DVD Demystified

The World Before DVD
the beginning of 2000, there were about 40 million Video CD players in
Asia, but Video CD has not fared as well in Europe, and it may qualify as
an endangered species in the United States. MPEG-1 is also commonly
used for video and audio on personal computers (PCs) and over the Internet.
The notorious MP3 format is a nickname for MPEG-1 Layer III audio.
The MPEG committee extended and improved its system to handle highquality
audio/video at higher data rates. MPEG-2 was adopted as an international
standard in 1994 and is used by many new digital video systems,
including the ATSC’s DTV. Direct broadcast satellite (DBS), with convenient
18-inch dishes and digital video, also appeared in 1994. With sales of over 3
million units by the end of 1996, DBS was the most successful home entertainment
product until DVD came along. DBS was introduced just as
MPEG-2 was being finalized. Consequently, most early DBS systems used
MPEG-1 but have since converted to MPEG-2. Digital videocassette tape
(DV) appeared in 1996. With near-studio quality, it is aimed at the professional
and “prosumer” market and is priced accordingly. New competitors to
cable and satellite TV are also based on MPEG-2; these include video dialtone
(video delivered over phone lines by the phone company), digital cable,
and wireless cable (terrestrial microwave video transmission). An updated
version of Video CD, called Super Video CD, uses MPEG-2 for better quality.
MPEG-2 is also the basis of DVD-Video, augmented with the Dolby Digital
(AC-3) multichannel audio system—developed as part of the original
work of the ATSC. DVD-Video is intended for the home video market, where
it provides the highest resolution yet from a consumer format.
A Brief History of Data Storage
Technology
37
Rewind almost 200 years. In 1801, Joseph-Marie Jacquard devised an ingenious
method for weaving complex patterns using a loom controlled by
punched metal cards. The same idea was borrowed over 30 years later by
Charles Babbage as the storage device for his mechanical computer, the
Analytical Engine. 11 Ninety years after Jacquard, Herman Hollerith used a
11 Unlike Jacquard, whose system enjoyed widespread success, Babbage seemed incapable of finishing
anything he started. He never completed any of his mechanical calculating devices,
although his designs were later proven correct when they were turned into functioning models
by other builders.