Features

Getting a DVD player with all the right features will increase your long-term satisfaction and enjoyment.

Connections

All high-def players have HDMI and component-video connections, which are required to view high-definition pictures on an HDTV. Most standard DVD players also have these connections now, plus S-video and composite-video outputs. All high-def players we've seen have composite-video outputs, and most have an S-video connection. When used with high-def discs, all players will support at least 5.1-channel sound through the digital-audio outputs.

Disc capacity

Most standard players and all Blu-ray players accommodate a single disc at a time. Other standard players have carousels that can hold several (generally three or five) discs. DVD jukeboxes are able to hold 100 discs or more.

Disc formats

In addition to commercial DVD titles, DVD players often support playback or display of many other formats. They include CD-R/RW recordings of standard audio CDs, the recordable DVD formats DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW, and DVD-RAM, Video CD (VCD), and DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD (SACD). They can also play CD-R/RW discs containing MP3 and Windows Media Audio (WMA) files and JPEG picture files. All Blu-ray players can play commercial Blu-ray discs and standard DVDs. All current Blu-ray players play commercially released CDs, and may play CDs burned with MP3 files. A given model might or might not play JPEG, WMA, or video CDs, or DVD-/+/R/RW or DVD-RAM discs you've recorded.

Picture control

DVD players give you all sorts of control over the picture. The Aspect-ratio control DVD player feature lets you choose between the squarish 4:3 viewing format of conventional TVs (4 inches wide for every 3 inches high) and the 16:9 ratio of newer wide-screen sets. Picture zoom lets you zoom in on a specific frame. Black-level adjustment brings out the detail in dark parts of the screen image. If you've ever wanted to see certain action scenes from different angles, multiangle capability gives you that opportunity when used with discs that include this feature.

Navigation

A DVD player enables you to navigate the disc in a number of ways. Unlike a VHS tape, most DVDs are sectioned. Chapter preview lets you scan the opening seconds of each section or chapter until you find what you want. A related DVD player feature, chapter gallery, shows thumbnails of section or chapter opening scenes. Go-to by time lets you enter how many hours and minutes into the disc you'd like to skip to. Marker functions allow easy indexing of specific sections. Blu-ray interactivity allows you to navigate the disc's menus and other content without leaving the movie.

Surround sound

Another benefit of Blu-ray and standard DVD players is the ability to enjoy movies with multichannel surround sound. To reap the full sound experience of the audio encoded into standard DVD titles, you'll need a Dolby Digital receiver and six speakers, including a subwoofer. (For 6.1 and 7.1 soundtracks, you'll need seven or eight speakers.) Dolby Digital decoding built-in refers to a DVD player that decodes the multichannel audio before it gets to the receiver. Without the built-in circuitry, you'd need a decoder built into the receiver or, in rare instances, a separate decoder box to take advantage of the audio. (A Dolby Digital receiver will also decode an older format, Dolby Pro Logic.) Most players also support Digital Theater System (DTS) decoding for titles using 5.1-, 6.1-, or 7.1-channel encoding.

When you're watching a movie on DVD, dynamic audio-range controls help keep explosions and other noisy sound effects from seeming too loud. Some Blu-ray players support a few additional multichannel formats, including Dolby Digital Plus and DTS High Resolution Audio, higher-resolution 7.1-channel audio, and new lossless Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master formats that are bit-for-bit reproductions of the movie's master soundtrack.

Most DVD players also provide features such as multilingual support, which lets you choose dialog or subtitles in different languages for a movie. Parental control is a DVD player feature that lets you lock out films by their rating code.

See also:

HDTVs

Digital video recorders

Home theater systems