So your new HDTV and surround sound system are all set up and ready to rock, but you still need a DVD player. What’s that? You saw one at Wal-Mart for 50 bucks but can’t remember the brand? Allow me to butt in here: your DVD player is going to be the source for most of the movies and music you’ll watch or listen to on your new system, so don’t just snap one up without giving it some thought. Here are a few pointers to start you on your way.

• DVD Player Basics

• Worthwhile Upgrades

• Music Matters

• Photos & Networking

• DVD Recorders

• Hard-Disk Heaven

• Other Sources

• The Lingo

DVD Player Basics
Even if there’s not much money left in your home theater kitty after you spring for big-ticket items like a TV and speakers, plan on spending at least $100 for a DVD player. And go for a familiar brand name: you’ll have fewer headaches if it needs service, and simple things you’d normally take for granted — like the remote control and onscreen menus — are bound to work better. For a basic player, you’re looking at two types: single-disc models, which handle one DVD or CD at a time, and changers, which let you store five or more discs — great for keeping the tunes flowing at parties or for all-night movie marathons.


A single-disc model (top) makes a good starter player, but if you're ready for DVD recording, consider a DVD/VHS recorder combo (middle) or a DVD/hard-disk combo (bottom).

Worthwhile Upgrades
If you have an HDTV, you’ll get the best possible picture from DVDs by choosing a player with a progressive-scan output (see “The Lingo” for explanations of this and other key terms). Because these models send twice as much video information to the TV as standard models, you get a cleaner and smoother-looking picture. Most progressive-scan players cost only a bit more than standard ones, so there’s no good excuse not to at least consider them. To reap the benefits of this technology, you’ll need to use the player’s component-video jacks. Most players don’t come with component-video cables, so you’ll have to buy them separately.

If your HDTV has either a DVI or HDMI input, another upgrade that’s worth the extra money is a DVI or HDMI output. You’ll generally get a more pristine picture with these connections because they keep the video signal digital all the way from the DVD to the TV, eliminating a whole stage of digital-to-analog-to-digital conversion.

Players with these connectors go even further by upconverting the standard video on a DVD to an HDTV format, either 720p  or 1080i. What you’re seeing isn’t true high-definition — the player can’t actually add detail to the picture — but you’d be surprised how close it looks to the real thing. (For more on this, see “Resolution Basics” on page 81.)

Music Matters
DVD players do more than just play movies. They’re fine CD players, too, and most new models can play MP3 music files that you’ve burned onto CD. But if you’re really into downloading music, why not get a player that can also handle WMA files so you can listen to homemade discs of tunes you’ve bought online?

When shopping around for a DVD player, you’ll run across models that feature DVD-Audio or Super Audio CD (SACD) playback. If you’re wondering what the bleep those are, they’re relatively new “high-resolution,” surround sound music formats aimed mostly at audiophiles. They provide a music-listening experience that draws you in like a first-rate movie soundtrack. The catalog of SACD and DVD-Audio titles is minuscule, but there are some great recordings (see “Heavenly Surround” on page 103 and “Tracking Surround” on page 112 on the January 2005 issue of S&V).

Players designed to handle SACDs are incompatible with DVD-Audio discs, and vice versa, with the exception of some universal players that can handle both formats — and much more. To experience the studio-quality sound that DVD-Audio and SACD can produce, you’ll need to connect the player’s six multichannel analog audio output jacks to corresponding input jacks on your receiver (assuming it has them — most recent models do). Usually, these jacks are the only way to get the high-res signals into your receiver, but a handful of (expensive) players and receivers now feature digital SACD/DVD-Audio connections via a FireWire or proprietary cable.

Photos & Networking
While the result might not be as thrilling as watching slideshows of your parents’ vacations when you were a kid, some DVD players let you use your TV to view digital snapshots stored on disc in JPEG format. A few can also handle Kodak Picture CDs — a CD-ROM you can get instead of prints when Kodak processes a roll of film. Another photo-friendly option on some DVD players is a flash-media slot for your camera’s memory card.

If you have a wired or wireless network at home, you can also find players with an Ethernet port that will let you retrieve images — as well as music files and even videos — from your computer’s hard drive for playback in your home theater. More and more entertainment gear is taking advantage of this sort of connectivity, or “convergence,” with networked computers.

DVD Recorders
One thing that’s hard to ignore when you’re buying a DVD player these days is how much better movies look and sound on disc than on VHS tape. But until recently, if you wanted to record TV shows, you needed to hang on to your dinosaur VCR. Not anymore: DVD recorders can be had for less than $300, making this an affordable option for high-quality TV time-shifting.

The big question when it comes to DVD recorders is, which disc format should you buy into — DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, or DVD-RAM? Which format “family” is best? All of these formats offer the same video and audio quality, so which ones you settle on will depend on more practical concerns — like who you plan to share your discs with (no players handle every recordable format) or which format your computer’s DVD drive uses.

DVD-R (“minus R”) and DVD+R (“plus R”) are both write-once formats. Whatever you record on these discs is final — no editing or “recording over.” DVD-RW, DVD+RW, and DVD-RAM discs, on the other hand, are erasable, so you can edit them and record on them over and over again. Most models record and play discs in either the “minus” or the “plus” camp. A few so-called “universal” recorders can record and play both DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW discs, and most DVD-RAM decks also record and play either DVD-R or both DVD-R and DVD-RW discs, but not DVD+R/RW. No recorders can burn all five formats.

