Rant

[gnasher666]

DVDs are going to be replaced prematurely by the film industries, it's soo rushed they couldn't even wait a few more months to ratify a single standard.

Let me explain why I think this.

This year will see the release in the UK of HD DVD and Blu-Ray players and of course films to play on them. It's great, technology should be allowed to move on, but are we really done with DVDs yet? I presonally don't think so. Don't get me wrong I'm ready for High Def pictures with my 32" Sony LCD TV and my Arcam AVR-250 amp and my KEF KHT 3005s etc etc but I can't help feeling we will be rushed into embracing either (both) formats quicker than prehaps is necessary. How many people in the UK are ready for any HD material?

DVD Jon cracked the encryption on DVDs allowing us to make digital copies of films without a great deal of loss to quality. More often than not you will end up without the extras and without the 4 languages and pretty menus and subtitles and games and and and...... but still have a perfect copy of the film with DD 5.1 audio. This to me is the reason behind the "rush" to market.

People talk about a format war, we shouldn't be in this situation. It's the film industry or Sony or Toshiba or whoevers fault yet we will be the ones paying for it. How many of us will back the wrong horse? How many of us will spend loads of money on films that within 18 months time we wouldn't be able to get a replacement player for? Shall we just bend over?

Hypocrtically I will more than likely end up buying both, a HD DVD player and a PS3 but then we are the early adopters, we have already spent the £'000s on LCD / Plasma TVs, 5.1 / 6.1 or 7.1 sound systems and speakers. Oh no, hold on. I've only got a 5.1 system and a TV that can only(!) display 720p.....

[Pinko]

Don't knock 'format wars' too much, yes they can be a pain in the ass for consumers but remember this.

A 'format war' gets electronic companys to push technology to the limit, both spending tens of millions trying to outdo each other, Blu-Ray for example has been technologically pushed further because HD-DVD was biting on it's heels. If companys were all lovey dovey, and working together hand in hand we'd still be waiting for VHS.

Survival of the fittest, nature has been using the system for 3.8 billion years so it must work.

[BadAss]

DVDs are going to be replaced prematurely by the film industries, it's soo rushed they couldn't even wait a few more months to ratify a single standard.

Let me explain why I think this.

This year will see the release in the UK of HD DVD and Blu-Ray players and of course films to play on them. It's great, technology should be allowed to move on, but are we really done with DVDs yet? I presonally don't think so. Don't get me wrong I'm ready for High Def pictures with my 32" Sony LCD TV and my Arcam AVR-250 amp and my KEF KHT 3005s etc etc but I can't help feeling we will be rushed into embracing either (both) formats quicker than prehaps is necessary. How many people in the UK are ready for any HD material?

DVD Jon cracked the encryption on DVDs allowing us to make digital copies of films without a great deal of loss to quality. More often than not you will end up without the extras and without the 4 languages and pretty menus and subtitles and games and and and...... but still have a perfect copy of the film with DD 5.1 audio. This to me is the reason behind the "rush" to market.

People talk about a format war, we shouldn't be in this situation. It's the film industry or Sony or Toshiba or whoevers fault yet we will be the ones paying for it. How many of us will back the wrong horse? How many of us will spend loads of money on films that within 18 months time we wouldn't be able to get a replacement player for? Shall we just bend over?

Hypocrtically I will more than likely end up buying both, a HD DVD player and a PS3 but then we are the early adopters, we have already spent the £'000s on LCD / Plasma TVs, 5.1 / 6.1 or 7.1 sound systems and speakers. Oh no, hold on. I've only got a 5.1 system and a TV that can only(!) display 720p.....

Its only a war if you look at it that way.

Its only Microsoft, Toshiba and Universal thats gone it alone.
Thats one developer, one manufacturer and one movie studio v everyone else bar a few who are sitting on the fence like Denon.

If BD had come out first would we even still be talking about HD-DVD?

[NackNack]

DVDs won't stop being manufactured just because HD is coming.

I don't see many complaining about a format war in videogames, so here, it can only be a good thing.

