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BUYING BUDGET
DVD
COPY
Something
really odd is happening! In the past when a new consumer electronics technology
came along, for the buying guide magazines that sprung up around the product it
was a case of rounding up the usual suspects. DVD started out in a more or less
traditional way with the first slew of machines coming from the ‘A-Brand’
European and Japanese manufacturers, charging eager early adopters top dollar
for the privilege.
After a few
months, when the dust had begun to settle and it was clear that DVD was not a
flash in the pan, the first ‘B-Brand’ machines began to appear, shaving a few
pounds off the price and starting the time-honoured process of price erosion.
It was a familiar pattern and most industry insiders and observers thought that
the DVD market would probably evolve in the same way as previous home
entertainment technologies, like the video reorder, CD and camcorders, and over
the course of several years develop into a commodity item. Back in those early
days, when the first DVD players cost on average £500 it seemed just about
feasible that within five years or so players might eventually drop to below
£250 and then perhaps DVD would really take off…
It now seems
entirely possible that the first £100 DVD players could be on sale within a
matter of months. Sub-£250 machines appeared late last year, the £200 price
point was breached this Spring and the cheapest DVD player we’ve seen sells for
just £135; several retailers are giving players away with widescreen TVs. It’s
easy to forget that DVD in the UK was only launched a little over two years
ago! Since then over half a million players have been sold -- most of them with
the past six months – and that number is expected to double by Christmas
confirming DVD’s status as the fastest selling home entertainment technology of
all time. Back in mid July another milestone was reached with the sale of the
10 millionth disc and there are now over 2000 Region 2 titles available.
But what has
happened to bring prices down so far and so fast? Several unusual factors have
been at work and there have been crucial differences in the way the DVD market
has developed, compared with other audio and video formats. The first is
players being sold by retailers not normally associated with cutting-edge
electronics products. Woolworth’s set the ball rolling in early 1999 and soon
afterwards players were appearing alongside brussel sprouts and tins of beans
in supermarkets like Tesco and Asda. DVD has also benefited from the tremendous
growth in shopping online, indeed in the months prior to the UK launch, and for
some time afterwards, one of the few ways to get your hands on a player was to
buy one from an American Internet site.
The other
significant factor – and something that is so far unique to DVD -- is the huge
number of companies producing players. New brands seem to be coming out of the
woodwork, companies that up until now have been associated with high-end audio
are trying to grab a slice of the action and we’re even seeing PC manufacturers
and companies with no previous history in AV technology jumping aboard the DVD
bandwagon. With the exception of the exclusive hi-fi brands, who are clearly
pitching their products at well-heeled audiophiles, most of the newcomers are
concentrating on the budget end of the market with aggressively priced players
that are forcing reluctant major brands to try and keep pace.
In the past
when considering ultra cheap AV equipment from an obscure or unknown
manufacturer the usual advice from buying guide magazines and experts was to
steer well clear. Budget products are invariably inferior to premium brand
equipment but once again DVD defies convention. To begin with we’re talking
about a sophisticated digital technology where pictures and sounds are
represented by numbers, which lends itself to a much greater degree of
conformity than wobbly old analogue systems. Performance also depends to a
significant extent on the abilities of the display and audio components that
the player is connected to. Second, at this relatively early stage of the game
only a few companies around the world are making MPEG-2 processor chipsets and
it’s not unknown for the same microchips to turn up in a sub £200 player, made
by a company you’ve never heard, and a top of the line machine from a
well-known and highly respected Japanese or European manufacturer, costing up
to twice as much.
One interesting
spin-off from the use of highly integrated processing chipsets is that more
features are being squeezed into fewer chips and facilities that used only to
be found on top-end players are now appearing on cheaper entry level models.
