Help and FAQs! Glossary

B

BD

Blu-Ray Disc.

BD-R

Recordable Blu-Ray Disc. Can contain up to 25 GB of data for a sngle layer disc and up to 50 GB on a dual layer disc. 25GB/50GB

BD-RE

Erasable (rewritable) Blu-Ray Disc. Can contain up to 25 GB of data for a sngle layer disc and up to 50 GB on a dual layer disc. 25GB/50GB

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C

Compact Disc (CD)

A Compact disc is an optical medium used to store data or audio.

Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA)

A stamped (pressed) compact disc containing audio is normally a Compact Disc Digital Audio disc, as long as the specification of the CD-DA is followed, the so called Red Book, which was released in 1980 by Philips and Sony. Some heavily copy protected audio discs do not follow the Red book and therefore, they may not carry the Compact Disc Digital Audio logo.

CD-Recordable (CD-R)

A CD-R is a medium on which you can record once. Characteristics: Write once medium, erasing is not possible. Typical Capacity: 74 or 80 minutes or 650MB/700 MB. Typical use: storing data or audio. Can everybody read this: yes, 99,9% of all CD and DVD drives can read a CD-Recordable.

CD-ReWritable (CD-RW)

A CD-RW is a medium on which you can record many times. After being used, you can erase the data. When the disc is not erased (or blanked), Nero will ask you to erase the disc before burning new data on it. Characteristics: Erasble medium which can be used some 500 times when kept in perfect condition. Typical Capacity: 74 or 80 minutes or 650MB/700 MB. Typical use: storing data. Can everybody read this: All burners can read this, almost all CD/DVD players can read this, but there are rare exceptions. Use a CD-Recordable if you encounter problems. Different types: CD-RW (LowSpeed): writes at 4x CD-RW HiSpeed: writes at 8-10-12x CD-RW UltraSpeed: writes at 16-24x CD-RW UltraSpeed+: writes at 32x

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D

Disc At Once (DAO)

A CD-R disc recorded in Disc-At-Once modus is burned in one go, whithout switching off the laser between each track like in Track-At-Once.

Double Layer (DL)

A Double Layer (or Dual Layer) disc has two recording layers, which increases the amount of data that can be stored. Mostly, the drive will start reading or writing on first layer near the center of the disc. The laser will go to the outside of the disc and switch to the second layer at the outside. Then it will go while reading or writing to the center of the disc. This is also called Opposite Track Path. There are discs where the reading starts in the center and where the second layer also starts near the center (Parallel Track Path). This is not used for video discs as the switch takes some time which would result in a serious hiccup in the video stream.

Dual Disc

A Dual Disc is a rather new type of disc. One side behaves as a Compact Disc (mostly containing audio), the other side contains mostly DVD-Video. The audio part of this disc is not always played well as the disc is 1,5mm thick (normally 1,2mm) and the audio layer on which the laser has to focus is situated at 0,9mm and not on the normal 1,2mm.

DVD+R

A DVD+R is a write-once disc on which you can burn data or video. Characteristics: Characteristics: Typical Capacity: 4,7 GB Typical use: storing data or video. Can everybody read this: More then 85% of DVD players will read this disc.

DVD+R Double Layer

A DVD+R Double Layer is a write-once disc on which you can burn data or video, and has two layers. See also 'Double Layer' in this glossary. Characteristics: Write once medium, erasing is not possible. Typical Capacity: 8,5 GB Typical use: storing data or video.. Can everybody read this: No, only newer drives will be able to read these discs. Use a DVD+R or DVD-R if you encounter problems.

DVD+RW

A DVD+RW is a rewritable disc on which you can burn data or video. After being used, you can erase the data. When the disc is not erased (or blanked), Nero will ask you to erase the disc before burning new data on it. Characteristics: Erasble medium which can be used some 500 times when kept in perfect condition. Typical Capacity: 4,7 GB Typical use: storing data or video. Can everybody read this: Some 60% of DVD players will read this disc. Use a DVD+R or DVD-R if you encounter problems.

DVD-R

A DVD-R is a write-once disc on which you can burn data or video. Characteristics: Write once medium, erasing is not possible. Typical Capacity: 4,7 GB Typical use: storing data or video. Can everybody read this: More then 85% of DVD players will read this disc.

DVD-R Dual Layer

A DVD-R Dual Layer is a write-once disc on which you can burn data or video, and has two layers. Characteristics: Write once medium, erasing is not possible. Typical Capacity: 8,5 GB Typical use: storing data or video. Can everybody read this: No, only newer drives will be able to read these discs. Use a DVD+R or DVD-R if you encounter problems.

