"Grease" the begining of the end (1 Viewer)

[SpenceJT]

D-VHS may actually HELP the development of a true high-definition disc format - the much revered HD-DVD that many of us consider the ultimate holy grail of home entertainment. Less than a month after the D-VHS format was announced, a group of manufacturers announced that they were developing a "Bluray" disc format to accommodate high-definition movies on disc. And the official DVD Forum (the group of studios and manufactures responsible for the creation of the DVD format) became much more active in working to finalize a physical disc format and technical specification for an eventual HD-DVD format.

The end of DVD? No way! The beginning of the next step in DVD technology? Hopefully!
...of course it's just my opinion.
Regards,
Spence

 

[William Ward]

Just like with Laserdiscs, the DVD will soon be replaced. But you know what???

MY laserdiscs still play. I can watch Indiana Jones with PCM sound anytime that I want in it's OAR.....

I have my discs of the Original 1977-1983 Star Wars Trilogy so I'm all set.

And from some of what was said in 1999 about LD Being dead...well, mine must be immortal because the're still ticking.

And probably my favorite Two Discs:

DTS Timecop WS
DTS Sudden Death WS

Both are 1509 DTS and 2.35:1 OAR. Neither of which are available on DVD!!!

:p

 

[Jonathan Perregaux]

The DVD format will be struck dead as soon as Staying Alive is released.

 

[Scott Shanks]

I don't think I'll waste 15% of my natural life waiting for another format to be developed.

 

[Robert Spalding]

Troll.

 

[William Ward]

Why Robert???

 

[Robert Crawford]

Let's cease with the name calling. Thank you.
Crawdaddy

 

[Michael St. Clair]

4:3 sets are not HDTVs. When there are 16:9, 1080i sets for $800, let alone $400, please call me...

4:3 sets are indeed HDTVs if they accept 1080i or 720p and have a 16:9 display mode.

 

[Eugene Hsieh]

Yeah, while Samsung Tantus TVs aren't the nicest TVs on the block, they are still pretty nice for the price. When I was looking for a widescreen (not 4:3) HD-ready TV, I did look at the Tantus 32" widescreen TV, and it was a "paltry" US$1450 about 18 months ago. The 4:3 TVs were even cheaper, especially the smaller sized ones.
However, they were not true HD-ready TVs in the sense that they cannot display 1080i. They can take an 1080i input but they downconvert the signal to 480p. While it still is future proof in a way, it certainly won't be as good as a good quality true HD-ready TV. I wonder the model you linked is the same type of pseudo-1080i TV, although it's hard to know since the Samsung specs are a bit vague. The link you provided seems to say it is a "real" 1080i-capable TV, however.
I ended up spending $1900 to get the Toshiba 34" widescreen HD-ready TV instead.
EDIT:
I edited my message somewhat as you posted yours just to be clear that I don't know for sure about the new models. I'm just saying the old models were not true 1080i-capable.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Eug,

Based on my reading at Best Buy I thought that set displayed 1080i. If it does not, I stand corrected.

My RPTV does indeed do 1080i. Looks great with both the DTC-100 and my SA 3100HD (cable box).

 

[Andy_Bu]

This 480p/1080i set with true 16:9 mode, for $769, is the type of HD set that will likely become very popular in the not-so-distant future.

Do Joe and Jane Six Pack bitch as much about black bars on TV shows (West Wing, ER, Sopranos, Enterprise, Farscape etc), as we are led to believe they do for movies?

I realize the black bars are smaller for the 16:9 shows but they are there none the less on 4:3 sets.

I can't see people who hate black bars buying a set that is going to cause them to see black bars on nearly every tv show in the future, as suggested by the quote above which links to a 4:3 tv.

Andy

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Just like with Laserdiscs, the DVD will soon be replaced.

But unlike with laserdiscs, the next format will be an extension of existing DVD technology. And the new players will play the old discs as well as the new ones. This isn't a matter of a format being replaced, but rather a format being improved. Hardly the same thing. And hardly coming "soon", as a mass-market product, unless you consider 5 to 10 years "soon"

The distinction between DTV and HDTV is correct and important. Many of the "DTV" and "DTV-ready" sets will not be able to handle HDTV, or will require optional euipment to do so. And millions of Americans will probably prefer to get a set-top box to handle the DAC rather than buy a brand-new TV they don't otherwise needed even when DTV becomes mandatory. So the true installed base of HD monitors - necessary for any widespread success of any HD home video format - will still be a fraction of the over-all market for some time to come.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Michael St. Clair]

I can't see people who hate black bars buying a set that is going to cause them to see black bars on nearly every tv show in the future, as suggested by the quote above which links to a 4:3 tv.

My point was never that everybody would buy a 4:3 TV. The set I linked to happened to be 4:3. My point is that most people will continue to buy small, inexpesive TVs. Whether it's a 27" 4:3 or a 29" 16:9, once they are available cheap ($400 or less) that's the kind of first HD set most consumers will eventually buy.

