CD/DVD TECHNOLOGY

BY:- S.K.Srivastava, DDE, STI(T)

COMPACT DISK
CD system was first introduced in 1980 by
a joint venture between Sony and Phillips.
It is the CD that has introduced most people
to digital audio reproduction system.
Starting with CD-DA format, CD family was
expanded to include CD-ROM(1984),CDi(1986),CD-WO(1988), Video-CD(1994),
CD-RW(1996) and much more variants with
a host of applications in data, audio,video
and beyond.

CD-DA sampling freq.- the

video route
Professional video recorders were used
to prepare CD master tapes as they were
the only recorders available to handle
large BW requirement of digital audio
signal
Therefore, sampling frequency has to
correlate with line/field rates of TV
standard- storing a few samples per scan
line.

CD-DA sampling freq.- the

video route ..
NTSC system
It uses 525 lines in 30 frames per second
with 490 active lines. With 3 samples/sec,
the sampling frequency =
490x30x3=44.1KHz.
PAL system
This format uses 625 lines(588 active
lines) in 25 frames/sec.With 3
samples/line, the sampling
freq=588x25x3=44.1KHz.

CD.. AUDIO PROCESSING

The analog audio signal is converted into digital signal by
Analog to Digital converters
with 16 bit linear quantization at a sampling frequency rate
of 44.1 kHz.
During recording, first order pre-emphasis may be applied.
Pre-emphasis standards agreed for CD format are 50 and 15
micro seconds. In this case the player must apply a similar
de-emphasis to the decoded signal to obtain a flat frequency
response.
A specific control code recorded along with the audio signal
on the compact disc is used to Inform the player whether
pre-emphasis is used and so the player switches on the
corresponding de-emphasls circuit.
Moreover, audio information on the CD may comprise four
music channels instead of two. This is also identified by a
control code to allow automatic switching of players
equipped with a four channel play back facility.

Conversion of Analog audio to

Digital Signal

CD Cutting
CD cutting is similar to LP record cutting except that the former employs digital
technology and uses laser beam for cutting photo resistive material for
producing master disc. CD production follows seven main stages as
illustrated below:

A glass plate is polished for optimum smoothness.

Photo resist coating is applied to its surface. The roughness of glass surface
and the thickness of coating determine the depth of the pit on CD.
Photo-resist coating is then exposed to a laser beam, the intensity of which
is acoustically modulated with digitized audio information.
The photo-resist layer is developed and then the pits of information are
revealed. The surface is silvered to protect the pits.
The surface is plated with nickel to make metal master.
The metal master is then used to make mother plates. These mothers are
used to make further metal masters or stammers.
The stamping process although named like LP record production, is in fact,
an injection moulding, compression moulding or polymerization process,
producing plastic disc.
The signal surface of each disc is then coated with a reflective material
(vaporized aluminium) to enable optical readout and further protected with
plastic layer, which also support the disc label.

Stages in cutting of a CD..

CD Readout Principle.

CD Readout Principle
It is evident from the figure that the
readout surface is thicker than the
label surface.
Therefore, a minor scratch on the
readout surface is very well tolerated.
Since the label side lacquer coating is
only 30 mm thick, writing on this side
is not recommended.

Readout Process
In the readout process, a readout beam is
applied from the opposite side of cutting.
The readout beam produces a spot size of
1.2 micro meter at the disc base.
Since this beam is applied from the opposite
side of cutting a "pit" is read as a "bump".
The beam enters through the largest
possible area of the surface approx. 0.7 mm
dia circle for a spot size of 1.2 micro meter
at the disc base. The size of entry circle is a
function of refractive index of the optical
system and the thickness of the disc.

Readout process..

Readout Process
The wavelength of laser beam used for readout of bumps and
flats is 780 nm in air.
When light passes through CD medium having refractive index
of 1.55; its wavelength is reduced to 500 nm (780/1.55 = 500
nm or 0.5 J.lm).
The height of bump is about /4 of laser beam used for readout.
While reading CD, the laser spot of 1.2 m dia moves along the
track whose bump width is 0.5 m and height is 0.13 m.
When the laser beam traces the bump, the phase of reflected
light will be /4 apart (bump height = A/4) and hence will
cancel out.
When the laser traces the flat, the phases of reflected laser will
not change and will add up.
We can say that, there will be no output when laser traces the
bump and there will be output when laser traces the flat and
thus '1' and '0' are identified.

CD Parameters

CD Standards
Standards define the way different types of information, such
as audio, video or data, are stored on a CD. Currently, there
are more than 10 different standards for CDs. Many of these,
such as CD-I (Compact Disc-Interactive), were designed for use
with proprietary players that combined audio and text or
graphics data, and never caught on. The three main formats
currently used for audio and data CDs are named for the color
of the standards books that describe them.
Red Book Audio
The Red Book standard was the original format developed for
storing music on CDs.
This standard is also referred to as CD-DA (Compact DiscDigital Audio). Audio CDs have the advantage of being
playable almost anywhere.

CD Standards
Yellow Book standard
The Yellow Book standard defines how data is stored
on prerecorded CD-ROMS.
Orange Book Standard
The Orange Book standard is similar to the Yellow
Book
It defines the format for CD-Rs and CD-RWs. MP3
files and other compressed audio formats are simply
data files, so they are stored on Yellow Book (prerecorded) or Orange Book (CD-R and CD-RW) CDs.

