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Travel DVD & Blu-ray Players
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Buying Guide - DVD & Blu-ray Players
What is DVD?
Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) arrived in the late 90's and went on to become the most successful consumer electronics product in history. As a result, DVD players are almost as common as televisions in modern living rooms.
The introduction of DVD players heralded the move from analogue to digital video. Unlike our old VCRs, DVD players used discs that held digital data rather than raw video. The data stored on DVD discs is encoded in a format called MPEG2, and DVD players will decode that data and then output the resulting video and audio to your television.
One key advantage that DVD players have over old VCR decks is picture quality. Compared to what you'd get from a VHS tape, DVD players are in a completely different league, with far brighter, clearer and sharper image quality.
DVD players can also playback compact discs, so there's no need to have a CD player in your living room - DVD players can do it all. DVD discs can be dual sided and dual layered, but all DVD players can read all types of disc.
DVD features
DVD players are very affordable these days, but there are some key features that are worth looking for in DVD players. If you've got a high definition TV you need to look at DVD players with upscaling. Upscaling DVD players will take the standard definition DVD signal and increase its resolution to high definition. It won't look as good as a true high definition movie, but it will look better than a standard DVD.
If you've got an HDTV, you should be considering DVD players that sport an HDMI port. HDMI is a digital interface that ensures that there is no picture quality lost when the video signal is transferred from the player to your TV.
Many DVD players also ship with USB ports, allowing you to plug in a USB memory stick and playback still images and even video without the need to transfer your files to a DVD disc. Different DVD players support different video standards for USB streaming, so make sure you check that your preferred format is supported.
Accessories
DVD & Blu-ray players both need a few accessories in order to get the best results. The best way to connect both DVD & Blu-ray players to your HDTV is an HDMI cable, which will transfer both video and audio from DVD & Blu-ray players to the TV.
To get the best possible audio experience you should connect DVD & Blu-ray players to a home cinema amplifier. A home cinema amp takes the audio stream from DVD & Blu-ray players, decodes it and then pumps the sound out to a set of surround sound speakers.
A set of surround sound speakers for DVD & Blu-ray players generally comprises five satellite speakers and a subwoofer. Three speakers are placed to the front of you, while two are placed behind you - the subwoofer can be placed anywhere. Some surround sound systems offer wireless rear speakers, which will make setup far simpler.
DVD & Blu-ray players that have USB ports will require USB memory keys to plug into them, so it's worth stocking up on a couple when you buy. Also, some Blu-ray players require a USB memory stick on which to store downloaded data from the Internet.
