Anyone else afraid studios will abandon regular DVD in favor of HD?

Re: Anyone else afraid studios will abandon regular DVD in favor of HD?

Based on heresay from those in the business, it's going to be a while before either BlueRay or HD gets a grip on the market. Standard DVDs are here to stay for a long while. Personally, I can't see why (other than making a buck) did the industry "evolve" into HD or BlueRay. Standard DVDs, the right DVD player and the right television look absolutely incredible. We've moved from 97% perfection to 99%. For that additional 2%, the industry will redistribute all their titles, which are in the hundreds of thousands to date? That's absurd - it just doesn't make any sense. Moving from VHS to DVD was a huge improvement and welcomed especially since now we're getting season sets in small little cases which would've been unheard of in the VHS world. The only format in the future that is actually a great improvement over the standard DVD is the holographic DVD, which allows a studio to place the complete Twilight Zone series (classic, 80's and 90's) all on 1 disc (WOW!!!). Holographic DVD's improve storage capabilities - great improvement. I really hope HD and Blue Ray fail miserably - it'll teach the powers that be to give people what THEY want rather what we are forced to get into. BlueRay and HD was an attempt to make money - nothing more.

Re: Anyone else afraid studios will abandon regular DVD in favor of HD?

Not at all.. I don't see it beneficial for studios to release tv product on HD. Maybe some newer show's that can take advantage of the format. But the older stuff they need to keep the price down as it is and releasing on HD is only gonna raise the price and make it harder to sell. There really is no advantage to most tv product being released on HD anyway. Sure you can name a few shows that could probably do well, but regular DVD is going to be on top for many more years to come and your primary TV Source. No doubt in my mind!

Re: Anyone else afraid studios will abandon regular DVD in favor of HD?

I agree with the responses...

IMO, the "TV show on DVD" market is mainly standard DVD. HD-DVD is too 'niche' (at the moment) to support all of these TV releases.

Just like VHS, DVD didn't immediately kill off VHS production. It's going to be MANY years before we start seeing DVD even BEGIN to fade out.


EDIT: What the near future may bring is what I've been seeing lately - the "HD-DVD/SD-DVD" combo release. May be they'll try to get into the HD market by including it along side the SD versions, but I doubt the SD version is going to abandoned anytime soon.

Re: Anyone else afraid studios will abandon regular DVD in favor of HD?

It is not even a mere thought in my mind. I'm MORE concerning about shows being abandoned before ALL of their seasons are released!

Re: Anyone else afraid studios will abandon regular DVD in favor of HD?

The format war, production delays, high cost factor, and tentative commitments by content owners make the over-hyped HD formats a minimal issue in the TV-on-DVD market for quite some time to come.

Re: Anyone else afraid studios will abandon regular DVD in favor of HD?

I believe that tv on dvd will not become prominent until the format wars are over. Until one of those formats gains ascendency, the studios will continue to release titles timidly. After all, we all know that one of those formats will not last, and the studios do not want to invest too much money on product that may soon be obsolete. And the fallout from the "loser" of the format wars will be more amusing than the war itself. Hundreds of owners of product from the losing format will be furious at the studios for even introducing that format. Have a seat--it should be hilarious! Already I love it when I go into BestBuy and I see dvd fans snubbing BluRay and HD--and the major retailers are giving away more and more shelf space lately to those formats which are increasingly ignored by millions of consumers. Those formats are NOT making money. One of these days one or the other is going to HAVE to give in and stop production. The real loser, however, is the consumer. There are many people who would like to upgrade to one of those formats, but nobody wants to back the wrong horse, so they, like me, don't bother with either of them.

Re: Anyone else afraid studios will abandon regular DVD in favor of HD?

Yes, there is. For the old shows, one season per disc is more appealing than 6 discs, if they can keep the price the same or less. I probably wouldn't want to double dip that much though.

Re: Anyone else afraid studios will abandon regular DVD in favor of HD?

