DVD Vhs Recorder Reviews

LCD, DLP and LCOS are three projector technologies which are predominantly used in schools, colleges and corporate houses for giving presentations, watching videos, classroom teaching, product training etc. LCD projectors use LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) technology to display text and image on an interactive whiteboard or other projection screen. They are also known as multimedia projectors as they can display both text and images from PC, TV and video recorders. They can work with all types of notebooks and desktops. The projection can be of SVGA or XGA resolution.

SVGA means 800 * 600 resolutions whereas XGA means 1024 * 768 screen resolution. A digital image is made up of dots or pixels. A resolution is the size of the digital image which is expressed in width * Height. For e.g.: 800 * 600 resolution means, an image is 800 pixels wide and 600 pixels in height. The projector brightness is measured in ANSI (American National Standard Institute) Lumens.

The DLP and LCOS projectors are also considered to be a type of LCD projector although they use DLP (Digital Light Processing) and LCOS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) technologies for video projection. LCD technology is best for computer use and DLP is best for projecting videos. LCD delivers better color saturation, sharper image and is more light efficient than DLP. The DLP projectors are smaller and lighter than LCD and produce higher contrast videos.

LCOS technology is best for very high resolutions. Its projectors are bigger and heavier than LCD and DLP and generally cost more. One practical application of LCD technology is its use by teachers when training students to use software by capturing the image say ‘Screen of MSWord’ from a computer screen and projecting it on the interactive whiteboard so that all the students can see what is going on the computer screen. Some projector accessories are: cabinets, cases, ceiling mount kits, cables, lens, lamps, remote control, projection screen, stands, trolleys, digital microscope, visualizers etc.

Source: Interactive Whiteboards : Projector Technologies

You have several options to convert VHS to DVD. Let’s look at them one by one and then you’ll be ready to choose the one that’s best for you.

Combo Units

If you own a combination DVD and VCR player/recorder, available almost any place where electronics are sold, it’s almost painless to pop in the VHS tape and a blank DVD, press a few buttons and directly record the old tape to a shiny new DVD disc. (A slight variant on this method is to connect your VCR to a separate DVD recorder unit.) If you don’t need to modify the video at all (editing, adding chapters and custom menus), this method is the easiest and most direct.

Using a Video Camera

Just about any video camera (camcorder) can serve as the tool to help you copy directly from your old VCR into a digital format. Usually it just requires hooking up a cable (may need to be purchased separately) from the VCR’s Video Out port (the red, white, yellow connectors) to the Video In port on the camera and pressing a few buttons. Each camera works a bit differently, so follow the instructions in your video camera’s manual for recording from an auxiliary input. This is a slow process because it is a re-recording of what is on the tape to the new DVD format, but it is fairly simple and requires no additional hardware if you already own a video camera.

Using a Black Box

Special devices like DVD Xpress or Instant DVD from ADSTech make it easy to transfer directly from VHS tape to a DVD disc. Basically, this is an external device that takes the place of the video camera in the previous scenario. You connect the VCR to the device with a standard red/white/yellow cable and then connect the device to your computer with a USB cable. These devices may be more cost effective than a video camera (about US$100) and a little easier to use.

More Geeky Solutions

Other options exist, for those interested in all the technical bells and whistles of video transfer, conversion and compression. Check out BitYard.com for a point-by-point, nearly human explanation of using an MPEG-2 capturing device that transfers and compresses the video to a smaller file size.

What Hardware and Software Do I Need?

Most computers sold in the last few years (Windows or Mac) will have the basic system requirements needed for dealing with the digital version of your VHS recording. You should have a Pentium 4 or higher, 1GB or more of RAM and at least 10GB of hard drive space available.

Oh, and a DVD burner of course, and a stack of blank DVD discs. Some computers have combination CD/DVD drives, which may or may not be able to burn a DVD. Don’t assume that because you can burn a CD, you can also burn a DVD. Consult the documentation if you’re not sure. If you need a DVD burner, the external USB-connected models are very easy to connect.

Once you capture the images on your computer, you can use movie editing programs such as Windows MovieMaker, QuickTime or iMovie to manipulate the video as desired, add subtitles, chapters, etc. Also check out VideoHelp.com for excellent video editing software and tutorials with wonderful step-by-step instructions.

The Low-Tech Solution

A final option for those who don’t care to dirty their hands with wires, bits and bytes is a service bureau. Many services offer to receive your VHS tapes by mail and return it with a DVD equivalent. One example is homemoviedepot.com. For anywhere from under $20 to a lot more (for damaged tapes) they can walk you through the preparation process and help you get the tapes to them for conversion.

How Long Do DVDs Last?

All that I’ve read indicates the expected longevity of dye-based DVD discs is anywhere from 20 to 250 years. Some formulations (notably phthalocyanine) are more stable and last longer, so look for those when purchasing DVD discs. However, many manufacturers don’t list this on the packaging; so just be aware that some of the el-cheapo DVD discs may last just a few years, and buy quality name-brand discs.

