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DVD

Chances are that by now, you've heard something about DVD, about how it's so much better that VHS.

The Pokéfactor: Well, um. I watched Inspector Gadget on DVD, and it's about a cop, and Pokémon has a cop too. Oh, and you can buy Pokémon episodes on DVD (one of the few TV shows other than South Park and Star Trek that does this).

Out of the box

A DVD player is pretty easy to set up, even easier than a VCR since there are no input cables. My only gripe is that the player does not come with an S-Video cable (available at any radio shack). If your TV supports S-Video, the improvement will be most visible in long, thin objects as well as subtitles.

How DVD works

Information on a DVD is encoded using a compression method known as MPEG-2. Because of this, DVD lacks a true fast forward or rewind feature, since the player must decode all the data that goes through it. Since the data is moving faster than the decoder can decode, the picture will be jumpy. Additionally, some picture elements, such as smoke do not compress well. Nevertheless, DVD slow-motion and stills look much better than VHS.

Superior video

DVD video contains many more lines of pixels than VHS, a difference you will immediately notice. Unlike VHS, which degrades over time (DVDs also degrade, but movies you play will probably look the same now as decades later) DVD's picture lasts almost forever. The picture is almost completely noise free, to the point where the biggest problem is the actual grain of the film.

Great Audio

The audio encoded on a DVD disc is of higher quality than that of an audio CD. Also, DVD players also play audio CDs. DVDs can, with an appropriate decoder, produce full 5.1 surround sound (otherwise known as Dolby Digital), although I tend to believe that such standards are totally overrated.

Other features

DVDs often come with extras such as letterboxing, trailers, and behind-the-scenes footage. Most DVDs in the US also include a French language track. All of this is accessed through a menu system unique to each disk.

The "real" surround sound

In case you didn't know, I happen to be the "owner" of my very own "surround" sound standard. Lacking either the funds to buy a true surround receiver, or even liking industry surround, due to its near non-use of the rear speakers. I decided to create my own standard. SRPSS is achieved by simply adding treble to the front speakers and bass to the rear. The effect works very well for crowd scenes.

The DVD test

If DVDs have one fault, it's that generally the volume is much lower than that of VHS or CDs. This is especially inconvenient when switching media, and on my SRPSS system, since I must adjust the volumes of multiple devices.

The CD test

CDs perform without incident on DVD players (understandable, considering the similarities of the mediums). Players also include shuffle and playlist features.

My score: 3.6

The Final Say: While DVD players (at least those in the consumer price range) cannot currently record, they are a solid investment. Granted, it's a little late in the game to buy one now, consider it as a future purchase. Now I wanna know when The Wizard is coming out on widescreen DVD.

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