?

Discs that contain data in the Macintosh HFS format as well as ISO 9660.