Why DVD ?

There are many reasons why DVD is rapidly becoming the format of choice, users want a video format that delivers excellent video quality, CD quality audio, longevity, incredible ease of use, preservation and convenience.

Since the introduction of DVD, it has experienced unprecedented growth making it the most accepted video format of all time.

DVD players can be purchased from every electronic store at very reasonable prices and the majority of computers sold now come installed with a DVD-Rom drive so that you can also watch your DVD movies on your home computer.

Preserve Videotapes onto DVD now!

Converting videotapes to DVD-video guarantees that these will be viewable long after the life of a videotape....in excess of 100 years!

If you're saving videotapes to pass onto future generations or keep for yourself, it's time to take action. Videotapes degrade much faster than most people realise. As the video camera increasingly replaces the photo camera, more & more people jeopardise the long-term survivability of their cherished recordings by continuing to store them on traditional videotapes.

Transfering these to DVD-video before they lose the quality of their video image, is a permanent & cost effective way to guarantee a future for those irreplaceable memories.

Videotapes Don't Last

Videotapes actually begin to degrade the moment they are made. That is why new videotapes are stored in plastic wrappers. Environmental humidity causes the binder, which is the glue that holds the magnetic information particles to the tape material, to continually weaken & eventually fail.

This means the magnetic particles, which hold the video & audio information in place, will end up in the bottom of the tape case. To make things worse, a videotape ages faster as it gets older. Playing an older videotape results in significantly more wear. In just 5 years of storage, a videotape has a loss in picture crispness, if a tape experiences high humidity & indifferent temperature conditions, it will degrade even faster.

Videotapes are also vunerable to sudden loss of data resulting from static shock or common electric fields due to their magnetic make up. Unfortunately, some of the strongest sources of magnetic fields created from TV's, VCR's, speakers & stereo components, are found around home entertainment systems where videotapes are commonly stored. The vunerability of videotapes, along with their unavoidable loss of quality over a relatively short period of time, make videotapes the most unsuitable long term storage media.

DVD has longevity

Durability, capacity & marketplace acceptance make DVD-video the most appropriate long term choice for preserving videos. Video CD's, which are playable on most DVD players & computers, are also an option, but provide lower resolution & crispness.

The DVD-video format solves the problem we have with videotape as a long-term storage medium. With a minimum expectancy of at least 100 years, DVD's are the best surviving media available.

Where a videotape wears slightly each time it's played, DVD's can be played as often as desired without any wear at all. The data on a DVD consists of an optical layer that's protected by a polycarbonate protective surface. Most normal scratches caused by handling are fixed by a built-in error correction that recognizes read errors & automatically corrects them.

Key features of DVD video

• Up to 1 hour 30 mins worth of quality video on a single-layer DVD

• Unlimited menus

• Unlimited chapter points

• Static (still menus)

• Motion menu

• Dolby Digital Audio
  (Superior Dolby compresion requires less disc space leaving more space for 34% higher quality video)

• Mulitple audio streams

• Digitally Mastered MPEG-2 video

• Video is captured at full screen 720x576 in studio quality 4:2:2 with a variable bit-rate
  (Provides better colour bandwidth and an overall better picture)