HOME THEATER DVD PLAYERSMovie magic on a 5 inch silver DVD disc. But there are BIG changes in the wind you need to know!
FLASH!See below. There's doesn't appear to be a compromise on Hi-Def format or universal player in the near future.More good news.(I’m getting newsdizzy.) If the new generation of HI-DEF DVD players aren’t backwards compatible to play your current DVD collection – there will be hell to pay. I don’t think they want to pay hell. A way will be found.Unless you are an early adopter, you ought to wait anyway. Because the first machines out of the gate are likely to cost a lot more than the ones just a little later down the pipe. If you have money to burn, can I have some? But, you might reasonably ask, aren’t DVDs high definition NOW anyway? Nope. They’d be Good, not HIGH. Will I spot the difference on my Home Entertainment HDTV screen? Yup. PLUS there are circuits being developed which contain incredible processing power. That means “even better picture” to you and me. These circuits exist, and are coming out now, typically in the more expensive gear first. Here’s another case where time (and not horribly long) is on your side. Anybody old enough to remember BLACK AND WHITE TV? Or Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color? Or NO computers? My point is that the rate of change is speeding up. I call it ‘the speed of greed.’ Driven by stock market profiteering. Big Bizness. Old guys in suits with comb-overs exercising their “fiduciary responsibility.” Technology is constantly changing - for example, the computer I am using to write this has a gazillion times more memory than my first one. Silicon Optix has a new chip out which will do a TRILLION calculations a second. That’s a thousand, thousand million. Every second. No bathroom breaks. 1000 Million is a Billion, 1000 Billion is a Trillion, right? So boys and girls, Mister Science will leave you with this thought: Wow. One thing to look out for is in connection capability. If you buy a good old regular DVD player now and hope to use it with your HDTV home theater setup, HDMI would be good. Ahem. HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) is the first and only industry-supported, uncompressed, all-digital audio/video interface. HDMI provides an interface between any audio/video source, such as a set-top box, DVD player, or A/V receiver and an audio and/or video monitor, such as a digital television (DTV), over a single cable with a weird plug on the end. Less wire is good. See the section on wires! HDMI supports standard, enhanced, or high-definition video, plus multi-channel digital audio on a single cable. It transmits all ATSC (that’s good) HDTV standards and supports (up to) 8-channel digital audio, with bandwidth to spare to accommodate future enhancements and requirements. Yousa! If your DVD player doesn’t have that, let’s hope it has a DVI output. If not, we’ll go down the food chain. Odds are very good your receiver will accept whatever you offer it, though perhaps with a little less picture fidelity (and maybe more wires between the boxes.) See the section on HOOKUPS.
Should a HDMI DVD player be your next home theater purchase?by Kenny Hemphill Thinking about getting an HDMI DVD player? Whether you've heard the buzz surrounding the latest generation of DVD players or have an HDTV and want a player to connect it to, the information on this page will help. HDMI stands for High Definition Multimedia Interface. It's the standard connector for high definition TV and video kit and is a lossless, all-digital audio/ video interface which as well as supporting HD content also carries standard definition (SD) and enhanced definition (ED) video. Deciding which HDMI DVD player to get is becoming more difficult as more and more devices arrive on the market. Prices range from a very reasonable $200 or so for the Toshiba SD-5970 to a couple of thousand dollars for devices at the high-end. The Toshiba HDMI DVD player, like the other high definition players, up-converts the DVD-Video content on regular DVD discs to either 720p or 1080i high definition resolution. As well as do everything you would expect of a DVD player, the Toshiba SD-5970 has a couple of tricks up its sleeve. Its progressive scan output, when connected to an HDTV using the HDMI connector, provides twice the number of scan lines present on a normal DVD picture. This means higher resolution, sharper and flicker free images which have none of the motion artifacts, such as stepping, often seen on less expensive DVD players. Also, the SD-5970 performs, what's known as 3:2 pulldown reversal. This basically means that it corrects the distortion which is caused by translating 24 frames per second film to 30 frames per second video. The Toshiba SD-5970 is relatively inexpensive for an HDMI DVD player, yet it marks a huge leap in terms of improvement in image quality. More expensive players are better still and best of all, becasue this is a relatively new market prices are sure to fall making even a very good HDMI DVD player within the reach fo any DVD enthusiast. About the Author Kenny Hemphill is the editor and publisher of The HDTV Tuner
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