7 replies to this topic

[M_from_S]

So i was with my parents for the holiday and the discussion came around to DVD's. I mentioned i watched DVD's on my computer.
My dad asked me "if he could watch DVD's on his computer."

I said "only if you have a DVD drive."

He said "why can't i play them on a normal CD drive."

I said "because it can't read DVD's"

So after thinking about that response, although true, is not that informative. So i'm asking what the technical difference is between the two? Is it because of the compression on DVD that need a different type of laser/reader?

[Souljacker]

well heres a fairly good FAQ page on DVD http://www.dvddemyst...com/dvdfaq.html The reason a CD-ROM drive can't read DVDs is because the DVD has closer pits 0.74 microns rather than the CDs 1.7 so you're right in thinking it was the compression.

[StankDawg]

another way to explain it to non-technical people is to say "why don't beta tapes play in VHS VCRs?" or "Why won't those tires fit on my car?"

the simplest technical comparison is to poitn out that a 200 GB hard drive looks teh same as a 500 MB hard drive, but they are very different.

[M_from_S]

Thanks, my dad was fine with my non-technical answer i just wanted to know the information for myself.

[hacnslash]

Does anybody know if there is an actual difference in the metal they use for DVD-Rs and CD-Rs, cuz there is about a 10 buck price difference batween the two, shouldn't they cost the same if they used the same materials?????

[Angel]

http://www.io.com/~h.../finrepx1c.html

This should answer that exact question - Yes, they are made of similar materials, but the the actual construction of a DVD is much more difficult than a CD, and therefore one is a bit more expensive. Scroll down past the plain text intro and you should get a chart showing the differences in thickness, etc. ^_^

-@®©1-1@/\/GE1_

[hacnslash]

thanks for the link, it really helped!!!

[1337]

I'm glad I came across this...my friends and I were talking about this a while ago and none of us knew