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Buyers
Guides > DVD players &
DVD recorders
Introduction
The DVD (short for “Digital
Video Disk”, or, alternatively, “Digital
Versatile Disk”) is, to the world
of video entertainment, what the CD (“Compact
Disk”) is to the world of audio entertainment,
and a little more besides. As the name suggests,
DVD technology is a superior, sophisticated,
digital replacement for traditional, analogue
recording techniques – such as VHS
(“Video Home System”) tape,
which, along with audio cassette tape, is
soon to be confined to the museum of human
technological history.
The advantages of DVD technology
are many and varied – superb, digital-quality
pictures, and sound (Dolby Digital is the
industry standard for DVD, so you can take
advantage of all the benefits of true surround
sound) are the most obvious attractions,
but there are so many others, that it’s
no real wonder that DVD players and DVD
recorders are becoming, or have become,
essential components of many home entertainments
systems.
A DVD player, or recorder,
has fewer moving parts than a traditional
video cassette recorder (VCR), and is therefore
more reliable, in the long-term, and DVDs,
themselves, are more compact in size, more
durable, and less susceptible to degradation,
than video cassette tapes. In addition,
the recording process is also more straightforward
– free storage space, for example,
is located quickly and easily, by the device,
itself, without the perpetual winding to
and fro of video tape, and without the danger
of accidentally recording “Match of
the Day” over your wedding video.
Key Features
DVDs, themselves, are available
in a number of different “flavours”,
and while this not need be too much of a
worry – most DVD players and recorders,
especially the very latest models, will
support most, if not all, of the available
formats – it is worth checking the
available options, to make sure that your
favourite format is actually included.
DVDs designated “DVD+/-R”,
are “write once, read many”
– in other words, you can only record
to them once – and are generally,
initially, less expensive than some of the
alternatives, although this type of recording
can be quite wasteful, in terms of storage
space, so you may find that the cost soon
mounts up.
“DVD+/-RW”, and
“DVD-RAM” formats, on the other
hand, are “write many, read many”,
which means that they can be overwritten
many times, perhaps 1,000 times for DVD+/-RW,
and, theoretically, at least, 100,000 times
for DVD-RAM.
While you’re checking
the accuracy of this latter figure, you
might also like to ponder whether your chosen
DVD player supports other “do-it-yourself”
formats, such as CD-R, or CD-RW, so that
you also can play, or display, your favourite
MP3, or WAV, audio and JPEG image, files.
The Xoro HRT1500 DVD Player, for example,
supports all of the formats, and includes
a “freeview” TV tuner.
If you’re a real film
buff, you might also like to consider an
HDD (“Hard Disk Drive”) DVD
recorder that allows you to record either
to DVD, or to a high-capacity hard drive,
similar to the type used in computers. Hard
disk models are available with storage capacities
of around 100, 200, or even 300+ GB, allowing
you to record – depending, of course,
on your chosen recording quality –
up to several hundred hours of video.
Most DVD recorder of this
type are quite sophisticated – many,
for example, have a “live pause”
function, which allows you to stop and start
live programming at will, and the facility
to watch one recorded programme while simultaneously
recording another. The Yamada DTV-3000 DVD
Recorder, for example, features an integral
160 GB hard disk, and the Yamada DT-1000HX
model offers hard disk capacity of 250 GB,
enough for up 300 hours of video.
If you’re intending
to make a DVD player or recorder an integral
part of your home entertainment system,
you’ll also need to take notice of
the connections, or interfaces, that are
available – for attachment, for example,
to an HD (“High Definition”)
television receiver. All players and recorders
will probably feature traditional, analogue
connections, such as composite, or component,
or S-video, but the latest models may also
support newer, all-digital protocols, such
as DVI (“Digital Visual Interface”)
and HDMI (“High Definition Multimedia
Interface”). The results produced,
in terms of video, and audio, quality by
these new standards, are far superior to
those of their analogue counterparts –
no loss-making, digital to analogue (and
back again) conversions are required, and
high band widths and data transfer speeds
mean that all home entertainment formats,
including HDTV, are supported, with no loss
of quality whatsoever. Bear in mind, however,
that DVI connections are limited to around
5 metres, of so, beyond which degradation
of the signal will become evident. HDMI
is 100% backwardly compatible – via
a converter – with any devices supporting
the DVI standard. The Relisys RDVP1000 DVD
Player, for example, includes DVI and HDMI
outputs, as well as DVD component, composite
and S-video connections.
A DVD changer, or “carousel”
can also be a very useful addition, saving
time, inconvenience and space. You can,
for example, find changers that will store
several DVDs, CDs, or a combination of the
two, all of which can be accessed at the
push of a button – and DVD “jukeboxes”,
following the CD route, with much higher
capacities, will be the next step.
Conclusion
Persuasive sales patter, glossy
brochures and impressive specifications
will attempt to convince you that whichever
model you’re considering is absolutely,
without question, the best thing since sliced
bread, so you do need to learn to read between
the lines, at little, when weighing up this
kind of information. Is there, for example,
anything obviously missing from the description?
Independent test results, and user reviews
are often a very reliable source of information,
and will include the good – and, more
importantly – the bad, and the ugly,
points of any DVD player or DVD recorder
that you may be considering. Don’t
forget, too, to factor in the – if
not exactly hidden, then partially obscured,
shall we say – costs of items such
as DVD media, and high-quality cabling,
if need be (cables included, “as standard”,
tend to be fairly low-quality, and not very
long).
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