by Steve Tannehill

Introduction The holiday shopping season officially gets underway this Friday, and a lot of us will be in the market for a new DVD player. So what should you buy? Well, I wish it were that easy. Last year at this time, there were only a few choices and brands from which to choose. This year, there are many, many more choices. So what I hope to do over the next few days is to try to categorize the different types of DVD players that are out there, and give you an idea of what you might want to look for in one. I'll start with some general rules that apply not only to DVD players but also to home theater equipment in general. These are just my opinions; if you have other ideas, please feel free to mention them on the DVD Resource Forum. I will explore these more fully as the week progresses.

Try to use a television that is at least S-Video capable. Most televisions with an auxiliary input will support either composite video or S-Video. Some people find that S-Video looks better and provides more detail to the picture than composite video (I found this to be especially true on my parents' aging rear projection TV). Some higher-end televisions offer component video. While this is an improvement over even

S-Video, most people think it is only a minimal one. Try to get a sound system that offers at least Dolby Digital. There really is a night-and-day difference between Dolby Pro-Logic and Dolby Digital, especially on today's modern feature film sound extravaganzas. Don't expect $3000 performance out of a $300 sound system. Sad, but true. While there are some nice all-in-one and inexpensive sound systems on the market, you do tend to get what you pay for...which is not to say that a $300 Dolby Digital receiver is bad, nor that spending twice the money will get you twice the sound quality. Now I am not a fan of expensive components: if you pay $4000 for a set of speakers, that's one less car you could be driving around in. But I'll bet those speakers sound good...the trick is to find the compromise between price, features, and quality that will not break the bank. Do expect to pay at least $300-$400 for a DVD player. I'll talk more about DVD player features tomorrow. 

DVD Player Features Whether you plan to build a home theater from the ground up, or if you just want to supplement your VCR with the great movies on DVD, a DVD player is now one of the building blocks in any home entertainment system. The good news is that you can see immediate benefit even if you don't have a significant investment in a video or sound system. Those "rules" that I posted yesterday? Throw them out the window if you want. You can get into DVD for as little as the cost of a player ($300 or less) with no change to your television or sound system. Soon, you will be spinning discs and enjoying the benefit of some of the great content available only on DVD.
Of course, you may also fall in to the same cycle that I did when I got into laserdisc several years ago. First, I got the laserdisc player. Next, I got a surround sound processor. Then I upgraded speakers. Then I got a larger television. It took several years for this cycle of upgrades to take place, and I got several years of enjoyment out of the these components (albeit with occasional upgrades to the laserdisc player.)
Then DVD came along, and the whole hardware upgrade cycle started to repeat itself. Now I am pretty compulsive about high-tech toys, so that may explain my desire to upgrade hardware periodically. But in all seriousness, like laserdisc, DVD made me want to make my home theater the best it could be. So even though it may be possible to get into DVD for the price of a DVD player, you might want to be prepared for later hardware fallout! DVD players come in many flavors, but they are generally all composed of a fixed set of features. Some players are no-frills with a minimum set of features. Some players are full-blown, with everything and the kitchen sink. What follows today is a listing of major DVD player features to consider (I am sure if I miss any, you will let me know!). Tomorrow, I'll try to put all these features together into some of the DVD players that are currently on the market.

Stereo Audio Output: If you look at the back of a DVD player, you will almost always notice the standard RCA-style red/white right/left audio outputs common to all forms of video and audio equipment. Without any additional hardware, you can plug these into your television or receiver and get at a minimum stereo playback. If you have a surround sound decoder, and the signal is so encoded, you will get Dolby Surround just like any other video source.

Dolby Digital Output: Most DVD players also offer optical and coaxial Dolby Digital outputs. The coaxial output looks like a standard RCA jack, usually colored orange; the optical output is usually covered with a plastic cap, but when opened reveals a 6-sided jack with a small round receptacle which transmits light. With the proper cable, you can plug into a Dolby Digital decoder or receiver and get up to 6 channels of sound (five full-range channels and one dedicated subwoofer channel).

Dolby Digital Decoder: Some DVD players also offer a built-in Dolby Digital decoder in addition to the coaxial and optical digital outputs. With a decoder built-in, the DVD player provides separate outputs for all six channels of sound. That is to say, you will see jacks for left, right, center, left surround, right surround, and subwoofer. Why would you want this? Well, you no longer need a decoder to achieve Dolby Digital sound. If your receiver has six discrete (separate) inputs for Dolby Digital, you can run simple interconnects between the DVD player and the receiver and have instant multichannel sound. Receivers that have these six discrete inputs are usually called "Dolby Digital Ready."

