Do you ever worry about a new format replacing your beloved DVD collection? (1 Viewer)

[Jamie Cole]

How funny is it that someone like me, at 31 years old, has been around now for TWO of the biggest and fastest-growing innovations in home entertainment history? CD and DVD!

There is no comparison in quality between DVD and LD/VHS. It's simply exponentially better. Like many here, I look at some (not all, mind you) of my DVDs and think, "How can this look better? How can this be MORE like a theater experience than it already is???"

I have HDTV in my home theater. My wife and I watch CSI every Thursday night in HD, and we are working though the earlier seasons on DVD that we missed when the show first came out. Honestly, on a 55-inch widescreen set, there's so little noticeable difference between the 1080i HDTV broadcast and the anamorphically enhanced DVDs that I (again, like someone said, hardly a J6P) can barely tell the difference.

I've seen D-VHS... it looks great but offers nothing in the way of durability, convenience, etc. over DVD. And honestly, IT DOES'T EVEN LOOK THAT MUCH BETTER unless (and I know there are those here that do this) you're blowing the picture up over 100 inches like projectors do.

When the new format comes, I predict entertainers will ALTER their creations (hello, George Lucas!) to fit the new format, rather than just letting their creations live as we remember them. Isn't that what five-channel music is doing? I mean, Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" was never intended to be anything but stereo. The only reason a five-channel version exists is because IT CAN. (And, of course, to get our money.) Same thing with altered film soundtracks.

Okay, no more ranting. Bottom line: the vast majority of my DVDs are as good a presentation of films as I can imagine them being.

 

[AndreGB]

That's awsome news. I always thought DVDs didn't look so good on nice equipment. No I haven't seen DVD on one yet, I was just wondering.

 

[Alexey]

Well, I have seen how DVD looks on Sony digital TV projector.
And I must tell you that it depends on the DVD.
The latest ones (over 6Gb for the movie itself) look ok,
but older ones look crummy. HDTV looks pretty good.
So I expect HDVDs to be best suited for the new TV projectors.
Also have you tried zoom feature on DVD (even 2x),
most do not have enough resolution to even try it.
So I think for still & zoom features HDVD will be fantastic.
Also I believe the first ones will be out in Japan in about 7 month.
America lagging behind as usual.

 

[Chris]

*laugh* not at all.

I had to replace a few hundred laserdiscs, a couple I still hold onto..

And I did so with much reluctance (we argued for years here on which actually did look better/sound better/more value)

Mostly, I regret buying all the Star Trek DS9 / TNG on laserdisc with 2 eps a disc @ $29 each disc and then replacing those.. and people bitch about cost of box set TNG / DS9 now!

Anyway, if something better comes along, I'll transition to it as well.

As others have mentioned, the next thing will be backwards compatible ready. And it's not like I expect to see a much better image quality on "Weekend at Bernies" (which I just acquired via Papa John's ) in HD-BlueRay then it is now

 

[Mike Graham]

There won't be a true mainstream replacement for DVD for a long while -- most people are watching DVDs on a 20 or 27" set, so they're not too worried about picture quality.

 

[Bill>Moore]

I don't worry much about replacing my DVDs. There are some that I would replace if they were significantly upgraded, but many of them, I'm quite happy with in their current state. I watch more DVDs when I travel than when I'm at home. So for my traveling entertainment needs, DVD works just fine. For favorite titles, an upgrade to watch in the Home Theater will be nice.

I have a lot of TV on DVD that should be just fine. I won't rush out to by Blu-ray or whatever versions of those shows. They're pretty good now. Cleaner than my VHS recored-off-the-air versions, no commercials and they're not deteriorating like the tapes did. Good enough for me.

 

[Rakesh.S]

i don't buy that at all..i watched the towering inferno on HDNET movies and then watched Master and Commander on DVD, and the latter looked pretty nasty compared to HD..almost as bad as Vhs looked after watching a DVD

the only movie on DVD that i've seen that looks remotely sharp compared to HD is Pirates of the Caribbean..and i've yet to see that in HD

again, if you can't see a noticeable diff between HD and DVD, i'd suggest a calibration

 

[ChrisA]

HD-DVD ASAP!

I have 900 DVDs or so and look forward to buying HD-DVD ASAP... I am sick of interlaced 480i video and having to deal with de-interlacing, scalers, etc...

HD-DVD will be a big step up in Audio and video quality, at least I hope so: Last I heard was that 1920x1080p/24 would be utilized for film. Likely 1920x1080i/60 would be used for video, but I'd rather have 1280x720p60 for video.

Lossless audio is going to be a reality for HD-DVD, FINALLY! We can finally put the DD/DTS wars to rest with HD-DVD. Apparently, there will be one primary track with 24/48 lossless for HD-DVD movies. Of course there will always be a legacy DD track for backward compatability.

