The Future Of DVD's? (1 Viewer)

[Todd Robertson]

as far as snappers...never had a problem with them. cases I could care less about as long as they protect the dvd and sit on the shelf right...so again, no prob at all.

I love the dvd format. people want better pic and sound than dvd has to offer and I can see the point when it comes to a select # of films. but I dont want into that "rush/want it now" group. I'm very content with what I'm getting. I mean why rebuy what will be a 2,000 dvd collection? Last House On Hell Street or Guru: The Mad Monk on HD-DVD? it will never happen and I have hundreds of films that wont benefit. so some will...many will not. sure I'll upgrade but not to replace my dvd collection. according to some here at the bits, dvds if cared for should last 50 to 300 years. recent "rot" and delamination problems are the only thing that concerns me. the longevity of any format is crucial.....not how long it will be around but how long the disc itself will be playable. as long as I have a decent copy of most films....I'm happy to continue building my film library with the format it's on. and please, lets correct the manufacturing issues on this format before we go tearing off on the new one. if this wont last...neither will the next.

 

[Scott L]

I'll agree with Charlie on the audio side of DVDs. I was glad when digital soundtracks were available but the actual sound quality was never impressive. Bring on the MLP and it will more than justify the reason to re-purchase every movie I have.

 

[Cees Alons]

the actual sound quality was never impressive

That's not a fault of DVD either. The only practical limitation of movie-DVDs is that the soundtracks have to be compressed. I like my music to be recorded unlossy. But soundtracks don't suffer too much by some of the lossy compression techniques, IMO. If the sound was "never impressive" on your system, you simply need to listen to systems that are impressive. At least: don't expect too much of an improvement the coming years, especially not for soundtracks of older films.


Cees

 

[MarkHastings]

and aren't HD-DVD's still DVD? I think DVD will be around for a LONG time.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

And DVD soundtracks don't HAVE to be compressed. There are plenty of opera discs with PCM soundtracks, and they all run well over 2 hours (though no extras). There's a ton of empty space on most non-SE DVDs that could, if desired, be used for an uncompressed soundtrack.

 

[Jay Sylvester]

I've seen HDTV demo'ed - against NTSC there is a big difference, I agree. Against PAL, there is an improvement, but to be honest, it's not all that wonderful.

What display was used for this comparison? Source? 1080i properly deinterlaced and scaled will blow away PAL.

 

[Terry St]

I disagree with Charlie too. One day they will undoubtedly start putting some sort of High Def content on DVDs, and they will change the laser some way or another (like they changed the needle when shellack became vinyl), but DVD will not be obsolete soon.

Well, they're starting to include higher resolution WM9 video on some upcoming releases like "Shadows of Motown" or the next version of Terminator 2. (It's the Super Duper Ultra Ultimate Deluxe "This is the last farking One till HDDVD next year, honest! version, or something like that.) You will need a fairly fast computer to play these WM9 versions. The specs on the exact resolution and audio format remain a bit sketchy. Ron didn't even try out the WM9 disc when he did his review of motown. (It probably would have killed his computer.) It's anyone's guess if these discs will come anywhere near HD, but they should improve on standard DVD's. Like MPEG2, WM9 is a highly compressed format, but apparantly the algorithms have improved substantially since MPEG2 was set in silicon. If you have a good PC and aren't jumping on the DVHS bandwagon then these discs will probably be the best image quality available for the next little while. Perhaps hardware players will support WM9 eventually too. I'm looking forward to these new titles since my theatre is based on a HTPC. (even though I may need a new processor)

WM9 discs can be considered DVD's because they work in present DVD-ROM's, if not in stand alone players. However, "changing the laser" basically means defining a whole new platform. Old players and DVD-ROMs will be rendered obsolete. (You will need to replace a lot more than just the laser to update a player.) The only reason to keep the same physical format as current DVD's is so that the new players can play old DVD's, and perhaps avoid some manufacturing costs of moving to a new form factor. (new packaging, etc.) You can bet that the compression, encryption, and authoring standards will all change drastically. This will result in a totally new format completely dissimilar to DVD's in all but physical form. This is going to be a major headache for the tecnho-unsavvy. Suddenly a lot of "DVD's" just won't work in their player!

 

[Arnie G]

My JVC XV-S65 player has an option to output the audio in DTS, DD, or PCM & I've found that most discs do have an unlisted PCM track.

