The three most important criteria you should consider when choosing for a business management system are features, support, and price. Although it's simple to compare prices, support is a bit more difficult to gauge. Pay close attention to hands-on reviews. If the vendor provides extremely well support, reviewers will usually give high praise to the vendor. Likewise, if they're disappointed in the support quality, reputable reviewers will say so. Following are the most important features you should look for when selecting a business management system. –Craig L. Press

1. Digital Audio Outputs
2. Surround Formats
3. Remote Control
4. Digital-to-Analog Converters
5. Component Video Outputs
6. Music Compatibility
7. Disc Capacity
8. Scanning Speeds
9. Headphone Jack
10. Screen Dimmer and Video Bit-Rate Meter

1. Digital Audio Outputs
These outputs enable you to connect the DVD player to an audio-video receiver with Digital Theater Systems (DTS) and Dolby Digital processors, which decode the DVD's digital-audio tracks--including discs encoded in 5.1-channel surround sound. Look for players with both optical (fiber-optic) and coaxial (75-ohm) digital outputs. This will give you more options for enjoying music and movies through your home entertainment system.

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2. Surround Formats
Virtually all DVD players are capable of outputting Dolby Digital 5.1-channel surround sound. Although nearly all of today's DVDs are encoded in Dolby Digital, there's an expanding list of DVD and CD titles available in 5.1-channel DTS (Digital Theater Systems), which uses less compression, and is generally considered to be a superior-sounding format. If you're interested in enjoying DTS-encoded discs, you'll need a DTS receiver, or you'll need a DVD player with a built-in DTS processor that can be mated with a compatible receiver. If DTS is important to you, be aware that some budget DVD players have difficulty passing the 5.1-channel signal onto DTS-compatible receivers. If DTS is not important to you, most of today's Dolby Digital-only budget DVD players are reliable.

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3. Remote Control
Remotes should be instantly intuitive, so pay close attention to what your trusted reviewer says about the remote's ergonomics and ease of use. Ideally, you want a remote that makes it simple to set up and access the DVD player's most important functions--such as audio formats and screen aspect ratios. Backlit, or glow-in-the-dark remotes are best. Those with jog-shuttle dials make it easier to use search functions, such as fast-forward, rewind and frame-by-frame viewing.

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4. Digital-to-Analog Converters
Just about all of today's players have 24-bit audio and 10-bit video digital-to-analog converters. Unfortunately, not all D/A converters are created equal--so pay close attention to what the reviewer has to say about a given player's audio and video performance. This is especially important if you're planning to use the player for music listening as well as movies, since many budget players tend to use less expensive internal components, including audio D/A converters.

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5. Component Video Outputs
Virtually all DVD players have composite and S-video connections. Most also offer component video outputs, which separate the luminance (brightness), red and blue signals, resulting in pictures with superior contrast levels and more faithful color reproduction. Component video outputs will allow you to connect the DVD player to a TV with matching inputs. However, if your existing TV does not have component inputs, you won't be able to utilize the player's component jacks until you upgrade your TV. If you're on a budget, you might want to consider a lower-priced DVD player that does not have component video outputs.

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6. Music Compatibility
All DVD players are compatible with standard music CDs. With the growing popularity of recordable CDs, many players are also compatible with CD-R and CD-RW audio formats, which enable you to play "homespun" CD recordings on your DVD player. You may also want to consider players that are able to decode High Definition Compatible Discs (HDCD). This format uses a 20-bit encode-decode process, which results in superior audio playback--as opposed to the 16-bit standard.

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7. Disc Capacity
Models range from single-disc machines to 2-, 3-, 5- and 6-disc players to mega changers that can hold up to 301 DVDs. If you're planning to use the player for music listening, and you like to play several hours worth of music at a time, you might want to consider purchasing a multidisc machine. The 5- and 6-disc models use traditional carousel platters to load DVDs and CDs, while the 3-disc variety use either carousel or sliding-drawer mechanisms.

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8. Scanning Speeds
The more speeds a player has, the greater control you'll have when jumping back and forth to hear missed dialogue or to rewatch scenes. Check out the specs for disc-advance and slow motion, which generally range from three to five speeds, and are listed as 2x, 4x, 8x, 16x and 32x.

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9. Headphone Jack
Surprisingly few DVD players offer headphone jacks. All things being equal, those that do are superior, since you can watch movies late at night without disturbing slumbering family members or guests. Headphones are also great for listening to music CDs in solitude.

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10. Screen Dimmer and Video Bit-Rate Meter
Neither of these features will enhance a DVD player's performance, but both are very cool. Players that allow you to dim, or turn off the front-panel display are preferable, because bright LCDs are distracting in the dark. Bit-rate displays, which appear either on the TV screen or on the player's front-panel, reveal how much MPEG-2 compression is being used from scene to scene, with higher numbers representing a larger bit-rate allocation, and lower numbers indicating a lot of compression. Action sequences, for example, will typically measure 8 to 9.5, while highly compressed, static scenes often dip below two.

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