Looking forward to HD-DVD, but not looking forward to a format war. If the AOD/HD-DVD group can provide 1920x1080p and lossless audio, Blue Ray had better do the same or I will boycott/not buy into Blu Ray. Personally, I think a foramt war will end up delaying the success of HD-DVD as follows:

I love multichannel music, particularly Music recorded to be multichannel. I am the perfect candidtate for Multichannel SACD or DVD-Audio yet I own only handful of DVD-Audio titles... The selction is so poor software wise, and universal players are not very good in quality. As enthusiastic as I am about wanting HD-DVD ASAP, it seems like HD-DVD vs Blu Ray would be very comparable to the lack of success of DVD-Audio and SACD. Nobody wants to buy two players, nobody wants to deal with the headaches... Competition is a good thing, but ultimately, there needs to be one format.

 

[Alistair_M]

According to this article on Video Business - High def might be coming next year on HD-DVD

http://www.videobusiness.com/article...8&catType=NEWS

quote:

"At a series of demos for studio execs in Los Angeles last week, Toshiba and NEC officials said their so-called HD DVD format, which is backed by the trade group DVD Forum, could be ready to go by the first half of 2005. The catch: One or more studios first must commit to providing titles.

But if studio support can be won, that launch date would give HD DVD about a six-month head start over the Blu-ray Disc format. Blu-ray backers have targeted that format's launch for late 2005 or early 2006."

 

[Mike Williams]

Joe Six Pack did, indeed, upgrade to DVD. But he only buys the Full Screen versions and he watches them on his 19" Emerson TV.

 

[DouglasRobert]

As others have said, formats come and go.

As happened with audio, so it happens with video.

Life is too short to be worrying about new formats.

Enjoy the moment and enjoy your movies no matter what format their on.

 

[JonZ]

I dont have a problem watching VHS of a film I like so I wont have a problem watching DVD once HDDVD comes out. (I watch VHS occassionally.There are films I like but dont think its worth the $$$ for own on DVD)

Theres definitely titles Ill rebuy but not everything.

While recent film will look great of course, Im very curious to see how older films will look in HD.

 

[ChrisA]

A lot of older films are being resored, practically pixel by pixel, frame by frame... especially with the new hi resolution storage format that is about 4000 lines of resolution... so now studios have begun archiving old prints with the thought it only has to be done once and will capture all of the inherent resolution that was on the original print (except now also restored and 'repaired')....

So HD-DVD will still be the weakest link even in old films. DVD is truly lame in a technical perspective. Hell, DVD and HD-DVD are still only 4:2:0 for crying out loud! As display devices get better, and as projectors get more affordable, this will continue to become more obvious.

Anyway, that doesn't change the fact that the answer to the title of this thread is fairly obvious: why on earth would one worry about HD-DVD, PARTICULARLY when HD-DVD players will play standard DVD as well. Sounds like a winner to me!

 

[John Milton]

Speak for yourself. I'll be perfectly content with a Blu-ray player and an HD-DVD player. I'll be enjoying movies in HD right away regardless of which style of disc they are. I've waited long enough for the HD replacement to DVD. After seeing all the HD programming that's available now, DVD sucks! DVD was never meant to be a longterm replacement to VHS. HDTV is the future and millions of high school and college students are going to run out and buy these HD disc players if for no other reason than the coolness factor. An early reply to this thread stated it best: "I welcome the day with open arms and an open wallet. Give me HD-DVD!!" Same here.

 

[Thomas T]

"..... and millions of high school and college students are going to run out and buy these HD disc players if for no other reason than the coolness factor"

Millions? Oh, really? I guess we run in different circles. The teens and college students I know have a minimal interest in high tech gadgets outside of computers (PCs are a necessity, DVD players are not) and their priorities (grades, the opposite sex and partying) are from concerned with high definition and a $99 DVD player is enough for them at this stage of the game.

The success of HD DVD players will depend, as always, with the mass mainstream market, not the niche home theatre buff.

"DVD was never meant to be a longtime replacement to VHS"

..... and CDs were never meant to be a longtime replacement to vinyl records and cassettes. Riiiggghhhttt!

 

[ChrisA]

Actually, HD programming could be a hell of a lot better. As I said before, DVD and HD-DVD are 4:2:0 which by itself is very lame, and that is before all of the edge enhancement, de-interlacing artifacts, compression artifacts, yada, yada, yada....

