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What is a DVD Burner?

Michael Anissimov
Michael Anissimov
Michael Anissimov
Michael Anissimov

A DVD burner is a device used to encode or "burn" information onto a blank DVD. A DVD is a form of storage media, 12 cm (4.72 inches) or 8 cm (3.15 inches) across, that can typically hold 4.7 gigabytes (GB) of information. This is enough to hold a three-hour movie at high quality, ten TV episodes, about 75 hours of .MP3 files, or roughly 15 hours of video in the lower-grade .AVI format. The DVD is thought of as the successor to the conventional CD (compact disk), and common formats include DVD-R and DVD-RW, a rewritable version of the DVD.

DVDs are typically quite inexpensive, and they cost even less when bought in bulk. The cost of these storage media has fallen rapidly throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, and continues to become more affordable as manufacturing costs diminish. The burner allows this storage medium to become even more flexible than before.

Dvd burners allow the transfer of video content onto discs for hours of television entertainment.
Dvd burners allow the transfer of video content onto discs for hours of television entertainment.

Initially, the acronym "DVD" was supposed to stand for digital video disc, but because it can hold any type of data, not just video, members of the inter-corporation DVD Forum refer to it as a digital versatile disc. DVD players became affordable sometime around 1999, as their cost dropped below $300 US Dollars (USD). The DVD burner has always been more expensive, but its price has dropped as well.

A stack of DVDs.
A stack of DVDs.

The DVD burner has largely displaced its predecessor, the CD burner, especially since prices have fallen to the point that most computer owners can afford them. DVDs and burners are widely used with video, which is storage-hungry in comparison to text and music files.

A major worry for the industry is that the DVD burner might be used widely to pirate copyrighted DVDs. Indeed, many people now download videos using file-sharing programs and then burn them to DVDs. Most commercial discs have special safeguards to discourage their copying, however.

DVD binders are handy for someone who burns a lot of DVDs.
DVD binders are handy for someone who burns a lot of DVDs.

A DVD has a recording layer coated in an organic dye. A DVD burning laser, of higher intensity than a typical DVD reading laser, etches patterns into the dye, allowing the data to be read at a later date. A rewritable DVD uses a special metal alloy instead of a dye. The alloy can be switched back and forth between an amorphous and crystalline phase through the application of a laser, allowing the DVD to be rewritten a substantial number of times. Data quality degrades if the DVD is rewritten excessively, however.

Michael Anissimov
Michael Anissimov

Michael is a longtime EasyTechJunkie contributor who specializes in topics relating to paleontology, physics, biology, astronomy, chemistry, and futurism. In addition to being an avid blogger, Michael is particularly passionate about stem cell research, regenerative medicine, and life extension therapies. He has also worked for the Methuselah Foundation, the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence, and the Lifeboat Foundation.

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Michael Anissimov
Michael Anissimov

Michael is a longtime EasyTechJunkie contributor who specializes in topics relating to paleontology, physics, biology, astronomy, chemistry, and futurism. In addition to being an avid blogger, Michael is particularly passionate about stem cell research, regenerative medicine, and life extension therapies. He has also worked for the Methuselah Foundation, the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence, and the Lifeboat Foundation.

Learn more...

Discussion Comments

anon70867

i just learned how to burn dvds but for some reason the burned dvds don't play on my dvd player but on my friend's? how do i fix that or should i buy a dvd burner and don't use my computer any more?

veva

If the dvd burner runs slow when burning files, the reason may be rooted in that the dvd burner is not good enough to give you a fast speed to get files burned.

anon43398

I have just bought a DVD writer. I have successfully downloaded a film and copied it onto a DVD which I can watch on my PC (sound and vision), but cannot get sound on my DVD player (although vision is OK). Any ideas?

bigmac

I just Installed a dvd burner in my computer. It will burn CD's but not DVD's.

Also when I try to play a DVD, it freezes. I have to reboot.

It is a NEC-3520A-KIT 16X multi format DVD burner.

Thanks

Gene

reva

why is my dvd so slow in burning the dvd?

gobeavs1

While I undertand the different DVD formats, I'm confused about how I go about burning my own DVD-ROM. I have several home movies I'd like to burn onto a DVD to preserve them. I'd like to final product to be like a CD where I can pop the DVD in my drive ans "see" a listing of the movies stored there and click on one of them to play it or copy it back onto my computer for possible editing. Is this possible? If so, how do I do it with my DVD burner?

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    • Dvd burners allow the transfer of video content onto discs for hours of television entertainment.
      By: Kirill Kedrinski
      Dvd burners allow the transfer of video content onto discs for hours of television entertainment.
    • A stack of DVDs.
      A stack of DVDs.
    • DVD binders are handy for someone who burns a lot of DVDs.
      By: Georgios Alexandris
      DVD binders are handy for someone who burns a lot of DVDs.