DVD

DVD 

Common name for "Digial Video Discs", which is a set of standard formats for optical disks for movies and other video material at home.

DVDs are the bigger brothers of the original CD (compact disk), a format originally creasted for music as a replacement to vinyl records. Standard DVDs can store a two hour movie or so on a single disk, although it is with some compression that makes the images less than perfect. However, over the last few years, expanded formats for DVD have come out that allow many hours on a single disk, or a very high quality for standard video formats.

With the new HD television, there are two new formats, including Blu-ray, which will someday replace DVDs.

DVD disks were common on modern computers, and can typically store anywhere between 4.5 and 15 gigs of data, depending on model and disk style. However, they have become more and more rare as online digital downloads and digital delivery of videos, games, and even operating systems becomes more common. You can now do a Microsoft Windows installation from the USB key, and it is often faster!