The Great Books

Like the colored books of the CD, the DVD also has specification documents related to its different formats and design standards. These books are not color-coded but they are alphabetically represented. The six books are as follows:

Book A

The first of three read-only specifications, DVD-ROM holds computer data and is read by a DVD-ROM drive, hooked up to a computer. It is a high-capacity data storage medium. The data stored can also be feature-length films, but they must be displayed on the computer monitor.

Book B

1998 - The second of the three read-only formats, DVD-Video holds video data (such as movies) and is played on a DVD player hooked up to a TV. It is a digital storage medium primarily used for feature-length films.

Book C

Third of the three read-only formats, DVD-Audio is a high-resolution audio-only storage format similar to Super Audio CD (SACD)

Book D

The first writable DVD format, DVD-R is a write-once, read-many storage format, similar to CD-R

Book E

The second of the writable DVD formats, DVD-RAM must be handled in special devices, which do not fit into ordinary DVD drives.

Book F

The third of the writable DVD formats, DVD-RW allows DVDs to be written and erased repeatedly, similarly to CD-RW.