There have been some confusing reports published recently, notably the claim by a guy from IBM Germany that CD and DVD discs will last only 2-5 years. This report has been WIDELY criticized and so far I haven’t seen ANYONE come out in support of it. Nonetheless, popular news media (online and offline) trumpet it as fact and then mass confusion ensues…

As far as I’m concerned, the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s report on CD/DVD Care & Handling is the most authoritative and accurate source of information on the subject of CD/DVD life expectancy. In that report, they say:

…there is consensus that, under recommended storage conditions, CD-R, DVD-R, and DVD+R discs should have a life expectancy of 100 to 200 years or more; CD-RW, DVD-RW discs should have a life expectancy of 25 years or more.

The useful life span of CD and DVD discs is affected by temperature, humidity, exposure to light and day-to-day use. So keep your DVDs in a cool, dry place, avoid direct exposure to sunlight, and they should last for several decades.

Reprinted from: http://www.askbobrankin.com/convert_vhs_to_dvd.html

BOB RANKIN… is a tech writer and computer programmer who enjoys exploring the Internet and sharing the fruit of his experience with others. His work has appeared in ComputerWorld, NetGuide, and NY Newsday. Bob is publisher of the Internet TOURBUS newsletter, author of several computer books, and creator of the http://LowfatLinux.com website. Visit Bob Rankin’s website for more helpful articles and free tech support.

DVD players have been around for a long time now and have become quite cheap to purchase. Even though they all play the same DVD’s there are several features some DVD players have.

Most DVD players can play music. This is important if you don’t have a stereo at home. It’s also great if you have music backed up to DVD’s as you can choose from a huge selection of songs as DVD’s have a much greater capacity than CD’s.

An important thing to look for in a DVD player is if it plays different formats of video. For example some DVD players play DivX and windows media files making the DVD player a lot more functional in terms of compatibility.

Now to the recording side. DVD players have been around for a long time as opposed to DVD recorders, which haven’t been around for that long at all. This is why DVD recorders cost a lot more than DVD players. Being able to record to DVD is a great. You can record all your favourite television shows onto a DVD and store them for later viewing.

A great feature some DVD players have is a built in hard disk. Meaning they have a hard drive like a computer that you can record onto. This is a particularly useful feature. Some DVD recorders have a hard disk of 100gig. To give you an idea of how much space that is you could fit 25 full length movies onto it. You will never run out of space or run to the shops because you ran out of DVD’s.

One important thing to consider when choosing a DVD player/recorder is the emerging technologies that might render it obsolete. With the competing technologies of Blueray and HD-DVD it is more than likely your DVD player/recorder will become obsolete. Some good advice would be to wait a while before investing money in a DVD player/recorder. www.technologyslice.com

For more great technology related articles and reviews visit http://www.technologyslice.com

The evolution of consumer electronics, high definition displays, digital broadcasts, displays and media is happening at an increasingly rapid pace. Advancements in technology are occurring much faster than before, reducing the time to deliver new technologies to market at an exponential rate. The algorithm for designing and delivering new technology is nearly a fifty percent reduction in time with every significant breakthrough. With such a rapid race for invention the simultaneous introduction of diverse technologies is as inevitable as price erosion and shortened life cycles for what is considered “new” in consumer electronics.

A brief history of Television and the advancement of Display Devices underscores the incredibly increasing pace of developing technology.

In 1876 Eugene Goldstein coined the term “Cathode Ray” to describe light emitted when an electric current is forced through a vacuum tube. Fifty years later in 1928, GE introduced the Octagon, a television with a spinning disc and a neon lamp that created a reddish orange picture that was half the size of a business card. By 1948, twenty years later, the demand for black & white television began a transformation in communications and entertainment. By 1949, several familiar brand names fought for a share of the booming market. These brands included familiar names like Admiral, Emerson, Motorola, Philco, Raytheon, RCA, and Zenith. The market was also saturated with brands like Crosley, Du Mont, Farnsworth, Hallicrafters, Sparton and Tele-Tone. In 1951 CBS broadcasted a one hour Ed Sullivan show in color, but there were only two dozen CBS television sets that could process the color broadcast. In 1954, RCA brought the first color television to market, but only 1,000 units were sold to the public that year. In 1956, Time Magazine called color TV the “most resounding industrial flop of 1956″.

The Plasma Display Panel was invented at the University of Illinois in 1964 by Donald H Bliter, H Gene Slottow and student Robert Wilson. The original monochrome displays were popular in the early 1970’s because they did not require memory or circuitry to refresh the images. By 1983, IBM introduced a 19 inch monochrome display that was able to show four virtual sessions simultaneously. By 1997, Pioneer started selling the first color Plasma televisions to the public. Screen sizes increased to 22 inches by 1992, and in 2006 Matsushita unveiled the largest Plasma video display of 103 inches at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada.