If you regularly record TV shows and also like to send your friends recordings of programs they’ve missed, go with a “plus” or “minus” deck. You might want to look for a machine that will let you manually insert chapter markers while recording, something many recorders don’t allow. This will let you easily skip commercials during playback — a time- and brain cell-saver your pals will appreciate, too. And if you’re looking to make the most of your prime-time TV viewing, DVD-RAM decks let you watch a program you previously recorded — say, last week’s episode of The Apprentice — at the same time you’re recording a new episode on the same disc.

If you still have a sprawling collection of VHS tapes, a more useful spin on DVD than a basic player might be a DVD/VHS combo that puts a DVD player or recorder in the same chassis as a VHS Hi-Fi VCR, saving valuable shelf space. In inexpensive combos, the DVD and VHS sections usually share the same composite/S-video output, which can simplify setup. Combos that record on both discs and tape tend to be a little more expensive than bare-bones DVD recorders and will have a separate progressive-scan component-video output for the DVD side.

Hard-Disk Heaven
Unless you’ve been in a monastery for the past five years, you’ve probably heard of the revolutionary TiVo and ReplayTV video recorders. Hard-disk recorders like these let you watch TV programs at your leisure, scan them in forward or reverse — even while they’re still being recorded! — and either save or erase them and record others in their place. A number of new DVD recorders have built-in hard drives, giving you the option of recording loads of programs and transferring only the “keepers” to DVD.

The hard-drive capacity in DVD/hard-disk combo recorders varies from 80 to 160 gigabytes (GB), with the average being 120 GB — enough for about 30 hours of TV at the highest-quality record setting, or more if you’re willing to settle for a lower-quality picture. A few DVD/hard-disk recorders, including models from Toshiba and Pioneer, come with TiVo’s electronic program guide (EPG) interface, a fee-based service with many cool features — like Season Pass, which automatically finds and records every episode of your favorite TV shows. But many other combos simply provide TV Guide On Screen, a free, less elaborate EPG that’s continuously updated and lets you record a program by selecting its listing in the guide.

Considering how many DVD players, and even recorders, are available, and how varied their features are, there’s a machine to fit every need, whether it’s listening to music in state-of-the-art surround sound or building a library of Da Ali G Show episodes to laugh at with your buddies. With so many options, you owe it to yourself to look carefully before leaping. That $50 player at Wal-Mart might seem like a good deal, but in the long run it’s probably not the way to go.

>> Other Sources

DVD isn't the only game in town when it comes to watching movies on your new HDTV. With a high-def Dish Network, Voom, or DirecTV satellite receiver (Dish and DirecTV offer both basic models and ones with a built-in hard disk for recording) you'll have access to hundreds of channels of programming, including a number of HDTV movie and sports channels. These receivers also have built-in off-air digital tuners that let you pull in local HDTV broadcasts with an antenna. The broadcast channels show up in the receiver's electronic program guide alongside the satellite ones, which makes for a smooth integration between the two. Most cable companies that offer digital service also provide high-def channels — in many cases, local HDTV broadcasts are carried along with premium channels like Showtime and HBO, eliminating the need for an antenna. You can lease a high-def cable box from your cable provider just as you do for standard-def cable — some even offer high-def boxes with built-in hard-disk recorders. The supply of high-def boxes may be limited, however. Another high-def source for your new system is a D-VHS VCR, which plays prerecorded movies in the 1080i format. While it's not exactly dead in the water yet as a movie format, fewer than 100 titles have been released on D-VHS since its launch in 2002, with only one new movie issued in 2004. But D-VHS decks, which are available from JVC, Marantz, and Mitsubishi and cost around $500, can also record high-definition TV broadcasts when connected to an HDTV or an outboard HDTV tuner via FireWire (a.k.a. IEEE 1394, i.Link, or DTVLink).

>> The Lingo

component-video jacks A trio of RCA connectors that carry video in a high-quality analog format, consisting of a black-and-white signal (Y) and two color-difference signals (blue – Y and red – Y). DVI output Digital Visual Interface, a connection scheme that keeps the video from a DVD in the digital domain all the way to the TV. flash-media slot Lets a DVD player display digital photos and other images stored on removable flash-memory cards like SD/MMC, CompactFlash, and Memory Stick. HDMI output High Definition Multimedia Interface, a connection scheme that keeps both the video and audio from a DVD in the digital domain all the way to the TV. multichannel analog audio output jacks A set of six RCA jacks that separately carry each channel from an SACD or DVD-Audio disc or the soundtrack of a DVD movie. Surround music recordings don't necessarily use all six available channels. progressive-scan output A special output with circuitry that processes the DVD signal so that when it's sent to a digital TV, all of the scan lines in a frame will be shown sequentially, as on a computer monitor, instead of in two alternate “interlaced” fields of odd and even lines. Progressive-scan images are smoother-looking than standard interlaced images. 720p and 1080i The most common HDTV formats; 720p (the “p” is for progressive-scan) uses 720 horizontal scan lines, or rows of pixels, per frame, displayed progressively, while 1080i (“i” for interlaced) uses 1,080 lines displayed in two alternating fields of 540 lines each. upconversion When a player upgrades the standard-definition digital video on a DVD to progressive-scan or one of the high-definition formats by multiplying the existing scan lines to create smoother, more densely textured images. Upconversion can't create detail that doesn't exist in the original. universal player A DVD player that can handle DVD-Video and DVD-Audio discs, CDs and CD-R/RW discs, SACDs, Video CDs, and several recordable-DVD formats. Universal models typically play MP3 files and display JPEG images; some also play WMA files, Picture CDs, and various other music, video, and photo formats. “universal” recorder There really isn't one, since no recorder handles all three “families” of recordable DVD formats. But a number of recorders handle two of them, plus various play-only formats. WMA files Windows Media Audio, Microsoft's alternative to MP3.