[LFC_SL]

Videogames I think are different. That's more interactive entertainment that has so many variables to take into account when deciding which console to get

Whereas next gen DVD is all about delivering content that essentially requires *only* a HD TV to enjoy...except we as consumers are stuck in limbo. Who wants to get the next betamax? Due to indecision and a chronic lack of spines at boardroom level the next two years will be spent on pushing a format at us via marketing....whereas they could have already pushed a format onto us and get DVD customers used to a "videogame cycle" and bring another new format out in five years...I hope heads have rolled for this missed oppurtunity

Sorry. Watching films should only be about the actual film itself...I want to be able to borrow a film and not remind myself my mate uses HD DVD instead of blu-ray. Joe public couldn't care less about p's and i's. Like I said Joe would like what they're told to like. What's odd is if you listen to the language of the players involved you may be lead to believe they care about the quality of their product

[Noggin1980]

Don't knock 'format wars' too much, yes they can be a pain in the ass for consumers but remember this.

A 'format war' gets electronic companys to push technology to the limit, both spending tens of millions trying to outdo each other, Blu-Ray for example has been technologically pushed further because HD-DVD was biting on it's heels. If companys were all lovey dovey, and working together hand in hand we'd still be waiting for VHS.

Survival of the fittest, nature has been using the system for 3.8 billion years so it must work.

Competiton is great but format wars arn't. It's fantastic that we have ati vs nvidea and intel vs amd in the pc world.

This war may have the advantage of movies being released at $20-$25 instead of at full retail price but they may well have done this anyway to aid take up of the new formats.

We have 2 competing products and its probable only one will survive, this war also increases dramatically the chance of both formats failing. A huge ammount of people are waiting to see what happens before buying a player and if too many of us do that then neither format will take off.

If there was 1 format I for one would be very excited about a high def movie player and would be ready with my money straight away. As it is I don't know what to do so I'll be sitting on the fence for a considerable ammount of time.

Spending 300 pounds on the cheapest HD-DVD or 600 pounds on the cheapest Blu-ray player is a huge investment for me and for all but the most hardcore enthusiasts and having it be a total waste because the format bombs would be horrible.

[Noggin1980]

Its only a war if you look at it that way.

Its only Microsoft, Toshiba and Universal thats gone it alone.
Thats one developer, one manufacturer and one movie studio v everyone else bar a few who are sitting on the fence like Denon.

If BD had come out first would we even still be talking about HD-DVD?

It's a war because both sides are unwilling to share the potential spoils from the high def market.

One side has

Cheap good value players
Less draconian copy protection
no region coding
has enough capacity for a full length 1080p movie + extras
decent studio support
an optional add on to a great games console
first to market
support from the dvd forum (230 companies)
cheap to convert factorys and manufacturing from dvd to hd-dvd
mandatory copy

the other side has
expensive initial players
more draconian copy protection
region encoding
has more than enough capacity for a full length 1080p movie + extras
very good studio support
a mandatory part of what is likely to be a great games console.
mandatory copy

While the extra studio support and PS3 support probably gives Blu-ray a slight edge the first to market and massivly cheaper HD-DVD has every chance too. There is definatly a war on and it could go either way.

[Games Guru]

If there was 1 format I for one would be very excited about a high def movie player and would be ready with my money straight away. As it is I don't know what to do so I'll be sitting on the fence for a considerable amount of time.

Spending 300 pounds on the cheapest HD-DVD or 600 pounds on the cheapest Blu-ray player is a huge investment for me and for all but the most hardcore enthusiasts and having it be a total waste because the format bombs would be horrible.

Totally agree with that. :thumbsup:
I am the same age as you, so don't really remember betamax, but I do remember buying into the whole minidisc "revolution" and was left with a worthless player that was only good for recording tapes :rolleyes:

[Timbo21]

but I do remember buying into the whole minidisc "revolution" and was left with a worthless player that was only good for recording tapes :rolleyes:


I work in audio and was completely dismayed when minidisc came out, since I felt we needed to improve resolution over CD rather than reduce it. Sadly, higher res audio formats haven't taken off. Perhaps with the newer higher res audio formats for films this may push things along in the music market.