It’s also worth mentioning that budget players are more likely to have easily
disabled Region locks, or the manufacturer has set the player to Region-Free,
leaving it up to the importer to set the appropriate country code. It’s amazing
how many seem to forget…
Thirdly, there
are only a few mechanical components inside a DVD player, which makes them
cheaper to build and generally very reliable. Complex tape deck mechanisms and
head assemblies are often the most expensive elements in an AV product like a
VCR or camcorder, the most likely to fail and the place where corner and cost
cutting can have the biggest impact on performance. That doesn’t happen with
DVD to anything like the same extent. DVD disc mechanisms are virtually
identical to those found in audio CD players. It’s a tried and tested
technology and by the time the image ends up on the screen there’s often little
difference between the best and the worst, furthermore, like the processing
chips, only a smallish number of manufacturers are involved, so the same deck
mechanics can appear in players with a price difference of a couple of hundred
pounds or more.
Budget DVD
players have one other very important thing going for them. The picture and
sound quality of even the cheapest and most basic machines is dramatically
better than what is possible from VHS tape, and in many cases, will produce a
sharper picture than either terrestrial or satellite television. The bottom
line is that you don’t have to spend a lot of money on a DVD player to get
stunning pictures and sounds and lots of useful features, but where do you
start?
Begin by
setting your price range. Whilst there is no official break point the budget
sector is widely accepted to be £200 and under. It is highly unlikely you will
see any A brand players at that price, unless they are end of line discounts,
which leaves the B brands and the newcomers. If you prefer to stick with one of
the better-known names you should reckon on spending at least £250.
Unfortunately
the traditional ways of categorising products according to price performance
and features is much less clear-cut with DVD, particularly at the budget end of
the market. Broadly speaking there is only one major feature that distinguishes
the current assortment of players (across all price ranges), and that is
whether or not they have a built-in Dolby Digital 5.1 channel surround sound
decoders. Up until a few months ago it was considered a luxury feature that
commanded a significant price premium, however, such is the price competition
in the budget sector and the all round reduction in the cost of digital
processing microchips that there are several Dolby Digital equipped players
selling for less than £200.
Should you
shortlist players with a Dolby Digital decoder? Well, maybe… The point to bear
in mind is that it probably won’t save you any money, unless you already have a
5.1 channel compatible AV amplifier and speakers. If not you are going to have
to spend several hundred pounds upgrading your system. If you buy a decoderless
player there’s nothing to stop you changing to 5.1 channel sound later, of
course you will still have to buy an AV amplifier – this time with a built in
decoder – and the extra speakers, but the price difference between AV
amplifiers with and without Dolby Digital decoders isn’t that great, and it’s
getting smaller all the time. By the time you get around to it, it may well be negligible.
Secondary and
convenience features are not a reliable guide either. There are plenty of
budget with feature lists that put machines costing £350 or more to shame,
which brings into focus the question of buying a product with name you’re not
familiar with. There are parallels here with the PC market, where branding has
become much less of an issue. Inside most DVD players there are four main
components, the deck mechanism, the AV processor board and 5.1decoder and the
power supply. The same boards or at least the same processor microchips and
deck assemblies turn up time and again irrespective of the name on the front
panel, and as we’ve already pointed out long term reliability is unlikely to be
a big problem with DVD since there are so few parts to wear out. DVD players
are no different to other electronic devices and if a fault is going to develop
it is most likely to do so in the first few hours and days after purchase, when
the company that made or sold it is still trading, so you stand a good chance
of getting it repaired or replaced.
That also
raises the question of service contracts and extended warranties. In our view
they are not worth bothering about on budget DVD players. Unlike a washing
machine or fridge there are no parts that routinely wear out or need adjusting.
If a player is going to go wrong it will usually do so within the
manufacturer/retailer’s standard one-year guarantee period. In a budget player
the dearest parts are likely to be the deck mechanism and processor boards, which
shouldn’t cost more than £30 to £50 replace, or about as much as a one year
service contract. In any case DVD is a fast-moving technology and most of
today’s players are likely to be obsolete within a 3 to 5 year period. By that
time recordable DVD will be starting to make its mark and you’ll definitely
want one of those, won’t you?
All that
remains now is work out where to buy your player from, and the best way to pay
for it. Buying online is a good way to save money but it has its drawbacks.
With Internet exclusive players there’s no chance to try before you buy, and if
something does go wrong, you will almost certainly have to send it back from
whence it came, put your faith in a courier company, trust the company has
efficient service facilities, and pray they don’t go bust in the meantime. If
you do buy online the golden rule is to use a credit card, which will provide
you with some protection, should anything go wrong. Where possible stick to
British-based companies, preferably well-known ones with a good track record in
on-line trading.
