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.
optionally decrypt the data with either CSS or Macrovision
decode the MPEG-2 video stream with a maximum of 10 Mbit/s (peak) or 8 Mbit/s (continuous)
decode sound in MPEG, 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 CDs (CDDA, MP3, etc.) and video CDs and include a Home cinema decoder (i.e. Dolby Digital). Some newer devices also play videos in the DivX video compression format popular on the internet.
As of 2004, retail prices for such a device, depending on its optional features (such as digital sound or video output), start between 40 and 80 USD/euros.
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 programs that allow to view DVD videos on a computer with a DVD-ROM drive.
DVDs resemble compact discs as their physical dimensions are the same (120 mm (4.72 inches) or occasionally 80 mm (3.15 inches) in diameter) but they are encoded in a different format and at a much higher density.
The first DVDplayers and discs were available in November 1996 in Japan, March 1997 in the United States, 1998 in Europe and in 1999 in Australia.
DVD playback will be available on the upcoming PlayStation 3 as standard, but Nintendo's Wii console, which will use a proprietary 4.5 inch disc for its game media, will require an add-on dongle for DVD playback.
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