DLP was developed at Texas Instruments in 1987 by Dr. Larry Hornbeck. The image is created by selective reflection of colored beams of light on a Digital Micromirror Device (DMD Chip). Each mirror represents one pixel on the projected image. The number of pixels represents the resolution. For example, 1920 x 1080 resolution refers to a grid of individual dots of light that are 1920 wide x 1080 high, created from the beam of light reflected off of the same number of tiny mirrors on chip that is smaller than a postage stamp. Concentrated light from a bright Mercury Arc Lamp is beamed through a small rotating color wheel of red, green, blue and sometimes white. The light passing through the color wheel is reflected on the tiny mirrors act independently to point the colored light at or away from the pixel target. The colors perceived by the human eye are a blending of combinations of the red, green and blue reflections in each pixel, and the combination of pixels create the total image. This technology was widely used in Digital Projectors and gradually became a competing technology to Cathode Ray Tube projection television sets, at least until consumers discovered the cost of replacing the high intensity projector lamps.

In 1904 Otto Lehman published a work on Liquid Crystals. By 1911, Charles Mauguin described the structures and properties of liquid crystals. In 1926, Marconi Wireless Telegraph company patented the first practical application of the technology. It was not until 1968 that George Heilmeier and a group at RCA introduced the first operational LCD Display. In December 1970, M. Schadt and W. Helfrich of the Central Research Laboratories of Hoffman-LaRoche in Switzerland filed a patent for the twisted nematic field effect in liquid crystals, and licenses the invention to the Japanese electronics industry for digital quartz wrist watches. By 2004. 40 inch to 45 inch LCD Televisions became widely available on the market, and Sharp introduced a 65 inch display. By March 2005, Samsung introduced an 82 inch LCD panel. Then in August 2006, LG Philips unveiled a 100 inch LCD display. At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada in January 2007, Sharp once again claimed the top spot for size as they introduced the 108 inch LCD panel under the brand name AQUOS. From tiny liquid crystals to the battle for supremacy and 108″ displays, the demand for bigger size and sharper contrast in high definition video has proved once again that Size Matters.

By 2006 there have been more than 220 manufacturers of television sets, and the list is growing just as the types of technology for displays is expanding. Other display technologies include Vacuum Flourescent Display (VFD), Light Emitting Diode (LED), Field Emission Display (FED), not to be confused with K-FED, and Liquid Crystal on Silicon (SED). As the ability to generate and provide high definition broadcast on demand continues to develop, the demand for improved quality and larger displays will continue to increase proportionally. The technology to watch for the next significant leap in high definition and quality image reproduction will be the Surface Conduction Electronic Emitter Display (SED).

So where will the high definition images come from? This pace of technology and battle for formats is racing even faster than the development of the display devices.

Ampex introduced the first commercial Video Cassette Recorder in 1956, with a price tag of US$50,000. The worlds first Video Cassette Recorder for home use was introduced by Philips in 1972. By 1975, SONY introduced Betamax. The first VHS VCR arrived to market in 1977, JVC’s HR-3300, creating a format war that raged for market share during the 19080’s. By the 1990’s the battle for dominance between VHS and Beta was replaced by a new battle between the MultiMedia Compact Disc from SONY and Philips, versus the Super Density Disc supported by Time Warner, Matsushita, Hitachi, Mitsubishi, Pioneer, Toshiba and Thomson. Amazingly enough, it was Lou Gerstner, president of IBM, who stepped forward and acted as matchmaker to convince the rival camps to collaborate and combine the best of both technologies into a single standard. The result of which became the DVD Consortium, later became known as the DVD Forum. The competing technologies collaborated on standards for manufacturing DVD products with common format until the battle for supremacy was revived in 2006 between HD DVD and Blu-Ray high definition video.

It took 20 years to migrate from a $50,000 commercial device to a Video Cassette Recorder for the home. It was almost a 20 year battle in the format war between VHS and Beta, until rival camps under the guiding hand of Lou Gerstner collaborated on a common DVD format. The common DVD format lasted for a mere ten years until the competing technologies once again took the field of battle to claim dominance in the high definition video market, as HD DVD and Blu-Ray fight for supremacy, movie titles, profit and the bragging rights to define the next standard in the evolution of video. At this pace of technology evolution, advancement occurs twice as fast or in half the time of the proceeding era. At this rate we can anticipate the announcement of the next significant advancement in technology and another format within the next five years. Will the next format combine the best technologies of HD DVD and Blu-Ray? Will the next step in evolution be based on utilization of more colors from the spectrum to create even greater definition? Will the format war for storage medium like VHS tapes and Blu-Ray discs become obsolete as the new medium transforms to wireless video streaming on demand? One thing is for sure, it will not take long to find out. Hold on to your VHS movies, compact discs and DVD’s, as these will be collector’s items and museum pieces before a child born today will graduate from college.

