NBC TODAY: Setting Up Your New DVD

With prices now at the same level as a VCR, DVD players were one of the few high tech products to fly off the shelves this holiday season. But while these digital movie machines may look easy to use, our own tech editor Corey Greenberg has tips and advice for getting the best picture and sound from your new DVD player.
Question: DVD players have finally become mainstream but you say that most people aren?t seeing the best picture or hearing the best sound that DVD is capable of ? why?

Answer: People think a DVD player is nothing more than a digital VCR so they use the same types of hookup cables between the player and their TV ? an RCA video cable and stereo RCA analog audio cables. But DVD is a digital video format that has much higher resolution and color purity than a VCR, and digital surround sound versus a VCR?s analog stereo audio. If your TV has an S-Video input (and most sets manufactured in the last five years do), using an S-Video cable ? the funny-looking black cable with the four little pins inside the circular shell ? will give you a noticeably cleaner and more detailed picture with much richer colors. The el-cheapo S-Video cable that comes in the box with most DVD players will be an improvement over using an RCA video cable, but I definitely recommend spending another $20 on a higher quality S-Video cable that will deliver an even better looking picture.


On the audio side, simply plugging a stereo set of RCA cables into a DVD player will give you decent stereo sound, but if you want to hear movies the way they sound in a real movie theater, consider upgrading to a home theater with Dolby Digital capability. You don?t have to spend a lot for a home theater either ? my favorite multimedia speaker company Cambridge Soundworks has a killer entry-level home theater package on their website for $499 ? that includes a full 5.1-channel Cambridge speaker system with subwoofer and a 50-watt JVC Dolby Digital A/V receiver. This inexpensive system delivers the biggest back for the home theater buck I?ve heard to date.

Question: Why do some DVDs have those infamous ?black bars? above and below the picture and how do you get rid of them?

Answer: Those black bars are there to preserve the film?s original ?aspect ratio? or proportion when viewed on a standard TV screen, which is more squared-off than the wider screen you?ll find at a movie theater. A standard TV has a 4:3 aspect ratio (width:height) while movie theaters and the new widescreen TVs and HDTVs have a wider 16:9 screen.
You can get rid of the bars two ways:

1. If you have a standard size 4:3 TV, use your DVD player?s remote control to go into the player?s set-up menu and choose ?Pan and Scan? picture setting. This will get rid of the black bars on many DVDs but the downside is you?ll lose whatever part of the picture extended beyond your TV?s screen.



2. Get one of the newer widescreen 16:9 sets -- you?ll avoid the black bars automatically because the screen is same width as the picture. The downside is that when you watch normal TV shows you?ll see black bars on each side of the picture! But as the owner of a 16:9 TV I can tell you that black bars on the sides of the picture are much less annoying than over and above. Give it a few years and all TVs and broadcasts will be 16:9 widescreen like DVD movies, and then those infamous black bars will join parachute pants and Pauly Shore as a thing of the past.

Question: Many people complain that when they first plug into a DVD player the picture looks too dark or the colors look weird ? do DVD players need different picture settings than a VCR or cable TV?


Answer: DVD players deliver a much more accurate video signal in terms of color and contrast than broadcast, cable, or VHS, so when you first watch a DVD on a TV that?s been adjusted to compensate for a mediocre video source, the DVD picture probably won?t look too hot.

The cure? Calibrate your TV?s video settings for accurate video reproduction and everything from DVDs to cable to your VCR will look better and more natural. The best and easiest TV calibration test disc I?ve used is the AVIA DVD ? it takes you step by step with test patterns that help you easily reset the color, tint, contrast and brightness settings so that all your sources from DVD to VHS deliver the most accurate and lifelike picture. You should?ve seen the before and after picture quality when I used the AVIA disc to calibrate my own big-screen TV ? talk about night and day. You can order the AVIA DVD online at Amazon.com for $40.



TVs featured on NBC TODAY:


Best Value HDTV Rear Projection TV 43UWX10B
Winner of the Best Stuff Best Value rear projection HDTV, this 43-inch widescreen TV delivers great pictures and sound at an affordable $2,200 price point. Tears were shed when this set was loaded back on the truck after its loaner program expired. www.hitachi.com/tv or 1-800-HITACHI.

Features





Sony Wega KV-32XBR450
A great TV for small spaces, this 32-inch WEGA from Sony delivers excellent pictures and sound in a small package. $1700-1800. www.sel.sony.com