I don't agree with the responses, and this comes from someone with over $20,000 in TV on DVD product sitting on his shelf. I hope that both BD and HD-DVD prosper and become the standards of choice. Why don't we want our favorite TV shows in the absolute best quality video resolution that we can possibly have? I've recently purchased a 720P projector, and when you project an 8 foot image, the limitation of DVD as a medium becomes readily apparent. It simply is not good enough. The mastering on most TV on DVD product looks pretty good on a 34" screen ,but step that size up and most don't make the grade. I will have to say that a well mastered DVD can look amazing at a larger size (The Definitive Twilight Zone for example looks phenomenal). All I can say is that I have ordered the next generation of HD-DVD machines and hope that it does well. With the attitudes, expressed above we would all still be collecting VHS and there would be no DVD.

Re: Anyone else afraid studios will abandon regular DVD in favor of HD?

LOL - Ethan, you're post sounds EXACTLY the way I view politics and voting. Kinda like when people still have those "Vote for ____" bumper stickers on their cars after the candidate has lost the election. I don't see anyone saying that they don't want the best quality. I see people understanding that the majority of the market doesn't want to invest time, money, and frustration into the HD-DVD area, so it wouldn't be very wise for studios to solely target that market.

The HD market doesn't have solid footing in the market place. The increased quality doesn't mean a lot if the footing is weak. I'd rather drive a $10,000 'standard' car with great/brand new rims and tires, than a $50,000 'luxury' car with bent rims and leaking tires.

Re: Anyone else afraid studios will abandon regular DVD in favor of HD?

I don't think that the studios will ever solely target the HD market or at least not for a long time. They have only begun testing the waters with titles like Smallville, and it will be years before they put out a title exclusively in HD. I can only add that once you have seen what is possible in HD, it is hard to go back to SD.

Re: Anyone else afraid studios will abandon regular DVD in favor of HD?

Absolutely the studios will eventually, just as they abandoned VHS and Laserdisc but not for at least another 4 years.
Just as DVD took 3-4 years to gain its foot hold in the market and overtake Laserdisc and VHS it should be no surprise that it will Take an HD format this long as well despite the weak footing we see now. Just give it time.

As regards to improvement I remember when I 1st bought Laserdisc it was a huge improvement over VHS and people thought that Laserdisc was 97% perfection, well obviously we were wrong.
A Properly Mastered HD film on a disc format and not an overly compressed cable or satelite TV version looks far greater than 2% better than DVD. 40-50% would be much more accurate. As the encoding and processing techniques continue to improve and the prices on HD equipment continue to come down more and more people will be able to see this difference.

Re: Anyone else afraid studios will abandon regular DVD in favor of HD?

I have also developed a sort of animosity towards high definition DVDs. They represent too great an expense in terms of trouble, money, time and frustration, and the benefits are in my opinion minimal.

DVD changed many things when it came out; it was not simply an improvement in video quality. It was convenient and affordable enough to make owning movies mainstream for the first time ever. HD-DVDs represent simply a little more of the same, for a much greater cost. DVDs look stunning on any TV, whereas you need to invest thousands in a whole new display to even begin to see a difference with HD-DVDs.

In addition to the thousands you need to spend in new hardware, you also need to replace the DVDs you have already bought over the years. And for all the trouble and $$$ what do you get? A little more resolution.

I'm happy with current DVDs, and really hope studios concentrate in content (such as the miraculous Mad About You S3 announcement) rather than starting over with a marginally better format.

Re: Anyone else afraid studios will abandon regular DVD in favor of HD?

Some titles I'd gladly rebuy in HD if the picture quality was improved significantly. Dallas and The Waltons come to mind. And if shows that were screwed up on DVD in terms of editing, etc. were improved upon in their HD versions.

With stuff like "I Love Lucy" which has already been done justice on DVD and then some, the only way they can really improve upon it is to allow the option to recreate original broadcasts with commercials, amongst other extras.

Then there's the aspect ratio issue on 4:3 shows. I sincerely hope that they don't try to crop them.

As I've said before, videotaped shows could fit their entire runs on a couple of discs, or even one disc. The storage space that would be saved would help (on my shelf, that is), and there may even be room for substantial extras.

Re: Anyone else afraid studios will abandon regular DVD in favor of HD?

Not in the slightest bit do i worry. I would worry more that if i bought into an HD DVD format id pick the one that looses. I have an HD TV and i think my regular DVDs are serving me fine played from my upconverting DVD player.

Re: Anyone else afraid studios will abandon regular DVD in favor of HD?

