DVD craze
Latest electonics popular with students

By DAVID SMITH
Collegian Staff Writer

Students who own Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) players are confident their technology is better than old-fashioned video cassette recorders, but those who haven't switched over are skeptical of the latest electronic hype.

"I always get the newest electronics stuff," said Kenneth Hudson (freshman-division of undergraduate studies), who paid $299 for his Sony DVD player.

DVDs are the same size as music compact discs and also are read by a laser system within the player. DVDs, however, can store seven times more information, which allows them to hold a feature-length movie on one disk.

Hudson said some of the things he likes about his player are there's no rewinding, better picture quality and Dolby Digital sound. He added DVDs often have extra features such as wide-screen format, extra scenes, subtitles and interviews.

Hudson said the downsides of going digital are DVD players cannot record and VCRs have a wider selection of movies available.

"If you want to tape something or watch your old cassettes, you still need a VCR," Hudson said.

The number of titles on DVD, however, has expanded to more than 2,600, said Peter Ricard, salesperson at Paul and Tony's Stereo, 121 S. Burrowes St.

Ricard added DVDs now can be rented at several locations downtown, such as Mike's Movies & Music, 210 E. Calder Way, which offers more than 100 titles.

"You can pretty much go anywhere and find DVDs," he said.

Ricard said many customers who buy DVD players are interested in building a home theater around the system because of its higher picture and sound quality.

DVD has twice the image resolution of VHS, offering a screen resolution of 500 lines as opposed to the 240 lines on VHS, according to an article on MSNBC's World Wide Web site (www.msnbc.com).

Despite the higher quality, not everyone is ready to pay the extra money for a better viewing experience.

"I wouldn't buy one until it was competitively priced with a VCR," Jason Gahan (senior-telecommunications) said.

Ricard said the seven types of DVD players sold at Paul and Tony's are priced from $370 to $1,200.

Eric Tyler (junior-visual arts) bought his DVD player because he felt the quality of the picture and sound would stand out on his new TV and stereo.

"I wanted to find out if the quality is really that much better, and I'm glad I did," he said.

Ricard said interest in DVD has increased greatly since players started selling for less than $400. While about half the customers who have bought DVD players have been students, he said he is surprised by the variety of people who are interested in the new format.

"It's interesting how many adults who don't own a CD player have heard of DVD," Ricard said. "The format has gotten a lot of publicity."