How are CD and DVD specs related to sound and picture quality?
This relationship is highly dependent on the player. Rapid CD and DVD drive obsolence and the lack of standards for drives make it impossible to predict which media flaws will or will not result in playability problems. Only conformance of the disc to all relevant standards will assure interchange and longevity. Many important tests evaluate how the disc and drive interact, but cannot predict playability because read drive performance is not specified. If a good disc fails to play, then it is the fault of the drive. If a bad disc plays, then it indicates a forgiving drive and pending disaster in other drives. Data streaming may overlook certain defects, but retries, applications that require seeks, or start/stop playback may be sensitive to the same defects. The human ear and eye are remarkably forgiving. Golden ears or platinum eyes may detect objectionable sound or picture flaws that most of us would not. Some of these flaws result from nonconformance with media standards. Other flaw