DTS Digital Out: Many newer DVD players support the DTS bitstream, which is a competing 5.1 sound format similar to Dolby Digital. DTS uses less compression than Dolby Digital and some people believe that it makes for better sound. Now, I am not going to get into a debate over which sound format is better, however as of this writing, there are some 2200 DVDs with Dolby Digital and only two with DTS. The numbers will improve next year. As far as physical outputs are concerned, the DTS signal is output over the standard coaxial or optical jacks mentioned earlier; again, not all DVD players have the smarts built-in to pass this signal. Composite Video: Usually an RCA jack that is yellow in color, the composite video signal can be run to your television or A/V receiver (or R/F modulator if your television lacks the A/V inputs). All DVD players support composite video. Note that many DVD players only come with a basic set of A/V patch cables, that is, the red and white audio cables coupled with a yellow video cable. If you want to use S-Video or Component video, you may have to buy additional cables.

S-Video: S-Video separates the color and brightness components of a video signal to improve picture quality. Almost all DVD players support S-Video, although not all players come with an S-Video cable. As I have said in the past, I prefer S-Video over composite video, and have noticed a marked improvement on older televisions when using S-Video instead of composite. Your results may vary.

Component Video: This used to be a feature of high-end DVD players, but it is getting to be more common. Component Video separates the video signal into three separate signals, which by design are also encoded onto the DVD. While this can provide the best possible picture on a TV with component-video inputs, many people (myself included) are hard-pressed to see a difference between Component Video and S-Video. Audio Enhancement: We have yet to see DVD-Audio applications, but some DVD players offer 96kHz/24-bit playback, which (in theory) is currently one of the DVD Audio standards being floated around. The HDCD playback standard is being incorporated into some DVD players as well. This will yield higher-quality playback on compact discs that are similarly encoded.

Combi Players: Combination laserdisc and DVD players are also available. Some of the more recent combi-players are full-featured DVD players in their own right, however the laserdisc playback may not compare to previous laserdisc-only units. Region Free Players: Region Free players are not a part of the DVD standard, however, it should be noted that DVDs are coded for playback in specific regions. If you have favorite movies in, say, Japan, you may not be able to play them on a standard American DVD player. Some players can be modified to support region-free playback, but this modification can be complicated and/or expensive. Bells and Whistles: A few DVD players offer a sector zoom which allows you to magnify the picture up to four times. Blade Runner it's not, but it can still be cool. Several DVD players offer a jog/shuttle wheel to aid in scanning around the disc and with slow-motion and freeze-frame. Some DVD players have special processors dedicated to "smooth scan" of the picture in fast or slow motion. Some players display the active sound channels in LED form on the front panel display. Some players offer remote-control of the brightness of the display, even to the point of turning the display off. Some players offer nifty transparent menus and a well-thought-out user interface. Some players offer two-speaker simulated surround sound. Some DVD players have lots of buttons on their front panel; others go for simplicity.

Putting it Together Okay, we have taken a brief look at the major DVD player features. What kind of DVD player can you get with these features, and how much will it cost? I scouted DVD players at Best Buy and checked out Video Magazine's last buyer's guide to try to get a feel for the brands and players that are available. I am not going to be able to mention every player by make or model here, nor is this going to be an absolute price guide since prices will vary between stores and using mail order. My hope is that you will be able to use this information even in general form and make an educated choice when you buy your first (or next) DVD player.

DVD players basically fall into four tiers of pricing. With minor exceptions, as you add more features, the price goes up. The prices start to level out at common feature sets, with a little variance for brand name recognition (for example, Sony always seems to command a slight premium in pricing; Samsung tends to be a little cheaper). DVD player quality is getting to be fairly consistent with the current generation of players. You will be hard-pressed to find obvious differences in picture or sound quality when comparing a $300 player to a $600 player. So it really does boil down to which features you want in your player, and how much money you are willing to spend. Now I have not had a chance to audition every DVD player I am going to mention here, and in some cases I am having to rely on what I have read (which, in turn, is based on manufacturer specs that are subject to change). If I miss something here, do please let me know. So without further delay, let's take a look at the different tiers of DVD players.

$300-$400: Entry-level DVD players usually start at $300, although I have hopes that we will see some holiday sale prices that go down to $250. For this tier of pricing, expect a standard set of A/V jacks including S-Video. Expect basic (or no-frills) front panels and remote controls. Expect coaxial and optical digital outputs, and in some cases, support for DTS Digital Out. Almost every company with a DVD player has one in this price range, among them RCA, Pioneer, Sony, Panasonic, and Toshiba. Often mentioned at this level are the Panasonic A110, the Toshiba SD-2108, and the new Pioneer DV-414 (it should be noted that the Pioneer and the Toshiba also include component video outputs, which is unusual at this price range).

$400-$600: Add $100-$200 to the price, and you will start getting into those extra features that may or may not be of use to you. For around $400-$600 you should expect everything the lower-priced players have, and also component video outputs and a built-in Dolby Digital decoder. As the price goes up, expect more bells and whistles, like a jog-shuttle wheel, video CD playback, or a better remote control. Popular players in this price range include the Panasonic A310, the Sony DVP-S500D, the Toshiba SD-3108, and the Pioneer DV-606D. 

