New to DVD? This should help. Review on Choosing a DVD Player

This is one of the most confusing things for any buyer who is new to DVD video.

Lets get to the basics first. Do you want a DVD player to watch your movies in stereo sounds (Thats 2 speakers) or do you want a DVD player can can give you 6 dedicated channels of sounds? (This is whats called Surround Sound to some extent)

Do you want a DVD player that will work with your existing television and would you also like to have the provision to be able to get even better picture quality from your DVD player when you do upgrade your TV to a more expensive and capable set?

Audio or Sound : There are various brands and features a DVD player can provide you. To start with there are DVD players that provide you with just two channels of analog sound. This can be connected to your existing music system if it has a stereo Aux input (Most new midrange price televisions offer such connectivity). This sound is good enough but you will be missing on various other channels of sound a DVD can deliver. Most DVD players that offer just stereo audio outputs also provide you with whats known as Digital Audio outputs.

They can be in two forms; Optical and Coaxial and you can observe this by looking behind the DVD payer. The terms used (Optical and Coaxial) are the same all DVD player manufacturers use to identify the connections behind DVD players. The drawback of this connection is that you can't get 6 channels of audio just by connecting it to you stereo amplifier at home. You need whats knows as a Digital Home Theatre Receiver which is capable of accepting such inputs and that will cost you nothing less than another Rs. 14000 plus the speakers (6 nos) which will costs you another Rs. 20000. This sounds expensive if you wanted to jump into Home Theatre on a low budget.

The solution to this is to look out for a DVD player that has Dolby Digital Decoding and Digital Theatre System or DTS decoding. Most DVD players have this symbol in front of them but it does not necessarily mean that the DVD player can decode this signal and provide you with 6 channels of sound. Some players offer only Dolby Digital decoding but its good to have DTS as well. Do not go by this and be mislead even of the sales personal tells you all decoding is available.

The only way to check this is to refer to the manufacturers website for product information or if you are at a dealer ask for the DVD players user manual and look out for information regarding Dolby Digital and DTS decoding. Another way to check this is to look behind your DVD player.

Look for connections termed as FL (Front Left), FR (Front Right), C (Centre), SW (Sub Woofer), SL (Surround Left) and SR (Surround Right). If these connections are present then its possible for the DVD player to have either Dolby Digital or DTS decoding and in most cases both formats will be present. If these connections are present you can have a Home Theatre system built with a total investment of Rs. 15000 or less (With speakers and good sound in a small room).

A hard core audio enthusiast will not buy a DVD player as I've mentioned above. DVD players with built in Decoders are not the best way to achieve good channel separation in a professional Home Theatre setup.

Video or Picture : DVD players are known for their superior picture quality. For this we have various connectivity levels on offer on most DVD players. The basic connection thats most used is called Composite connection and all televisions sold in the market today offer this connection as an Input it can accept from your DVD player. The other connection is called S Video and this needs a television that can accept this connection.

The connection jack for S Video is also very different and few televisions provide you with such connections. S Video offers superior picture quality and is better than Composite but don't forget that you need to invest in a slightly more expensive televisions set to make use of this feature. The best picture you can achieve from a DVD player is via Component Video connection and most DVD players provide this output system but the sad thing is very few televisions provide this feature.

This connection on televisions are found only in the 29'' segment and sets priced at Rs. 25000 or above. Some top end DVD players provide whats known as Progressive Scan picture and this again needs another television that can accept such a signal.

Component Video along with Progressive scan provides the best DVD picture but don't feel bad if you are unable to invest on expensive television sets or DVD player. If you are someone coming from the VCR or VCD group you will be amazed at the picture quality even from the lowest form of connection to your TV and thats called Composite Video connection.

To identify video connections behind your DVD player you can look or for a jack termed Composite Video Output (The jack will be in yellow), for S Video it will be a small black round jack with a lot of pin holes in it and the jack will be termed S Video, for Component Video you will have 3 separate jacks in color coding as Blue, Red and Green (This method of video connectivity basically splits all the 3 colors Red, Green and Blue and sends them as separate signals to the TV for the best color reproduction you can get). There is one other connection I forgot to mention earlier and its called VGA and is mostly used to connect the DVD player with your PC monitor or expensive Plasma or LCD displays that cost lacs.

Another form of connection is called Scart and its a European standard but this connection is very rare to come by on televisions sold in India. I guess i've seen them only on Philips and Thomson television sets.

Features : There are unending features provided on DVD players today. Some are useful and most are just marketing gimmicks. Multi Disc/File format reading capability is useful to have if you do not own a PC. Terms known as MP3 (For music), CDR, CDRW DVD+R, DVD+RW, WMA, AVI, DIVX are good symbols to look for in the DVD players front panel, user manual or product brochure. These are various kinds of CD/File formats your player can accept and read contents in them and its good if you buy a DVD player with these benefits.

The other basic functions you need are a fast forward and rewind capability. A good figure would be 24X speed. I higher figure means the player can either fast forward or rewind at a higher speed. Resume Play is good and this feature resumes playing a movie from where you stopped last. A full function easy to use remote is a must.

There are some points I might have missed out but if you have any doubts please make full use of Mouthshut M2M service and I will get back to you. This article should be useful for most you.

Good affordable DVD Player brands are Philips, Onida, LG , Aiwa, Teac, Pioneer, Samsung, Toshiba

Mid Range DVD Players are Sony, Onkyo, Harman Kardon, Yamaha, Pioneer, Wharfedale, Denon, etc

Top of the line DVD players (Expensive Stuff with Picture and Sound in a different league): Marantz, Rotel, Krell, NAD, Onkyo, Harman Kardon