Digital Versatile Disc (DVD)

In December 1995, nine major electronics companies (Toshiba, Matsushita, Sony, Philips, Time Warner, Pioneer, JVC, Hitachi, and Mitsubishi Electric) agreed to promote a new optical disc technology for distribution of multimedia and feature-length movies called DVD (see Table 1.2).
DVD can provide 720 pixels per horizontal line, whereas current televisions (NTSC) provide 240-television pictures will be sharper and more detailed. With Dolby AC-3 Digital Surround Sound as part of the specification, six discrete audio channels can be programmed for digital surround sound, and with a separate sun woofer channel, developers can program the low-frequency doom and gloom music popular with Hollywood. DVD also supports Dolby Pro-Logic Surround Sound, standard stereo, and mono audio. Users can randomly access any section of the disc and use the slow motion and freeze-frame features during movies.