How to get the best DVD quality?

To get the best quality involves the use of widescreen display monitors and a surround-sound audio system.

a. Widescreen TVs
Traditional televisions have a 4:3 aspect ratio, but movies are filmed in widescreen at up to about 2.35:1.

Widescreen televisions have a 16:9 (1.85:1) aspect ratio and allow movies to be displayed full width with no black bar or only a narrow black bar near the top and bottom. TV broadcasts in Europe have been gradually improved towards the 16:9 format for most new programs. As a result, widescreen TVs are quite common in Europe, but it is not the case in the USA where screen size seems to be more important.

Widescreen TVs will display the source video in any of the following screen formats:
- 4:3 format with black bars at the side of the screen.
- 14:9 format with narrower black bars at the side and the top and bottom of a 4:3 image is cut off.
- 16:9 format has the full width but the top and bottom of a 4:3 source video is cut off.
- 16:9 format (sometimes called Movie Expand) where the full height and width of the source video is displayed. This is suitable for anamorphic video such as output by a DVD player from a widescreen DVD-Video disc.
A trend has recently started to integrate other hardware with the TV. Thomson, for example, has released a widescreen TV with an integrated DVD player.

b. Surround-Sound
A full surround-sound system requires six speakers and a surround-sound amplifier. With conventional speakers this can be both expensive and cumbersome. Therefore there is now a range of solutions comprising very small speakers plus a sub-woofer. Some manufacturers offer DVD players with a full surround amplifier and speaker system. A few widescreen TVs include a centre speaker as well as stereo speakers and separate surround speakers. At least one model provides a wireless link to the surround speakers to avoid wires trailing across the living room floor. There is a diagram of a typical surround sound home cinema set-up with 5 speakers and a subwoofer.

c. Home-Theatre-in-a-Box Systems
There are now many affordable home-theatre-in-a-box systems for DVD available. These comprise a DVD player, surround sound amplifier, 5 satellite speakers and a subwoofer. In addition to a widescreen TV they offer a complete home cinema solution that can make best use of DVDs with Dolby Digital surround sound content and can reproduce most of the experience normally found in a cinema. They are also easier to set up with fewer cables needed.

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