DVD Players
With a DVD player you’ll enjoy superior picture and sound quality compared to a video recorder. You’ll also be able to navigate discs quickly and easily through menus and chapters and access special features on DVD movie discs. All our DVD players come with a free 2 year guarantee. Look out for the following features:
Progressive scan
This method of scanning displays all the lines of a video frame at the same time instead of ‘interlacing’ two separate ‘fields’. This will improve the overall picture quality and reduce any on screen flicker.
HD upscaling
Nearly all DVD players now feature technology that ‘up-scales’ DVDs for improved picture quality. When connected to a High Definition Ready TV, you’ll enjoy breathtaking images that are almost as good as high definition, from a standard DVD. These players all output through a HDMI socket, which can be linked to the HDMI or DVI socket on a HD Ready TV.
Combis
If space is at a premium a combi machine with both VCR and DVD is a compact solution.
DVD Recorders
With a DVD Recorder you’ll be able to record in the same way as a VCR with blank DVDs. Many DVD recorders allow you to choose to record at a lesser quality for a longer recording time. Look out for the following features:
EPG
An EPG (electronic programme guide) makes it easy to plan what you want to watch and record. You’ll be able to view TV listings on screen for the next 7 days (or more) and simply select what you wish to record at the touch of a button.
DV input
A DV input will allow you to connect your digital camcorder and burn your home movie footage to a blank DVD.
HDD recorders
Some DVD recorders include a hard drive which provides hours of additional recording time (A HDD recorder without a DVD recorder may also be known as a PVR). A 160GB hard drive will provide over 250 hours of recording space. Once you’ve saved and edited your programmes on the hard drive you can simply transfer them onto a DVD to keep. Hard drive and DVD-RAM technology has also opened up a range of exciting and useful new features including:
Time slip
Time slip functions allow you greater recording flexibility so you can watch what you want, when you want. These include ‘Chasing playback’, ‘Simultaneous record and playback’ and ‘Pause live TV’.
Chasing playback
If you’ve set your DVD recorder to record a programme but are late home from work ‘chasing playback’ allows you to start watching the programme from the beginning while it continues to record to the end.
Simultaneous record and playback
This allows you to watch a programme that you’ve already recorded while you’re recording another.
Pause live TV
If you’re halfway through watching a film and you’re interrupted, you needn’t miss anything. Simply press the pause button to freeze the action and then press play when you’re ready to resume watching.
Dubbing
This means transferring footage from one place to another e.g. from hard drive to DVD and vice versa.
Memory card slots
View photos from your digital camera, save them to the hard drive or burn them onto a DVD to keep.
Blu-ray
Blu-ray players are the high definition equivalent of the DVD player, taking entertainment to the next level with superior pictures and sound.
With the advent of high definition TV, it was soon realised that hi def movies would take up too much space on a regular DVD disc, and a new format would be needed to improve upon and eventually replace the DVD standard.
One Blu-ray disc holds the equivalent of 35 CDs’ or 5 DVDs’ worth of storage. It’s the same size as a DVD disc, but by using a shorter wavelength and a narrower (blue) laser beam spot, it can hold greater capacity.
Blu-ray players are growing in popularity and can play your existing DVDs – so there’s no need to throw them away. In fact, Blu-ray players will ‘upscale’ them, giving them a near high definition makeover, revealing detail you haven’t noticed before.
Blu-ray recorders are not currently available. If you computer has a Blu-ray burner, you can use it to transfer your high definition camcorder footage to blank Blu-ray disc media.
Find out more about Blu-ray.
Home cinema systems
Recreate the cinematic experience at home with immersive surround sound. Home cinema systems typically include a receiver, DVD player or DVD recorder as well as a subwoofer and multiple mini satellite speakers. The subwoofer provides powerful low frequency bass while mini speakers are placed around the room to provide the sound effects.
Find out more about home cinema systems
Formats
A variety of recordable discs are available. Check the compatibility of your machine.
- DVD-R DVD+R: Record just once for a permanent copy
- DVD-RW, DVD+RW: Re-recordable
- DVD-RAM: Re-recordable disc with a Random Access Memory for flexible recording and editing capability
Dual layer discs
A dual layer disc has two layers on one side of the DVD and so doubles the amount of recording space.
Our range of DVD players
John Lewis Partner quotes
"Using a special DVD cleaner on your machine will help keep the lens clean – as that’s the part that reads the disc, it will mean best possible picture quality."
"If you want to record lots of films on your new DVD recorder, then choose one with a “chapter report”; this enables you to delete unwanted ad breaks!"
"If you buy a DVD/video combi, there are 3 advantages; play old and new formats on the same machine, transfer old family videos on to DVD (or vice versa if you need a copy for someone who doesn’t have a DVD) and one less remote control!"
Ian, Audio & TV, Milton Keynes