To answer the question in the title of the thread: Nope. A majority of people at HTF haven't made the switch so the average consumer will be making the switch in about 2090. Seriously though, I could see it taking another decade until SD DVDs are dropped. And as others have said, TV stuff seems to not really be on the radar of many companies and even the ones that are releasing TV stuff only are releasing the newest season.

Re: Anyone else afraid studios will abandon regular DVD in favor of HD?

Gee, you guys are really optimistic about SD continuing for ages. How does 2-1/2 years sound? If the FCC goes with the new broadcast standards, it won't be long until standard TV is going to look better than some of your DVD's.

As for the TV seasons though, you really don't have anything to worry about because you'll still be able to play SD DVD's in HD players. Of course, the HD disks may carry an entire season on one disk, which will save shelf space, but who is going to sit down and watch an entire season of a show all at once anyway?

Glenn

Re: Anyone else afraid studios will abandon regular DVD in favor of HD?

Isn't that what interactive menus are for?

Re: Anyone else afraid studios will abandon regular DVD in favor of HD?

They've only been saying that since the 1990's.

Re: Anyone else afraid studios will abandon regular DVD in favor of HD?

Yes a season per disc would be great, i would love it. But the fact of the matter is they are not going to be released like that. For example Smallville hitting hd-dvd later this month is the exact same number of discs as the regular dvd release. So i wouldn't count on that being the case, if ever!


I don't think anyone is against absolute best quality, but let's be realistic here alot of older shows that are on DVD now is the best possible quality they can look even if on HD. There is just no way around that fact. There are a handful of older shows Star Trek: TOS for example that would benefit. But unless they are fairly newer shows the older programs that would benefit are few and inbetween.


I would say your looking at atleast another 10 years + of DVD being still on top. Heck it might even take a new format beyond HD and Bluray to surpass regular DVD. The reason it is going to take a very longtime for the HD formats to surpass or catch up is it's not just going out and purchasing the new player , for most people it also requires a new TV aswell. For most people that is not affordable + alot of people are content with what they have at the moment.


Except HD would not improve the picture quality of such shows. What you got now is as good as it gets image wise for these. I am a big Dallas fan myself BTW


2 1/2 years eh ? call me in another 10 years and you might still be saying that !

Re: Anyone else afraid studios will abandon regular DVD in favor of HD?

Well of course it doesn't make the grade, it was never meant to. The SD NTSC specification (which we are still using) contemplated a maximum size of 26". And if your 8 foot monster upconverts an SD source, it will always add processing artifacts. What you have purchased caters to specific source material-which does not include the vast majority of available TV product. And I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the studios to re-issue their SD back libraries in faux HD format anytime soon....except maybe for "Buffy", which gets 'em everytime.

Re: Anyone else afraid studios will abandon regular DVD in favor of HD?

Just to add to the chorus: nope. Right now and for the foreseeable future, neither HD nor BluRay have enough market saturation to make it worth any studio's while to produce standard DVD's as well as High Def Versions. Yes, there is one set due to come out (Smallville S5) very soon in the HD format but that is the only one.

Look, at some point in the future standard DVD is going to stop being produced. We all agree on that. However, S-DVD will not go away completely as long as the new machines (High Def) can play S-DVD. How many S-DVD machines are there in the USA alone? You think the studios are going to turn their back on that revenue stream in order to kick start High Def? Nope. When and if I upgrade to a new TV, new DVD player and the like AND there is ONE High Def format, then we'll talk. Until then, not even a blip on my radar.

Re: Anyone else afraid studios will abandon regular DVD in favor of HD?

"I would say your looking at atleast another 10 years + of DVD being still on top. Heck it might even take a new format beyond HD and Bluray to surpass regular DVD. The reason it is going to take a very longtime for the HD formats to surpass or catch up is it's not just going out and purchasing the new player , for most people it also requires a new TV aswell. For most people that is not affordable + alot of people are content with what they have at the moment"

Thats being a bit shortsided. Many VHS users were thinking the same thing about DVD in about 1998 were is VHS now?
10 Years for DVD is just not possible.
Its possible for DVD to still be around in 10 years but not as the major format with the HDTV standard coming into effect in 2+ years most will be upgrading their sets by then and there will be affordable models by then. The sets are down 50% in price already from what they were 4 years ago. Once the majority have HD sets in 2-3 years then there will be a huge demand for HD material.
As far as older shows like I love Lucy not being able to look better check out the reviews for the HD version of Casablanca out now. There is a very nice DVD of Casablanca out already that many thought could not look any better but all the reviews indicate the HD version blows the standard DVD away. When it comes to technology there is always room for improvement and we will always be upgrading our equipment and media even though we may not like it. I accepted this back in the 90's in the Laserdisc days and it is even more true now.