Buying from a
shop or showroom is clearly the best option since you can see what you are
getting and there’s no waiting around for delivery vans to arrive. If you buy
from a specialist dealer you should get expert advice, though with a budget
player it’s just as likely you will be buying it from your local supermarket so
don’t expert too much technical help from the fruit and veg assistants. On the
other hand you know you’ll be getting a good deal from a high-street multiple
or supermarket and in the unlikely event it does go wrong, you can pop it back
and get it repaired, replaced or your money back, usually without too much
fuss.
BOXOUT 1:
BUYING A SECOND HAND DVD PLAYER
It sounds
ridiculous but a technology that is barely two years old has already created a
market for second hand players and ads are starting to regularly appear in the
classified magazines and free sheets, so could this be the way to get a
bargain? Sadly the answer is probably no and you only have to look through the
list of model numbers to see why. Most of the players we’ve seen are sparsely
featured first generation machines that almost certainly cost the original
owners a small fortune, especially if they were imported from the US. Features
like on-board Dolby Digital decoders were very rare in the early days, even
things that we now take for granted on budget models, like multi-speed replay
and picture zoom, were unusual, and in the first eighteen months of DVD hardly
any players had dts compatible bitstream outputs, which is another reason for
early adopters to want to get shot of obsolete equipment.
Remember too
that DVD was being developed on the fly -- it still is to some extent -- and a
lot of early players had problems with some types of disc. Several decks had a
reputation for erratic or unstable replay on certain discs, leisurely layer
change, sometimes taking several seconds and the introduction of mixed media
discs – with DVD and PC data – caused a lot of difficulties for some manufacturers.
Picture and sound processing has improved dramatically, blocking artefacts and
freezing was quite common on early players, so the best advice we can give is
don’t buy second hand, unless you know exactly what you are doing, you can see
it working, and you really do stand to save a lot of money.
BOXOUT 2: HOW
CHEAP CAN IT GET?
Given the DVD
market’s recent track record on prices you might be tempted to hang on a while
longer and see if it gets any cheaper. Whilst we are reasonably confident that
the £100 player is not that far away we’re already into the ‘silly money’
region and current sub £200 decks are amazing value for money. However, the
real point is that manufacturing costs on these machines have already been
shaved to the bone and for prices to dip any lower some we suspect real
sacrifices are going to have to be made on build quality, and possibly
performance as well. So far that hasn’t happened and the picture and sound
quality on even the cheapest players is still very good. Playing the waiting
game means won’t protect you from premature obsolescence either, the number of
new ‘teething problems’ and rogue discs has slowed right down but enhancements
and format variations are not going to stop and recordable DVD machines are now
only a matter of months away, when the fun and games starts all over again...
If you want DVD now don’t wait, or you’ll just be missing out, it’s cheap
enough to take the plunge!
THE TESTS
ALBA DVD-103,
£150
At just £150
the Alba DVD-103 is currently one of cheapest DVD players on the market and as
an added bonus it plays Region one discs without any tiresome preliminaries.
You would be forgiven for expecting a basic specification but nothing could be
further from the truth, it has 4-mode picture search and 3-speed slomo, a
2-stage zoom and Chapter Digest, which creates a visual menu of stills from the
start of each chapter. Useful extras include volume and mute on the remote
handset, and a headphone socket on the front panel, with a level control.
The clanky menu
system can be quite irritating and the remote button layout isn’t very clever
but it has a good assortment of rear panel socketry with RGB and S-Video
outputs on the SCART connector, dts compatible optical and coaxial bitstream
and two sets of video and audio outputs. Picture quality is satisfactory;
colours are well defined though skin tones look a little harsh in close-up.
Resolution is average it’s not very tolerant of dirty or scratched discs and
the range of trick play modes isn’t very inspiring (8x is as quick as it gets)
but layer change is very fast (one or two frames).
Forget the dull
cosmetics and iffy remote, the DVD-150 has the kind of features that were
previously only available on players costing twice as much, it’s a bargain!
