DVD DRIVES

The future of CD-ROM is DVD (originally Digital Video Disk but now Digital Versatile Disk). The storage capacity of an original DVD single sided, single layer disk is 4.7Gb - a little over 7.2 times the capacity of a CD-ROM disk - and it uses a disk of the same diameter and thickness. With newer formats, double sided, double layered disks can store up to 17Gb.

DVD drives install much like a CD-ROM drive, physically, but they also require an MPEG decoder which can be a seperate card (better) or built-in to a video card (not quite as good in quality).

DVD drives are fully backward compatible with CD-ROMs and audio CDs, and they come in Recordable and ReWritable versions as well. All your CDs should work in a new DVD drive, including your CD-Rs and (probably!) most of your CD-RWs. Older, first generation DVD drives had some problems reading CD-R/RW disks.

The DVD industry is still in its infancy and all the standards haven't been decided yet. It has been evolving from a purely video tape replacement product driven by the motiom picture industry to it's present form of a 'versatile' disk. The best guess is that it will replace the CD-ROM industry completely within the next few years. Back in the early 80's you could buy your music on vinyl record or CDs - guess which one was the best choice? What I'm suggesting is that if you must replace a CD-ROM drive, a DVD drive is probably your best choice.

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