 

[Glenn_Jn]

....you'll have a harder job persuading PAL than NTSC regions of the picture improvement.

As someone who spent the last 10 years in England watching PAL TV and now the happy recipient of HDTV in the US I can tell you there is a vast difference. PAL TV (even digital) used to look quite poor after watching DVD's and HDTV is quite a bit better than DVD so you do the math.

 

[andrew markworthy]

As someone who spent the last 10 years in England watching PAL TV and now the happy recipient of HDTV in the US I can tell you there is a vast difference. PAL TV (even digital) used to look quite poor after watching DVD's and HDTV is quite a bit better than DVD so you do the math.

My comments were based on a side-by-side demonstration at an exhibition. Americans seem to think Brits are irrationally in love with PAL - we're not. But all I can say is that sitting at a normal viewing distance, the difference, whilst noticeable, is not *that* brilliant. Because something is an improvement doesn't mean folks will want it at any cost.

Compared with NTSC, then yes, the difference is a lot bigger, I'll grant you.

 

[MarkHastings]

Until the day when everyone replaces their small to mid-size TV's (which will be a LONG time), you can't expect DVD's to go away.

In order for the mass public to embrace HD-DVD, you have to allow them time to fully embrace SD-DVD (we're close, but not quite fully there yet), and IMHO if you jump the gun, you might do more harm to the industry.

As many of you know, the general public is very hesitant to upgrade as often as you or I am, so asking them to immediately replace their red laser with a blue laser isn't a very good idea and would cause ill feelings about the entire DVD industry...the studios know this, and the manufacturers know this, so wishing that DVD will die is only kicking yourself in the ass.

 

[Cees Alons]

"changing the laser" basically means defining a whole new platform. Old players and DVD-ROMs will be rendered obsolete. (You will need to replace a lot more than just the laser to update a player

One can argue about that, but to my eyes it's about the same type of change that happened when we had to replace our metal needles by the new ones because shellack was replaced by vinyl (and the speed altered: two extra speeds added, and the diameter of the groove changed, and all specs). No old pickup could play the new formats, but the new players could of course still play 78 rpm discs. However: it was basically still considered the same technology.

It was the CD that brought something totally fresh and different in almost everyone's eyes (and the casette was indeed an in-between format, just like HDVHS).

Cees

 

[Terry St]

One can argue about that, but to my eyes it's about the same type of change that happened when we had to replace our metal needles by the new ones because shellack was replaced by vinyl (and the speed altered: two extra speeds added, and the diameter of the groove changed, and all specs). No old pickup could play the new formats, but the new players could of course still play 78 rpm discs. However: it was basically still considered the same technology.

I don't think we're in disagreement. That's a pretty good analogy actually. The new format looks similar and is based on the same technology, but is different enough that old players are obsolete and unable to be easily upgraded. Some people are going to recognize them as different formats while others will consider them one and the same because they are physically similar and fill the same function.

That last bit is important. CD's and DVD's are physically identical and are based on the same technology, but are viewed by most ordinary people as two distinct formats. This is probably because they have different functions. (i.e. music versus film) HD-DVD's will fill the same function as DVD's, so we may very well wind up just calling them DVD's.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

& I've found that most discs do have an unlisted PCM track.

Umm, no they don't. PCM takes up as much space as full-bitrate DTS. You can set it to CONVERT the DD to PCM before it leaves the player, but there is no unlisted PCM soundtrack on virtually any US non-music title.

 

[Dan Rudolph]

Jeff's right. According to DVD Profiler, I have 343 DVDs and 2 of them have PCM audio. They're both music titles.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

Yep, out of 2500+ discs, a grand total of 44 of mine have PCM tracks, and I'd guess most of them are music also. There are some exceptions--the Short Films of David Lynch disc has a PCM track, like Eraserhead was supposed to.

 

[Glenn_Jn]

Yep, out of 2500+ discs, a grand total of 44 of mine have PCM tracks

2500!!! DAMN..no offence, but me thinks you need a life away from the shiny discs.

 

[MarkHastings]

How do you search for PCM audio in DVD Profiler?

 

[Dan Rudolph]

You can't search for it, but you can graph it. It will tell you how many titles have PCM, but not which ones.

 

[MarkHastings]

Thanks Dan,

I got 5 PCM out of approx. 319