Contact Alba 020 8594 5533
EXTRA FEATURES
All region,
PAL/NTSC replay, dts compatible bitstream output, multi-speed replay, 2-stage
picture zoom, chapter digest, volume and mute control, display dimmer/off,
headphone out
OUTPUTS
SCART Y
S-Video Y
RGB out Y
Component N
Optical digital Y
Coaxial digital Y
5.1 decoder N
Ease of use 3
Picture 4
Sound 4
Features 5
Overall 4
AZUDA DVD-862,
£159
Unless you’re
in the computer business you probably won’t have heard of Azuda but they are
quite well known for bolting together PCs for several well-known UK brands. The
DVD-862 is actually assembled in Wales and the PC connection is evident from
the enclosed DVD-ROM type drive inside the box and the fact that it has a
universal power supply that works just about anywhere and it replays MP3 files
recorded on CD-R/RW discs.
Although
officially priced at £199 it’s available online for only £159, which is
remarkably cheap considering it has an on-board Dolby Digital decoder, Scene
Digest feature, multi-speed fast play and slomo and a 2-stage picture zoom. The
icing on the cake is hack-free all-region playback, switchable RGB/YUV
(component video output) and a karaoke mode with twin mike and mix/echo
facilities
Picture quality
is generally good and it uses the same core processing microchips as
significantly dearer players, it could do with a slightly wider contrast range
but colours are clean and layer change is over in an instant. Audio performance
is fine, the Dolby Digital decoder misses some low-level effects and MP3 is nothing
to write home about, but it is still incredible value and it has to be well
worth considering.
Contact
Elecbrand, 01639 822222,
EXTRA FEATURES
All Region,
PAL/NTSC replay, Dolby Digital decoder, multi-speed replay, 2-stage picture
zoom, scene digest, MP3 playback, karaoke facility with echo, repeat playback
OUTPUTS
SCART N
S-Video Y
RGB out Y
Component Y
Optical digital Y
Coaxial digital Y
5.1 decoder Y
Ease of use 4
Picture 4
Sound 4
Features 5
Overall 4
BUSH DVD-2002,
£180
When the Bush
DVD-200 was introduced a few months ago the £180 ticket price set a new
benchmark for a player with a built-in Dolby Digital decoders. It’s no longer
the cheapest machine with 5.1 sound but the feature list still looks quite
attractive. One unusual item is a YUV component video output, which might prove
useful to some, though we would have gladly traded that for and RGB output or
the all-region playback, which has been a feature of most recent Bush DVD
players. It has a good assortment of trick play modes and there’s a headphone
socket with a level control adjustment on the front panel.
On-screen
performance is typical of most budget to mid range players with a crisp,
detailed picture, solid and natural looking colours, no noticeable problems
with processing artefacts or errors but some loss of detail in darker scenes
caused by a narrowish contrast range. There’s only the briefest of
interruptions during layer change – most of the time you won’t even notice it –
and the 5.1 decoder is fast and accurate.
It has a few rough edges but it’s a likeable and well designed machine
and the price is fair.
Contact, Bush,
020 8594 5533
EXTRA FEATURES
Region 2,
PAL/NTSC replay, multi-speed replay, headphone socket, component video output
OUTPUTS
SCART 1
S-Video 1
RGB out no
Component Y
Optical digital yes
Coaxial digital yes
5.1 decoder yes
Ease of use 3
Picture 4
Sound 4
Features 3
Overall 4
ENCORE DV-450,
£230
From the
outside it looks ordinary enough but this is a most unusual machine since it is
based around a DVD-ROM deck mechanism, though as we’ll see it that’s no
impediment when it comes to picture or sound performance. In addition to a
built-in Dolby Digital decoder it has a 2-stage picture zoom, 5-scene marker
and MP3 file replay, on CD-R/RW discs. There’s also a front-mounted headphone
socket and level control. The player is set to Region 2 playback but the lock
can be easily disabled by entering General Setup on the Setup menu and pressing
38883 on the remote handset. Connectivity is very good with a choice of
composite, component, RGB and S-Video outputs.
