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Last-Minute Delays Looming for HD-DVD Launch?
An anonymous reader writes: "No official comment from Toshiba or Warner, but both Best Buy and Amazon revised ship dates for initial HD-DVD hardware and software on Friday, suggesting that high-def DVD enthusiasts chomping at the bit for next Tuesday's arrival of the first HD-DVD players and discs may have to wait a few days more."
Universal's "launch" title for HD-DVD is 'Serenity'. Mind you, I like Firefly and all that, but have I missed something? Is Serenity selling DVDs like hotcakes? Or is this Universal's way of announcing mediocre 'wait-and-see' interest in HD-DVD as part of the current format wars?
Then again, I might consider an HD-DVD player to watch Serenity. If, of course, I could afford a TV that would play it back.
People are going to want to buy an HD-DVD player for their HD-TV, there are no Blue-Ray TVs to go with the Blueray players. I wonder how much of an effect that issue alone will have on the zombie masses?
The problem with slashdot is that most of its users were bullied and stuffed into lockers as kids!
Hard disks, unlike removable discs, have the advantage of being able to have the relation of the heads and media very, very precisely engineered, which means data can be laid more densely on the media. So unless there's a major breakthrough on optical density that has no magnetic denisty equivalent, fixed-media disk systems should always be able to handle more data than removable-media.
As a result, the right medium for backup, assuming a willingness to make the investment, is and always has been tape. Because it packs much more surface area into a single reasonably-dimensioned package than can be done with a removable disc, it will always be better at holding bulk data.
I already watch HD content on my computer for free. Why would I want to buy a player when I can just hook my computer up to my tv and play the discs from there?
Oh you know Sony and it's Blu-Ray bretheren are going to start plastering the Blu-Ray logo on all their HDTVs.
My impression is that most people are fairly happy with current TV resolutions. They may not be great, but they are adequate, and in some ways it may be a mistake to go with higher resolutions. The future seems to be pathed not in more pixels, but in pixels that can go on a variety of devices. By this I mean people are more and more interested in watching TV or obtaining media from the Internet. To me, the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray debate has been almost comical, since companies are fighting over control of the next generation of a dying technology, meanwhile Apple and others are working towards creating systems that have equal or even less resolution that todays media, but is far more portable and that you can obtain without leaving your room. Download media from the net onto your computer. Take it with you on your video iPod or other similar device and watch it while you are waiting to see your doctor. Or if you are staying home, watch it on your TV in your living room as it is streamed over your house's wireless connection. This is where the future is at, not on a overly DRMed disk.
You're absolutely correct.
There are a few home theatre junkies who have their undies in a wad over anything that some company tells them is "NEW!" - these are the people that spent $5-10K years ago for HD-TV before there was even content to be had (not that there really is now, as aside from sports freaks most people don't care). Those families picking up HD-TV's in Wal-Mart today? They don't give a fig about a new format. They just want a new, big TV to watch, again, the only HD-content they are likely to see for quite some time (or even care to) is going to be for sports.
It's hilarious to listen to HD-philes talk about "SD DVDs" like they are some horrible burden we've been carrying on our shoulders, praying for something more. The fact of the matter is, most consumers have never even seen how good DVD can look - a progressive scan player hooked up to an HD-TV with component inputs, properly callibrated, looks stunning. Most of them are still watching them on old composite video, or S-Video, if they are lucky. And DVD looks just fine to them.
The VHS market's body isn't even cold in the ground yet. You can still purchase VHS at Wal-Mart, but it has disapeared out of most other retailers. Do you know why it took so long to die? Because the quality of VHS was good enough for the vast majority of the public. Most people only switched to DVD because a) of necessity, and b) price. When a DVD player is $30, no reason not to buy one. When you can buy your favorite film at $15 the week it comes out at Wal-Mart, you're going to switch. Let's remember, that VHS sell-through was rare, only for certain family-friendly (usually) releases. VHS tapes of new theatrical hits were "rental priced" at anywhere between $70-100 each if one wanted to buy one retail.
Sure, HD looks real nice. Nicer than DVD. But there is this small group of people who seem to act like we've been watching black and white screens through wax paper lit by candle power. They are delusional.
What I think people are missing is the REAL reason these companies are making this attempt at foisting this on a public that doesn't want it : DRM and downloading. DeCSS has unlocked every DVD ever created (or software programs that use it do, for those silly newer "reigon enhancements" LOL), and it's no longer unreasonable for your above-average broadband user to download 4 or 5GB films. They want to up the stakes in a losing battle for them; it will be a few more years before we're downloading 15-20GB films.
Then, there is the draconian DRM. They want a tight control on us. They aren't going to get it. They fail to see downloading for what it is : something that people do when something isn't available to buy, or for things they wouldn't buy anyway. No, Sharon Stone does not loose any money when you download Basic Instinct 2 just long enough to look at the nudie parts, if you weren't going to go see it anyway. The vast majority of people WANT to buy offical DVDs, and those that download as routine instead of buying are in the minority. Ask someone who has to watch Veronica Mars on download because they don't get UPN - they'd MUCH rather watch it on TV, trust me.
DVD was a huge leap from VHS - in picture, sound, widescreen availability, format (no more tape breaking), features, and collectability. HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are not. They are improvements only in picture quality, and not that great of a leap at that. It isn't going to sell to the mass market, and will be a small niche of home theater, for some time to come. It's the new laserdisc - and don't get me wrong, I loved laserdisc. But it was never mainstream, and neither is this. The same fate will fall to these formats - just like DVD came along and killed laserdisc, a new, superior format will come along in the next 10 years that will actually be what replaces DVD - and this whole HD/Blu-ray BS will become a home theater legend like the VHS/Beta wars.
AE