- Book type
The book type is a field of four bits at the start of every
DVD (in the physical format information section of the control data block) that indicates what the physical format of the disc is. Many devices will use this "Book Type Field" to determine how the disc should be treated.One common cause of compatibility problems is the failure of a device to recognize the book type of the disc that has been loaded, most likely as a result of the device being manufactured before that particular book type has been defined. (E.g., most DVD playback devices made before mid-2004 will not recognize the relatively new DVD+R DL Book Type). For DVD+R, DVD+RW, and DVD+R DL discs, it is possible to change the Book Type field value to the value for DVD-ROM (or in some rare and unorthodox cases, even the value for DVD-R) in order to fool older devices that do not recognize newer Book Type Field values (this process is known as "bitsetting").
These are the possible values of the Book Type Field:
Notes
* The same Book Type value is used for both single-layer and dual-layer pressed
DVD-ROM discs.
*DVD-R DL uses the same Book Type value asDVD-R . They are distinguished from each other by the "Part Version " (together, the Book Type and Part Version comprise the first byte of a disc's physical format information).External links
* [http://www.cdfreaks.com/reviews/Increased-compatibility-DVD-bitsetting CD Freaks Article] "Increased compatibility: DVD bitsetting"
* [http://www.dvdplusrw.org/Compatibility.asp?mid=0&sid=2&aid=59 DVDPlusRW.org Search page] Search devices for Compatibility Settings
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