Introduction
The technology involved in home entertainment has advanced in leaps and bounds in recent years, and, while even the simplest standard DVD player offers superior video and audio quality, and simplified navigation, when compared with its predecessor, the VCR (“Video Cassette Recorder”), a range of enhanced features and functionality promises to take the concept of home entertainment to new levels.
DVD Player Features & Functions
Traditionally, DVD media employed regional encoding to protect pricing and release date differences, etc., between different geographical regions of the world; pre-recorded media sold in the United States was designated “Region 1″, that sold in Europe “Region 2″, and so on. Regional encoding persists in some, but not all, DVD media – that which is playable on any player is usually designated “Region 0″ – so if you are in the habit of acquiring DVDs from outside Europe, you may like to consider a so-called “multi region” DVD player, to avoid any encoding problems.
There are, of course, a number of different DVD formats – DVD+/-R, DVD+/-RW, and the proprietary DVD-RAM format – as well as the various CD formats. Some DVD players support more than one format, but if you have an existing DVD collection, or you are in the habit of creating “do-it-yourself” DVDs, you may need to check that your chosen player supports the format(s) that you need.
In addition, a DVD player does not exist in isolation, and needs to be connected to a TV and, probably, other components of your home entertainment system. Standard, 21-pin SCART (“Syndicat des Constructeurs d`Appareils Radiorécepteurs et Téléviseurs”) connections are common on DVD players, and TV sets, but S-video, component video, and especially HDMI less so, so, once again you need to check compatibility. Look, too, for coaxial or optical digital audio output, particularly if you are connecting your DVD player to a digital surround sound system.
What DVD players cannot do, of course, is to play true HD discs – that requires a Blu-ray Disc, or other HD, player – but what they can do, if you have an HDTV with HDMI (“High Definition Multimedia Interface”) connection, is to “upconvert” the 480 lines of picture information in each video frame to create an approximation of HD pictures. Essentially, this involves the insertion of extra lines, not present in the original signal, to create a simulated, 1080-line, HDTV picture.
