• Single-play, changer or portable?
• Why pay more?
• Which sound options?

Configurations

Although most decks still accept only one disc at a time, DVD is going multi-disc (as the CD did). We're not sure if cueing up multiple two-hour movies will ever become as popular as loading up a CD changer, but who are we to slow the march of technology? The nascent personal DVD category, on the other hand, could be even more diverting on a long plane trip than a good book.

All DVD players also play CDs, though the format specs don't require CD compatibility. Manufacturers just want you to be happy. The speed of the transport mechanism and quality of the sound varies from player to player. Other playback formats usually supported include Video CD (an inferior predecessor to DVD) and, occasionally, the CD-R and CD-RW formats (don't count on this, though — players vary wildly in their acceptance of recorded blanks). The number of DVD/LD combi players (capable of playing laserdiscs as well) has dwindled to one. Laserdiscs are still being released, but the format's heyday is past. Though DVD has a distinct advantage in picture quality over LD, jettisoning a large laserdisc library in favor of DVDs may not be wise — at least not until DVD goes high-def (see below).


Picture quality

DVD is the reigning champ in picture quality when displayed on analog sets — and looks even better on digital sets. Its excellence is uniform. Just about any DVD player yields a really good picture that easily beats analog VHS and laserdisc.

Accordingly, the performance gap between low- and high-priced models is narrow, and it's hard to justify paying more. Not impossible, though — it depends on the quality of your television set, whether analog or digital.

Early DVD players had varying levels of video processing power. Recent models, however, seem to have settled on a standard level of 10 bits — so read the specs carefully when considering a discounted older model. To maximize picture quality through a digital TV — if you're lucky enough to have one — insist on a model with component video output.

Here's one of the few other differentiating points: All DVD players have a multi-angle feature to let you see the action from more than one viewpoint, but not all have the cool picture zoom for close-up inspection.


Digital vs. digital

Despite its potency, DVD falls way short of high-definition television (HDTV), at least right now. That's because, in digital terms, DVD is a standard-definition television (SDTV) format. In tech terms, it is designated 480p, meaning it delivers a 480-line picture. True HDTV is 720p or 1080i.

Given the high quality and low price of the average DVD player — and that a high-def incarnation of DVD may be years away — this should not prevent anyone from buying a DVD player. How long do you want to wait before starting to enjoy your life? True film buffs love DVD and are eager to bury collections of blurry VHS tapes in the backyard.

The p in 480p refers to progressive scanning. (The I in 1080i stands for interlaced.) As most people view DVDs on standard analog TV sets, they can't take advantage of progressive's ability to trace a picture in one pass, which, incidentally, is also the way your computer monitor works. One manufacturer was prevented from releasing a player that sent a progressively scanned image directly to a digital set. Something about copy protection and it being too good a picture. To be continued.


Audio

DVD players are more varied in their audio-for-video capabilities. All support Dolby Digital surround sound (as required by industry standards); some add Dolby Digital line outputs that connect the five surround channels (plus subwoofer) to a receiver or preamp that lacks a direct digital input jack. Most decks now support the rival DTS (Digital Theater Systems) format, which some audiophiles deem superior to Dolby Digital. Discs with DTS soundtracks are still relatively rare, however. A handful of decks are THX-certified to conform with the refined surround aesthetic developed by the makers of "Star Wars."

An increasing number of DVD players feature a virtual surround function that simulates surround effects with just two channels. As a more common but little-advertised bonus, many decks play 96/24 stereo discs (also known as Digital Audio Discs or Advanced Audio Discs) in a 96 kHz, 24-bit format that sounds more refined than today's conventional 44 kHz, 16-bit compact discs. These discs are primarily only music, though there are a few 96/24 music videos. True 96/24 sound is usually available only through the analog outputs, however, meaning that the signal must go through the player's own digital-to-analog converter, whether or not that particular DAC is any good. To appease copyright holders, most down convert the 96/24 signal to a lower-quality 48/16 format through the digital outputs to prevent cloning of the high-quality signal. A surround-capable version called DVD-Audio (see below) is on the way.

Despite promising signs of record industry acceptance, it may be a while before DVD-Audio discs are available in large numbers. There are thousands of HDCD-compatible CDs out there right now, however — you may even unknowingly own a few — and a few DVD players can get the best out of this enhanced CD format. Keep that in mind if you plan to use your player for music listening through a high-end system.

Also, if you plan to use the digital outputs — to replace a cheap player's DAC with a better outboard unit, for instance — your player must have either an optical or a coaxial output, preferably both. The qualitative difference between these is narrow, but the former requires special fiber-optic cable. (Given Hollywood's copyright concerns, there is no digital output for video.)


Feel

How speedily the machine responds to disc transport commands (play, scan, etc.) will directly affect the quality of your videophile life. If you're not comfortable with its speed, rhythm and control structure, your audiovisual party head may suffer. And if its interface makes you work too hard to select and maintain preferred settings, the first flush of enthusiasm may give way to annoyance and disillusion.

The remote must fit your hand, differentiating transport controls by size and shape and placing these and other commonly used functions where your fingers expect to find them. A jog/shuttle can be helpful at the deck and, especially, at the remote, where you'll use it more often. A motorized swing-down front panel can add a touch of showmanship. All these things are subjective in value — you may like them a lot or you may not care at all for them.


The future

DTV/HDTV may some day pose a threat to the current incarnation of DVD, but that day will likely be a long time coming. Whereas we expect DTV to grow slowly, we believe DVD will continue growing at a healthy pace, especially now that it has the support of all the major Hollywood studios.

Ultimately, DVD and HDTV will combine, thanks to the higher-bandwidth blue laser, but not until Hollywood is satisfied that copy-protection technology has made it impossible to make illegal copies of master-quality video material. The next generation of DVD players from format co-inventor Toshiba will include a NUON chip that adds interactive capabilities, including Web browsing and games.

Coming in 2000 are DVD-Audio players and (we pray) discs. These will add surround capability using the Meridian lossless encoding (MLP) technique. Like such lossy formats as Dolby Digital and DTS, MLP enables fat digital data to travel through somewhat thinner transmission media (including but not limited to DVD). Unlike lossy formats, which discard supposedly inaudible data, MLP reconstructs the entire digital signal.

DVD-Audio has a rival called SACD (see the section for details). Rumor has it that combi players handling both formats (plus DVD-Video and CD) are on the drawing boards for introduction in 2000.

From information provided by etown.com.