http://news.com.com/New+disc+may+sway+DVD+wars/2100-1041_3-6147053.html
Does "Yay" even begin to express the seed of hope that this is?
Hopeful news for DVD wars
-
-
Well, assuming the idea follows through; there go Sony and Microsoft's loyalties down the toilet.
-
Now there's a plan. I dreaded the thought of havign to deal with this "dvd war" that people keep tlaking about, but this will hopefully stop the whole potential mess.
-
I honestly hope both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD crater badly.
I'm sick of every new format coming with new restrictions. Region coding, copy protection, etc. I am very disturbed at the concept that the best playback device I own (a 21" CRT computer monitor capable of resolutions exceeding 1080p) could end up only seeing the expensive HD videos at 540p because it doesn't do the right digital wiggle dance to ensure nobody's copying the signal. And I'm royally terrified that the new standards are so keen on being able to revoke 'compromised' devices. So if I happen to buy the same model player they decide has been cracked, it won't play new discs. Very military-style attitude– punish the entire brigade for one man's action.
And yet, none of this will stop people with commercial-scale copying equipment from making a perfect copy. Paranoid gits.
I recall a while back, the Chinese were working on a DVD-comparable format; I'd love to see them leapfrog to a HD format, and then sell it in foreign stores. And I'd bet that affordable imported players which don't have nonsense restrictions slapped on top in order to please American film studios would sell damn well.
-
Out of couriosity can a standard dvd player play HD DVDs?
Personaly just keep DVDs. They are fine as they are. The next updae I want to see is friggin 3D hologram DVDs. Those I'd buy. -
Lol Blu-ray
(16 letters that are letters ya'know)
-
as long as I don't have to re-buy my Doctor Who series or comedy DVDs then I'm happy.
-
They all play DVDs I understand. The issue won't come to a head for a while. After all, everyone still has a DVD version of films.
But…
When they phase out, then it's gonna be hell.
-
When they phase out, then it's gonna be hell.
Unless this new dual format proves successful, the most likely result will be that Blue-Ray and HD-DVD will kill each other while the DVD plugs merrily along.
The only reason DVD has finally supplanted VHS is because DVD players finally dropped down to a price level competitive with VCRs. The fact that it offered superior quality was irrelevant to most consumers; the average person couldn't justify paying that much more for just that reason. Betamax? Dead. Laserdisc? Dead. DIVX? Dead. DVD? A long uphill struggle that lasted years.
HDTV prices have to drop into the same price range as regular televisions before most people will even consider that they need a superior format to DVD. Then and only then, will the average person look at buying a next generation player, which will cost quite a bit more than your average player until enough people adopt them.
Right now, we have two competing formats that the average consumer doesn't really need and won't be bothered to tell apart as a result. DVDs are cheap, the players are cheap and plentiful, and the facilities to produce both already exist in the hands of many seperate companies. That bodes ill for Blu-Ray and HD-DVD both.
-
Holographic media needs to hurry the fuck up and get released at a CHEAP price.
-
Well, I sure hope nothing new takes the place of the DVD for awhile.
My DVD collection is quite large…I don't want to have to replace too many of the titles so soon. Although even if something did take the place of DVD, it would still probably be awhile before all my favorite movies appeared anyway (since some of my favorite movies and shows on VHS still haven't even appeared on DVD yet).
-
What they desperately need is a format which properly supplants VHS. Which means hassle-free recording. As in "I don't want to get up at 07.00, but I DO want to see Jackie Chan Adventures".
I can either buy a recordable DVD player, for 1.5 times the price of a cheap VCR, and then be irked as DVD-RW discs aren't designed for many cycles (compared with tapes).
or I can buy a Tivo, at five times the price of a cheap VCR, and be unable to remove the recordings from the box.
or I can take a PC, at somewhere between 8 and 30 times the cost of a VCR, and leave it running all night with the fans whining to let it record off a TV card, once I've fought with getting the software configured right, and still get lousy reception cos it produces enough interference to cook frozen pretzels.
I'm thinking something like a cartridge-hard-disc based DVR.
-
To be honest with you, I dont know what the hell they are this article is about….....all I know is that I hate blu-ray. Sooner or later Im going to be forced to buy a 'Blu-Ray" player after I just got a DVD player, just because all movie will be made in Blu-Ray format.
Sigh I wish VHS was still used.
-
Ubiq is right. Until both the hdtv's and the hd-players drop down to sane prices, i could care less about the media wars. Although, it would be amusing to see blu-ray fizzle out the way of the betamax, minidisc, umd and other failed sony backed media.
-
the most likely result will be that Blue-Ray and HD-DVD will kill each other while the DVD plugs merrily along.
Which is not a likely scenario given what studios are willing to pack into packages.
It's not something as shitty as say a UMD where you get less for your money. Consider that in just 5 years, analog broadcast will cease in Japan. By that time if you don't have a high definition television of some kind, you're screwed. With their brand new TV's, Japanese consumers will no doubt want to take advantage of the viewing options they offer. So there's a huge market right there.
Now what happens in JP obviously isn't a model for what will happen elsewhere. Obviously otherwise cellphones in the US wouldn't still blow ass and we wouldn't have (gracefully) skipped the MiniDisc craze. However, prices are starting to plummet on HD sets. I'm in the market for one and constantly checking to see how the prices compare each season and gigantic sets which were once for some asshole in Hollywood now make me actually think, "Wow…that's a lot of money, but for THAT...I might spend it."
Anyway, if the market for HD sets in the US takes off, don't expect Blu Ray or HD-DVD to be far behind.
And.
If we're lucky.
Something much better than either grim choice.
-
by 5 years HD-tvs will be cheaper
-
One huge hindrance IMO to HDTV take-up, at least in the US, is lack of a top-to-bottom product line.
If I want a TV for the spare room or to plug a Gamecube into, I don't want a 42" one. It's too big for the room and too expensive. I want 13", maybe 19" or 20". There are few if any small HD sets, and those which are there are frequently LCD sets at 3x the price of a comparable CRT.
-
However, prices are starting to plummet on HD sets. I'm in the market for one and constantly checking to see how the prices compare each season and gigantic sets which were once for some asshole in Hollywood now make me actually think, "Wow…that's a lot of money, but for THAT...I might spend
it."What do they cost on average… at least four times or more than a regular TV?
Again, I don't think a HD based format is going to enjoy that big a demand until HDTVs fall in price enough that they become competitive with regular televisions. Which means that they need to fall into the three to four hundred dollar range. That's still a while off.
Say that happens within a few years; well, two to three years is an incredibly long time in electronics. What if something comes along to supplant both of those formats by then?
Anyway, if the market for HD sets in the US takes off, don't expect Blu Ray or HD-DVD to be far behind.
Provided that they survive long enough, which isn't something that history really suggests will happen.
-
Which means that they need to fall into the three to four hundred dollar range. That's still a while off.
I bought one over the summer for 200 at the electric superstore down the street.
Say that happens within a few years; well, two to three years is an incredibly long time in electronics. What if something comes along to supplant both of those formats by then?
Well, just speculation but can't expect it to be at least 3 years before DVDs phase out? I mean granted they will phase out. They will be replaced by something but….since video stores just wiped their VHS sections clean in the past two years, is a major shift really that close? That said, unless something like the above news blip [hopefully] comes along and is whisked up, wouldn't 2-3 years be just about the time you'd expect to see DVD releases slow and the 'new' format (whatever it may be) pick up?
-
My grand mother found a 17 inch HDTV in walmart
D:
