DVD players are not only getting less expensive everyday, they have become one of the most affordable pieces of electronics equipment on the market. What are the features to look for in a DVD player? Are there real benefits of a Progressive DVD player, and can you use one? Now that you know what kind of player you want, are there some pitfalls which must be avoided? With the Home Cinema revolution coming around the corner, please fine below a few necessary tips you most probably wish to be told before you make your DVD player purchase.

What are the features to look for in a DVD player:

Nowadays, even the most basic (i.e. inexpensive) DVD players are packed with features. However, DVD player manufacturers have suffered from the 'Chicken and the Egg' syndrome. From the outset, DVDs have been capable of providing features like multiple languages and subtitles, different camera angles, parental lock, etc. Unfortunately, very few DVDs do take advantage of some of these features. Hence, DVD player manufacturers have been relatively slow with including them on their DVD players. Subtitles and languages have become somewhat universal, but the multitude of other features that DVD players provide are few and far between, so it is not uncommon to find a good DVD player that does not offer those features. Now the features to look for are not if the player does multiple angles (because it does in most cases) but rather the processing power, connections, and quality.

Audio: all DVD players can play regular audio CDs. Some interesting bonus features to look for in a player would be the ability to play CD-R, CD-RW, and MP3 encoded CDs. These features are great to have and are becoming more and more mainstream in players without adding noticeably to the price of the player. Of course at that point the choice is yours: are these are primary features you're looking for in a player, or not, in which case you shouldn’t let the lack of them dissuade you from choosing a particular player, if you consider that they are nice to have but that by no means should their absence be a deal breaker.

The following is an important point before buying:
Typically people will make the plunge and buy several pieces of Home Theatre (also called Home Cinema) equipment at once, so they can put them together more easily. However, if you're building your Home Cinema one piece at a time, you'll need to pay very close attention to how they will connect.
The level of equipment of your Home Theatre will determine how much processing power your DVD player will need. If you already have a home audio receiver that can process Dolby Digital and DTS audio signals, you will not need a DVD player that can do the sound processing itself, which are features that typically add to the cost of the DVD player seriously.
The more common set up is to get a DVD player that passes the Dolby Digital and DTS signals to a receiver, and then the receiver process the sound and pumps it out to your speakers.
You can usually quickly and easily determine if your audio receiver can process Dolby Digital and DTS by looking on the front panel. Typically if it can process these signals, the receiver will have the logos on the front panel.

If your audio receiver does not process DD and DTS, in order to hear the full surround sound that DVD can offer, you will need to make sure your equipment will connect properly. In order to hear 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1 (these numbers represent the number of channels and corresponding speakers required for that particular format) surround sound using a receiver that does not have onboard DD and DTS processing, you'll need to get a DVD player that does process DD and DTS. You'll also have to have a receiver that has 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1 audio inputs, or that can accept either a coaxial or an optical digital input.
This works the following way: the DVD player will process the sound off the DVD, split it up into its multiple discrete channels and pipe the sound out through separate outputs. On the back of the DVD player there will be a separate audio output for each of the channels, Front Left, Centre, Front Right, Surround Right, Surround Left, and Subwoofer (for a 5.1 configuration). These outputs will match up to inputs on the receiver, which will then pipe the sound out to the appropriate speakers. Again, when you buy one piece of equipment and then later another, you'll want to make very sure they will hook up to each other correctly. Getting your new DVD player home and finding out your receiver only has Digital Coaxial input, and your DVD player only has Digital Optical output is disastrous.

What types of connections are you likely to find in Home Theatre equipment?
Composite: RCA connector type for both audio and video, considered lowest quality.
S-Video: the S-Video connection breaks out the video signal for better clarity but keeps it all in one cable, considered better quality.
Component: video connection which breaks the video out into 3 components for best clarity on 3 separate connections, considered to be the best analogue quality.
Digital Coaxial: audio connection that passes audio from one device to another. It is digital, so the connection is considered to be the best quality.
Digital Optical (TOS link): audio connection that passes audio from one device to another. Again, it is digital and the connection is considered to be the best quality, but it uses a laser passed through a fibre optic cable. It's considered by most to be an even better connection than Digital Coaxial, because it's not susceptible to Radio Frequency interference, and doesn't generate any RF interference of its own.

Ideally, you should make sure that the device you're adding has the same kind of connectors as the device you'll be connecting it to. Most all DVD players now have at least 2 different kinds of connections for both audio and video, but occasionally you'll come across a player that has only 1, so just know what you'll need.

Video and Televisions:

VHS and regular Broadcast TV offer 240 to 330 lines of horizontal resolution, depending on the recording quality and where you get your information. DVD players can output 480 to 540 lines of horizontal resolution depending on the quality of the player. The more lines of resolution, the more detail and clarity the picture will have. Of course DVD is clearer, sharper, and has better audio that VHS, but what do you need to know to pick the right equipment? Most of it comes down to what kind of TV you'll be playing your DVDs on.

There are 3 types of Televisions:
ATV: Analogue Televisions
DTV: Digital Televisions
HDTV: High-Definition Televisions
Of these types there can be regular CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) displays, Rear Projection, Front Projection, DLP projection, LCD, Plasma, the list goes on and on, but they all fall into one of the 3 categories above.

There are 2 types of video signals that a TV can display, one is interlaced, and the other is progressive, denoted as “I” and “P” preceded or followed by the number of lines of resolution.
Example: 480-line resolution progressive scan (capable) TV would be denoted as '480p'.

A brief explanation of video signals

Standard TV signals and VHS display at 30 frames of interlaced video per second. Interlaced video works like this: Every 60th of a second, the TV will update every other line of resolution on the screen, so in 1/30th of a second, the TV has updated the entire screen, just half at a time.

The human eye can blend as few as 24 frames per second of video/film into seamless motion, anything less than that and the human eye will perceive stops in the motion which would make the video more difficult and much less agreeable to watch (that's the reason that Motion Pictures are filmed at 24 frames per second). The human eye will also blend the 2 interlaced fields of video into 1 complete frame. Because the amount of motion that happens from one interlaced frame to the next is so short, the eye doesn't notice the difference, and just blends the 2 together.

Progressive video takes it up a notch. Progressive video is still 30 frames per second, but instead of updating only half the lines on the TV at a time, it updates all of them. Every 1/30th of a second all the lines of resolution get updated. This process is also sometimes referred to as 'line doubling'. Some TVs have built-in 'line doublers' that will take an interlaced signal and convert it to a progressive signal by doubling the refresh of the lines in the display process. So instead of updating every other line, it updates all of them. This creates a much sharper, more fluid picture, and leads us to the differences in TVs.

Analogue televisions can only display interlaced video. As analogue televisions come in various resolutions, just remember that the higher the number of lines of resolution, the better the picture will look. DTVs can display both interlaced and progressive video at 30 frames per second, and also come in various resolutions. HDTVs can display everything that an analogue and DTV can, but they can also display High Definition signals. High Definition is defined as a video signal of either 720p or 1080i lines of resolution displayed in a 16x9 format. There are several different formats used by HDTVs (and some DTVs) that range form 480i, 480p, 520p, 720p, and 1080i. It is not necessary to find a HDTV that will display all the formats, as the TV will take an incoming signal and convert it to whatever format is optimal for that set.

Aspect ratios, or screen shape: There are 2 shapes to screens. Regular, standard or square, are some of the terms used to describe screens that are 4x3 or 4:3. 16:9 screens are sometimes called, widescreen, cinema-wide, or letterbox. 4:3 and 16:9 refer to the ratio of the screen's width to its height. 16:9 means the screen is 16 units (of measurement) wide, by 9 units tall. These ratios are also sometimes referred to in their reduced form. 4:3 reduces to 1.33:1 and 16:9 reduces to 1:78:1. You'll often see the reduced numbers on the backs of some VHS videos and most DVDs. There, these numbers refer to the aspect ratio that particular film was shot in. These will vary, but the most common are 1.78:1, 1.85:1, 2.33:1, and 2.35:1. The first 2 will fit a 16:9 television screen perfectly, while the last 2 will have some degree of black bars at the top and bottom.
When any film that is shot at an aspect ratio higher than 1.33:1 is formatted for a 4:3 television, this process is referred to as 'pan and scan' or on some DVDs as 'Fullscreen'. Examples showing the differences between a true 16:9 display and a formatted 4:3 display are given on many DVDs, but it basically means that because the film wont fit on a 4:3 screen, the picture will move back and forth in a scene to show you all the action. Some people don't notice this process at all; others find it very distracting and annoying. Anyways, watching a 'pan and scan' or a movie that states 'this movie has been formatted to fit this television, you're not seeing the whole picture.

Most DVD players will have an option to switch the output to display properly for a 16:9 television, as most of them default output for a 4:3 television. If you have a 16:9 television, or are planning on getting one, make sure your DVD player can properly display video on a 16:9 set. If not, you'll end up getting distorted pictures, or having to watch movies on your 16:9 television in 4:3 mode.

Video vs. Film:

Video is anything that is shot at 30 frames per second; film is anything shot at 24 frames per second. Because the overwhelming majority of TVs can only display images at 30 frames per second (apart from a very few special ones that can display 24 frames per second), in order for a TV to properly display a film it must go through some processing. The process is called 3:2 pulldown, and it basically stretches the 24 frames from the film into 30 frames of video. This is necessary to make the film view correctly on a TV.
In HT applications this 3:2 pulldown can be called different things. Some TVs will have a 'film' and a 'video' mode. The 'film' mode would engage the 3:2 pulldown for film processing; the 'video' mode would allow regular 30 frames per second video to be displayed normally. Your TV should be in 'film' mode whenever you're watching a DVD movie (film). If you're watching regular TV broadcasts or anything that was shot with a video camera, it should be set to 'Video'.

Progressive DVD Players Vs. Non-Progressive Players:

Now that we've gone over video formats, and TV screen shapes, and the benefits of Progressive scan video over Interlaced video, we can now apply that knowledge to choosing the correct kind of DVD player. Currently there are 2 kinds of DVD players; the ones that do 'Progressive Scan' also known as '480p' and the ones that only do 'Interlaced Scan' also known as 480i.

Progressive Scan DVD players (480p) will only work with TVs that can accept a Progressive signal. This includes all HDTVs and DTVs.

However, because all players that do 480p can also do 480i, you can still use it with any TV, and you just won't be able to take advantage of the 480p quality on a TV that can't handle a 480p signal. So if you have a regular analogue TV and want to buy a Progressive Player, you will only be able to watch DVDs in 480i mode. So unless you're planning on upgrading to a DTV or a HDTV, the extra cost of a Progressive player over a Non-Progressive player is clearly worth it.

If you are reading this now, because of the exceptional length of this web page, it means that you are undoubtedly very interested in the subject and very serious about buying the right DVD player that will correspond to your usage of today and tomorrow.

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