Buyer's Guide: Making the DVD Decision: A Survey of DVD-Video Players
It doesn’t matter what you call it -- Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc-- DVD is the new digital standard for playing movies in the home. Digital movies mean extremely high picture quality, outstanding audio capability and tons of other great playback options for selective TV viewers.
There are thousands of movie titles available for purchase or rent on DVD, and more are being released every day. Ignore the hype and don’t take our word for it, but one demonstration and we strongly suspect you too will be convinced. Done that? Now all you need is a DVD-Video player. The players themselves each support the basic digital technology standards that make DVD so appealing, but there are differences between them. Many people have heard about or seen the multiple playback options available with DVD, including scene selections, screen format options, different language tracks, director voice-overs and even multiple camera angles. This is one of the beauties of the digital medium, but these options are included on the disk itself, not in the player. DVD players rather have set-up menus and playback features to support the multiple options on the disk. The player menus typically control input and output sources, video and audio set-ups, and ways to control the playback (fast forward, reverse, etc). As you would expect, these options are controlled through a remote control and menu interface. While we can compare the prices and built-in features of the players for you, there’s no substitute for your own subjective judgement about how comfortable and intuitive the remote control feels in your hand. Smart shoppers look for features and price, and then feel their way to a final decision.
Keep The VCR
It’s true that DVD technology will be even more inviting when it’s recordable, but the technology isn’t well established enough yet to support it on a consumer level. Industry bickering over recordable standards and concerns about piracy are among the reasons why. Industry experts and trade groups expect it will be several years before a recordable DVD format is ready for prime time, and cheap enough that people will invest in it. Even then, the millions of VCRs in homes across the world aren’t going to get up and walk away.
The Other DVD
It’s also relevant to note that DVD-Video is different from DVD-ROM, which is a computer version of the DVD format and requires a computer processor to run. You can play DVD-Video disks on a DVD-ROM drive, but how many people want to kick back and watch a good movie on the computer monitor? If you have a computer with DVD- ROM connected to your television and you have the appropriate hardware installed in the machine (typically an MPEG-2 decoder card), then the DVD-ROM drive can pull double duty. Still, not everyone wants to deal with this task, and DVD-Video players were made expressly to sit on the set top and work with remotes, menus and features that are especially well suited for the TV.
The DIVX Variable
It’s also important to be aware of a competing DVD-Video format called DIVX, a pay-per-play format released last summer. If you like the idea that you can buy a disk for about five bucks, watch it for 48 hours, and then either throw it away or purchase more time on it, then DIVX might be an option to consider. A regular DVD-Video disk will play on a DIVX player, but not vice-versa. DIVX players will typically cost about $100 more than other players. There should be several brands of DIVX players available by the time you read this, including Zenith, RCA, ProScan and Panasonic.
Get Digital
Whichever flavor you choose, we love and recommend the quality, selectivity and aesthetics of DVD technology (even though we’re still waiting to see the first DVD-Video game that doesn’t require computer processing). For people interested in the possibility of purchasing a piece of DVD equipment, the accompanying grid represents the (non-DIVX) DVD-Video players, features and prices from each of the major manufacturers. No one can dispute the superior quality of digital playback with DVD-Video, and there are DVD players on the market for nearly every price range. So what are you waiting for?
Explanation of Feature Headings
Dolby Digital Decoder: All DVD players have a pair of composite audio output jacks that conduct a DVD’s Dolby Surround signal (to be played by a Dolby Pro Logic decoder), or music tracks from an audio CD. Many DVD disks come with a 5.1 channel Dolby Digital (AC-3) audio soundtrack (separate channels for left, center, right, right surround, left surround and low frequency effects). This format requires an AC-3 decoder to reap the full benefits. The decoder can be a separate audio component, included in a stereo receiver, or included in the player itself. A “yes” in this field indicates it’s included in the player.
Component Video Output: The latest in signal separation technology, component video provides the highest quality video by separating not only the color and black and white parts of the signal (which is what S-video does), but by further breaking down the color signal. Better color quality is the end result. Only the highest end televisions and monitors support component video input, but with digital TV on the near horizon and a whole crop of high-end sets expected on the market soon, component input will grow in popularity. All DVD players support S-video and composite video outputs.
Jog/Shuttle Control: A jog/shuttle control--that circle-looking thing you see on the remote controls of many high-end VCRs--makes it easy to search through a DVD disk. The outside (shuttle) ring allows easy fast forward and reverse. The inside (jog) ring advances or reverses the disk frame by frame.
Special Video Features
Reverse: Allows fast motion reverse video
Still Step: Allows still step, or frame-by-frame, forward video
Slow Motion: Allows slow motion forward video
Reverse Slow Motion: Allows slow motion reverse video
Zoom Picture: Allows picture zoom for close examination of video
Jim Mikles is Smart TV’s Associate Editor
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