Posts Tagged ‘DVD’
Question Asked: Is It Legal To Copy A DVD?
Assuming, like me, you’re in the United States, it’s a yes and no answer.
No, if you plan on giving said copy to anyone.
Yes, if you plan on making that copy solely for the purpose of backing up a movie that you’ve legally purchased at a retail establishment.
Under the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Law), you’re allowed to make one digital copy of a DVD (or CD, for that matter), for your own personal backup use. This is to ensure that if your original copy breaks, goes missing, or malfunctions in some way or another, you don’t have to purchase a second copy.
While it may not be legal to copy, and sell, DVDs, it happens. I’d guess in the hundreds of thousands of times a day. Many countries have little or no copyright law protecting copyright holders. Those countries run rampit making copies, and selling them cheaply in the black market.
If you happen to purchase one of these movies, you may be committing a crime, and not be aware of it. Your safest bet is to get your movies at a trusted retail store, and not from the guy on the corner in New York City.
Question Asked: Why Are Blu-ray Discs So Expensive?
Great question. I often ask myself the same thing when walking through the DVD aisle at Best Buy.
The answer, actually, is quite simple.
Blu-ray
Back in the ’90s when the first DVD player came out, not only were the discs extremely expensive, but the players were.
I remember paying around $1200 for my first DVD player back in 1996. A friend of mine still has it, I believe. Those first six DVDs that I bought (there were only six available when I got my first DVD player), were about $25 each, compared to today, when you can get a DVD for $10.
In time, the prices will come down on both the players, and the Blu-ray
Once the companies that developed the technology have made back all the money they’ve spent on making Blu-ray
If you’re asking yourself if it’s worth it or not, it is. Spend the money. Anyone who likes movies deserves to watch them in Blu-ray
Question Asked: How Do I Hook Up My DVD Player?
I know it looks daunting - the back of your TV. All those colors, all those wires! Rest assured, it’s not hard to hook up a DVD player, not at all. Especially nowadays.
First thing’s first, it depends on what kind of TV you have, and what kind of DVD player you have. It’s also important to know that there’s a handful of ways to connect your DVD player to your TV. (I’m assuming you don’t have a surround sound system, for this answer. I hope that’s correct.)
Connections:
- Analog - Analog connections would be utilized on older TVs. There are three wires you’d use, red, white, and yellow. The red and white represent your audio stream, and the yellow represents your video stream.
- S-video - While still an analog signal, the S-video connection (in theory) gives you a better video signal. The s-video cable varies in color. But you’ll still need your red and white audio cables, to send audio from the DVD player to the TV.
- Component Video - Component Video is the starting point, if you’ve got an HDTV. Many HD-DVD and Blu-Ray players come with component video, which is a set of three cables (green, blue, and red). Don’t forget, you’ll still need the red and white cables for your audio signal. Component video is the “best” picture of the three traditional methods of connecting your DVD player.
- HDMI - relatively new to the game, is the HDMI connection. (High Definition Multimedia Interface) The HDMI is one single cable that provides the absolute best picture and audio all in one. It’s as simple as plugging the cable into your DVD player, and TV. (Assuming both devices have this feature)
Sure, there’s other ways to hook up a DVD player, but the four listed above are the most conventional.
It’s as simple as connecting the colored connections from the DVD player, to the TV. Oh, and don’t forget to see what input you’re using on the back of the TV (they’re usually labeled), you’ll need to change the TV to that input, to get your DVD picture and sound.
When you include a surround sound system (or home theater, call it what you will), it can get a bit more complicated. But for the sake of simplicity, I’m not going to go down that road.
If you’re really scared of pulling your TV out and hooking it up yourself, you can always rely on the major retailers to sell you an install service. Just know that it’ll probably cost more to have them come out and hook it up, than you’ll pay for the DVD player. Your best bet is to get someone who knows how to do it, neighbor, neice/nephew, friend, etc. It’ll literally take longer to pull your TV out from against the wall, than to hook it up, for someone who knows what they’re doing.
Hope that helps! Good luck, and enjoy your new DVD player!
Question Asked: How much better is Blu-Ray?
I’ll admit it. I bought HD-DVD in hopes that it’d win the format war. Unfortunately, it didn’t, and I had to go out and buy a Blu-Ray player. After all, I’m a movie buff, and want the best experience I can get, right? I’m glad I did. While there’s very little noticeable difference between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, the difference between Blu-Ray and standard DVD is noticeable to anyone.
Check out the images below from the standard DVD of Spider-man 3 *Blu-ray on top, regular DVD on bottom*:
If you can’t see the difference in the Blu-Ray version, then maybe upgrading isn’t worth it to you. It’s pretty evident how much better it is, to most people. For more Blu-Ray vs. DVD comparisons, check out this site I found.
Blu-Ray (like most High Definition formats) has superior sound to standard definition. Many Blu-Ray discs have better than 5.1 surround sound (some I’ve looked at have 7.1 soundtracks). While you may not be able to take advantage of seven channels of audio (yet), someday you will be.
How much better is Blu-Ray, was the question. I’m assuming it means versus standard DVD, which is how I wrote this post. Also see What’s the difference between high definition and standard definition from last week.
Question Asked: What’s The Difference Between High Definition and Standard?
The short answer: a lot.
The longer answer is more complicated, and can be confusing. Try to follow me.
There’s two big differences between High Definition (HD) and Standard Definition (SD, or Analog). The first, picture quality. The second, sound.
The confusing part, is that there’s a number of different HD formats that you’ve probably been hearing about: 720p, 1080i, and 1080p. Let’s start with the easy part, the i and p bits.
The i stands for interlaced.
The p stands for progressive.
Both the i and p will make more sense when I explain what the numbers themselves mean:
The number represents the resolution on your screen. The resolution is actually how many lines of picture you’re seeing. So, common sense would tell you that the higher then number, the better the picture, right? Right.
So, how do the i and p come into play? Simple. An interlaced signal is alternating lines of picture. Picture it like flickering evens and odds on your screen every nanosecond.
The progressive signal doesn’t alternate lines, it shows them all at once.
So, in theory, a 1080p picture has twice as many lines of picture onscreen at any given nanosecond, than a 1080i signal. The real question is, can your eyes see the difference? Probably not.
The other big difference in HD and SD is sound. Standard definition comes with regular two channel stereo sound. Boring. Yawn! HD comes with 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound. Which means that surround sound systems aren’t just for DVDs anymore.
This website has a great comparison of DVD (about 480i) versus HD (1080i). You can see the differnce in the quality just by looking at it.
Does your SD signal look as good as a DVD? No, probably not. It can vary (depending on your provider) from between 300i and 480i. Generally, a DVD will look better than cable. HD will look better than a DVD. Blu-Ray will look better than HD.
Should you upgrade to HD? That depends on your TV viewing habits. Do you like TV? Do you want to have the best picture and sound available when you watch your favorite shows? Upgrading to HD is the next step in the way we watch TV. By February 2009, everything is supposed to be broadcast in HD/Digital, so you should consider upgrading.
Is there a downside to having an HD TV? Yep, of course. While the cost prohibitive part of buying an HD TV has gone away for the most part, there’s still a big downside; SD content. Watching a non-HD show on your HD TV can sometimes be painful ( Comedy Central, for example). The HD TVs generally try to ‘upscale’ SD content, which doesn’t always work out for the best.
Overall, High Definition TV is a great experience. I, for one, am glad I made the upgrade, and have never looked back.