Location
Located just a stones throw from the important business and shopping areas, the Vendome Plaza Hotel is placed near the Clock Tower and is 5 kilometres from the Dubai International Airport.
What to consider when buying a DVD player – including the main features and the pros and cons of different types of players.

Bedroom 2DVD stands for digital video disc or digital versatile disc. A DVD player presents movies with dramatically better video and audio than a VHS videotape or regular TV broadcast, so watching movies at home now involves a more detailed picture with thrilling Dolby Digital or DTS surround sound.
Features

Regions
All pre-recorded DVDs are ‘locked’ to a region, so they can only be played in certain countries. For example, a Region 1 player (North America) can only play Region 1 films. Australia is in Region 4. The players you can buy in Australia are either Region 4, or Multi-region players. You should look for a Multi-region player so you’re not restricted to DVDs from any one region.

Disc and file formats
There are lots of discs that are the same size as a DVD, but they’re not all the same format. Some players are compatible with more formats than others.

Most will let you play audio CDs, but what about all the recordable formats you can make with a home computer, such as CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R and DVD-RW?

There are also other video formats, such as VCD and SVCD, which have been superseded by DVD that you may still come across.

Finally, formats traditionally associated with computers, such as MPEG and DivX. Some players today allow you to watch these files in your lounge room as you would a DVD.

To summarise:

* A player with more compatibility costs more – but player prices are falling.For the cost of a bottom-of-the-range player a year ago you can buy a much better player now.
* If you or your friends will be getting burnt copies of movies, or you download movies from the internet, get DivX and DVD-R compatibility at a minimum.
* If you have an old collection of VCDs, or may buy them in future – the format can still be purchased cheaply in Asia, for example – get SVCD compatibility.

Playback features

Playback speed
It might sound pretty standard but the options for pausing, rewinding, and fast-forwarding vary. Different players will offer a variety of fast and slow motion speeds, as well as the quality of image when it’s being played at these speeds, or simply paused.

Bookmarking
Some players allow you to store favourite scenes or places in a disc. More expensive players allow you to store bookmarks for several discs and remember them even if the disc is removed.

Resume
If you are going to view your discs repeatedly, the ability to resume where you left off can save a lot of searching. You can also get players with multi-disc resume, which means the player will remember where to start on a number of discs.

Zoom
There are two types of zoom you can find. The first removes the black bars you see at the top and bottom of movies. These bars aren’t a problem for people with a widescreen TV, but some people with a standard television like to get rid of them. To do this, some DVD players allow you to ‘zoom in’ on the centre of the picture.

The other type of zoom allows you to magnify the picture a few times over to have a closer look at a certain part of the frame.
Video features
There are three factors that can vary how your video looks: the way it processes the information on the DVD, the way it renders the image on a screen, and the outputs it has to send the signal to the screen. These are dealt with in more detail below.

Video processing: A DVD player converts the digital data on your disc to an analog signal. The processing power of your digital to analog converter (DAC) is measured in the same way as your computer – the higher its speed, the better the image quality. Most DVD players today have 12-bit DACs operating at around 100MHz – that’s quite adequate.

Rendering – progressive scan: After converting the digital video, the player has to render it for displaying on your TV. This isn’t as easy as it sounds when high quality pictures are required. Regular (analog) televisions update the screen with a “refresh rate” of 30Hz – 30 times per second. They do this by ‘interlaced scanning’ – essentially, they paint alternating rows with one pass, and then the other half with a second pass. That’s why TVs sometimes appear to flicker.

However, some computer monitors, and newer digital and high definition TVs have ‘progressive scanning’ – they paint the whole screen at once, meaning their refresh rate is doubled to 60Hz. So, look for a progressive scan DVD player if you have a high end TV. It won’t have as many ‘motion artefacts’ – such as the jagged edges you sometimes see during playback.

Most DVDs are sourced from film that was shot at 24 frames per second – obviously this poses a problem for a progressive scan DVD player that’s running at 60 frames per second. To reduce the resulting motion artefacts, some players come with what’s called ‘2:3 pulldown’.

