- High-definition DVD players
- Ratings
- CR Quick Recommendations
- How to choose
- Important features
- Standard-definition DVD players
- Ratings
- CR Quick Recommendations
- Features
- Important features
- Complete features glossary
- How to choose
- First look
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Important features DVD players
DVD-based movies often come in various formats. Aspect-ratio control lets you choose between the 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.
A DVD player gives you all sorts of control over the picture--control you might never have known you needed. 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. Note that this feature and some others work only with certain discs.
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 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.
To get the most from a DVD player, you need to hook it up to the TV with the best available connection. A composite-video connection can produce a very good picture, but there will be some loss of detail and some color artifacts such as adjacent colors bleeding into each other. Using the TV’s S-video input can improve picture quality. It keeps the black-and-white and the color portions of the signal separated, producing more picture detail and fewer color defects.
Component-video, sometimes not provided on the lowest-end models, improves on S-video by splitting the color signal, resulting in a wider range of color. If you connect a DVD player via an S-video or component connection, don’t be surprised if you have to adjust the television-picture setup when you switch to a picture coming from an antenna, a VCR, or a cable box that uses a radio-frequency (RF, also called antenna/cable) connection or a composite connection.
Two newer outputs found on some players, Digital Video Interface (DVI) and High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), are intended for use with digital TVs with corresponding inputs. They may be used to pass digital 480p, up-converted higher-resolution video signals, and HD signals. These connections potentially allow content providers to control your ability to record the content.
Another benefit of DVD players is the ability to enjoy movies with multichannel surround sound. To reap the full sound experience of the audio encoded into 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 the audio 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 format. When watching DVD-based movies, dynamic audio-range control helps keep explosions and other noisy sound effects from seeming too loud.
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. Make sure the one you’re considering plays the discs and formats you use now or might want to use in the future.
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 lets parents “lock out” films by rating code.
See our latest Ratings of DVD players and related information (available to subscribers).
DVD-based movies often come in various formats. Aspect-ratio control lets you choose between the 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.
A DVD player gives you all sorts of control over the picture--control you might never have known you needed. 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. Note that this feature and some others work only with certain discs.
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 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.
To get the most from a DVD player, you need to hook it up to the TV with the best available connection. A composite-video connection can produce a very good picture, but there will be some loss of detail and some color artifacts such as adjacent colors bleeding into each other. Using the TV’s S-video input can improve picture quality. It keeps the black-and-white and the color portions of the signal separated, producing more picture detail and fewer color defects.
Component-video, sometimes not provided on the lowest-end models, improves on S-video by splitting the color signal, resulting in a wider range of color. If you connect a DVD player via an S-video or component connection, don’t be surprised if you have to adjust the television-picture setup when you switch to a picture coming from an antenna, a VCR, or a cable box that uses a radio-frequency (RF, also called antenna/cable) connection or a composite connection.
Two newer outputs found on some players, Digital Video Interface (DVI) and High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), are intended for use with digital TVs with corresponding inputs. They may be used to pass digital 480p, up-converted higher-resolution video signals, and HD signals. These connections potentially allow content providers to control your ability to record the content.
Another benefit of DVD players is the ability to enjoy movies with multichannel surround sound. To reap the full sound experience of the audio encoded into 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 the audio 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 format. When watching DVD-based movies, dynamic audio-range control helps keep explosions and other noisy sound effects from seeming too loud.
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. Make sure the one you’re considering plays the discs and formats you use now or might want to use in the future.
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 lets parents “lock out” films by rating code.
See our latest Ratings of DVD players and related information (available to subscribers).
