Blu-ray and HD-DVD are the next generation of disc types allowing for high definition movies in 1080p. HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are not compatible with each other, but both types support normal DVDs.

Is the player a stationary player for home use without a screen, or is it a portable with a screen operated by batteries.

Indicates the types of discs the recorder can record on. Most recorders record on DVD but products with Blu-Ray and HD-DVD recording are on the horizon. Some products record both on discs and on an internal hard drive.

Indicates whether or not the player has a built in video/VCR.

Shows if there is a built-in hard drive. That means that you can record film, images or music.

BD Live offer a variety of Web-enabled features, from downloadable trailers to chat and instant-messaging functions.

Does the player have a CD/DVD changer with the possibility of having more than one disc in the player at the same time in order to be able to switch beetween multiple movies or cds.

Indicates that the DVD player has a picture zoom capability, allowing viewers to study a scene in detail.

Filtering on Blu-Ray or HD-DVD and Multi-Region as "Yes" will not guarantee that the player plays multi-regional normal DVD discs. To be sure, check the information of your selected retailer for the product.

Upscaling is a process that mathematically matches the pixel count of the output of the DVD signal to the physical pixel count on an HDTV, which is typically 1280x720 (720p) or 1920x1080 (1080i).

Indicates if there is an on-board Dolby Digital Decoder .
Dolby Digital - A sound format that probably will become the standard regarding multi-channel sound. Other formats include Dolby Pro Logic and DTS. The difference between Dolby Pro Logic and Dolby Digital is that Dolby Digital splits the sound into five channels while Dolby Pro Logic uses four. Dolby Digital also provides two separate surround channels for greater realism, and an additional ".1" or "LFE" channel for low-frequency (bass) special sound effects. DTS is another 5.1 system similar to Dolby Digital.

THX is an exclusive set of standards and technologies established by the world-renowned film production company, Lucasfilm Ltd. THX grew from George Lucas' personal desire to make your experience of the film soundtrack, in both movie theatres and in your home theatre as faithful as possible to what the director intended. Movie soundtracks are mixed in special movie theatres called dubbing stages and are designed to be played back in movie theatres with similar equipment and conditions. The soundtrack created for movie theatres is then transferred directly onto Laserdisc, VHS tape, DVD, etc., and is not changed for playback in a small home theatre environment. THX engineers developed patented technologies to accurately translate the sound from the movie theatre environment into the home, correcting the tonal and spatial errors that occur.

The types of sound formats the player supports. Examples of popular sound formats are Dolby Digital, DTS, Dolby Prologic etc. This are only supported formats, not decoders.

Indicates the number of bits of the audio DAC (digital-to-analog converter) and its sampling frequency. Typical DVD players feature 24-bit DACs operating at 96kHz (96,000 times per second). 24-bit word length for audio encoding is the state-of-the-art and will be for the foreseeable future. DVD-Audio capable players use 192 kHz sampling rate DACs to reproduce the high-resolution audio information. Some state-of-the-art DVD-Video players also use 192 kHz sampling for better audio performance. For most "everyday consumers", 96kHz/24-bit audio DACs are sufficient. But if you're looking for a DVD-Audio player, 192kHz/24-bit audio DACs are required.

Indicates that the DVD player is capable of processing and outputting progressive scan images via the progressive scan component video output. Progressive scan images look more film-like and is less subject to certain motion artifacts as common with "conventional" interlaced scanning. This type of video signal is useful only if you have a digital TV(or HDTV). If you don't have a progressive scan capable TV, you can still use interlaced video output to drive your current TV. To fully reduce motion artifacts, its recommended to use a progressive scan DVD player that performs 3:2 pulldown.

Indicates the number of bits of the video DAC (digital-to-analog converter) and its sampling frequency. Typical DVD players feature 10-bit DACs operating at 27 MHz (27,000,000 times per second). State-of-the-art DVD players use up to 14-bit DACs operating at 108 MHz (quadruple the speed of typical DVD players) to render an ever better picture, closer to the original film master. For most "everyday consumers", 27MHz/10-bit video DACs are sufficient. But if you have a large screen TV (40" or larger), you may enjoy the subtle improvements in picture quality.

Indicates the physical disc formats supported by the player. This does not include any file formats which might be supported.

Shows the physical disc formats that is supported by player for recordable use. Only physical formats.

Indicates that the DVD player is capable of playing back the new DVD-Audio format. DVD-Audio is a super high resolution audio only format, featuring 6-channel surround sound. DVD-Audio playback requires 5.1 channel analog input and an "analog bypass" mode in the A/V receiver.

