Home Media Store

Please select the topic you wish to view or return to our home page to shop.

DVD Players: When Multi-Disc Players Make Good Sense
Getting the Right Scanner for Your Photographs

Now that DVD players have been popular for quite a number of years, prices are quite reasonable.  Single disc players well under $100 abound providing options for almost every budget. For many people a single disc player meets their needs nicely as they can view only one DVD movie at a time anyway. For some consumers however, other features are well worth a few extra dollars.

One of the first options buyers have to consider is whether or not a multi-disc or mega storage type of DVD player would be a good choice for them.  While some multi-disc players allow users to keep up to 4 or 5 discs in the player at any given time, others can store up to 400 discs.

Multi-disc DVD players offer four primary advantages for consumers:

• Ease of Use:  Multi-disc DVD players allow users to keep multiple discs in the player which can eliminate time spent shuffling through discs and loading them. Most have good search functions that allow users to easily find the disc they want and to initiate play with the push of a button from their remote control. In the case of a large collection of discs this is a particularly attractive option.
  
  
• Saving Space:  If a user has a large collection of discs, a mega storage DVD player can potentially store their collection eliminating the need for additional shelving on which to house their collection.  All discs are maintained in the player and available for immediate access.
  
  
• Dual Use:  Most DVD players offer the ability to not only play DVD movies but audio CDs as well. Users can switch between movie viewing and listening to audio with the push of a button.  With a multi-disc DVD player, many owners opt to forgo the purchase of a separate CD player completely.

• Something for the Whole Family: Face it, not everyone living in the house has the same taste in music or movies. Being able to store and play multiple discs, can be the only fair way to give quick and easy access to the collections of multiple individuals. 
  

Certainly, there are many choices to make and features to consider when selecting a DVD player. Deciding on the disc capacity requires only a simple look at the size of the person's DVD/CD collection and determining whether or not quick and easy access to those discs is critical.

Return to top of page

The majority of consumers now own a digital camera versus a film camera. However, even in these instances, many still possess film, negatives, and prints that they would like to store digitally, edit, and/or print.  The security of storing images digitally and the flexibility of being able to alter and improve such images via editing are very attractive options for prized photographs taken some time ago.

A scanner is a simple and reliable way of converting images into digital form. The most common devices available to consumers are flatbed and film scanners.  Determining which scanner to purchase can be made simple by thinking through just a few of the options.

What type of work will the user be doing?
Flatbed scanners are designed specifically for use with photographic prints, paper documents, and even three dimensional objects although some offer a transparency hood or adapter to use them with slides and negatives.  Flatbed scanners are a good all round scanner.

Film scanners on the other hand are designed specifically for scanning transparencies, film, and negatives.  These scanners offer better resolution for film and negatives than a flatbed and thus are a better choice if a high volume of this type of work is expected. They allow users to scan each frame separately, adjusting resolution per frame.

For those wanting to copy from books, flatbed scanners with a sheet feed function should be avoided as only loose sheets can be fed through.  Sheet feed devices also create the risk of jamming.

For those consumers who want to be able to scan, print, and copy with a single device there are multi-function scanners available.  These can certainly save on desk space.

What size images/documents will be scanned?
The bed size on a flatbed scanner can vary from the standard 8.5" x 11.7" and to 12"x 17" and larger. Obviously, a large size bed would allow multiple images to be scanned on a single page or to scan larger documents and images.

How much image quality is needed?
The quality is determined primarily by color depth/bit depth and resolution.  Bit depth is the amount of information each pixel can carry. More is better of course, but certainly 36 to 48 bit is plenty for most uses.

Resolution is measured in pixels per inch (or ppi); sometimes referred to as samples per inch (or spi).  For those scanning text documents 300dpi may be sufficient, but for quality photo scanning 1200 dpi would be the minimum, while film/negatives would require at least 2400dpi.

Dynamic range, which determines the bright to dark range that the scanner picks up is a factor with film scanners.  For such devices, a dynamic range of 3.2 would be considered the minimum for good quality.

Is scan speed important?
The speed at which a single document or image can be scanned may be important for those with high volume work.  Just as with a printer it can be reported in pages per minute (ppm) but can vary quite a bit based on the resolution and other parameters. Generally speaking, 10-20 seconds to scan an average 8 x10" image is better than average speed.   

Is the scanner compatible with other hardware?
For all but the older computers, a USB 2.0 or Firewire connection is appropriate.  Firewire allows for the fastest data transfer.  Consumers should always assure that their new scanner will have compatible connections to their existing hardware.

What functions will be needed?
Most scanners will allow images to scan to print, scan to file, fax, or e-mail with the push of a button.  They should also come with the software necessary to scan, edit and even take text to a word processing file.  For those wanting a flatbed scanner that will also scan film or slides, the scanner will also need an adapter of some type.  Consumers should think through what they want to do with their scanned images to assure that the functions they need are included.

With the introduction of the digital camera to consumers on a large scale, the advantages of storing, editing, and printing from the digital form were readily recognized.  For those with images that are in the form of prints, negatives, or slides, using a scanner is a convenient and simple way to convert these images and get the advantages that are traditionally associated with those produced by a digital versus film camera.

Return to top of page