Ranger REG
Explorer
Maybe we should try and contact one of the Blu-Ray copying facilities in the US and see if they have a response to the question: Why won't you make commercial porn on Blu-Ray discs?trancejeremy said:
Why HD-DVD will win the Format War (For mature audience ... and 14-year-old boys)
- Thread starter Ranger REG
- Start date
Ranger REG
Explorer
You mean you never heard of a boy who got a surprise on his Madden NFL '06?trancejeremy said:
Source: http://www.mania.com/53228.html
JoeGKushner
Adventurer
Let's see...
Machine that plays HD-DVD and Blu-Ray already out? Check.
Media that contains HD-DVD and Blu-Ray and standard DVD formats already patented? check.
Yup, long war going to happen here.
Machine that plays HD-DVD and Blu-Ray already out? Check.
Media that contains HD-DVD and Blu-Ray and standard DVD formats already patented? check.
Yup, long war going to happen here.
Rodrigo Istalindir
Explorer
The dual-format stuff will be interesting. Bluray is more expensive to produce, so a hybrid disc benefits Bluray more than HD (as the additional cost for the hybrid disk is relatively higher for the HD consumer). This makes it less attractive for those in the HD camp.
I think there is a good chance that neither will really succeed. Most people can't see a definitive difference, and the perceived benefits of the new formats over DVD are much less than the transition from VHS to DVD (and it took 12 years for that tide to swing). I think there is a good chance that digital delivery systems will relegate physical media irrelevant by 2018. I have maybe 150 DVDs (and most people I know, even those that like movies, have fewer than that). At ~6GB per movie, I could put my entire collection on one of those nice new Hitachi 1TB drives. Storage capacities continue to grow. As processors get faster, it becomes possible to achieve greater compression at equivalent quality.
With FIOS and multi-megabit connections, it should be relatively feasible to go to Netflix while at work, click what movie you want to watch that night, and have it downloaded to a settop box or PC by the time dinner is done. (And Netflix is staring to roll out something along those lines this week).
I think there is a good chance that neither will really succeed. Most people can't see a definitive difference, and the perceived benefits of the new formats over DVD are much less than the transition from VHS to DVD (and it took 12 years for that tide to swing). I think there is a good chance that digital delivery systems will relegate physical media irrelevant by 2018. I have maybe 150 DVDs (and most people I know, even those that like movies, have fewer than that). At ~6GB per movie, I could put my entire collection on one of those nice new Hitachi 1TB drives. Storage capacities continue to grow. As processors get faster, it becomes possible to achieve greater compression at equivalent quality.
With FIOS and multi-megabit connections, it should be relatively feasible to go to Netflix while at work, click what movie you want to watch that night, and have it downloaded to a settop box or PC by the time dinner is done. (And Netflix is staring to roll out something along those lines this week).
Kid Charlemagne
I am the Very Model of a Modern Moderator
It's not the copying facilities that make the decision of what format to go with... It's my understanding that its the manufacturers of the raw disks that pay the licensing fee to the HDDVD or BluRay folks. I wouldn't think Sony would have any control over content. Of course that info comes from my days working in mass VHS duplication, so its rather out of date and could very well be incorrect now.Ranger REG said:
Rodrigo Istalindir
Explorer
GlassJaw said:
I disagree in return
Video formats are *very* slow to catch on. PAL is better than NTSC, but the US never switched. Beta was arguably better than VHS, but convenience won out. Laserdisc was better than VHS, but never made it past niche stage. The things that made DVD adoption relatively quick aren't in play for HD/Bluray. The convenience factor (no rewind, chapter access, etc) isn't there. The (perceived) increase in reliability isn't there. The consumer electronics industry has a serious case of penis envy regarding the computer industry, with its expected and regular upgrade cycle. They want that, too, but they don't understand that it won't fly with the bulk of the consumers. They're doing themselves a serious disservice with their talk of second-gen HD, higher capacity HD-DVD/Bluray discs, etc. All that does is encourage the consumer to take a wait-and-see approach.
I don't doubt that they'll sell stuff, and eventually one format will win out (likely for price reasons), but I don't think they're going to recapture the success of DVD. Especially if the content makers keep insisting that they're subsidizing the costs of the discs now and that prices will go up once adoption is more widespread.
They're still not there. The ease-of-use is still an issue -- my dad is a chronic early adopter of this kind of stuff, but it still hasn't hit the point where he can get it to do what he wants it to do without bugging me several times a month. The other issue is reliability -- sure, RAID is nice, till the chassis or the power supply dies, or the data gets corrupted. What will really make the 'no physical media' concept appeal is when the hard drives are used primarily for local, transitive storage only. And I still think there is a DRM bomb waiting to go off that will put a serious crimp in people's willingness to move to a purely digital environment. I've already made some nice money this year rescuing people's iTunes who never considered what they were really getting when they bought digital music.
A lot depends on location. Everyone I know has multi-megabit to the home already. If ia Netflix-ish service were available now, I'd be on it in a hearbeat. I can download a movie or two while I'm at work -- two days faster than I could get the physical media from Netflix.
I still think the major motivations behind the next-gen DVD was to close the DeCSS loophole, and a mistaken belief that they could turn back the clock and get people to pay VHS-era prices for movies. I remember when Star Wars first came out asking for it for Christmas, and knowing if I got it that would be my one present that year. Nowadays, I can't remember the last time I paid for than $15 for a movie.
Aaron L
Hero
GlassJaw said:
I seriously doubt that physical media is on it's way out anytime soon. With as many times as I've lost large amounts of data from faulty hard drives or computer failures I would never want to have to rely on such devices for all of my media, movies and music and what have you. I will always want some kind of disk or tape or isolinear chip or glowing psychic crystal with that movie etched on it in some way.
Of course, I say that as I await my first very iPod to arrive in the mail, my big christmas/birthday present for the year (with free laser engraving, no less!!!), but I still wouldn't trust such a thing to carry ALL of my media safely and forever. But as a convenient portable way to have it with me, with the hard copies safely back at home for when I need them, it's fantastic.
iPod. The traveling spellbook of music.
Ranger REG
Explorer
*screams*Aaron L said:
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!
Whew! I feel better now.
