[3.11] What is BCA or NBCA?

BCA stands for burst cutting area, a zone near the hub of a DVD reserved for a barcode that can be etched into the disc by a high-powered (YAG) laser. NBCA (narrow burst cutting area) is a thinner-diameter variation used on recordable discs to avoid impinging on the lead-in. Because barcode cutting is independent of the stamping process, each disc can have unique data recorded in the BCA, such as a serialized ID. DVD readers can use the laser pickup head to read the BCA.

The BCA is used by CPRM (see 1.11 ) and Divx (see 2.10 ) to uniquely identify each disc.