DVD: NEW TEHCNOLOGY BRINGS TOGETHER BEST OF MUSIC, MOVIES AND COMPUTING

A DVD movie library is available at Stereo One.

The hype sounds great. Digital Video Discs, or DVD, promise the best music, movies and computing yet.

Technology magazines and electronics advertisements are filled with DVD. New computers offer DVD players instead of the standard CD players, and video stores are stocking up on their libraries of DVD movies.

Perhaps the best news for consumers is that DVD technology is backwards compatible. In other words, music CDs can be played in a DVD player, and the quality will actually be better. A CD computer game will still play in the DVD player attached to a computer.

DVD is small but mighty. The discs look similar to CDs, but storage on a DVD is measured in gigabytes. For standard CDs, it is calculated in megabytes.

Although the technology has been around for years, just this past year prices have come down to a level that consumers might consider.

The big names in electronic entertainment systems have all jumped on board the DVD wagon and are making inroads into the computer market.

Several years ago, computer users started playing music CDs in the computers.

"Now, with DVD, it's a movie and music player. You are seeing more of an entertainment system on the computer," said David Dickey, electronics manager at Staples in Cape Girardeau. "It's not just the old word processing and spreadsheets."

Computer monitors usually have much better resolution than television sets. As a result, DVD movies look great when played in a personal computer.

"Of course, I'm not sure who wants to watch a two-hour movie on their computer," Dickey said, "but the images off DVD are just spectacular."

A DVD player, designed especially for movie viewing, is also available. The price ranges from $500 to $5,500.

Here's the sales pitch for DVD movies. The technology offers twice the picture quality of a VHS tape with the added benefit of digital sound.

"All the newer movies are mandated to have Dolby Digital Surround Sound," explained John Selby of Stereo One. "DVD is the only format that allows you to take advantage of that."

In addition, DVD gives a choice of standard or wide screen formats.

"They take up less storage space, last forever, and you don't have to rewind," Selby said.

The new format also allows movie fans access to tracks, like on a CD. The favorite scene in a movie can be located almost instantly.

Because the DVD provides so much room for digital information, in the future, multiple versions of a movie, perhaps with different rating levels, will be available.

Dickey recommends that customers looking for a new computer choose DVD.

"You want to stay as close to the front of the pack as possible," he said, "and it's tough. About three times a year, a new computer system become available."

Does DVD mean the death of VCRs? Not by a long shot, Selby said.

"This is a software driven business," Selby said. "The amount of software out there determines the popularity. As much VHS software out there, we will not see it go away for a long time."

The downside to DVD is the fact that not many DVD titles are available, but Dickey predicts that the DVD snowball has just started down the hill.

"I don't think it will fizzle like the Betas did," he said.

Selby agreed. "We are selling tons of them," he said. "It was on Christmas lists last year, but it's real hot this year. It's on Memorial Day and Fourth of July lists."