DVD set top player purchasing tips
& links to compatibility lists

DVD PLAYERS: If you're in the market for a DVD set top player (stand alone DVD player), here are some things you should know. Nearly all current model DVD set top players also play factory pressed CD music & factory pressed Video CDs (VCD) (which is MPEG1 & not quite as good as VHS quality). However, these units may not play CD & VCD discs if they are discs that were burned (recorded rather than pressed), unless the player also says that it can play from CD-R (CD Recordable). It's also helpful if the player can play from CD-RW (CD ReWriteable). Additionally, some earlier model DVD set top players do not play DVD-R discs, which are record once DVD discs that a movie has been burn onto. For a list of which set top players do & don't play DVD-R discs, try my list, or try http://www.dvdvideosolutions.com/amform.htm or try http://www.homemovie.com/compatibility.htm or try http://www.vcdhelp.com/dvdplayers.php (check the DVD-R box & click on the search button to the right). Remember that the information on these sites is not always 100% accurate, so read the users comments for more details.

SVCD: A hybrid format called SVCD (Super Video CD) is higher resolution (360 lines of Horizontal resolution) than VHS (240 lines of Horizontal resolution), but not as high as DVD (500 lines of Horizontal resolution) & SVCD may become much more popular in the near future simply because it can be burned on a regular CD-R (for well under a buck) which is way cheaper than DVD-Rs (cost about $4. CDN). Unfortunately SVCD has a maximum bit rate of 2.6 Mbps which isn't likely enough to produce artifact free pictures during the most demanding scenes. This higher data rate requires a DVD drive that has a minimum of 2X spin speed. Since an SVCD is 480X480 it has 2.7 times the resolution of a VCD which uses MPEG1 (352X240), but unfortunately only twice the data rate so the pictures still aren't artifact free. SVCD allows for "interlace" if it was there in the original material, so the smoothness of motion (temporal resolution) is much better than the MPEG1 files used on VCDs & the same smoothness of motion quality as VHS & DVD. Maximum running time for SVCD is about 35 minutes, but that's more than enough for many promotional videos to be cheaply distributed. Some new mid & top of the line DVD set top players can play the SVCD format, so if you want your DVD set top player to be able to play the SVCD format, look for the SVCD feature when purchasing a DVD player. Almost all computer based DVD players can play SVCD & many Pentium 350 MHz & higher computer CD players can also play SVCD using a software player such as Cinematographer or PowerDVD or WinDVD. For more information on SVCD try http://www.iki.fi/znark/video/svcd/overview or http://www.vcdhelp.com  Unfortunately, by the time most manufacturers put 2X spin drives in their DVD set top players, the cost of DVD-R discs & burners will have probably dropped so low that SVCD may never take off in North America. That's really too bad because SVCD could have made duplication & distribution of short corporate videos very inexpensive.

MiniDVD (cdDVD): Another little known sub format is the cdDVD (or cDVD), which is really just a DVD quality MPEG2 movie (up to 9.8 Mbps), but playing off a regular sized CD, CD-R or CD-RW on a DVD player. cdDVD is also inappropriately named "miniDVD" because the disc isn't mini in size, just mini in how much data it can store compared to DVD. The maximum running time from a cdDVD usually isn't much over 15 minutes using a 700 MB CD-R at an average bit rate of 6 Mbps, or not much over 11 minutes at an average bit rate of 8 Mbps (unless you want to lower quality by lowering the bit rate), but that's more than enough length for many training & promotional videos & the cost for a CD-R is well under $1. compared to about $4. for a DVD-R. DVD-R burners are still prohibitively expensive, but CD-R burners are abundant & inexpensive. The quality of cdDVD is the same as DVD. Unfortunately many DVD set top players do not play this logical cdDVD sub format, but it makes so much sense that this could start to become a popular sub format, so look for the cdDVD (cDVD), or miniDVD feature, or (some might call it XSVCD) when shopping for a set top DVD player. One of the reasons most DVD set top players don't play cdDVD discs or don't play them well without a choppy picture, is that it requires a CD spin rate of up to 9X & most current DVD set top players only have a CD spin rate of 2X (2.8 Mbps) to 4X (5.6 Mbps). Here is a LIST of at least 21 DVD set top models that are suppose to be able to play cdDVD (click on "miniDVD" & search button to the right, also read the user comments since the feature list is not 100% accurate), but some other DVD players do play cdDVD discs even though they don't advertise it. Computer DVD players are much more likely to be able to play cdDVD & nearly all computers equipped with a CD-ROM player (if it's fast enough) can play a cdDVD movie using software DVD players (see links above), but it will probably require a minimum of a Pentium 350 MHz to play a cdDVD disc properly without frame skipping using a software player.

BOTTOM LINE: The bottom line when purchasing a new DVD set top player is, do not settle for a DVD player that just plays factory pressed DVD, CD & VCD. As a minimum requirement, all new DVD players should at least say that they play DVD, CD, VCD formats & that they can play from a CD-R & a DVD-R (which are less reflective). Even better for more future proofing is DVD, CD, VCD & SVCD with the ability to use CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R & DVD-RW discs. If you can also get cdDVD (cDVD or miniDVD) included as a playing format feature (most don't have this feature yet), then you've covered most of the bases for video discs in the near future. Some DVD set top players also play MP3 music (which can hold over 13 hours of high quality music on one 650 MB CD-R). The "progressive scan" feature on some DVD players doesn't get used unless you have an HDTV.  Last updated January 26/2003

By Doug Hembruff.