DVD PLAYER BUYER'S GUIDE

As a general rule, shop for known brand names of DVD players. Most players are made in Japan by a handful of companies, but reliability does matter. Stick with big names such as: Panasonic, Sony, JVC, Toshiba, Hitachi, etc. Chances are if you do not recognize the name of the manufacturer, move on to the next model on the shelf. As competition among manufacturers grows, you should not have to pay more than $100 dollars. Retailers will ask if you would like an optional warranty for the item, kindly say no thank you.

Where to find DVD Players?

Major electronic retail stores are your best bet for finding quality DVD Players at reasonable prices. Retail stores of all types now sell many brand name DVD Players well under $100 dollars. You can also find great deals on the Internet as many of the same retail stores in your area often have special Internet pricing deals. If you have further questions concerning purchasing DVD players, Contact:Ken Albrecht, Multimedia Specialist - Idaho State Police

DVD-R Compatibility:

Just as the earliest breeds of CD players sometimes would not play CD-Rs, some older DVD players have trouble with DVD-Rs. To be safe, ask the salesperson or look at the unit yourself and make sure that it will indeed play bot DVD+R and DVD-R discs. If you have an example of an older disc, you might take it to the store and make sure it will play in the deck you are interested in purchasing.

Those Nasty Cables

Assuming you have to accommodate both VHS and DVD, the easiest solution is leaving the VCR connected via the threaded COAX cable (and turn to channel 3), while connecting your DVD through separate video/audio inputs to the back of the TV/monitor(some gaming TVs have inputs on the front only). Where possible, connecting your DVD through the S-video connection will always result in a better picture. Similarly, connecting your VCR through separate audio/video connections will always produce better results on VHS playback if you are lucky enough to have two separate inputs on your TV (usually Line 1 & Line 2).