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Dual Layer DVD Media

DVDs have become such a standard in today's computer and media playing devices that some
of us are still trying to catch up with its speedy development and mass market distribution.
Your local electronics store is stocked with burning drives of varying degrees and shelves are
stacked with recordable media in multiple formats (CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW).
There is no denying that recordable media are more mainstream now than in the past, allowing
us to play and record our own music/data CDs, play DVD movies as well as create our own
DVDs (even Blu-Ray) to share with family and friends on a variety of compatible home
devices. DVD media in particular has totally captured the attention of the public not just for
recording digital movies but also for its vast storage capability. DVD discs currently hold
4.7GB of space (about a 2-hour long movie).

Just as we were familiarizing ourselves with the "+" and "-" format of
DVD recordable media (they are essentially the same with the exception
of device compatibility) they introduced Dual-Layer DVD recordable
media. Of course, this has been around for a while now, but you may not
know that the movie industry was actually distributing their movies on
dual-layer discs to include the film along with featurettes, deleted scenes,
music videos and other bonus material, for several years before it became
available for PC recoding use.

There are two types of Dual Layer DVD: Single-sided and Double-sided.
Single-sided Dual-Layer DVDs contain all the data on one side of the disc
and are read on one side only while Double-sided Dual Layer DVD
utilizes both sides of the disc and both sides are readable. Some movie
vendors use this technology to place widescreen (letterbox) and fullscreen
(4:3 TV format) versions of a film on a single DVD. The user inserts the
double-sided dual layer DVD on one side to view the widescreen version
of the film or flip it over to watch the fullscreen version.

What Is Dual Layer?

Specifically, Dual Layer DVDs hold just about double the data of a
standard recordable "+" and/or "-" DVD recordable
disc (up to four hours of high quality MPEG-2 video,
or up to 8.5GB of data on a single-sided disc with
two individual recordable "layers"). Dual-layer
DVDs have a thin substrate layer between the first
and second layers of DVD data. Single-sided dual-
layer DVD-Video media is known as DVD-9 and
Double-sided dual-layer DVD-Video as DVD-18.
Almost all DVD set-top boxes and DVD-ROM
drives except for possibly some very old models can
read DVD-9 and DVD-18 media. Inside the drive, a single laser is refocused when switching
between layers, accounting for a slight delay when moving from the top to the bottom layer.
DVD+R DL discs use a single refocusable laser to write both layers. The top layer (Layer 0;
L0) is written first. The metal reflector used by L0 is semi-transparent, enabling the refocused
laser to write to the second layer (Layer 1; L1). Because the L0 layer absorbs some of the
laser's energy, only about half the laser power reaches the L1 layer.

How Are Dual Layer Discs Recorded?

Single-sided dual layer recordable discs are constructed by one dummy polycarbonate platter
base and the other one that contains a single organic recording layer. Dual layer recordable
discs contain two organic dye recording layers (termed L0 and L1, respectively) between dual
polycarbonate bases and semi-reflective metal layers separated by a transparent spacing layer.
Single layer DVDs have a wobbled pre-groove molded into the polycarbonate base that
controls the rotation speed of the disc and provide the addressing scheme for the disc. In a dual
layer recordable DVD, each recording layer has its own wobbled pre-groove that controls
rotation speed and addressing for that layer. However, the entire "table of contents" and
system area of a dual layer recordable disc is contained only on the first recordable layer (L0).

When a dual layer recordable disc is inserted into a dual layer-compliant recorder, the optics
will focus the laser at one of the dual layers to try and detect an "Address In Pre-groove"
(ADIP) signal. From the ADIP signal, the recorder can detect whether the disc is dual layer
and which layer it's focused on. Once the media type and the layer are detected, the laser will
be able to move its range of focus down or up to access any one of the two recordable layers.
The drive will then focus on the Lead-In area of the disc to determine whether the disc is
completely blank, partially recorded in Multi-session format, or Finalized (completed).
The two layers represent one contiguous address stream for recording as a Video Disc, a
DVD-ROM, or even a packet recorded disc. When recording on dual layer media, the drive
first records on the first recordable layer L0 from the inside hub area outward, just like a
typical DVD recordable disc. When the end of information recorded in L0 is reached, Middle
Zone 0 is added. Next, the drive focuses on the second recordable layer L1 to create Middle
Zone 1 that over-wraps Middle Zone 0. The disc is then recorded from the outside rim
inwards. Multi-session discs can be recorded with dual layer recordable media, so it's possible
to add data in "sessions" on a disc.

First Layer Recorded Inside Hub To Outer Disc Rim 

 Second Layer Recorded Outside Rim Towards Disc Hub

Reflectivity of both recording layers of a dual layer recordable disc is the similar: greater than
18 percent. The reflectivity between the L0 and L1 layers, however, is greater than 50 percent
because the upper (second) recording layer absorbs and reflects some of energy that is directed
at the lower (first) recording layer L0 in order for organic dye to be recorded. As a result, the
organic dye formulation and shape of the pre-groove in dual layer discs must be optimized to
provide the appropriate reflectivity for both layers. The spacer layer separates the two
recording layers and prevents cross layer recording. It is transparent to allow the laser to easily
focus on either recording layer by simply changing the position of the laser's object lens.