The History Of The Environmentally Hazerdous Dvd

If you are a film enthusiast, there is a unique history behind the development and launch of the DVD. It was May 1994 when Sony and Philips announced that they would be cooperatively developing a new high-density medium known popularly as Digital Video Disk (DVD) (Dwyer). This technology was supposed to be the successor to compact disks (CD-ROM) made for computers. The DVD was intended to replace VHS tapes and laserdiscs, and a big part of the film industry.

the latest digital sales for songs are now at about 30 percent of all U.S. music sales and 15 percent globally. (Source: International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.)

So what is the history behind such a sad environmental mistake? It was May 1994 when two of the big industry titans, Sony and Philips, announced that they would be together developing the new high-density Digital Video Disk (DVD). Originally discs were supposed to replace VHS tapes and laserdiscs and to be used predominately in the entertainment industry.

Basically the DVDs were disks of the same size as a CD, but they had up to ten times more data capacity, which made them ideal for big content like films. DVD audio would be a big improvement over CD audio.

Two other companies, Toshiba and Warner Home Entertainment, announced their a different project designed to develop similar DVD technology. They eventually realized that in fact the true market for potential licensees of the new DVDs, which were disc and drive manufacturers, would be unreceptive to two competing disc formats.

Ultimately, the three companies - Sony, Philips, and the Toshiba - exchanged their technologies, and united their efforts to create the thin, double-dided, super denisty DVD that was launched in late 1996, and is how we know it today. This new DVD standard was centered in the mutual exchange of technologies.

There's a number of DVD formats including recordable DVDs: DVD-R, which has the capacity of recording up to 4.7 GB of data. DVD-R, is for authoring and uses a special format for recording DVD masters. The DVD-RW is a rewritable format disc that can record up to 4.7 GB of data. DVD-R DL, is a double layer DVD-R, for recording up to 8.5 GB of data. DVD-RAM, come in varying capacities (2.6/4.7/9.4 GB), whereas double-sided discs store up to 9.4 GB. They can be rewritten more than any other format. DVD+R, DVD+RW and DVD+R DL are some of the other recordable DVD formats that are supported by the DVD+RW Alliance.

Today as evidenced by all the people who enjoy countless films on DVD, once they films are reviewed by movie reviewers, people can choose to see a movie via DVD, a miraculous invention that is well-serving in today's marketplace.

But, what happens to old DVDs? There are vast numbers of DVDs being produced every year, but according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), CDs and DVDs are manufactured by combining various mined metals such as aluminum, gold, nickel, and silver, along with with petroleum-derived plastics, dyes and lacquers. They are nearly impossible to recycle because most of the municipal recycling program will not accept them.

Consumers throw their discarded discs end up in the trash, which can pollute our groundwaters. So people have started to try to figure out how we can replace CDs and DVDs with a greener technology such as Polylactic acid (PLA). PLA is a biodegradable plastic-substitute derived from corn that could potentially replace plastic polycarbonate in the current DVD discs. One problem, these materials are very expensive.

So can today's consumer do to discard these hazardous CDs and DVDs? By paying a fee you can send old CDs and DVDs to one of several private companies that will recycle them into high-quality plastics.

Consumers are beginning to demand new solutions to make their entertainment such as music and films more environmentally friendly.