DVD-RW

A DVD-RW is a rewritable disc on which you can burn data or video. After being used, you can erase the data. When the disc is not erased (or blanked), Nero will ask you to erase the disc before burning new data on it. Characteristics: Erasble medium which can be used some 500 times when kept in perfect condition. Typical Capacity: 4,7 GB Typical use: storing data or video. Can everybody read this: Some 60% of DVD players will read this disc. Use a DVD+R or DVD-R if you encounter problems.

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E

Extended Play (EP)

Mostly used to indicate a video is recorded in the lower DVD-quality. See also 'Video modes'..

External drive

An external drive is not build into a computer, but is mostly attached to the computer via a USB 2.0 cable. + External ReWriters

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F

Firmware

Firmware is a small piece of software which controls a device and which is in the device itself. You can compare it with Windows (TM) on a computer. It can be updated using an update tool, which can be downloaded from this website.

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G

Gigabyte (GB)

1 Gigabyte = 1 GB = 230 = 109 = 1024x1024x1024 bytes = 1.073.741.824 bytes. When indicating the capacity of a disc or a hard disk, it is common to say that. 1 GB = 1.000.000.000 bytes.

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H

HD Ready

The HD Ready logo indicates a device is prepared for the new High Definition TV standards. This logo can be found on new TVs or monitors. + Wikipedia

High Quality (HQ)

Mostly used to indicate a video is recorded in the highest possible DVD-quality. See also compare video modes.

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I

Internal drive

An internal drive has a standard size and is build into a computer. The opposite is an external drive.

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K

Kilobyte (KB)

1 Kilobyte = 1 KB = 210 = 103 = 1024 bytes. When indicating the capacity of a disc or a hard disk, it is common to say that. 1 KB = 1.000 bytes.

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L

Long Play (LP)

Mostly used to indicate a video is recorded in the average DVD quality. See also compare video modes.

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M

Megabyte (MB)

1 Megabyte = 1 MB = 220 = 106 = 1024x1024 bytes= 1.048.576 bytes. When indicating the capacity of a disc or a hard disk, it is common to say that. 1 MB = 1.000.000 bytes.

Multisession

Nero will allow you to add data to an already used CD or DVD when you start burning the first time choosing 'Start Multisession Disc'. Later on, you can add more data. When inserting the disc, Nero will ask you if you want to have the old data to be visible or not. A multisession disc is not well recognized in older windows versions.

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S

Solidburn

Read the seperate document. + Solidburn explained

Standard Play (SP)

Mostly used to indicate a video is recorded in the standard quality. See also compare video modes.

Super Extended Play (SEP)

Mostly used to indicate a video is recorded in the very lowest possible quality.

Super Long Play (SLP)

Mostly used to indicate a video is recorded in very low quality.

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T

Terabyte (TB)

1 Terabyte = 1 TB = 240 = 1012 = 1024x1024x1024x1024 bytes = 1.099.511.627.776 bytes. When indicating the capacity of a disc or a hard disk, it is common to say that. 1 TB = 1.000.000.000.000 bytes.

Track At Once (TAO)

Track at Once is a often used way to record music or data on a CD-R. Between each track (especially for audio), the laser is switched off and on, which can cause in some occasions a strange 'clicking' noise at the end of each track. For audio, Disc-At-Once is a better choice.

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U

USB

USB (Universal Serial Bus) is a common interface between a computer and external equipment like DVD ReWriters, hard disks, USB Flash devices, Keyboard, Mouse, Cameras, Scanners,... All modern computers are equipped with several USB ports. There are two different USB types, both equippend with the same connector: USB 1.1: with a maximum speed of 12 Mb/sec, allowing to burn CDs at maximum 4x. Can be found on older computers. USB 2.0 or HighSpeed USB: a much faster interface allowing a maximum speed is 480 Mb/sec (which allows to burn CDs and DVD at high speeds). You may connect a USB 1.1 device to a USB 2.0 interface or the other way around. The maximum speed will not exceed teh maximum of the slowest device. Windows XP will warn you if you connect a fast USB device to a slow USB port. + USB.org website

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V

Video Modes

The different video modes are (sorted by descending quality): 1. HQ High Quality (mostly 1 hour on a single layer DVD) 2. SP Standard Play (mostly 2 hours on a single layer DVD) 3. LP Long Play (mostly 3 hours on a single layer DVD) 4. EP Extended Play (mostly 4 hours on a single layer DVD) 5. SLP Super Long Play (mostly 6 hours on a single layer DVD) 6. SEP Super Extended Play (mostly 8 hours on a single layer DVD)

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W

Writing Quality

This refers to the quality of the written disc. The better the writing quality, the better and longer a disc will be read. The writing quality is dependent on many factors: The quality of the disc, The absence of any damages to the disc, The writing strategy of the drive used to burn the disc.

Writing strategy

Every disc has it's own way on how it should be written. The drive you use has for all discs a special chosen strategy on how to do this to gain the best possible writing quality. We advise to keep your drive up to date to have always the best writing strategies in the drive for best results on your discs.

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