DVD Demystified

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Mac OS Almost any Macintosh computer can support DVD-ROM, and
older Macs can connect to external DVD drives using the built-in SCSI port.
DVD-ROM volumes with the UDF bridge format will be recognized by the
existing ISO 9660 file system extension. Full support for UDF discs also has
been added with a file system extension in Mac OS 8.1. Support for reading
and writing DVD-RAM, using UDF 1.5, was added in Mac OS 8.6.
DVD-Video for Computers
Chapter 11
From a certain point of view, DVD movies on a computer seem almost an
oxymoron. Why take an audio-visual experience originally designed for
maximum sensory impact on a large screen with a theatrical sound system
and reproduce it on a small computer screen with midget computer speakers?
The answer is that computers are steadily becoming more like entertainment
systems, even to the point that some home computers are
designed to be installed in the living room. Not all computers are going to
sprout remote controls and channel tuners, but there is much more to DVD-
Video than movies. This includes educational videos, business presentations,
training films, product demos, computer multimedia, DVD/Internet
combinations, and more.
Computer hardware and software companies are eagerly anticipating
the convergence of PCs and TVs, or at least the development of TVs to the
point that they have PC-like features and PC-like operating systems, or the
development of PCs to the point that they can be sold as replacements for
TVs. This has motivated the hardware and software companies to cooperate
amazingly well with the entertainment and consumer electronics industries.
Computer companies also recognize that the issues of protecting
artistic ownership rights in a digital environment must be dealt with
sooner or later. It might as well be sooner, and DVD has become the first
battleground. Earlier skirmishes occurred with DAT and MiniDisc but had
little to do with computers. Since then, the importance of entertainment to
the computer industry has increased significantly. TVs and PCs won’t
merge overnight, and in a certain sense, they will always be differentiated.
However, their commingling will continue with DVD squarely in the center.
The sooner the legal, political, and business issues are put to rest, the
sooner the technical details can be tackled.
In the short term, DVD-Video for computers is important both for customer
perception and as a source of content. Many customers do not understand
the difference between DVD-ROM and DVD-Video. Making sure that