It would be easy to bet VHS players have been obsolete in living rooms in the past few years and it would be surprising to know if someone right now still has the Video Home System (VHS) connected to their television. If ever there's a person holding the old JVC item for sentimental purposes, what were they thinking? It's now the era of DVD players!
Whether you want to play that Avatar Blu-ray disc or go back and relieve The Godfather all over again, DVD players are now the most popular format for home video playback. DVD players slowly emerged from the front door of 'future technology' in 1997 signifying the demise of VHS and VCRs. DVD players have since exploded in 2000 and is now the dominant playback technology in every home.
The standard Digital Video Disc (or DVD-Video) for DVD players come at the same size as a CD and can store 133 minutes per side. DVD provides a better quality digital video when played on digital television. It progressively scans in playback where it 'paints' the full screen image 60x per second. Thus it creates a sharper picture compared to the medieval interlaced playback of full screen image 30 x per second.
There are actually no bad DVD players when you compare the notable brands in the market. It's a matter of what they can actually do, what type of media they support (CD, VCD, SACD, DVD- R, etc.), what type of formats they offer (Avi, Divx, WMA, etc.) and what type of connectivity it has (Card Readers, HDMI sockets, and so on).
A DVD player is the best addition that you would want in your home theater system and it definitely enhances your viewing and sound pleasure hundred folds.
Multidisc
Multidisc players are great if you want to store your whole DVD and CD library. The most reliable models can conveniently organize and sort 400 media discs; it's so cool it eliminates your need for CD and DVD racks.
Progressive Scan
This type of DVD player usually outputs the video on a progressive scan format (either 480p or 720p). Another name for it is the 'upconverting DVD player'.
Component
A component DVD player contains outputs, such as an optical and coaxial use
for Audio and Video receivers. Component DVD has truly the best and hardcore quality you would want to have in a home entertainment system.
Multiple
DVD players nowadays supports multiple discs formats (not to be confused with multidisc) where it can play VCD, CD, CD-R with MP3, CD-RWs, SACD, DVD-R and DVD- Audio. Consider beforehand if you will use this type of discs and keep your options open for a DVD player with expanded discs feature.
Common DVD players have composite video cable (yellow code) which lets you connect to your television through a composite video jack. Some players have the S-connector output, which improves the image quality of your TV screen. .
Latest models now come with digital and optical outputs aside from the analog stereo outputs. If you're more into music, you should get a player that has one optical and one coaxial connection so you'll have flexibility. Coax connection can provide better audio than those analog outputs. Much better though is the 'Virtual Surround Sound' which mimics the surround sound effects in a movie theater with the use of two stereo speakers.
Make sure you know some important aspects of DVD players. Consider the media you want - your two best options are DVD and Blu-ray. One interesting feature of Blu-ray is that it can also play DVDs and it’s a perfect complement for your HDTV. Blu-ray however is more expensive than its DVD counterpart.
Look into the types of formats you will play in your DVD unit as well. The most common types of media formats today are Avi or DivX for video, Mp3 or WMA for music, Jpeg for photos and so forth.
Many DVD players now have the function to let you play Mp3, Avi and Jpeg from a Memory Card or a USB flash drive. The best thing about these features is that it gives you easy access to your files with no need to burn them in CD or DVD formats, thus saving you time and money.
HDMI - High Definition Multimedia Interference. The compact audio and video interface that transmit the uncompressed digital data. The digital alternative to consumer analog standard.
DivX - Brand name of products which includes the DivX Codec. The codec is a free open source, popular for it's capability to compress lengthy videos into small segments while still having the excellently high visual quality. Competitors are Windows Media Video and Quicktime.
AVI - Audio Video Interleave. The video and audio data are both contained in one single file container that lets you have a synchronous video with audio playback. It's like the DVD video format.
WMA - Windows Media Audio. This refers to an audio file format, developed in part of the Windows Media framework. It was conceived as a competitor for the more popular Mp3.