Ulead 1.0 - Manual (Page 36)

2—14 SpruceUp User’s Guide
DVD Basics
DVD Introduction
The following information is by no means complete, and may be out of date by the time you
are reading this. Visit the Spruce Technologies web site at www.sprucetechnologies.com for
links to sites with updates and more detailed information. A good resource for general DVD
information is the FAQ at:
www.dvddemystified.com.
DVD (not actually an acronym, but often referred to as Digital Versatile Disc) is a format
designed to take advantage of the high storage capacity of optical discs developed in 1995.
To avoid a Beta vs. VHS style battle, a group was formed to define a standard. The result
was the DVD Specification. There are a number of different DVD formats, each aimed at a
specific task. These include DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, DVD-ROM, and DVD-RAM.
DVD-Video
A DVD-Video title contains a file structure and files following the DVD Specification and is
universally supported. The DVD Specification describes in detail all facets of creating and
playing back a DVD-Video title. The goal was to create a standard that allows a consumer to
take any DVD title and play it back in any set-top DVD player. For the most part this has
worked, although there has been lots of growth in areas such as connecting to the Internet.
A DVD-Video title can be very simple; insert the disk in a player and it starts playing. It can
also be hugely complicated. There are provisions for multiple soundtracks, video angles, and
subtitles with menus to help control it all. Added to this are copy protection, regional
management, and parental control provisions.
In addition to set-top DVD Players, DVD-Video titles play in virtually all DVD-ROM and DVD-
RAM drives within PCs with proper playback software.
DVD-Audio
DVD-Audio titles are not widely available, mostly due to copy protection issues. They
promise stunning audio playback quality. DVD-Audio titles require special playback devices
that are just now coming to market.
DVD-ROM
A DVD-ROM is similar to a CD-ROM in that it can contain just about any kind of files – just
more of them! A DVD-ROM disc stores data in the same file structure as DVD-Video titles
(UDF Bridge format), and can also contain the elements of a DVD-Video title. A lot of DVD-
Video titles are actually DVD-ROMs, since they include files in addition to those specified by
the DVD-Video format. When you add URLs and the Syzygy™ player to SpruceUp titles you
are creating a DVD-ROM with DVD-Video content.
Set-top DVD players are able to play DVD-ROM video titles just like DVD-Video titles,
however they cannot access any files outside of the video title.
DVD-RAM
DVD-RAM is a standard that stores data on media that is not compatible with DVD-Video.
DVD-RAM discs can typically only be used with other DVD-RAM drives. They function as a
large rewritable disc, allowing you to read, write, and delete files as needed. DVD-RAM
drives can typically play DVD-Video and DVD-ROM discs.