$600-$1000: At this price range, expect specialty players like the Pioneer DVL-909 combination laserdisc/DVD player, the Sony DVP-S600D 5-DVD changer, and the Panasonic L10 "PalmTheater" portable. Expect higher-end DVD players like the venerable Sony DVP-S7000. (It should be noted that the Sony DVP-S7700, the 7000's replacement and the first Sony player to support DTS, is supposed to be coming soon, although probably not before Christmas...it may also be difficult to get discounts on the 7700, which might place it in the next tier of pricing). 

$1000 on up: I honestly have not given the expensive DVD players much thought, although some of them have been well-received. Expect to pay a premium price for the Pioneer Elite players, which feature THX certification and plenty of bells and whistles. Expect lunatic-fringe pricing ($4000 or more) for "transports" like the Theta DaViD and players from Faroudja and Meridian. (No comment.) Concluding Remarks (If you have not read the earlier entry today, you might want to skip ahead to the "Putting it Together" section then come back to this update later.) I hope this series on purchasing a DVD player has been useful. I intentionally tried to keep the level more about what to expect rather than telling you what to buy. In these final remarks, I want to point you towards some other resources of DVD player information, and I will actually make some opinionated statements regarding what I expect from my DVD players. 

First, c|net has a featured topic on DVD and DVD players, including pointers to another excellent Guide to DVD. This guide has some great information, but is a little dated, especially with respect to Divx. If you can find it at your newsstand, the Video 1999 Buyer's Guide from Video Magazine has some great feature and pricing information about everything home-theater related, from DVD to television to receivers to speakers. If you plan to get a DVD player, you might find as I did that more home-theater equipment will be in your future, and this is a great place to start your search. 

That Sony DVP-S7700 that a few of us are drooling over may be several months away. I adjusted the wording in the previous article to reflect this. Also, on the recommendation of several readers, I added the Toshiba SD-3108 to the mention of mid-priced DVD players. So what DVD player do I recommend? I have shied away from this question because I have not had a chance to evaluate all the players on the market. But I have tried players from several different manufacturers, and I will tell you what I like and dislike about each of them. My DVD player of choice is the Sony 3000, last year's second-generation player after the Sony 7000. The 3000 had the build quality of the 7000, with fewer bells and whistles and a lower price. It has since been replaced by the Sony 300. I like the picture quality of the Sony 3000, and even preferred the 16x9 downconversion that many people felt was a little soft. I really like the picture scanning capabilities. The only other players that have come close in the quality and smoothness of forward/reverse scanning are the recent Panasonics. The one thing I do not like about the Sony players is that they do not support DTS Digital Out. If you don't think DTS is going to be a factor, I would not hesitate to recommend any of the current Sony DVD players. 

My second DVD player of choice (it sits on top of my Sony 3000) is the Pioneer DV-606D. I got this player because it did support DTS Digital Out, and because it offered component video. I also liked this player because it could be easily modified to accept DVDs from other regions. Although there are only a few discs in Region 2 that I find interesting, I still love being able to watch Leon and Edward Scissorhands (among others) while the domestic studios ignore the concept of releasing the discs here. I dislike the remote control and the forward/reverse scanning of the Pioneer players. Still, the Pioneers are a great value.

The DVD player in my back bedroom is the Panasonic A110. This is a nice little player with DTS support, smooth forward/reverse scanning, and a great-looking picture. I have heard nice comments about the big-brother Panasonic A310, as well. The remote is a little lacking on the 110, but if you have a programmable master remote control, that won't matter. The only reason I don't use the Panasonic in tandem with the Sony 3000 is because it is difficult (and expensive) to modify the player to be region free.

I have heard nice comments about the latest Toshiba players, although I have not tried them out myself. All but the lowest-end player supports DTS. And only Toshiba has promised the next generation in DVD video with a player that supports progressive scan. (I have not talked about progressive scan much, but I believe it will gain in popularity as we get into digital TV).

And as I have said before, there are many other brands of players available, and they all have their merits (if it were a little cheaper, I might even have my eye on that Denon DVD player that has the HDCD decoding circuitry.)

If I had to buy a DVD player this weekend, I would probably aim for a mid-range player that supports DTS sound. If the Sony 7700 were in stores, I might replace the Sony 3000 with it (after all, I love toys.) But that is just me. One of my friends is about to get a player with a Dolby Digital decoder because he has a Dolby Digital Ready receiver. One of my friends is going to get the combination LD/DVD DVL-909 because he still has a viable laserdisc collection and wants an upgrade to his laserdisc player. But we all have something in common: we have all decided that DVD is the way to go this holiday season. Happy shopping!