There are two types of MiniDVD.

80 mm DVD, which are smaller versions of the 120 mm DVD
cDVD, which are standard CDs written with the DVD-video format

The name is also sometimes used erroneously to refer to the Universal Media Disc (UMD), the format used by Sony's PlayStation Portable.

80 mm DVD
MiniDVD (Mini DVD or miniDVD) is an 80-mm diameter disc. In normal recording (standard DVD quality) it holds 30 minutes of video or 1.4 GB of data. Under SLP mode, comparable to VHS quality, it can hold 120 minutes of video. It was developed for use in camcorders, but like its full-sized 120-mm counterpart, it can be played back in most DVD players.

The format is also known as a video-single, or DVD single, being analogous to the CD single (miniCD) in being a singles format for music videos.

cDVD are also known as '3-inch DVDs' in reference to their approximate diameter in inches.

Mini DVD-R/-RW media is available and is marketed for use in some newer DVD-based camcorders that record directly to the 80-mm DVD disc. Typically these cameras offer three quality settings by varying the bitrate: XP (20 minutes), SP (30 minutes), and LP (60 minutes).

A Single Sided Dual Layer form of this media, stated to hold 2.66 GB, has been planned for release near the end of 2006.

Nintendo used a disc-based format for their GameCube system, which was a variant of an 80-mm DVD.

Warner Mini DVD

Mini DVD is also the brand name of a line of commercial DVDs and players released by Warner and CyberHome and intended for a young audience.


cDVD

mini-DVD or cDVD is also used to describe a CD that contains DVD data, allowing all the features of the DVD format to be used on the cheaper medium. The difference between them is the physical disc itself. However, these CDs can only be played on computers or some standalone DVD players, not VCD players, and have only a fraction of the capacity of a DVD. Additionally, mini-DVDs must be written to CD using the Mode 1 format. This limits the amount of data that can be stored on an 80 minute CD to 700 Megabytes, whereas other CD-based video formats such as SVCD use the Mode 2/XA format and can store roughly 800 Megabytes of data per 80 minute CD.

Wikipedia information about MiniDVD. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License . It uses material from the Wikipedia article 'MiniDVD'