Main conventions, functions and uses of DVD menu design

The Digital Versatile Disc or DVD is one of the most common media on the market. Unlike tape-based media, DVD enables interactivity and allows materials such as still and moving images, text, sound and video to be added to a project. Additional features such as subtitles, dubbed languages, Easter eggs and animations can also be added to a DVD. An Easter egg is an undocumented feature in DVD. On movie DVD the user can view a hidden feature such as deleted scenes, humorous outtakes, alternative versions of scenes or concept art by extra clicking on DVD menu, video, keyboard or remote control buttons. Alternative Version of the Council ofElrond is an example of Easter egg. Graphics are very important for the DVD menu as it presents and promotes the final work of the learner. The DVD menu can contain interactive elements such as buttons, still and moving images and texts to control the video, slideshow, game or animation. All of these features and materials of the DVD allow the learner to present her/his final product in an engaging way. 

A DVD is very similar to a CD but it has larger data capacity. This way, it can contain full length movies with video compression MPEG-2. There are three main audio formats for DVD: AC3 (Dolby Digital), PCM (uncompressed) and MP2. AC3 has a very good audio compression for DVD. AC3 bit range is from 128Kbit/s to 384Kbit/s. 192Kbit/s is most common bit rate. It supports not only stereo but also surround. PCM format is an uncompressed audio format which is more suitable for editing than incorporating into final DVD products. It supports large audio file size and has the best quality. PCM audio file can be compressed to AC3 format. MP2 is a form of MPEG format. It has good level of compression but is not supported by all devices. Dolby and DTS formats support surround sound which enriches the quality of the digital sound reproduction with additional channels from speakers which surround the listener. If the listener wants to experience the Dolby sounds, a home theatre system will be required which will consist from five speakers, a subwoofer and a receiver which will be “Dolby Digital ready” or has a built-in Dolby decoder. If the listener, also, wants a DTS sound, a DTS decoder will be required.

There are several DVD formats such as +R, +RW, -R, -RW, ROM and Ram. The plus and minus on DVD formats labels just describes how the data is stored on the disc. DVD+R and DVD-R are recordable formats. The data can be recorded only once and becomes permanent. DVD+RW and DVD-RW are re-recordable formats and the data can be recorded many times on the disc. DVD-R format has the highest percentage of compatibility with all DVD players than DVD+R format. DVD-ROM is a read-only disc and the information cannot be written over it. For example, the DVD movie that you purchase is recorded on the DVD-ROM. When blank DVDs with designations DVD–R and DVD+R are recorded, they become only readable like a DVD-ROM. DVD-RAM is a repeatedly readable and recordable physical disc.  DVD+R and DVD+RW disc formats are supported by companies such as Philips, Sony, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and Yamaha. DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-RAM disc formats are supported by Panasonic, Toshiba, Apple Computer, Hitachi, NEC, Pioneer, Samsung, Sharp and DVD Forum. Printable DVDs allow the user to print a label on top of the disc which is covered with a metal layer. There are two kinds of printable areas of DVDs. A Standard printable area covers a smaller area of the DVD than a fully faced printable area which can cover the whole top area of the DVD. The inner and outer diameters of printable areas of a DVD depend on the manufacturer.

Dual Layer or Double Layer provides two recordable layers on a single-sided DVD. The designation of a DVD with a dual layer is a DVD-R DL and DVD+R DL. The storage capacity of a single-sided DVD with a dual layer is 7.95GB and double-sided dual layer can hold 15.9GB. These physical formats are supported by companies such as Dell, HP, Verbatim, Philips, Sony and Yamaha.

A writing speed of a DVD describes how long time it will take the data to be saved on the DVD. The writing speed is represented by the designation nX where n represents the multiple of the original X speed. For example, DVD that supports the speed of 8X has the writing speed that is twice as fast as writing to a DVD at 4X. The writing speed also depends on the factors such as DVD drive; the data that is saved on the DVD; CPU and memory as the burning process consumes these system resources.

The DVD Copy Control Association (DVD CCA) is an organization which is responsible for copyright infringement of DVDs. One of the DVD copy protections is a region code. Every DVD incorporates a region code specific for a particular region. It can prevent you from watching a DVD movie on your computer, if the DVD region code does not match the region code from your DVD-ROM player or drive. This way, the movie studios can control the worldwide release dates and prevent copyright infringements.

The DVD menu offers a parental control on the movie. There are special settings or filters which will skip some scenes and mute the sound of the movie based on your preferences. This way, offensive materials from the movie will be skipped from your screen.