Getting started on digital entertainment system

You've probably read about digital home entertainment systems,but just what are they and what will they cost?

First, a digital audiovisual system means that all of your musicand video sources are digital (recorded like computer data or a CD)and not analog (like a phonograph record or VHS videotape).

The benefits of an all-digital system are simple: The signal iscleaner, with fewer defects, producing higher resolution video andhigher fidelity sound.

The signal is digital, so that your home PC or a computer-basedsystem can manipulate the signal to do some amazing special effects,or nothing at all.

To get started, you need a source of digital AV. For now,you're limited to three: a DSS dish (those ubiquitous 18-inchsatellite mini-dishes), a DVD player, or a digital videocamcorder/player.

Other AV sources, like VHS and SVHS videotape, laser discs orbroadcast TV, are either all analog or combinations of analog anddigital.

I'll be writing about DSS dishes and digital video (DV) machinesin coming weeks, which leaves DVD for now.

DVD, which stands for Digital Video Disc or Digital VersatileDisc, can be thought of as a video CD.

The same size and general construction as a CD, a DVD can storemovies with near-perfect digital picture and digital surround sound.

To play DVD movies, you need either a dedicated DVD player,which is about the size of a CD player and will cost you $499 and up(look for units by Sony, Toshiba and Phillips) or a PC with a DVDplayer.

To get the full impact of DVD movies, the player should behooked up to an AC-3 compatible receiver ($499 and up, look for unitsfrom Pioneer, Sony, Aiwa, Kenwood and others), driving the sixspeakers that AC-3 requires (an AC-3 compatible speaker system willcost at least $899 - a really good one will cost more than $2,000).

Next week, I'll tell you how to build a home digital AV systemthat includes your PC.