What is a CD-RW
A CD-RW is a compact disk, but this
can be used again and again like our
audio/video tape after erasing the
contents.
offers convenience of reuse

Fig. 4: CD-RW

CD-RW--- The technology

The technology behind CD-RW is optical phase-change.
A CDRW disc's phase-change medium consists of a
polycarbonate substrate, moulded with a spiral groove for servo
guidance, absolute time information and other data, on to which
a stack (usually five layers) as shown in Fig. Fig. 4: CD-RW 4 is
deposited.
The recording layer is sandwiched between dielectric layers that
draw excess heat from the phase-change layer during the
writing process.
In place of the CD-R disc's dye-based recording layer, CD-RW
commonly uses a crystalline compound made up of a mix of
silver, indium, antimony and tellurium. This rather exotic mix
has a very special property: when it's heated to one
temperature and cooled it becomes crystalline, but if it's heated
to a higher temperature, when it cools down again it becomes
amorphous.
The crystalline areas allow the metalised layer to reflect the
laser better while the non-crystalline portion absorbs the laser
beam, so it is not reflected.

CD-RW--- The technology

In order to achieve these effects in the
recording layer, the CD-Rewritable recorder
use three different laser powers:
the highest laser power, which is called
"Write Power", creates a non-crystalline
(absorptive) state on the recording layer.
the middle power, also known as "Erase
Power", melts the recording layer and
converts it to a reflective crystalline state.
the lowest power, which is "Read Power",
does not alter the state of the recording
layer, so it can be used for reading the data.

Read/Write Speed
At 1x speed, a disk spins at about
539 rpm when the head is placed on
inner diameter and it slows to 210
rpm at the outer diameter.
At 16x, the speeds are about
8000rpm & 3200rpm.
Real time recorders operate at about
150 kbps rate.

DVD-Digital Versatile Disk

It can store more data than conventional
CDs( 10 times or more) and may eventually
supercede the CD, i.e., the future belongs to
the DVDs as this offers more storage capacity
than the CDs.

it uses more advanced technology and four

layers.
CDs, CD-RWs and DVDs employ optical
method for reading and writing. Hence, data
integrity is less vulnerable as compared to
magnetic tapes. They also have a much longer
life.

Fig. 5: Multilayer DVDs can store more data

DVD STANDARDS
DVD+R and DVD+RW
DVD+R and DVD+RW formats are supported by Philips,
Sony, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Ricoh, Yamaha and others.
DVD+R is a recordable DVD format similar to CD-R. A
DVD+R can record data only once and then the data
becomes permanent on the disc. The disc can not be
recorded onto a second time.
DVD+RW is a re-recordable format similar to CD-RW. The
data on a DVD+RW disc can be erased and recorded over
numerous times without damaging the medium.
DVDs created by a +R/+RW device can be read by most
commercial DVD-ROM players.

DVD STANDARDS
DVD-R & DVD-RW
These formats are supported by Panasonic, Toshiba, Apple
Computer, Hitachi, NEC, Pioneer, Samsung and Sharp.
DVD-R is a recordable DVD format similar to CD-R and
DVD+R. A DVD-R can record data only once and then the
data becomes permanent on the disc. The disc cannot be
recorded onto a second time. There also are two additional
standards for DVD-R disks: DVD-RG for general use, and DVDRA for authoring, which is used for mastering DVD video or
data and is not typically available to the general public.
DVD-RW is a re-recordable format similar to CD-RW or
DVD+RW. The data on a DVD-RW disc can be erased and
recorded over numerous times without damaging the
medium.
DVDs created by a -R/-RW device can be read by most
commercial DVD-ROM players.

DVD
DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL
Dual layer technology is supported by a range of manufacturers
including Dell, HP, Verbatim, Philips, Sony, Yamaha and others.
As the name suggests, dual layer technology provides two
individual recordable layers on a single-sided DVD disc. Dual
Layer is more commonly called Double Layer in the consumer
market, and can be seen written as DVD+R DL or DVD-R DL.
DVD+R DL (also called DVD+R9) is a Dual Layer writeable
DVD+R.
DVD-R DL (also called DVD-R9) is a Dual Layer writeable DVD-R.
The dual layered discs can hold 7.95GB
The double sided dual layer (called dvd-18) can hold 15.9GB.
DVD-ROM
DVD-ROM was the first DVD standard to hit the market and is a
read-only format. The video or game content is burned onto the
DVD once and the DVD will run on any DVD-ROM-equipped
device.

Next Generation DVDs

The two most prominent competing technologies are Blu-ray and
AOD.

Blu-ray Disc (BD)

The Blu-ray format was developed jointly by Sony, Samsung,
Sharp, Thomson, Hitachi, Matsushita, Pioneer and Philips,
Mistubishi and LG Electronics
It uses a 405nm-wavelength blue-violet laser technology, in
contrast to the 650nm-wavelength red laser technology used
in traditional DVD formats.
The rewritable Blu-ray disc, with a data transfer rate of 36Mbps
(1x speed) can hold up to 25GB of data on a single-layer disc
and 50GB on a dual-layer disc.
On a 50GB disc, this translates into 9 hours of high-definition
(HD) video or approximately 23 hours of standard-definition
(SD) video.

Next Generation DVD

Advanced Optical Disc (AOD)
AOD was developed jointly by Toshiba
and NEC
while Blu-ray has a storage capacity
of 25GB on a single-layer disc, AOD
has a storage capacity of 20GB on a
single-layer disc. and the capacity to
hold 30GB on a dual-layer disc.