Video Discs Eventually May Supplant Cassettes

Technology moves ahead with unnerving rapidity. In the ‘80s we witnessed the advent of a shiny 5-inch disc that in short order supplanted the LP record and transformed the audio world. Now the ‘90s promise a similar phenomenon in the video realm: a different shiny 5-inch disc that will likely supplant the video cassette.

The product is known as the digital video disc, or DVD. It exists now only in the prototype stage, but estimates are that the discs and the machines to play them will arrive in stores in less than two years.

What is DVD?

The standard audio CD can be described as a plastic disc on which sound recordings are stored in digital code. This also describes a DVD. But a DVD holds both pictures and sound.

The final features of DVD are still being determined, notably by two rival development camps - one a partnership of Time Warner and Toshiba Corp., the other a partnership of Sony Corp. and Philips Electronics. But both sides are working toward the same essential product goals. A DVD will contain a feature-length movie on one side, up to 135 minutes long. It will have picture clarity superior to the video disc. It will have digital surround sound. And it will have multiple soundtracks so the listener can select from several languages besides English.

Being a 5-inch disc, DVD shares many of the conveniences of its audio-only cousin in addition to digital fidelity. It’s small and easy to store.

A small movie disc is lighter than a videocassette and will use fewer raw materials to manufacture. Perhaps most important for collectors, it will be immune from mechanical wear and tear. 950307 DIGITAL-VI

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