The first optical disc used to store video and audio data was the Laserdisc, which was first brought to the market in 1978. They were about 11 inches in diameter and were very sensitive to scratches and dust. At first, they used analog recording technology, which meant that the sound and video were not very high-quality—although they were sharper than cassettes.
In the early 1990’s, two DVD formats were being developed. One, the MultiMedia Compact Disc, had Sony and Philips behind it. The other, the Super Density Disc, was backed by a consortium of companies, including Time-Warner, Toshiba, and Mitsubishi Electric.
Like the War of the Speeds decades earlier and the more recent conflict between VHS and Betamax, the industry seemed poised on another costly technology war. Sony and Philips finally gave up their format and invested in the Super Density Disc, with the caveat that the new format adopt their scratch-resistance technology. This ultimately caused the DVD’s storage capacity to be slightly lower than it could have been.
The DVD, or Digital Versatile Disc, easily surpassed the Laserdisc. It offered better-quality sound and video thanks to digital storage, and it stood up better to wear and tear. It was much smaller, under 5 inches in diameter.
Today, DVD’s are used to play movies, video games, and computer applications. They use the same sampling technology as CD’s, but their information is stored differently and in much higher densities.
DVD technology is always improving. New advances have led to the HD-DVD, which offers the sharpest high-definition videos in history. Blu-Ray is another cutting-edge DVD, which offers the same sharp visuals and longer playing time.
Experimental DVD technologies such as HVD offer us the chance to record hundreds of times more information on a single disc than we currently can. The technology is still evolving and has great potential in the future.