Are you concerned about having the latest technology when you make your next purchase in consumer electronics? Are you worried about selecting the right format, so your library of movies and collection of media will last longer than your pile of LP records and eight track tapes? Choose a display that supports Digital High Definition, learn about the types of INPUTS for your display device or television, and then pick the one that fits your budget. The types of INPUT and connections are important for being able to take advantage of the best display possible from your television or display device. As for recorded media, take your chances on the media that has the most selection of titles and is compatible with your other entertainment devices. There is a good chance that the state-of-the-art technology you purchase today will be obsolete before your extended warranty expires, so sit back and enjoy the evolution.

Words of Wisdom

“The theory of evolution by cumulative natural selection is the only theory we know of that is in principle capable of explaining the existence of organized complexity.”

- Richard Dawkins

“Television is the first truly democratic culture – the first culture available to everybody and entirely governed by what the people want. The most terrifying thing is what people do want.”

- Clive Barnes

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

- Arthur C. Clarke

bout the Author: John Mehrmann is a freelance writer and President of Executive Blueprints Inc., an organization devoted to improving business practices and developing human capital. http://www.ExecutiveBlueprints.com provides resource materials for trainers, sample Case Studies, educational articles and references to local affiliates for consulting and executive coaching. http://www.InstituteforAdvancedLeadership.com provides self-paced tutorials for personal development and tools for trainers. Presentation materials, reference guides and exercises are available for continuous development.

Depending upon your specific needs, there are a number of ways to transfer video to DVD. In this article, I will discuss three popular ways.

If you have video on your computer, and you would like to burn it on to a DVD, here is how you do it. First, you need the proper tools — the burner, burning software, and the ability to convert the video files into the proper format. If you have windows, you can use Windows movie maker to edit the video as well, and the burning software to create the video menu, and start the burning process.

Typically, your DVD burner will also have the capability to convert different video files into the right file extensions that are suitable to be burned onto DVD. If not, you may have to download freeware or shareware video conversion programs, or purchase an independent video converter. After you get it into the right file format for your burning software, then it is not simply a matter of starting a the burning process.

If you’re trying to transfer video from your digital camcorder, you have two options. First, you can upload the video onto your computer, and follow the directions given above. Or, if you have a DVD recorder, it is much easier. Simply turn on your recorder, and the television is hooked up to. Next, plug in your digital camcorder, and then turn it on.

Put the digital camcorder into playback mode. Then connect a FireWire cable from the output of the digital camcorder into the input of the DVD recorder. Or, you can use analog cables, if no FireWire port is available. Make sure the inputs on your DVD recorder match the ones you’re using a new digital camcorder. Then simply place the recordable DVD into the recorder, and began recording.

If you’d like to transfer a VHS tape onto a DVD, then you will need special software. This is because VHS is in analog, and DVD is digital. You can purchase an analog to digital video capture device that you plug into your USB port for under $100, including software. Then simply use the software to convert the VHS into a digital file, and then follow the process for taking a video on your computer, and burning it to DVD.

Want to learn more? Hurry over to Steven Ross’s great new site at http://www.dvdrippersreport.com
Top DVD Rippers

Mini DV players are available with many different features. Sometimes the technical terminology becomes a little confusing for the layperson. You may have doubts regarding the compatibility of Mini DV cassettes with certain players, or what kind of editing features are available with a particular player. It is best to research extensively before purchasing a Mini DV player, and if you have doubts, you can always get them clarified at the DV player retail store. Also, many websites offer advise on what is the best Mini DV player to suit to your needs.

The Mini DV players mostly double as recorders. They are available for both amateur and professional use. For professionals like wedding videographers and filmmakers, JVC has come up with many innovative players. The JVC HR DVS 3U, for example, is a player as well as recording system. It is very convenient to use, since the Mini DV cassette can be directly inserted into and played by the DV player. There is no need for connecting the camcorder to a VCR using a jumble of confusing wires. It has good editing features, and is capable of converting analog signals to digital. JVC’s HR DV S 3, on the other hand, is a double deck Mini DV VCR which also converts Mini DV to S-VHS format after editing, apart from being a player and recorder compatible with almost all Mini DV cassettes.

For amateur use, the Panasonic Professional DV Proline offers many features like a high sound to noise ratio, four video heads, timer programming, and a clear image quality. This device is meant simply for playing and not for recording purposes. Many users have mentioned problems like the absence of remote control or parental locking mechanism, as well as the lack of built in monitors, which means the player needs to be connected to a VCR, but this player is good for amateur or home use.

With many brands of Mini DV players flooding the market, there is always one out there suited to your needs. With a little patient research, you will be able to locate the best Mini DV player in terms of features, size, recording/playback quality, and price.

Mini DV [http://www.e-minidv.com] provides detailed information about mini DVs, mini DV camcorders, mini DV conversion and more. Mini DV is affiliated with DVD R Duplication.

It gets rather complicated when trying to describe the differences between Broadcast systems and Video systems so let stick to those video systems found in VCRs, camcorders, DVD and Blu-Ray Disc players etc.

Those are the basic standards and none are compatible with each other. Sometimes the A/C Hertz are 50 MHz (220 volt countries) and sometimes 60Mhz (110 volt countries) and this changes the scanning results of an electron tube, LVD or Plasma etc. 60Mhz, used in the USA for example, renders the image smoother, virtually no discernible flicker. With line doubling and quad-doubling (100 and 220 MHz and then 200 and 440 MHz).