I'm not sure what any of this has to do with laserdiscs and Grease.

 

[Jeff_HR]

And I fully suspect that the next optical format will be backwards compatible to my current favorite shiny disc

I would not bet on it.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Bet on it - that is the plan at this point.

 

[Roberto Carlo]

(And, besides, the manufacturers can pay down a lot of their R&D debt by soaking the compulsive early adopters who will pay five times what a product is worth just to have it first. These are pretty much the only people who own HDTVs at this point.)

I don't want to seem disagreeable, but you are wrong. My 43 inch HDTV-ready RPTV only cost $340 more than my old analog RPTV did three years ago. It was hardly a case of "compulsive early adopters" being soaked. Besides, where I live -- the Washington DC area -- there is a lot of HDTV available and more on the way. Even if that weren't the case, being "compulsive" enables me to watch DVDs at their maximum resolution, thanks to progressive scan and 16:9 enhancement.

I agree with your larger point about HDTV being many years away from the mainstream. Sorry for being thin-skinned, It's been a long week, already.

 

[Greg_M]

Have any of you seen what a DVD looks like on a Hight Def Set? Even if HD-DVD is backward compatible, present DVD's look like SH*T on High Def TV.

Retailers and consumers dropped laser disc so fast when DVD came out. If High Def is 10 times better than DVD the same will happen if the prices are right.

You can bet on it.
Sorry if I seem to be giving you a hard time today Ron, and all that jazz.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Have any of you seen what a DVD looks like on a Hight Def Set. Even if HD-DVD is backward compatable present DVD's look like SH*T on High Def tv.

Is this how they look on your, properly calibrated, HDTV, or on some showroom floor model? I ask because I've seen DVD look like sh*t, worse than VHS, when displayed on poorly configured display TVs in many stores. If I based my decisions on that sort of thing, I'd still be waiting to buy my first player.

I would have thought that a standard def DVD, run through a line-doubler or output via a component connection, would look pretty good on an HD set. I'd be interested in hearing from HD owners on this point. How about non-HD broadcast programs, of which there are still going to be a lot? Old home movies on VHS tape? Are people who buy HDTVs going to have to throw out all their pre-HD media, and refuse to watch anything that isn't broadcast in HD? Is this somebody's idea of progress?

Regards,

Joe

 

[Eugene Hsieh]

Have any of you seen what a DVD looks like on a Hight Def Set? Even if HD-DVD is backward compatible, present DVD's look like SH*T on High Def TV.

??? I have an HDTV (ISF calibrated by one of the guys recommended by forum members here), although it's only a 34" widescreen (direct view). It is matched up with a good quality progressive scan DVD player. Friends have 40" RP HDTVs, and I'm sure somebody in this thread has a bigger HDTV.

A good quality well-encoded DVD looks very good. Granted, well-encoded HD will look better, esp. on a large projection screen (although most people will never own a TV above 36").

OTOH, I've seen terrible DVD, because many exist, and HDTV in the showroom may look worse than my DVD setup at home if the showroom TV is not properly calibrated and the source isn't that great.

What I'm saying is that while the best of HD is way better than the best of DVD, there are many other factors that come into play, like the size of the TV, the convenience of the format, the quality of the equipment, the quality of the software, etc. IMO, the image quality improvement of HD over DVD on TVs owned by 95% of the population does not justify an upgrade, especially when the image quality improvement requires a very significant investment and is more inconvenient both for the user and the distributor. This will change with time of course, as more of the population gets HDTVs, and prices drop. But with HD-tape, that time is not yet here, and may never be given the lack of interest in it.

Also, remember DVD didn't really replace laserdisc. Laserdisc was never well-enough established in North America to begin with. It was always a niche product. DVD is replacing VHS, not laserdisc, as the mass-market video format of choice. Also, laserdisc wasn't dumped only because of video quality. There were a number of other concerns which included convenience.

HD-anything is not going to unseat DVD any time soon, whether it be HD-tape or HD-DVD. IMO HD-tape will have no impact on DVD sales in the near-term (next 5 years). In the mid (> 5 years) to long term I'm not sure, but I suspect that a HD optical disc format will be available by then. HD-tape will at best become a niche product (and hopefully it does, for the sake of competition and because it is the only HD format at moment), but at worst it may just disappear altogether.

What about recordable formats? Well, it seems even at this early stage of the game that the next recordable format is going to be recordable DVD. Even though the resolution is not HD, the format really seems to be taking off. DVD-R recorders for PC drives are under US$250 now, and set top recorders are now under $600, and dropping. IMO, the next stage of this market will not be HD-anything, because it's going to be set top non-HD DVD recorders.

 

[Jeff_HR]

Also, laserdisc wasn't dumped only because of video quality. There were a number of other concerns which included convenience

Exactly which concerns

and inconveniences are you referring to Mr. Hsieh? I agree that Laserdisc was never well-enough established in North America to begin with and that it was always a niche product. I blame that on bad marketing, which also lead to the death of the Betamax VCR.(a technology superior to VHS)