able to be played on European equipment and vice versa. For this purpose, the world was divided into six regions:

1.USA, Canada

2.Japan, Europe, Middle East, South Africa

3.South-east Asia

4.Australia, South and Central America, New Zealand

5.Africa, former USSR, India

6.China

DVD drives resemble CD-ROM drives and are downwards compatible, which means that they can also read CD-ROMs, CD-RWs and audio CDs.

DVD+RW drive

Like CD-RW drives, DVD+RW drives can both read and write storage media. Rewritable (RW) DVD+RWs are used. At 4.7 GBytes, DVD+RWs offer a memory capacity equivalent to around seven times that of a normal CD-ROM.

For the user, these drives make it possible to transfer and archive their own VHS videos, record their own videos using a digital video camera or save data quantities that are too large for CD-ROMs.

DVD ± R/RW drive

These drives enable you to use both recording processes (DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW).

DVD+R9 or DVD+R DL drive (double layer)

(Digital Versatile Disc + Recordable 9 Gigabytes)

These drives are equipped with the new double-layer DVD recording technology. The writing of a second layer onto the DVD blank doubles the maximum data capacity from the 4.7 GB of conventional DVDs to 8.5 GB on a one-sided DVD.

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