Slashdot Mirror
Most Consumers Sitting Out The High-Def War
The New York Times notes that, despite the increasing variety of programs on the Blu-ray and HD-DVD formats, most US consumers are staying out of the DVD format war. This is a wise decision, the article states, because the two formats are essentially at a stalemate. "The two camps are victims of their own earlier success with DVD. The standard DVDs offered a quantum leap in quality from the picture and sound of VHS videotape, and for many that was more than adequate. In addition, DVD players that can convert images to near high-definition quality can be found for under $100, hundreds less than a true high-definition DVD player, further reducing the urgency to upgrade to one of the new formats."
Players are cheap and they'll only get cheaper. Even the dual players. So why not just buy one, get movies for that format and if the one you choose doesn't turn out to be the winner, buy the other player when it's cheap, too. It's not that big of an investment. I have a bluray player right now and the few movies I buy (why have a collection of MOVIES -- how many times can you see the same crap?) -- but if HD wins in a year, I'll just go drop $100 for a HD player and start buying them in that format. It's not like the "loser" will never be playable again. It's like "holding out" for ogg versus mp3. Who cares? You can usually play both. So what's the solution, in the meantime you're going to waste your expensive high def TV watching shitty standard format DVDs?
How many are staying out of this because they don't like the copyright 'protection' which really hurts the functionality and ends up hurting the experience of legitimate users?
The real problem is everyone is worried about which one will become Beta and which will become VHS that only the extreme early adopters and easily swayed have bought into one. I've had salesmen specifically tell me not to buy Blue-Ray or HDDVD until one of them wins the war. Them telling people this costs them money, and yet they continue to do it.
Although there may be some that can't tell the difference in quality, I think a far larger proportion of people just don't care about the increase in quality (myself included). I've seen demos in stores. I've seen a Sony disc that tries to show the difference side-by-side on the same movie (splitting the screen of a scene to show the left side as DVD and the other as Blu-Ray). Yeah, it's way better, but I don't give a crap! I don't have the cash, or the desire, to upgrade my television. DVD is good enough for me, and will be for a long, long time. I do not have interest in paying one cent more for the better quality video.
Never mind how much more difficult it is to rip the content!
Look at the tomato! Isn't it sad? He can't dance! Poor tomato!
I would have thought anyone buying one of those monster size TV's might want the HD player to go with it, whichever version.
Mind you, being a non telly owning wierdo, I don't actually know how usual it is to have a large TV, if it's very common to own one of those monster HD sets, and people still aren't buying HD players, then I imagine there might be a problem getting them to upgrade. For me, a dvd on my 19" wide screen monitor is more than enough, quality wise.
Personally I think this is all happening because people either remember (yup, I'm that old), or know of, the VHS/Betamax spat, and believe, no matter how marketing gurus try to spin it, that one format will lose and disappear, making any purchase a waste of money.
"Another group of prospects are waiting for ripping capability, so they can assert their fair use rights (even though they don't have any under the DMCA)."
Whoa, there. People DO have fair use rights under the DMCA. Those rights haven't gone away. The peculiar situation introduced by the DMCA is having fair use rights, but not being able to legally exercise them because of the encryption and the illegality of circumventing it.
It would be kind of like paying to have the right drive your car on the street because you have a license, insurance, etc., but not actually being able to exercise that right because there is a wall built at the bottom of your driveway by the people who own the road, and it is illegal to knock it down.
[Okay, *you* come up with a better car analogy]
The 30 December 2007 Dallas Morning News featured an informative letter (I can't find a link to an online version of the letter; sorry) replying to an earlier DMN article about the DVD format wars. One of the major points of the letter was that, essentially, unless one has a very large-screen HDTV, the upconversion of conventional DVDs is so good that it's not worth paying the premium of the HD-DVD or Blu-Ray disks. Unless the industry realizes it can't win while those higher prices exist, the vast majority of consumers will continue to say "regular" DVDs are good enough, thank you very much.
Discussion System prefs link: http://slashdot.org/users.pl?op=editcomm
Ummm...you do realize all Blu-ray players play standard DVD's right? Enough with the FUD.
Plus, with Blu-ray you get to choose a manufacturer. You can buy players from Sony, Pioneer, Panasonic, Samsung, etc.
With HD-DVD you can get a player from Toshiba and, um, Toshiba, and, let's see, Toshiba. Oh wait. I forgot you can get one from Venturer.
The kids got a stack of DVD's for Christmas. I'm bordering on _FURIOUS_ that on some of them we have to sit through about 3 minutes of previews and "You wouldn't steal a car... video piracy is stealing" warnings. Honestly... it's crap like that that makes me want to just download instead of purchasing. Why on earth should someone who's actually doing what the recording industry wants and buying instead of stealing be the one who has to sit through the warnings and ads???
Agree on the quality of standard DVD's with a good HD set and player... But there is another issue too. I won't buy an HD player until I can be sure I can make media backups 100% of the time like I can with standard DVD's. THAT, more than anything else, is what is holding me back.
[Okay, *you* come up with a better car analogy]
Okay, instead of a wall at the bottom of your driveway you have a motorized gate with a numeric keypad. You need a code to open the gate so you can drive your car, but the people who own the road won't give it to you. You could easily download a road-gate-code-cracker, but that's been made illegal.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
If you want to see what HD sources look like, try hooking a UHF antenna up to the set. Sure it's "only" 1080i (or 720p), but the clarity will stun you. It's easily the cheapest/easiest way to explore HD material, and yet hardly anyone ever thinks of doing it.
This guy's the limit!
On a superficial level I'd lean toward HD-DVD. I already know DVD's, and I already know HD. This is just a coupling of concepts with which I am already familiar. Bluray though, what is that, what does it do? Is my stuff compatible with it? Superficially speaking, HD-DVD sounds more comfortable, and there is psychologically less chance that I'll end up with an expensive toy that is not compatible with the rest of my system.
Slay a dragon... over lunch!
Seconded. I want to be able to stream all of my movies from my home server on demand, not fiddle around with discs that can be damaged. But a big point with the DRM is that if one of the formats didn't have it, that format would suddenly become safe to invest in. It wouldn't be ideal to have to re-burn all of my HD discs if the format went under and everyone used Blueray, but I (a) wouldn't need to as I could play them from the file and (b) would at least be able to without as much cost as replacing them if I so chose.
Get rid of the DRM and you're not taking a big risk in buying that media.
Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera - Jeanne D'Arc.
You'll be disappointed to know that the satellite dish won't work in your basement either.
DVD players that can convert images to near high-definition quality can be found for under $100
Chinese dvd player manufacturers have managed to find a way to violate the laws of logic and extract more information than is present in a signal? I must have missed the headline.
Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
I can afford to take a chance on a format. I'm just not going to patronize a business that's consumer-hostile. I have self respect, and if they don't want to provide a product that will allow me to use it as *I* see fit, rather than under "license" as they see fit, fuck 'em. I'll spend my money elsewhere.
My blog. Good stuff (when I remember to update it). Read it.
H.264 in the MKV container. Primary choice of HD pirates everywhere.
I only buy pepper spray that's been tested on anti-vivisectionists.
In my opinion, it's too risky to chance either Blu Ray or HD DVD. Does Betamax ring a bell? For now, I'm sticking with a decent upconverting DVD player. Sure, the resolution isn't exactly what Blu Ray or HD DVD is, but with a decent upconverting player, it's almost as good. Beside, I'm not ready to replace my huge DVD library with their Blu Ray or HD DVD equivalent! http://dvdupconvert.wordpress.com/