Re: Anyone else afraid studios will abandon regular DVD in favor of HD?

I don't think it's short sighted - you're comparion isn't fair - you are forgetting about something inbetween VHS and DVD.

I think HD-DVD is best compared to LD - LD didn't destroy VHS, in fact, VHS outlasted LD and was still in the market place even after LD was long gone.

I don't know if I totally agree with it, but it is possible that SD-DVD will hold out in the market place long after HD is replaced with the next best thing....that next thing is going to be non-physical media or flash drive based media.

I can really see HD-DVD being the stepping stone to something better and many of these people who are buying into it are going to find themselves with outdated equipment once HD-DVD is replaced by some other type of hardware that appeals to the average consumer.

Again, HD-DVD does not appeal to the average consumer right now. Just like LD, it's lack of mass appeal was it's worst enemy. Unless HD-DVD finds that mass appeal, someone else is going to.

Re: Anyone else afraid studios will abandon regular DVD in favor of HD?

No, that is a long way down the road before everyone has an HD DVD player and an HD TV because of the cost. The only show being released that I see eventually abandoning DVD is the Simpsons because I don't see that show stopping any time soon.


Paul

Re: Anyone else afraid studios will abandon regular DVD in favor of HD?

A big difference though is people have to buy a new TV to really see much of the effect of HD DVD. That wasn't the case as much when the jump from VHS to DVD.

Paul

Re: Anyone else afraid studios will abandon regular DVD in favor of HD?

I have plenty to worry about were studios to start over with HD rather than finish the shows they have put out already and releasing others they have not made available yet.

Re: Anyone else afraid studios will abandon regular DVD in favor of HD?

Mark, that's a good comparison with LD and the HD "stepping-stone" theory. That may well be how this plays out. For me, I'm not going to move into the HD market until we see at least what format wins the war. After that, I'll still hold out for a while for prices to drop. I was an early LD customer and that format didn't last too long.

I have a question that probably belongs on the hardware HTF forums, but I'll ask it here first:

Do Std-DVD's look the same when played on an HD player? I read a lot about "up-conversion" and I'm not sure what that's referring to regarding Std-DVD's.

Re: Anyone else afraid studios will abandon regular DVD in favor of HD?

I didn't leave out LD I mentioned it many times but I said in 1998 LD was just about dead by then and wasn't a factor. VHS didn't die until around 2001 but in 1998 people still thought it would be around for 10 years which it wasn't so it is short sighted to think 90's technology will be around well into the 2010's. Are you still using computers from 10 years ago? Music Cassette Tapes were big 10 years ago. How many are used now? LD is a bad example because its main reason for failure was lack of marketing and lack of hardware support. Pioneer was the only player for far too long and these reasons kept the hardware prices high and that always kept people from investing. This isn't the case with HD. HD has marketing and Hardware support and prices will continue to drop. HD also has a TV mandate coming up making it the new official TV Broadcasting method. LD had none of this. People always like to think something they are using or investing in now will be around forever but that just isn't the case. Technology always advances. HD is not that expensive anymore and is getting cheaper every year. In 2-3 years it will be affordable to nearly everyone.
HD may not appeal to the average consumer right now but what new technology ever has. Not DVD. It took 3 years to take off and so will HD-DVD/Blu-Ray.
This again is being short sighted.

Re: Anyone else afraid studios will abandon regular DVD in favor of HD?

If upconverted standard DVD do look a little bit better which is another reason not to fight the new technology because all your old discs will still play in the new machine and look better than they did before.

I was an early LD adopter as well bought them from 1986-1999 which I don't consider not lasting long. I enjoyed my LD's for many, many years and have many good memories of watching them and enjoying them. Just because they didn't last longer than 15 years I would never go back in time and stick with awful VHS over LD. Again the LD/HD comparison is an extremely poor comparison to make. This comparison would mean that every new technology product will remain niche and not suceed just because it does not have immediate mass appeal.