How to choose the best DVD player and recorder | Top 7 tips for you

What to look for when buying a DVD player? What characteristics a good DVD player and recorder should have? Read our buying guide on how to choose the best DVD player and recorder and know the facts that will help you to buy.

Although the DVD format is in a phase of progressive decline, it still has some years of life thanks to the film industry and entertainment with continuous releases of the latest films and video games. In this last area, that of video games is where this decline has been most intensely noticed thanks to the rise of online platforms of games like Steam, in which you can download the game in digital format and play it without having to have the disk physically.

However, if you really are an “old-school” gamer, you probably prefer to have your games in disk format and perfectly sorted in your particular collection. That’s why you should know how to choose the best DVD player and recorder.

Are you looking for a DVD or Blu-ray drive or DVD drive to replace the one you now have? We can give you some tips to choose the one that best suits your needs.

Also, please read our other guides on the best desktop computers, mini PCs, AV receivers, and karaoke machines.

Tips and codes for buying DVD or Blu-ray recorders

PC or salon

DVD player buying guide

As you know, there are several types of DVD or Blu-ray drives and, depending on your needs, you may want to choose one or the other format.

The readers and DVD recorders and Blu-ray games are, as their name suggests, autonomous devices that allow the recording and playback of DVD or Blu-ray discs without any other device.

With these devices connected to your SmartTV or projector, you can play your DVDs or Blu-ray with the highest quality and you will not have to worry if you are not at home when they put your favorite program since, in many cases, you can record it to see it later with the highest quality.

On the other hand, if you want to enjoy your movies or multimedia content on your PC, the ideal is to choose a DVD or Blu-ray drive that you can connect to your PC.

Internal or external

which dvd player is best

Do you already have a DVD or Blu-ray drive on your computer and want to change it? Then, it is a very simple task for you. All you have to do is replace the previous DVD drive with a new one of the same type.

Instead, if you install it on a new PC or you do not have enough space to install it on yours, the options are expanded since you can choose to install an internal DVD or Blu-ray drive, ie, is permanently installed in the box of your computer or choose an external unit that you can connect or disconnect from your computers when you need it.

Slim or standard

what is blu ray dvd player

Whether you choose to permanently install it in your computer box or choose an external Blu-ray drive, you must take into account the form factor as there are two types of DVD or Blu-ray drives.

The standard format is the one that will surely be more familiar since it is the one that has traditionally been used in computers. On the other hand, you also have a slim format which, as its name suggests, is thinner than the standard format.

Its use was traditionally linked to laptops. However, some compact boxes for living room computers only allow the installation of these slim units because they take up less space.

Its operation is exactly the same, but not its feeding. Slim units need only 5 volts to operate, while standard units require 12 volts.

Connectors

what kind of dvd player should i buy

If you need to replace your old DVD drive with a new one, you should consider the type of connectors you use.

The connection standard for some years now is SATA. However, if your computer already has a few years behind it, you may still use the connector that was equivalent to the IDE and that in those units was 50 pins (or ATAPI).

This connector is absolutely incompatible with the current DVD and Blu-ray drives and DVD players. So you will have to use some type of adapter or PCI expansion card in your computer to connect the new unit.

Format Compatibility

Format Compatibility

One of the most important specifications when buying your new DVD or Blu-ray recorders is the compatibility with the different existing disc formats (DVD-R, DVD + R, BR-R, etc.).

As a general rule, the technical specifications of the device detail a huge list of compatible disc formats, both in reading and writing.

Logically, the wider the format compatibility, the more freedom you will have to later use any type of disc in your recorder. In these specs, you must explicitly state compatibility for Blu-ray 3D playback. Especially if you are looking for an external Blu-ray player or recorder or salon device.

This type of 3D content requires specific support, since not all Blu-ray players are capable of interpreting and reproducing the data in this specific format. So if your intention is to reproduce this type of content, it will be necessary that your Blu-ray drive supports it.

Support for multi-layer discs

will a regular dvd work in a blu ray player

Within that vortex of acronyms that suppose the different formats of writing and reading of disks, it is possible to emphasize the compatibility with the formats of multilayer discs. This type of disc offers a greater capacity for the storage of data thanks to the use of several layers of recording.

With this type of unit, you can use disks between 25 GB and 128 GB. It depends on the number of layers (layers) it supports.

The most common is that they have support for double-layer (Double Layer or DL), but you will find other units that also support reading and writing three and four layers. You can identify them by their initials TL or QL (Triple and Quad Layer)

Attentive to the speed

Attentive to the speed

The read and write speeds of data are important so as not to perpetuate the tasks of copying and writing data between the disk and the device.

As long as the minimum 2x reading required for data recognition in 3D Blu-ray formats is met, this will not be a decisive parameter since most of the current drives offer good read and write speed values.

Logically, the faster the drive and the better discs will directly affect the final price of the drive.
Another aspect that you may want to take into account is the unit’s access time to the data. The lower that time, the sooner you will be able to access your data and the faster the data acquisition process.

This access time parameter is important for accessing data in games, programs or the like, but it is of no importance to playing video or multimedia content.

Buffer Size

Buffer Size

Buffer size is another parameter to consider when buying your DVD or Blu-ray burner. The buffer is, by making a simple analogy, the waiting room for data to be written or read.

The larger the size of this waiting room, the less likely it is that, due to the software that needs the data being read, as well as from the recording head that is writing them, waiting times are created that the data flow will not be interrupted.

You can find DVD and Blu-ray drives with buffer sizes between 1 and 6 MB.

Software and additional features

As a complement, some DVD and Blu-ray burners offer additional software that extends the features and performance of the device.

In the case of DVD drives, the most common are content recording applications that facilitate the task or the tools of encryption or data hiding.

Some Blu-ray drives, on the other hand, offer software that improves image or sound processing and thus supports Dolby or DTS systems that create a more immersive sound experience when playing Blu-ray movies from those drives.

In addition to these tools that enhance the experience of using the DVD or Blu-ray drive, you can also find other interesting features like LightScribe. It allows you to create images and labels, directly on the surface of some discs compatible with this printing system. Now, let’s see the best models on the market.

That’s all for now, friends. Thank you.

Leave a Comment