This is the future, and I am glad I have gave it a chance (DVD Forum)

Member Name: leeanne

Product:	DVD Forum
Date:	03/01/02 (101 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: all the advantages

Disadvantages: none

We have owned a DVD player since June 2000. At this point in time the average DVD player could be quite pricy, so we settled for a Grundig one at £180. This was cheap, as most Sony, Panasonic and other more branded names were £300 - £400. Another reason we chose Grundig was because we knew people who had Grundig appliances. They had proved to be trustworthy and worth the money.

Our machine was gold coloured, had a nice shape and loads of buttons on the front - I like that. Our first problem came when I bought The Blair Witch Project in October 2000. It didn't play. We took it back to the shop, which was also the shop where we purchased the DVD player. The repair man told us that certain so-called cheaper machines had problems palying certain discs. He even showed us a list which linked out machine to about 6 or 7 problem discs. This was meant to be because of layer transitions, which I don't have a clue about. Last week we bought Only Fools and Horses, which also wouldn't play on the machine. By this time we were a bit fed up, so have just bought a Sony player which cost £250. Since the prices of player have dropped slightly now, we feel it will be a good investment.

So why am I telling you all this? Well perhaps it is because I am getting more into the way of DVDs now. We only own about 22 discs so far, but this is because of lack of money, not because of lack of choice.

I admit that DVDs do cost more than videos to buy or hire. An average new release on VHS will cost £11 - £15, whereas a DVD will range between £11 - £20. Usually they are more around the £17 - £20.

So why spend more money and choose DVD? Surely it is more economical to choose VHS, after all we all wish to save money in life? A few of the advantages are

* Better picture - when you watch a VHS on your TV, it has an average of 250 vertical lines on it. A DVD has over 500 vertical lines, so that is double the clarity and sharpness of the picture.


* Better sound - this is because the sound is in digital. VHS tapes are recorded in stereo. Or if you record from a TV broadcast and you have a Nicam stereo video recorder, the sound quality that you get is ALMOST CD quality, but with DVD it is CD quality.

* Chapter selection - this is where you choose where to start your film from. If you were watching a VHS tape, you would stop the tape at a certain bit, then when you go back to watch it, it should be at that same bit. DVD doesn't work like that though, since it is a CD. If the disc is out of the player when the play screen comes up, there is also a chapter selection bit. This allows you to choose a certain scene to watch the film from. Most films can have anything from 15 chapters upwards.

* No wear - through many years of use tapes will lose their quality of sound and picture and deposit particles on your videos heads. Through time the heads on videos wear as well to the point that the quality is unbearable. But as there is no physical contact between a DVD and the player there is no wear.

* No tracking to worry about - sometimes you have to adjust the tracking on VHS cassettes, but you will never have to do this on a DVD, as it is a disc.

* The extra features on discs - most DVD films and certainly more modern films will have extra features on it. I know this isn't a reason to spend more money, but if you were to get all the benefits of a DVD film and extras, then it might seem more worth it. A lot of the discs I have bought have had things like Theatrical trailers, behind the scenes footage, deleated scenes, music videos, movie featurettes, actors cock-ups, alternative endings, commentary from the directors and so on. I have The Exorcist and there is a 50 minute documentary on the making of the film, how they done the special effects and interviews with the cast and crew. This is one of the most interesting documentaries I have seen.

Also since DVD
players have become more financially available, the prices of films have came down. 2 years ago the average price for any DVD film was £18 - £20 no matter how new or old the film was. I bought Thelma and Louise, which is 11 years old and it cost £19.99, at the same time I bought The 6th Sense which had just came out on that day for £19.99 also. It is easy to get cheap films thesedays though. Just look down the high street this week - MVC are selling films from £6.99, and most other shops start at the same price. Fair enough this will be the january sales, but take it while you can. A great website for cheap DVDs is

www.play247.com

here you will find hundreds of DVDs most of them cheaper than the average shop. Also they offer free delivery, so you have nothing to lose. The films I have bought from here are

Speed - £9.99
Willy Wonka - £7.99
The Wedding Singer - £7.99
Gremlins - £6.99
Bridget Jones Diary - £13.99.

I think the prices are great, so I suggest you check out your choices on here before you buy at the shops.

I must provide a balanced opinion though and I do have a few disadvantages though

* You can't record on a DVD player - There are a few DVD recorders out there just now, but the average price tag is £1,000. I will wait until they are seriously lower in price before I can get one.

* It does take longet to load than a VHS tape - When I come home and want to watch something I was so used to sticking my tape into the video, it would automatically start to play and I would be just at the bit of the film that I left it at. However with a DVD I have to put the player on, put the disc in if it's not already in, wait on it loading, then select a chapter to start from. This is a small pain, but worth it in the long run.

So I am all for DVD players and discs. They seem to be an investment, have a lot to offer, and the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.

>Fair enough an average DVD film can be a couple of pounds more expensive, but it will last for life!

Summary: