DVD stands for Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc, and can hold up to 25 times the data of normal CD's. Essentially a DVD looks like a CD and is produced in a similar process. As DVD can hold so much information, it is the perfect medium for storing the huge amounts of data required by high resolution video and audio, as well as interactive content. DVD Video looks mighty impressive too, with nearly twice the resolution of VHS (DVD has nearly 500 lines of horizontal resolution, while VHS has just 230 lines) there is no chance of a distorted or washed out look, that many VHS's have due to the tape being old or used. The Soundtracks on DVD are either recorded in Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS (Digital Theatre Sound) formats, allowing you to connect up to five speakers and a sub woofer so you can arrange your living room to create the ultimate movie experience at home with the same quality you have come to expect at the cinemas!

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Look at the back of DVD cases and you'll see that many discs include all sorts of features such as theatrical trailers, directors cuts / commentaries, production notes and photos, additional scenes, alternative camera angles, interactive games and a whole lot more. Some even let you select up to 8 different language tracks (Keanu Reeves speaking Chinese, Spanish or even Japanese for e.g.) and up to 32 different on-screen subtitles.

The other important feature is the digital quality sound, most DVD soundtracks are either recorded in Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS (Digital Theatre Sound), allowing you to create the ultimate theatre experience at home. Every explosion, car-screech, scream and ray-gun will seem so real and intense you'll jump right out of your chair.

DVD definitely has an advantage over VHS in nearly all departments: speed, clarity, sound and ease of use. DVDs are rapidly moving in the market of VHS and will eventually completely take it over as the standard to watch movies on.

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Yes it will work with most TV's (with the exception of some really old TV's, which only have an antenna input, in that case connect it up through your video using the AV outputs, then run it through your TV as you would your VCR). You can also use an intergrated amplifier to make the connection between your DVD player and TV, this will not only give great video playback, it will also give the ultimate sound.

RF antenna units are available for use with the Playstation 2, also S-Video, RGB and Integrated Cable are available.

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The DVD Formatting committee adopted a Region Coding System (similar to Video Games) along with Anti-Copy Software (CSS) to help stop (or slow) piracy on DVD Movies. The World has been divided up into 8 Region Codes as well as Region 0 or Region All movies, which are Region Free.

DVD Players were then Region Coded for specific countries to play only that particular Country Region Movies. The aim was that if someone was to crack the Anti-Copy code in one Region, it would not affect other regions as they were region coded differently.

Please note there is a difference between Region Coding and CSS Anti-Copy software, Region Coding simply tells which Region the movie is from, CSS Anti-Copy Software stops the copying of DVDs.

These days many DVD players are as standard (or can be modified) to play all Region coded movies, so you can have the best choice from the largest range of movies available.

Some of the more popular Region Codes are:
- Region 1 NTSC - US
- Region 2 NTSC - Japan
- Region 2 PAL - UK
- Region 3 NTSC - HK
- Region 4 PAL - Australia

Aside of Region Coding, there is also Colour coding (NTSC/PAL), this means the colour output of the movie. Some movies will contain coding for both NTSC and PAL, while others will allow playback on an alternate coding, only in Black and White. This is less of a problem as these days most TVs are Multi-System (NTSC & PAL) and most Region Free DVD Players will allow NTSC and PAL playback of movies.

IT IS ALWAYS BEST TO CHECK ON THE ABOVE POINTS BEFORE PURCHASING A PLAYER!

The Playstation 2 original Japan model (10,000 series) was able to use a simple controller trick to override the Region 2 (Japan) DVD Encoding and playback all NTSC Region movies. Sony has altered the latest version consoles to stop this trick, so many Asian companies are racing to offer a mod to play all region movies on any PS2. Once available, a console will be able to be modified to play all region movies, just like it is to play all region games.

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Yes, just like CD recordables and ReWritables, DVDs can be recorded on, at present however the costs are prohibitively high and not yet available as a mass consumer item outside of Japan. As time goes on and technology becomes cheaper, these will enter the mass market place and become readily available.

The other issue is there are still atleast two major different recording formats which are still enbattled in a fight for standardisation (like the VHS/BETA war which eventually went the way of VHS). This could cause a problem of incompatible recordables between the two standards if there is no agreement put in place as the standards hold between 4.7GB and 9GB per disc (DVD-ROM can hold up to 17.2GB per disc with multi-layered, double sided discs).

Recording DVD Movies to a DVD-R (DVD Recordable) or DVD-RW (DVD ReWritable) will not work as they are copy protected (see above point).

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DVD discs can hold huge amounts of information thanks to new technology in both producing the discs and in the lasers that play them back. There are different types of DVDs, just like there are CDs. Some popular formats are:
- DVD ROM - DVD Read Only Memory
- DVD R - DVD Recordable
- DVD RW - DVD ReWritable
- DVD Video - DVD Movies
- DVD Audio - DVD Music

A DVD can have multiple layers of information and can be single or double sided. This gives it the ability to store up to 17.2GB (GigaBytes) of information or the equivalent of over 17 hours of Video (depending on compression used) or even up to 370 Music Albums with standard MP3 compression.

There is also the new DVD Music format entering the fray that will allow for better music playback than standard CD.

Some DVD players have the ability to play both sides of the disc without stopping, while others require you to turn the disc over. Generally though, a standard movie with extras with fit onto a single sided DVD and play without interruption.

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At first glance all DVD players appear to be the same, offering the same features, functions and quality for the asking price. While this may be true with some players, there is quite an expanding range of manufactures (Sony, Yamaha, Pioneer, Mitsubishi, Sharp, Samsung and LG just to mention a few) making their own DVD players, some starting as low as $329 and some going well over $5,000. A point to consider is what you want out of a DVD player, the higher the price the more features are incorporated to heighten your viewing experience, with jog buttons, viewing angle manipulation, picture in picture, karaoke players and some models even have built in amplifiers and sub-woofers. In the end it all comes down to what features you are after in a DVD player and your budget for the system.

The Playstation 2 console comes DVD ready from the box, with no fancy features, just a good quality DVD player for a decent price, each PS2 has a region encoding embedded in the system, meaning there are 8 different systems throughout the world. Mod chip manufacturers will be offering mod chips in the near future which will override all DVD regions, allowing you the freedom to choose any movie (some only available in certain regions) to play on your console.

In the meantime, you best option is to decide which region movies you are most likely to watch and purchase that particular model PS2 (e.g. if you prefer Region 1 (US) movies, then purchase a PS2 US version console etc.).

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