A Guide To Purchasing A DVD Player
DVD players are inexpensive and easy to come by now. Fifty bucks will buy you a decent player if you know how to shop and where to buy. Still, all DVD players are not created equal, and a little knowledge and planning will help you make a smart decision.
The difficulty of programming a recorder is a common joke, and in truth, video players can be very complex. If you ///want to learn all the technical aspects, go to Wikipedia to learn more. This particular guide is a 10,000-foot overview.
I always suggest a direct approach to shopping and buying anything. First, form a list of the features you are considering. Second, browse online using shopping and rating sites, and make a list of models you are looking at. Third, go to stores to see the models you are thinking of purchasing. And finally, go back online to shop for price. Given my approach, here are the features to consider in a DVD:
HDTV
One of the biggest things to consider when buying a DVD today is the growing standard of HDTV. Compared with regular analog TV, digital HDTV has much sharper images. It is also clear that HDTV will be the global norm in the future. The price of HDTV flat panels is rapidly decreasing, and in the US, over the airwave transmissions for TV will be exclusively for HDTV in 2009. DVD players that provide high definition images are beautiful to watch.
The dilemma is that we are in the middle of a format war between HD DVD and Blue Ray. It’s similar to the old Betamax vs. VHS struggle of long ago. Currently these players are much more expensive than normal DVD players, and the movie selection is not as great. If you have HDTV, you can either place your bet on a HD DVD machine or a Blue Ray machine, or you can use a normal DVD player until the war is over. Although, it appears that the smart money is betting on Blue Ray.
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: $39.95 