Video outputs: Before you buy a DVD player, look at what inputs your TV has and buy a model that can service this.

There are a few formats available but the most common is a composite video input (conventionally, a yellow RCA plug), however you should look for a DVD with component video outputs (red, green and blue) and get a component-composite cable – this gives you the freedom to buy a better TV in future.

That’s as complex as your decision needs to be. For other options, keep reading…

If you want to make use of progressive scan technology, both DVD and TV must have component outputs and inputs.

The next best output is an S-Video output, which looks similar to a normal computer keyboard or mouse plug. Failing that, you should make sure the DVD player has a composite output.

When choosing a DVD player, remember that the sockets themselves are important. If quality is an issue, look for gold plated components.
Audio features

As with video features, the factors to consider here are conversion, format, and output format. These are explained in detail below:

Audio processing: As with the image, a DVD player converts the digital audio data on your disc to an analog signal. Most DVD players today have 24-bit DACs operating at upwards of 192kHz. If you’re setting up fully blown cinema sound and connecting your audio via a digital cable to a separate unit such as a Dolby Digital Converter, this feature isn’t important as the secondary unit processes the audio instead.

Sound formats – surround sound: The audio track to a movie is made with a ‘codec’ – a way of encoding the data. Popular codecs include Dolby Digital and DTS. Luckily, Dolby is part of the DVD standard, so all DVD players can recognise this format. Whether they can convert all 5.1 channels themselves or need a separate converter (see above) is another story. Most new DVD players recognise the DTS format, but much less will convert it for you.

Then there’s ‘virtual surround sound’, a cheap and fairly good solution when you don’t have the budget, space, or time to install speakers around your room. Some DVD players can mimic the effect you get from all these speakers using just your TV’s stereo speakers. This can bring good results – although you’ll never get a true surround sound feel.

Audio output: You should look for a DVD player with both digital and analog outputs. Having digital outputs means you get the highest quality results when you connect the player to a converter.

If your DVD performs digital audio conversion onboard, you’ll have outputs to plug into your 5.1 channel receiver. If you don’t have such a receiver – or the required speakers – the player should come with analog stereo outputs so you can connect your TV or stereo.

And remember, the sockets themselves are important so if quality is an issue go for gold plated components.
Types of DVD players
Single disc
This is the most common DVD player, with a single disc and generally basic functions

Pros

* Generally more compactthan multi-disc players.
* Represents best value formoney.

Cons

* Cheaper units don’t have high-end features such as component outputs orDivX compatability
* Can’t store multiplediscs.

Multi-disc
These players have a stacker which can store around five discs.

Pros

* Generally have better features than single disc player.
* Store your favourite movies and music for easy access.

Cons

* More expensive than a single disc player.
* May be taller than a single disc player.

Jukebox
This is the grand daddy of DVD players, with some units able to store over 400 discs in a jukebox-type carousel.

Pros

* Store your whole collection or a good portion of it.
* Jukebox players will normally have easy access for one or more ‘temporary’ discs, such as rental copies.
* These units generally have the most features on the market.

Cons

* Large and bulky unit – discs are stored sideways.
* More expensive than a multi-disc player.
* Most users won’t need this sort of feature.

Portable
This type of player looks similar to a laptop computer, allowing you to watch DVDs in a self-contained unit.
Pros

* Watch DVDs on the move, such as on flights.
* Most models can be connected to a TV, and easily packed up to be moved to another TV.

Cons

* Screen quality varies.
* May not have the features of regular players.

Gaming console
Modern gaming consoles such as newer PlayStations and the Xbox allow you to watch DVDs.

Pros

* Play games and watch movies on the one unit.
* Great value for money.

Cons

* Doesn’t have the features of regular players.

Restaurant
The hotel offers a Coffee Shop that serves exotic seafood, delicious choice of Lebanese Mezzeh, fresh salads and sizzlers for you to feast on. Quench your thirst while listening to the latest music by a live band at the Juliana Executive Club.

General
The exquisite ambience of the Cave Des Rois night club has been specially designed to give you the Middle Eastern experience of belly dancing and foot tapping music, which is the right place for you to relax and unwind after a long day.