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Why did I wait so long? DVD (meaning "Digital Video Disk" or "Digital Versatile Disk") technology has become widespread, and most movie reviews contain a "DVD version summary" that details all the extra content to be found on the movie's DVD disk. But I hung back. The details regarding my delay could probably be reduced to a single issue - my ignorance of the medium and its features. Why spend the money when I didn't know what I was getting?
When I came across some extra money, I decided to be more aggressive in my research. Should I get a DVD player? Why or why not?
A typical hi-fi videotape player will cost around $150 to $200 and will give you around 250 - 300 lines of video resolution, decent color and decent stereo audio. But a DVD player will almost double the video resolution to 400 to 500 lines, offer much sharper color and give you CD-quality audio, along with many options for theatrical audio ambiance and a multiplicity of sound tracks. The sound tracks include separate foreign language tracks, commentary tracks where directors, producers or actors add their comments as the movie plays along, or even a music-only soundtrack.
Or so they say.
DVD content manufacturers are taking advantage of the extra room on a DVD disk for added content. In The Matrix DVD, for example, you can choose the normal theatrical version of the movie, watch it with commentary from some of the crew, or watch it with the music track only. That particular DVD includes two documentaries on the movie's special effects and nine other features on behind-the-scenes, "making of" topics.
The earliest versions of DVD players offered the same level of video resolution as a VHS deck, with a standard "composite video" cable. The colors are sharper, but line resolution is the same as VHS videotape. But DVD also offered substantial enhancement of the picture with an S-video cable outlet. S-video requires that you to run an S-video cable from the player to your television (assuming your TV has a plug for S-video). Later models, even the "starter" low-price products, introduced "component video," offering 540 to 600 lines of video resolution and very sharp, clear color output. Component video requires three cables running from the DVD player to the television. Again, your television must be equipped for component video before you can take advantage of that feature.
And that is the disadvantage of DVD for many people. The pitfalls of buying a DVD player can be quite subtle, and many people will not learn of the problem until they bring their new DVD player home. In ignorance, they'll purchase something like a base-line Toshiba, Sony or Panasonic DVD player, expecting the added picture quality and sound. The problem is that they won't have a television or stereo on the receiving end of the signal that's capable of reproducing the enhanced output from their new player.
Before buying a DVD player, take a good look at your television set. You know, the one you intend to show all those fancy DVD movies on, the old one that you got from your parents. If you have a typical older-style television, it has (at the very most) a single-plug video input, made for a standard RCA-jack type cable. If it's an older television, chances are it won't even have that input - it'll just have a coaxial cable or standard antenna connection.
Here's a disturbing note to consumers with older televisions - some sort of extra video jack or input in the television is required. DVD players will not plug into your coaxial input or antenna lead as will a VHS player.
And, in case you were thinking of using a converter like you do for your Playstation, the modular plug-ins you can buy for video game machines won't work with a DVD player. That's because of the video tape protection measures encoded into most DVD disks - the picture will end up scrambled if you go that route (the route being "through the tuner"). You'll have to have a television with a minimum configuration of a composite video input plug, and a lot of buyers don't realize their televisions don't have the input.
The next problem - if you DO have the single "composite" video input, your DVD player will not offer a much better picture than the VHS player that's sitting on your shelf now. The colors will be better, but you'll have the same line resolution as the videotape player.
But what if you want all that enhanced video and sound? Buying a DVD will often necessitate an upgrade of the television (i.e., one that accepts S-video or component video cables) and the stereo system (a digital receiver that can accept DTS and can handle multiple channels and speakers), if one wants to take advantage of all the features DVD offers. This is the frustrating thing for many buyers. They want to buy the DVD - especially now that the prices are going down - but they learn that DVD quality needs the right equipment on the other end to reproduce the enhanced pictures and sounds. For many people, that's just too much money to spend.
However, most people can have some of the advantages of DVD - mainly the added content - with just the expenditure for the DVD player itself. There is the minimum requirement of a video plug in the television system, to be sure, but most people are otherwise outfitted to enjoy many of the added features right now.
Most DVD players are feature-rich, but there are some things that a buyer of a base system can enjoy right off the bat, even if they don't have a fancier television or stereo. A low priced DVD system will not have all the digital technology for sending a signal to a so-called "digital ready" stereo receiver; however, it will be outfitted with left and right cable jacks to hook into a standard component stereo for very nice audio effects. If you want surround sound and separation on the rear channels, get a Dolby Digital surround system receiver. If not, you'll probably be very pleased with the output you receive on your standard stereo.
DVD remotes are more-or-less standard with a compass layout for the center buttons for moving around menus. Other buttons are tied to the features of the DVD - fast forward and reverse (in several speeds), stop-action, zoom (in three successive steps), titling, and so forth. It is, almost certainly, NOT compatible with your television. It is not even compatible with a new television of the same brand as your DVD player, and that eliminates the "single-remote-controls everything" situation that most people enjoy. More unfortunate - the TV remote doesn't handle the DVD operations. So there you are - no programmable remotes.
Another feature worth mentioning to the consumer - component video. Component video provides the sharpest of all available video modes on your DVD player. Most DVDs have this feature now. Component video requires three cables, just for the video. Of course, once again, the unfortunate thing is that your television must be equipped with component video inputs, and while prices are going down, you generally will not find a component video television for under $600.00. Televisions that can handle component video are $50 to $100 more expensive than the otherwise-equivalent model that can't. The component video cables run from $40, to $70 for the high-end Monster Cable gold-tipped product.
But even if you're limited to regular composite video, DVDs offer many more features than VHS, most of them being on the DVD disk itself; i.e., all the added content (plus no tape wear, you don't have to rewind, etc.). The good news about DVD is its lower cost in spite of the added features. DVD players, as did videotape players in their time, are now maturing, both in capability and economy. The DVD medium, with its added features and content, is definitely staying for a while. Subject to the cautions I've mentioned earlier, I recommend a low-end DVD player to those who want to experience the DVD phenomenon without a large initial outlay.
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