08-05-2003, 11:05 AM
Yeah buy the DVD-ROM, a no frill version is like $20 anyway. Extra like MPG card (for better performance) or DVD player software like WinDVD would cost more.
Here's a run down of why CD-ROM can't read DVD. typical CD player and CD-ROM uses infrared laser, which is of longer wavelength but cheaper. The track and data of DVD is much more tightly packed and they spin at higher rate than CD (1x DVD is much faster than 1x CD), and some DVD can be dual layered for double data. Because of this, infrared laser won't work. Red laser is used instead.
Next generation DVD would be using blue laser, which is of much shorter wavelength and would allow 100's of GB per disc vs about 5GB for single layer and 9GB for dual layer.
Fortunately, laser of shorter wavelength is backward compatible with older media using longer wavelenth so that's why DVD player can play CD and CD-ROM easily.
Here's a run down of why CD-ROM can't read DVD. typical CD player and CD-ROM uses infrared laser, which is of longer wavelength but cheaper. The track and data of DVD is much more tightly packed and they spin at higher rate than CD (1x DVD is much faster than 1x CD), and some DVD can be dual layered for double data. Because of this, infrared laser won't work. Red laser is used instead.
Next generation DVD would be using blue laser, which is of much shorter wavelength and would allow 100's of GB per disc vs about 5GB for single layer and 9GB for dual layer.
Fortunately, laser of shorter wavelength is backward compatible with older media using longer wavelenth so that's why DVD player can play CD and CD-ROM easily.