A DVD is physically similar to the more familiar CD (Compact Disc). The diameter of a DVD measures 120mm or 80mm. However, the gap in their creations - CDs in the 1970's and DVDs in the 1990's - ensures obvious differences. DVDs can store data - movies included - with a greater quality of sound and video. Concomitant to that, it has a storage capacity that is a minimum seven times greater than that of a CD.
For several years, DVDs were digitally guarded in an effort to save the celluloid industry from the bane of piracy. It was common for DVDs to have an in-built encryption code known as the CSS. Today, you find DVD players complete with chips that can 'unlock' a DVD - in other words, the DVD cannot be copied, just viewed.
Ironically, in 2001, it took 16-year-old Jon Johansen, from Norway, to come up with a software program to crack the seemingly impenetrable CSS. DeCSS, as the software was subsequently branded, allowed computer users the luxury to "rip" a facsimile of the DVDs original digital content on to the machine's hard drive. In the past, there were many stumbling blocks for those wanting to copy DVDs. A few years ago, drives that could write data to empty DVDs were luxuriously priced. Even buying blank DVDs was costly, as they were priced higher than a movie DVD in a store.
Today, DVD burning devices can be purchased for as little as $30. The average price is around $70, and blank DVD discs come for less than $1, if purchased in bulk. Presently, the market is littered with a profusion of DVD copying software, making it possible to copy VHS to DVD, DVD to DVD, DVD to CD, et al. The latest entrants into the DVD market seem to be the dual-layered drives with a capacity to copy entire DVDs. In other words, there is no need to compress data or cut features to produce copies.
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