My point was that once you have two competing HD-DVD formats, you then have to buy a switch box or run two cables if possible. Also, there is no advantage to having two inventories and two players. However, the ultimate determinant will be software availability:

I certainly hope to be an early adopter, but that depends on software availability. For instance, I am a supporter of D-VHS over DVD because I am more interested in quality than convenience (even though I don't own D-VHS). I never ended up purchasing a D-VHS player although I could have had one near cost... There just aren't enough titles available for me to bother with D-VHS, but that's just my opinion. I suppose I could have used the recording capabilities of D-VHS or something...

In any case, HD-DVD vs Blu Ray must not suffer the same fate as SACD vs DVD-Audio (or D-VHS for that matter). Pre-recorded Hollywood movies must be available in full force for HD-DVD and/or Blu Ray, just as they are with DVD.

The shame is that if Blu-Ray would simply chose to support formats such as VC-9 (WM9) and support for a primary 24/48 lossless compression for pre-recorded movies, HD-DVD would not have any advantage over Blue-Ray. Blu-Ray is only slightly more costly per disc, but the significant storage advantage of Blu-Ray over HD-DVD would offset the slight additional cost of Blu-Ray. But when Sony/Blu-Ray only supports MPEG-2, well that is plain stupid. HD-DVD will be supporting MPEG-2, advanced video compression (VC-9 and/or H.264), and lossless audio compression.

 

[Brian]

I don't think the CD to SACD/DVD-A and DVD to HD-DVD comparisons are completely valid. On your average middle-of-the-road consumer stereo system that the majority of people own, there is little difference between a CD and the stereo track off of a SACD/DVD-A.

Hi-def sets, on the other hand, have been flying off the shelves for a few years now, and the difference in picture quality is fairly obvious. Also, unlike HDTV, SACD/DVD-A doesn't have the government pushing it's adoption.

I don't think DVD's will disappear for a long while, but I do expect Hi-def DVD's to take off. My money is also on Blu-Ray becoming the standard for a few reasons. First, it's technically superior, offering greater storage than the competing format, which means it will be more popular for computer use. Second, the DVD Forum is primarly just NEC and Toshiba - neither of which are media companies. Blu-Ray Disc Association, in addition to many more computer manufactures, also has a couple of media companies (Sony and Pioneer) who will be able to release material immediately. Sony is already planning on releasing some of their movies next year.

I've seen Spider-man on both DVD and HD (on HBO-HD), and you can bet I'll be picking it up as soon as it's available.

-B

 

[ChrisA]

If Blu Ray offers 1080i MPEG-2 along with Standard DD and DTS... and HD-DVD offers 1080p24 VC-9 with lossless audio, well, which really is superior?

Blu Ray offers more storage, but not more bandwidth. What good is it if Blu Ray offers around 50% more physical storage, but then loses 200% due to an outdated video Codec? Not to mention room for superior audio...

Again, Sony really needs to offer VC-9 or H.264 in addition to MPEG-2... HD-DVD Forum also includes Warner, which you seem to have forgotten... Warner is DEFINITELY pro-HD-DVD. Due to the obvious upcoming format war, I will not be rushing out to buy any HD-DVD player, and I'm the biggest enthusiast I know of... I'll likely wait a year after introduction. Well, I'll have to wait to see enough titles to justify purchase. When I do see lots of titles as well as day and date releases I'll jump right in and buy all HD-DVD from then on forward....

 

[John Milton]

You're quite touchy when someone disagrees with you. My info about DVD not being seen as a longterm home video format comes directly from the movie studios. You don't have to take my word for it to know that they are going to milk their customers as much as possible. As for CDs, they WERE meant to be a replacement to tapes and records. You're jumping to conclusions.

 

[Brent M]

HD-DVD and/or Blu Ray will most definitely be a niche market for the first 3-5 years of its' existence(if not longer) because DVD has become an unstoppable force in the consumer electronics market. Face it, aside from the members here at HTF(and over at AVS Forum) there really aren't that many people out there who care enough about A/V quality to upgrade to another format in the next few years. Millions of people have jumped on board DVD recently and there's no way that they're going to turn around and invest in an expensive new player along with having to re-buy all the titles they just purchased on DVD. For about 97% of the population, DVD offers more than adequate picture and sound quality along with the convenience that VHS could never provide. To think that all of the "Joe 6 Packs" out there are going to be won over by a high definition format is wishful thinking because none of them are watching movies on front projection systems or high definition plasma sets--they're still using standard 25-27" TVs so HD-DVD is going to mean nothing to them. Eventually HD-DVD/Blu Ray will take off when HDTVs penetrate the market and become the norm in American households, but we're still years away from this occurring and I think that makes the high definition formats a very tough sell in their infant stages. I waited a couple of years after DVD came out before buying a player and I anticipate doing the same thing with the next format. I certainly won't be one of the first adopters because I want to see how things go for a while before I get on board.