The DVD Forum is to produce a test disc for DVD-Audio, DVD-Video and DVD-ROM software manufacturers to enable the production of discs that are fully compatible with DVD read-only formats.
As more and more discs push the technical boundaries of DVD, adding advanced branching, complex supplemental materials and animated menus, many DVD-Video and DVD-Audio machines have exhibited playback issues, resulting in understandable customer dissatisfaction.
Philips and Warner Advanced Media Operations (WAMO) developed the calibration discs with the cooperation of the DVD Forum’s Verification Policy Committee and the DVD Format/Logo License Corporation. The idea is to enable software producers to compare their own discs to a standardised, fully compliant reference disc to ensure maximum compatibility.
If produced discs are known to be within DVD Forum guidelines and tolerances but turn out to be problematic when replayed in certain machines, the scheme will, at the very least, allow software producers to lay the blame for playback anomalies at the door of hardware manufacturers. Disc specification compliance also provides a valid excuse for not re-mastering the disc in question.
Each calibration disc is single-layer, individually numbered and is accompanied by a unique measurement report produced by Philips’ DVD Format Verification Laboratory.