Line doubling actually interlaces the picture into a single scan that reveals the entire frame and doubling again increased the scan lines providing for an even finer resolution and there a better sense of reality to the human eye. Technically it takes the original two-field frame and creates a progressive scan (single non-interlaced frame) output. This produces a higher resolution picture both brighter and smoother.

Some 3rd party Line-quadruplers can upscale to resolutions: 1365×1024, 720P, 1080i 852×480, 1024×1024, 1024×768 and 1365×768 and even higher. When the newest technology in video images hits the world we will be seeing NHK images of more than 6000 lines, up from the maximum of 1080P today.

If they then begin to Line-quadruple an image like that who knows what the mind might achieve if plugged directly into the motherboard of the future. Perhaps an enlarging and enhancing of human vision will be needed in the order of 1,000 eyes, 360 degree views both laterally and longitudinally, 100,000,000 lines of resolution all far outpacing current human ability.

Back to PAL-NTSC for a moment.

These many video systems were created due to incompatible electrical standards such as the Hertz, due to economic exigencies and even political motivations (for example, a country didn’t want its TV to be seen by another countries citizens nearby lest they get “ideas”!

With the advent of DVD disc players Hollywood producers decided to take advantage of the new electronic potential inherent in this new groundbreaking technology to better market their movies.

With movies released in VHS VCR tape versions but in 5-6 different and non-competing systems the release of movies worldwide could be staggered according to best marketing practices so rake in as much profit as possible from every country. A movie released in April in the USA didn’t have to be released until the right time in South America and the idea of people in Argentina (PAL-N) wishing to buy the film from a US retailer was virtually a useless plan as the Argentine would have no VCR and no TV of the correct system to play and display the images with. PAL-N and NTSC simply do not display correctly on the wrong systems, even the speeds of recording and playback are different. This means an NTSC movie seen on a PAL or other standard would usually be in black and white, have terribly vertical scrolling problems, have a horizontal skew at the top of the picture and be in the wrong speed so even the voices were too fast or too slow. It’s a mess!

Until the Japanese VCR (and at one time even Sony’s BETA) makers came out with Multisystem VCRs!

Most could only play the tapes from various standards but to display them you’d also need a TV that was multisystem as well, or 2 TVs, or even 3 each being of the appropriate system you were outputting from the VCR.

To get around the need of buying a multisystem TV Panasonic came out with the incredible AG-W1 model which had a built-in digital converter which could play, record and convert to/from all of the world five current systems. It was $4,000 but was a great device producing excellent results, albeit not for broadcasting purposes.

Many people got around having buy the AGW-1 (and its subsequent progeny AGW-2 and AGW-3) by buying a Planet Omni Tenlab Digital systems converter at a fraction of the cost of the AGW-1 and using it with a multisystem VCR. In this way the image quality was the same or better and the price when way down to the consumer.

Soon AIWA came out with the much cheaper MX-1 converting multisystem VCR which wasn’t a digital type but used analog converting methods which are much inferior, then Samsung, GoVideo and a few others. Samsung was the actual manufacturer for the Panasonic AGW-1 and 2 and under their own brand they came out with a wide variety of models such as the SV-3000W, SV-5000S, SV-7000W (with the unique French Secam-L tuner built-in).

Planet Omni still has some of the Panasonic, Aiwa and Samsungs left for sale. None have been made for 2-3 years and with the death of the VCR they never will be made again. People worldwide with old home movies should consider having them transferred to DVD discs which can also be converter from PAL to NTSC or NTSC to PAL. All countries using any system but those two will find that their tapes can be converted to PAL and will display perfectly on their TV even if the TV isn’t strictly PAL.

People in an NTSC country can utilize converting services such as Planet Omni’s and convert tapes or DVDs to PAL or visa-versa to NTSC rather than buying PAL-NTSC DVD recorders (which exist) and a TENLAB converter.

Since the Hollywood producers were rather OK with the incompatible VHS video standards worldwide it was a new problem with DVD disc movies.

As all SECAM countries are also PAL countries as far as their TVs being multisystem go and the same for PAL-M (Brazil) and PAL-N (Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay) countries, this meant that DVD movies only had to be either NTSC or PAL and they could be seen worldwide.

This wasn’t very good for Hollywood filmmakers however as too many countries could then buy discs from another country and see movies straight from their first release on disc which sometimes predated even the movies official theatrical release in theaters. This meant that a citizen of a PAL country such as Italy could buy a new movie from a New Zealand (PAL) source and see the movie (with subtitles if needed) perhaps months before the film was actually released theatrically or on DVD in Italy. This infringed on the natural markets of established theater owners and retailers in Italy.

Generally when a European country gets a movie on DVD it is also available at the same time in other Euro countries, but not always. But then an English speaking person in Australia could buy the movie from a UK source and see it in English on his PAL TV.