Shows if the DVD player supports SVCD format.

Shows if the DVD player supports VCD format.

Shows if the DVD player supports DivX format. DivX is a digital video compression format based on the MPEG-4 technology.

Shows if the DVD player can play music in MP3 format.

Some DVD-players can display photos burned on a CD. The most common types of CDs used for displaying photos are JPEG and Kodak picture CD.

Short for Super-Video, a technology for transmitting video signals over a cable by dividing the video information into two separate signals: one for color (chrominance), and the other for brightness (luminance). When sent to a television, this produces sharper images than composite video, where the video information is transmitted as a single signal over one wire. This is because televisions are designed to display separate Luminance (Y) and Chrominance (C) signals. (The terms Y/C video and S-Video are the same.)To use S-Video, the device sending the signals must support S-Video output and the device receiving the signals must have an S-Video input jack.

A Composite Video Connection is a connection in which both the Color and B/W portions of the video signal are transferred together. The actual physical connection is referred to as an RCA video connection and is usually Yellow at the tips. Also Known As: RCA video connection, Composite Video, Standard Video Connection

HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) is the first and only industry-supported, uncompressed, all-digital audio/video interface. By delivering crystal-clear, all-digital audio and video via a single cable, HDMI dramatically simplifies cabling and helps provide consumers with the highest-quality home theater experience. HDMI provides an interface between any audio/video source, such as a set-top box, DVD player, or A/V receiver and an audio and/or video monitor, such as a digital television (DTV), over a single cable. HDMI supports standard, enhanced, or high-definition video, plus multi-channel digital audio on a single cable. It transmits all ATSC HDTV standards and supports 8-channel, 192kHz, uncompressed digital audio and all currently-available compressed formats (such as Dolby Digital and DTS), HDMI 1.3 adds additional support for new lossless digital audio formats Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD with bandwidth to spare to accommodate future enhancements and requirements.

iLink is Sony's name for FireWire which is a high-speed serial bus developed by Apple and Texas Instruments that allows for the connection of up to 63 devices. It is widely used for downloading video from digital camcorders to computers. Also known as the IEEE 1394 standard, the i.Link connector and the High Performance Serial Bus (HPSB), the first version of FireWire supported 100, 200 and 400 Mbits/sec transfer rates and a distance of 4.5 meters between devices.IEEE 1394b provides 800, 1,600 and 3,200 Mbps speeds, increases cable distance to 100 meters and can use glass or plastic fiber and Cat 5 Ethernet cable. FireWire 800 was the first implementation of 1394b and became available in 2003. Backward compatible with FireWire 400, earlier devices run at the lower speed. FireWire supports hot swapping, multiple speeds on the same bus and isochronous data transfer, which guarantees bandwidth for multimedia operations.

(Universal Serial Bus) A widely used hardware interface for attaching peripheral devices. USB ports began to appear on PCs in 1997, and Windows 98 was the first Windows to support it natively. Within a few years, USB became popular for connecting nearly every external peripheral device. Replacing the serial and parallel ports on a PC, at least four USB ports are standard on every computer.Hot SwappableUSB devices can be connected to without turning the computer off, enabling removable devices to be plugged and unplugged as needed. This feature, combined with easy-reach ports on the front of the computer case, gave rise to the ubiquitous USB drive.USB 1.0 and USB 2.0USB has a maximum bandwidth of 12 Mbps for USB 1.0 and 1.1 and 480 Mbps for Hi-Speed USB 2.0. Up to 127 peripheral devices can be attached to the bus, and USB 1.1 devices can plug into USB 2.0 ports. Fast devices can use the full bandwidth, while low-speed ones can use a 1.5 Mbps sub channel.USB HubsA USB hub provides additional ports for the user. Like any other USB device, the hub plugs into a USB port on the computer and provides four or more USB ports for peripherals. The peripherals themselves may also contain hubs. For example, a monitor may have a built-in USB hub in order to provide a convenient desktop location for plugging in other devices.Type A and B, Mini-A and BThe USB ports on computers and hubs have a rectangular Type A socket, and peripheral devices have a cable with a Type A plug. Peripherals that do not have an attached cable have a square Type B socket on the device and a separate cable with a Type A and Type B plug.The Mini-A and Mini-B connectors are used on small portable devices such as PDAs, music players, digital cameras and cell phones. Hubs may use Mini-B instead of Type B for the computer connection.