A consumer’s guide to the best and worst of sports media and merchandise. Ground rules: If it can be read, played, heard, observed, worn, viewed, dialed or downloaded, it’s in play here.

What: “The Best One Ever: Super Bowl XXXII DVD”

Price: $29.95

It may not rank up there with the VCR or DirecTV, but DVD (digital video disc) technology figures to eventually have a big impact on sports viewing. And the NFL and NFL Films are the first kids on the block with a sports DVD. Chosen for the occasion was the 1998 Super Bowl between the Denver Broncos and Green Bay Packers in San Diego, generally considered the best Super Bowl ever.

DVD features cinema-quality sound, high-resolution video and on-disc extras that let viewers choose how the action is seen by selecting the camera angles. On this disc are also biographies of John Elway, Terrell Davis, Mike Shanahan of the Broncos and Brett Favre and Mike Holmgrem of the Packers. Replays offer as many 26 different perspectives, and audio tracks in English and Spanish are offered. Also, viewers can call up statistics and historical information.

The key thing, though, is that DVD technology offers an amazingly vivid and clear picture.

“The Best One Ever” is being distributed by PolyGram Video (www.polygram.com).

As DVD technology enters into the sports world, one negative is that most owners of DVD players are hard-pressed to find a convenient place that rents a wide selection of DVDs. The in thing seems to be renting via the Internet, and Netflix.com (www.netflix.com) is the first and largest online DVD rental store, offering nearly 3,000 DVDs on a seven-day rental.