Again, not very good for business men and bean counters.

So a new technology was embedded into each Hollywood movie shipped out to the various countries around the world. This is called REGIONAL CODES.

They divided the world, as best as they could, into 6 regions based on film release protocols.

These regional codes are built-in to both the DVD players and the DVD movie discs as well.

6 regions, 2 video standards (PAL-NTSC) making things fairly complex.

For example, Europe is PAL and REGION 2 but Japan is NTSC and yet is REGION 2!

This means that a Japanese DVD disc would play on a Japanese DVD player fine but even though it is REGION 2 it would not play on a European PAL TV even if you took the Japanese DVD player to Europe, raised the voltage from 100V to 240V and then tried to play it. The disc would spin, the player would play it but the TV could not display it…UNLESS the TV was also an NTSC multisystem TV.

So how to get around these video standards and regional codes?

The invention of a REGION FREE DVD player (aka Codefree, code free, regionfree, all zone, universal, all region etc). But is that against the law and how can it be done? What does it mean?

By licensing agreement no manufacturer of DVD players are permitted to make a region free player. Each must be set to a specific region. They can be PAL-NTSC both but the REGIONAL CODE must be specific to a certain region. The USA is Region 1… and here are all of them:

Region codes and countries

Region code Area

0 Informal term meaning “worldwide”. Region 0 is not an official setting; discs that bear the region 0 symbol either have no flag set or have region 1-6 flags set.

1 Bermuda, Canada, Cayman Islands, United States and U.S. territories

2 European Union, Albania, Andorra, Bahrain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Egypt, Faroe Islands, French Guiana, Georgia, Greenland, Guernsey, Iceland, Iran, Iraq, Isle of Man, Israel, Japan, Jersey, Jordan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Norway, Oman, Qatar, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, South Africa, Swaziland, Switzerland, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Vatican City State, Yemen

3 Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea, Taiwan

4 Caribbean, Central America, Oceania, South America (except French Guiana), Mexico

5 African countries not explicitly included in other regions, Indian subcontinent, countries included in the former Soviet Union, Belarus, Mongolia, North Korea

6 People’s Republic of China (except Macau and Hong Kong)

7 Reserved for future use (found in use on protected screener copies of MPAA-related DVDs and “media copies” of pre-releases in Asia)

8 International venues such as aircraft, cruise ships, etc.[1]

ALL Region ALL discs have all 8 flags set, allowing the disc to be played in any locale on any player.

ALL Region ALL discs have all 8 flags set, allowing the disc to be played in any locale on any player.

So is it against the law to modify a DVD player and make it CODE FREE?

No, it isn’t at all. Many places such as PLANET OMNI have been selling them for years. The quality of the modification rarely varies, it is generally a perfect mod so that any and all DVD movies will play but you’ll need a PAL-NTSC TV or a video standards converter to see both PAL and NTSC DVD movies.

Remember that a DVD movie is NOT a DVD-R or DVD+R disc even though it may be a movie that has been recorded.

Most DVD Codefree players will play most DVD-R & DVD-RW, DVD+R & DVD+RW homemade discs.

99% also play CD discs for regular music playback and many play a wide variety of other formats such as MP3, WMA, DVD-Video, Video CD, DVD-Audio, SACD, CD, audio CD-R & CD-RW, WMA, & JPEG and JPEG and Kodak JPEG.

So, a REGION FREE DVD player can play all regions and both PAL and NTSC discs, IE every known type of DVD movie on earth, but what if you don’t have a PAL-NTSC TV or a video standards converter?

Besides the fact that you can buy those items there are also CONVERTING Region free DVD players.

Some can convert a PAL DVD movie to NTSC and some can do both that and converter a USA NTSC disc to PAL.

And some can do both but if you ever get a PAL-NTSC TV you can turn OFF the conversion and then see everything, all DVD movies from all countries in all standards on any the TV in the ORIGINAL PICTURE quality. Again, on-line shops such as Planet Omni carry this type as well.

These Codefree, Converting players can be even the most advanced units with all the latest bells and whistles certainly including things like DTS STEREO, Dolby Digital, HDMI and DVI output, 5.1 and higher stereo channel output, Progressive scan and so forth.

But now let’s consider what this means as regards the Blu-Ray Disc players that are Multi-region.

As HD DVD is dead as a Hi-Def format we consider that Blu-Ray Disc players and movies on Blu-Ray discs are here to stay until the next leap into the future hits us which may happen around 2012 with the entry of the latest 6,000 Line Super-Hi Definition TVs, some 6 x more realistic and 3D appearing than Blu-Ray and 1080P technology.

As with DVD region Blu-Ray discs and players also have regions, called Region A, B and C.

These are non-compatible regions which include PAL-SECAM-NTSC and all other systems.

