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Information About

Dvd Player




A DVD player is a device for playing video DVDs. Most '''hardware DVD players''' have to be connected to a Television set; there are also some small portable devices which have an LCD screen attached.

A DVD player has to complete these tasks:
  • Read a DVD disk in UDF version 2 format

  • optionally decrypt the data with either CSS and/or Macrovision

  • decode the MPEG-2 video stream with a maximum of 10 Mbit/s (peak) or 8 Mbit/s (continuous)

  • decode sound in MP2 , PCM or AC-3 format and output (with optional AC-3 to stereo downsampling) on stereo connector, optical or electric digital connector

  • output a video signal, either an analog one (in PAL , SECAM or NTSC format) on the Color Video Signal connector, or a digital one on the DVI output connector


Most DVD players also allow users to play audio CD s ( CDDA , MP3 , etc.) and Video CD s ( VCD ) and include a Home Cinema decoder (i.e. Dolby Digital , Digital Theatre System (DTS)). Some newer devices also play videos in the DivX video compression format popular on the internet.

As Of 2005 , retail prices for such a device, depending on its optional features (such as digital sound or video output), start between 30 and 80 USD / Euro s.

By far the largest producer of DVD players is China ; in 2002 they produced 30 million players, more than 70% of the world output. These producers have to pay about US$20 per player in license fees, to the Patent holders of the DVD technology ( Sony , Philips , Pioneer and LG Electronics ) as well as for MPEG-2 licenses. To avoid these fees, China has developed the EVD standard as an intended successor of DVD; As Of 2004 , EVD players were only being sold in China.

Software DVD players are Program s that allow to view DVD videos on a Computer with a DVD-ROM drive. Some examples are the VLC Media Player and MPlayer (both Free Software ), as well as WinDVD, PowerDVD and DVD Player . {Link without Title} .


SEE ALSO