The future of DVD

Technological advances in home entertainment are inevitable. DVD is the newest medium, which has surpassed VHS, laserdisc, Beta, and other formats to be superior. I have spent a lot of time and money in my DVD collection. But, down the road, a newer, "better" format may be released that wipes DVD off of the radar entirely, and customers may be forced to upgrade their already large collections, which cost lots more time and money. I can't help but feel that, every time I buy a DVD that I am wasting money because I will have to re-buy it in the future. I had a reasonable VHS collection before I started buying DVD, and I am quite proud of my collection. Maybe since DVD is a disc it will last longer or be compatible on future systems. High Defintion DVD and Blu-Ray will be launced in a few years, and I am worried that DVD will be rendered obsolete and my collection will seem worthless. I would love to share some of my fave films to my children or grandchildren when I get older, but my DVD's may not even be compatible with anything by then. I wish I had some assurance that DVD will be around forever, but I know that it will not because, as I said, technological advances are inevitable.

Not really a question or comment, just something to think about...

Also, what's the difference between having a HD-DVD and having a high defintion TV?

Whoa. TGP, you may have opened an even bigger can of worms with this topic over the Star Wars one. No offense by the way, I share a lot of your points of view on that toppic as well. Hmm... where to start? This seems to be a "hot toppic" here at dvd town. I've talked with Posters, and Mr. Puccio at length on very similar topics not that long ago. We may even see Jimmy show up on this one. I share your concern for the upcoming HDDVD medium, and where it "may" go. I'll just quickly say that there are a few camps that are competing for the technology that will prevail. Sony is one of them and is suggesting an HDDVD medium that would not support our current "red laser" dvd's that we've all accumulated. NEC's camp is suggesting a blue laser HDDVD alternative that would still be able to play all of your red laser DVD's. I personally am hoping NEC's camp wins out. It's just the most logical choice in my opinion. To answer your question, simply put, current red laser dvd's only allow a maximum of 420 virticle lines of resolution. HDTV's have a possible 1,080 lines of resolution and that number of verticle lines of resolution is the current definition of "High Definition" tv. Currently some TV stations, cable and sattelite providers broadcast in "High Definition". The new HDDVD's coming out (who knows when) will offer movies on one disc in blue laser format that are 1,080 lines of verticle resolution. Thus the term HD (or High Definition) DVD. So HDDVD's will allow those people with HDTV's to watch a movie in true High Definition. If you've never seen a demonstration of a High Definition picture on a High Definition TV, I recommend going to your local electronics dealer, and asking them to show you. It's an AMAZING difference over your standard tv's. It's a very in depth subject, and as I said earlier a "hot topic" here at dvd town. I tried to keep it as simple as possible.

I hope that answers your question. If not, Posters could give you a better explanation.

- Nachtkriechen

Yes, TGP, you'll need a high-definition DVD player AND a high-definition television to play HD-DVDs. You need a TV capable of reproducing all the scan lines (720 progressive or 1080 interlaced lines) conveyed by the disc, you see. Right now, I am receiving seven or eight high-definition television channels on my cable system, and my Sony television is able to reproduce them. I've already compared a number of movies broadcast in high definition alongside the same movies on regular DVD, and the differences I see really are astounding. Most people, if they have the money to do so, will want to make the switch once HD-DVDs are available.

But upgrading to a new and improved medium is always as painful as it is pleasurable. A lot of us with enormous vinyl LP collections in 1983 found it hard in a way to switch over to CDs (and a lot of die-hard audiophiles still haven't). Most of us swore at the time that we would keep all of our LPs, too, but we soon found out that listening to all the clicks and pops was too annoying and bought our favorite music on disc. I haven't listened to an LP in years (or watched a videotape, except "Star Wars"). But one hopes if the DVD companies are smart, they'll make HD players capable of handling both regular DVDs and HD-DVDs, just as regular DVD players today handle both DVDs and CDs. They may simply use two different lasers and technology in the same box. Compatibility will take a lot of the sting out of upgrading.

John

I don't think it will be as painful as you anticipate… initially the blu-ray and HD-DVD players will support all the old disc formats; they are all 12cm, and they realise its commercial suicide not to initially be backwards compatible.


It’s not a transition from analogue to digital e.g. VHS to DVD… it’s digital to digital… 10-20 years down the track if they decide the DVD format is obsolete and HD players stop supporting them, because it is digital you will able to back-up the data on a new media without any loss in quality from the original DVD.

The data stored on DVD’s are very similar to the digital television SDTV broadcasts, so it will have a place as a media for the lifespan of current digital television specifications. In most countries, digital TV isn’t going to change much at least for 25+ years. Television broadcasters have made a huge investment in digital television, with the assurance from their governments that the technology specifications won’t change anytime soon.

If a HD media technology meets the requirements for HDTV it *should * be sufficient for the lifespan of current digital TV specifications… once a good technology gets established it will make it very difficult for any new technologies to break into the marketplace e.g. CD audio ROM’s are still the preferred distribution method of music.



Btw. Despite what people are saying Sony’s blu-ray does/will support DVD’s. Yes blu-ray does support Caddies, and yes those same Caddie drives still support the red laser 12 cm media i.e. DVD’s i.e. LG’s LGXBG420 supports DVD/CD playback.

Blu-ray is technologically superior, it's a specification for the future, for these reasons I prefer blu-ray over some half-arsed effort by NEC/Toshiba on HD-DVD.


Inevitably all these technologies will be superseded e.g. holographic data storage, it’s a few years of yet, but it wipes the floor with “blu-ray & HD-DVD”, much like “blu-ray & HD-DVD” are doing to DVD, and DVD did to CD etc. HDTV is still in its infancy, so be careful you don’t open your wallet too early. see:
- EXTERNAL LINK -
and - EXTERNAL LINK -

Does anbody know wether HD-DVD will be in 720p or 1080i?

I myself have a combination VHS/DVD player that's pretty high quality. It truly showed me how much better DVD's look compared to VHS, and it allows me to watch both without having to switch anything. I hope that when a new format is released that they play it and DVD's on the same system with no switching.

Maybe the el-cheapo HD-DVD players won't support the "old" DVD's, but you should be able to buy a box to switch back and forth. According to my DVD player's instructions, some people already do that between their VHS and DVD players. I see no problems, eccept all those "old" DVD's going for next-to-nothing on e-Bay, and deciding weather to upgrade or not.

CDs replaced LPs, 45s, and 78s more than twenty years ago, but people still play their old LPs, 45s, and 78s today.

I think the makers of high-definition DVD players will be smart enough to enable them to play regular DVDs as well. Since it will take many years to phase in HD, manufacturers know that people will still want to play their "old" DVDs for years to come. Have no fear; new technologies come and come and come again (especially for someone who has a lifetime of technological change in front of him); it's always been the way, and somehow we all survive the changes.

John

Forgive me for bringing up an old thread, but I have another question:
Since DVD's don't disintegrate like a VHS and they'll last forever, and discs are the widely-accepted best for of storing information, does this mean that DVD's may not be "phased out" by another new disc-based medium such as HDDVD or Blu-Ray? While I am excited for these new formats I still want to be able to play DVD's on future players with future formats...

Does anbody know whether HD-DVD will be in 720p or 1080i?
Which looks better?
Which looks better when converting form the other resolution?