The beauty of a Region A or B Blu-Ray disc when played in a Multi-region Blu-Ray disc player via the HDMI output (that is a single cable combining all audio and video signals) is that the TV doesn’t have to be Pal-NTSC-Secam or anything specific at all. As long as the TV has an HDMI input all Blu-Ray Disc movies from Regions A and B will play in their full glory and, depending on the maximum resolution possible of each TV, in the highest quality possible. Pal and NTSC no longer exist in the HDMI world, the problems of Hertz, government controls and so forth, Gone with the Wind!

However, there are still Regions A, B and C.

For the Hollywood production companies these 3 Regions are still important, but not as once they were.

Do know that a Blu-Ray Disc movie output thru the regular component, S-Video or composite (A/V RCA cables) still requite the proper standard to view movies with, PAL for a PAL disc and NTSC for an NTSC disc. But in TVs there are no regions so any PAL-NTSC TV can display any PAL or NTSC DVD.

In the case of the Sony BDP-S300 multi-region version available now (110 volt version) you can pop in any Blu-Ray Disc movie from the A and B countries seen below and on any TV with an HDMI input you can see the entirety of any library.

The Sony BDP-S300 multi-region player has been highlyrated by many including reviews such as: “I am delighted with my Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray Disc Player. It has excellent audio and visual definition. The crystalline clarity of 1080p Blu-ray Disc movies and DVD upscaling brings your DVDs to the highest resolution possible. Purchase this product and you will not be disappointed.”

The Blu-Ray Disc Regions are as seen here:

A/North America, Central America, South America, Japan, Taiwan, North Korea, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia.

B/Europe, Greenland, French territories, Middle East, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, plus all of Oceania.

C/India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Mainland China, Pakistan, Russia, Central, and South Asia.

The future of Blu-Ray Disc type technology?

In January 2007, Hitachi previewed a 100 GB Blu-ray Disc, which has four layers containing 25 GB each. Unlike TDK and Panasonic’s 100 GB discs, they Hitachi claims this disc is readable on a standard Blu-ray Disc drive a firmware update is the only requirement to make it readable to current players and drives.

Many other iterations and variations of the Blu-Ray milieu are popping up including such novel notions as BD9 / BD5 Blu-ray Disc, AVCREC, Blu-ray Disc recordable, HD DVD/Blu-ray Disc hybrid discs, HD VMD/Versatile Multilayer Disc (new low-profile competitor) AVCHD, Digital Multilayer Disk – the successor technology to Fluorescent Multilayer Disc, Enhanced Versatile Disc (EVD), Forward Versatile Disc (FVD) – Taiwanese backed red laser format, Fluorescent Multilayer Disc, Holographic Versatile Disc – standards with 200 and 300 GB storage are under development 3D optical data storage – a next-generation technology expected to provide TB-capacity discs, Protein-coated disc, Tapestry Media, Ultra Density Optical LS-R – a “layer selection” technology allowing the stacking of very large numbers of DVD-like data layers in a single disc, Professional Disc for DATA (PDD or ProDATA) and much more.

Will there still be Regions? Who knows but there will always be a better genius to overcome them.

Multi-region Blu-Ray Players now available! REGION FREE DVD players/recorders and High Definition, HD DVD players,Advanced Optical players/recorders in Blu-Ray DVD players/recorders. A multi region (aka codefree, allzone) DVD player or recorder is capable of playing DVD discs from anywhere in the world, that is all 8 regions and both PAL and NTSC standards. http://www.planetomni.com has many. Many not only play them but convert from one standard to the other for showing movies on any TV on earth. There are also PAL-NTSC 110-220 volts DVD/VCR Combos for use worldwide. CODEFREE DVD / PAL-NTSC VCR combos and MULTISTANDARD VCRs will play 100% all known DVD discs including FRENCH DVDs. You can buy region free and region free converting DVD players and region free DVD recorders from http://www.mindlogic.com . Come with LIFETIME Warranties and ship worldwide. They also carry PAL-SECAM-NTSC TVs, PAL plasma, PAL LCD and PAL DLP multisystem TVs and multisystem converting and non-converting VCRs, voltage transformers, video standards converters & 140,000 other products. Tel. 877-327-5076, 925-686-9945

The use of video camera started as television cameras.The original ones were large and heavy and very expensive.They were only television broadcast studios. As technology grew, the size of the camera shrunk until they became portable size.

The first video recorders were actually two machines.One machine was the camera that took the pictures and then there was a VCR that had to be attached to record and replay the images.The VCR units were usually attached to a television viewing unit.

Even though the size of the camera has diminished, there was a lot of equipment still involved. These new units still were a giant step of technology even if it took two people to operate them. In the case of television, the recordings were ready to go instantly rather than waiting for the development of film. There were now detachable video cassettes.

There were some major events that occurred in 1982 that made the camcorder more available for home use. First JVC introduced the VHS-C format. The second was that Sony released the first professional camcorder named Betacam. The new VHS-C tapes were small cassettes that were being used in VCR’s. The Betacam allowed for more professional grade video recording. Now there did not need to be two units, the recording could be done in the camera and the portable Camcorder was born.