Picture and
sound quality are fine, there’s lot of fine detail in the image, colours are
lifelike and skin tones cleanly rendered, the dynamic range is a whisker wider
than is usual on budget players, livening up shadows and gloomy scenes no end.
Layer change takes less than a couple of frame on average and trick play is
fairly smooth, though the control system makes it difficult to access the slomo
speeds. Dolby Digital soundtracks are crisply rendered and the sound it makes
compares well with most similarly equipped mid-market players. Worth
considering.
Contact Laser
UK, (01895) 450450, www.laseruk.co.uk
EXTRA FEATURES
Region 2 (see
text), PAL/NTSC replay, Dolby Digital decoder, dts compatible, MP3 replay,
multi-speed replay, 2-stage picture zoom, 5-scene marker, front-mounted
headphone socket and level control
OUTPUTS
SCART Y
S-Video Y
RGB out Y
Component Y
Optical digital Y
Coaxial digital Y
5.1 decoder Y
Ease of use 4
Picture 5
Sound 4
Features 5
Overall 5
MICO DVD-A980 £180
The DVD-A980 is
one of a growing number of budget players that are only available from the
Internet web-sites, in this case from Unbeatable.co.uk. The asking price of
£180 looks quite reasonable when you consider it has a Dolby Digital decoder,
advanced replay facilities, all-region playback, 2-stage picture zoom, digital
sound processing and MP3 replay on CD-R/RW discs. It has a twin-mike karaoke
facility with variable mix and echo effects and although the name on the
outside might be unfamiliar, inside the box there’s a Hitachi-made deck
mechanism.
It’s a bit
quirky in places; the row of track selection buttons on the front panel is
unusual, there’s no standby option – just a front panel mains on/off switch --
and the control system takes some getting used to but picture quality is quite
satisfactory. We would have like a slightly wider contrast range; colours can
look a little flat at times. Layer change is a fairly ordinary quarter of a
second and it’s not very tolerant of dirty or scratched discs but the image is
lively and detailed. The Dolby Digital soundtracks are also well defined and
manage to pick out subtle and low level effects without any difficulty. Fair vale,
fair performance; put it on your shortlist.
Contact: www.unbeatable.co.uk
EXTRA FEATURES
All Region,
PAL/NTSC replay, Dolby Digital decoder, dts compatible bitstream output,
multi-speed replay, 2-stage picture zoom, 7-mode DSP, 6-mode equaliser with
user preset, MP3 playback, karaoke facility with echo, repeat and A/B repeat
play
OUTPUTS
SCART 1
S-Video 1
RGB out no
Component N
Optical digital yes
Coaxial digital yes
5.1 decoder yes
Ease of use 3
Picture 4
Sound 4
Features 5
Overall 4
WHARFEDALE
DVD-750, £180
The DVD-750
started out as a Tescos exclusive earlier this year and at the time the £180
price tag looked impressive, though of late it has tended to be overshadowed by
cheaper and more exotically equipped players. Nevertheless the Wharfedale name
still carries a fair amount of kudos and the rather basic spec means it is
fairly easy to use. Whilst it doesn’t have any 5.1 decoders there is a picture
zoom, a modest selection of trick play modes and it uses a Sanyo deck
mechanism. The region lock can be easily hacked by loading an R1 disc (leave
the tray open) and tapping 0,1,2,3 Play on the handset.
On-screen
displays look a bit crude but AV performance is fine. The picture is sharp with
clean colours that cope well with subtle shades and hues. The contrast range
could do with being a bit wider but it was no worse than normal. Layer change
is over in two or three frames and the trick play modes – such as they are –
are very smooth. The mixed stereo output has average levels of background hiss;
the response is flat and wide. A reasonable price to pay for decent AV
performance and a familiar name.
Contact
Wharfedale International, telephone (01480) 447700
EXTRA FEATURES
Region 2
PAL/NTSC (see text), picture zoom, dynamic range compression, PIN coded
parental lock
OUTPUTS
SCART 1
S-Video 1
RGB out no
Component N
Optical digital yes
Coaxial digital yes
5.1 decoder no
Ease of use 4
Picture 4
Sound 4
Features 3
Overall 3
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Ó R. Maybury 2000, 3008
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