Not so very long ago, I watched all my movies at home on videotape.
I was comfortable with videotapes and my VCR, and I figured that since
the important thing was the artistic quality of the movies, it wouldn't
matter much whether I watched them on videotape or DVD. But then I took
the DVD plunge, and now I won't rent or buy anything on videotape if I
can get it on DVD.
The reasons I prefer DVD are that it provides better picture and better
sound, and many DVDs come with a variety of special features, such as
director's commentaries, documentaries, interviews with stars, deleted
scenes, outtakes, and explanations of how special effects were achieved.
For example, if I didn't have a DVD player, I would have missed watching
"Citizen Kane" while listening to Roger Ebert's outstanding running commentary
on this great movie.
DVD players are quite affordable: on a recent tour of my local Best
Buy, Circuit City, and Wal-Mart stores, I found a good selection in the
$65 to $150 range. Also, it's usually pretty easy to hook a DVD player
up to any of the newer TVs. Finally, most people who are familiar with
playing music CDs don't have much trouble adjusting to using DVDs.
The advent of DVD has turned out to be a wonderful development for those
of us who like to watch movies at home, but there are a few things you
need to know before you plunk down your hard-earned money. While I can't
cover every possible consideration in buying a DVD player, I can briefly
describe most of the things that most first-time buyers need to keep in
mind.
First, there's something important I ought to tell you about hooking up
a DVD player to a TV: most DVD players come with cables intended to plug
into AV receptacles. It's worth your time to look your TV set over carefully
to make sure it provides at least one set of AV receptacles. You're looking
for two or three small holes, lined up in a row and usually labeled "video"
and "audio." If these receptacles are present at all, expect each set of
receptacles to consist of one hole for video plus two holes for audio on
a stereo TV or one hole for audio on a monaural TV. If present, AV receptacles
are typically located on the front or the back of the TV set, sometimes
behind a little door that flips open.
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