By 1983 both companies were competing and making the units easier to use and added more bells and whistles. Now you could record from 40 to 120 on one cassette that could be played on and VCR.

The Beta or 8mm and the VHS models both have advantages and disadvantages. The greatest problem with betamax and what eventually ended the completion was that it could not be played on the common VCR.

Eventually in the 1990’s the camcorder was transformed once more and became part of the digital era. Now instead of tape based cassette, the DV and miniDV were introduced. This leap made the recording media smaller and the quality of recording better. Recording could not be done on small disks and DVD’s and to even smaller compact disks.

Even with the improvement of the camcorders, the price of them actually dropped. The original heavy units were priced around $1500 and now a palm sized unit costs about $100. The size keeps shrinking and now many cell phones have video capturing abilities that a light years beyond the first tape models.

Victor Epand is an expert consultant about used cameras, used camcorders, and used electronics. You will find the best marketplace at these sites for used vhs cameras and used beta max camcorders.

Whether buying for yourself or a gift for a loved one, finding just the right DVD player isn’t as easy as it seems. There are so many formats, sizes and added features for DVD players today that you might sift through hundreds of players before finding the right one at the right price. Use this quick guide to compare the types of DVD players available on the electronics market.

DVD Player Sizes

Determine what size player you will need. If you’re adding a DVD player to your home entertainment system, determine where you will put it and how much space is available. Normal-sized DVD players can be rather wide so you’ll want to be sure of your available space before shopping. DVD players are also very thin in height and most have a slot on the front that slides in and out for inserting the DVD. This is great if you have a wide space that is limited in height.

For odd-shaped spaces or very tight spots, there are different sizes and shapes of DVD players. These are usually available at electronics stores online so you’ll have plenty of styles to choose from. The vertical DVD player, for example, sits upright similar to a vertical computer drive. It comes with a stand to hold it in a sturdy position. If you still have your old VHS collection, there are DVD/VHS combo machines that play both formats. This saves space as well. Also available are super slim DVD players and “space saver” DVD players to fit your personal needs.

Types of DVD Players

Once you determine the size you’ll need, you’re ready to compare name brands and features at the electronics store or website of your choice. You can often find many different brands and styles of players at one single electronics mall online. This will allow you to compare without spending hours searching through many websites.

Some of the features you’ll see include progressive scan, time-slip recording, EZ editing, zoom, slow motion, HD (high definition) DVD, front audio/video input jacks, CD-R/-RW playback, MP3-CD playback, D/A converter, favorite scene selection, TV Guardian, and many others. You may not find one particular DVD player that carries every feature, so it’s wise to determine which features are important to you before selecting a player. Which features will you likely use the most? Which will you probably never use?

You’ll also notice there are many brand names for DVD players. Some of the well-known brands include Philips, Coby, Emerson, Toshiba, Magnavox, Sanyo, and Panasonic. Pricing for DVD players can range from around $50 to $500 depending on the features you choose.

If buying a DVD player for your child, there are also players with children’s themes. The player will actually look like the child’s favorite cartoon character!

To find the DVD player that’s right for you, search online by brand name, features, or price to compare. Or, you can visit an online mall to compare all in one location. Besides electronics, you can also find other great items at an online mall such as computers, laptops, lingerie, pets, automotive products, telephones, jewelry, household products, toys, and more. Take your time to find the DVD player that will meet your needs. You’ll enjoy years of quality entertainment!

Chris Robertson is an author of Majon International, one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing companies on the web. Learn more about Choosing a DVD Player – Quick Guide or Majon’s Electronics directory.

Panasonic DMR-EZ485VK 1080p Upconverting VHS DVD Recorder with Built In Tuner Review

I relied on the reviews of others and the reputation of Panasonic for my purchase. All aspects of the Panasonic DMR-EZ48VK are great. The only disappointment is with the tuner. The quality is not as good as a direct connection to the TV. I realize that if I record TV that it will be upconverted in playback. Therefore, I have my cable connected to the Panasonic DMR-EZ48VK and going out to the TV. But, I don’t turn the Panasonic DMR-EZ48VK on. I use the TV remote to change channels. Using it’s tunner. When I want to record TV, I turn on the Panasonic DMR-EZ48VK and change inputs on the TV to select the HDMI hooked to the Panasonic DMR-EZ48VK.

Panasonic DMR-EZ485VK 1080p Upconverting VHS DVD Recorder with Built In Tuner Feature

• 1080p Upconversion via HDMI
• Multi Format playback: DVD, DivX, DVD-RAM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, CD, CD-R, CD-RW
• Viera Link to Panasonic Televisions
• Built In ATSC Tuner
• SD card slot

Panasonic DMR-EZ485VK 1080p Upconverting VHS DVD Recorder with Built In Tuner Overview

1 set audio/video outputs (composite, S-video, component video and HDMI) * RF input/output (input receives antenna/cable signals) * front-panel SD memory card slot for digital photo playback (also allows transfer to DVD-RAM) *

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*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Feb 02, 2010 20:23:24