***Official Blue Laser Software Disc. Thread*** (f/k/a "Hi-Def DVDs by Christmas?") (1 Viewer)

[Guy_K]

I am not against releasing HD-DVD's, but they should give DVDs time to breath. I'd like to have the best possible presentation of all films, but I just started getting into DVDs. I don't want to have to replace them in a year. In 5-10 years, that's fine with me, I would convert, but right now, DVD is a new thing. There is also the possibility that HD-DVD will completely fail, leaving DVD as the only digital format available.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Here again, I think you may be atypical. When DVD became widely available (including nearby rental outlets), I dropped all premium services, and I think most people with HD sets did the same thing. The only reason people with such sets bother at ALL with HBO, etc. now is the Hidef channel (I get it but don't pay for it).

I totally disagree with this. For most people, it is the content first, the presentation second. HD is very novel, but I still watch HBO for Six Feet Under, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Sex in the City, and I am not alone.

'The Sopranos' in HD is nice gravy, but content dictates what I watch, and most americans feel the same way.

CBS black-and-white shows were still very popular after most other programming was in color. Why? The quality of the writing and the performances.

You'll find most people with HD sets would watch 'Friends' if scheduled against 'Yes Dear', and most would watch 'ER' if scheduled against 'Family Law'. HD is no panacea, quality is.

 

[RobertR]

For most people, it is the content first, the presentation second

I'm not talking about "most people", and that's not the subject that started the thread. I'm talking about the people who buy hidef films. For such people, the presentation is obviously EXTREMELY important, else they wouldn't have bothered to buy hidef in the first place.

Such people won't bother to watch movies on HBO, especially the butchered 2.35:1 movies.

 

[Ricardo C]

I'm one of those campaigning hard for HD DVD to appear, and yet I wouldn't cancel my cable sub even if I could get and HD player tomorrow. I watch plenty of movies on TV, even though I have a sizable DVD collection. And there are plenty of people who feel the same way. And once HDTV becomes the norm, more people than ever will want to watch TV. The existence of one medium doesn't hinge on the ruin of the other.

 

[Ron-P]

Bring it on, I'd love to see a new format hit Best Buy and Circuit City

 

[Luis M]

I don't view HD-DVD as a new format as many people claim on this forum, I think is an improvement that like the cd-compability will make it even more appealing to more people.

Also the notion that HD-DVD will be the best quality format for the rest of our days is questionable at best, we all know on this forum that technology changes constantly and what may look as state of the art today will look like crap ten years from now due to mastering advances or maybe a new technology all together ( even none moving parts technology and so forth)If you are not convinced take a dvd player from 4 years ago and compare it with the cheapest of today's dvd players or even the now deceased laserdisc.

The real question is not If the studios want an HD-DVD format? The question is "When", I think thay haven't milked this "COW" (DVD) good enough to commit to another "FORMAT", The theaters will alway have a better quality presentation(given is a good theater), because the movie industry will come up with better and bigger things that are money-wise impossible to duplicate at home in the short run and some that can never be achieved at all in the home environment. That said, right now I will gladly pay a great amount of money for a glorious HD-DVD copy of the "Lord of the rings" and a nice HD-DVD player from Toshiba or Sony and hook it up on my 65" HD-TV to find heaven, Let's hope these players don't show the"CHROMA BUG".

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Such people won't bother to watch movies on HBO, especially the butchered 2.35:1 movies.

Um, I think we are talking about 2 different things.

I'm talking about people (including HD fans) who keep HBO for their original programming. You are talking about movies.

Frankly, these days it seems most people have HBO because of their original programming, not because of their movies. Channels like STARZ are a better value for movie 'fans' (term used loosely due to their acceptance of cropping).

 

[Jon_W]

I have a question for people who are more knowledgable in the tech area than I. Is it possible for this blue laser technology to be used in today's standard DVD technology? To me this technlogy has the potential to effect NTSC DVD's not just future HD-DVD format. If this blue laser technology allows up to 27 gigs of HD video on one single sided disc could this not be used to improve standard DVD. Imagine 27 or 50 gigs to work with instead of 4.7 or 9.4 gigs. I guess what I'm asking could this technology be used to increase the capacity of DVD now? I realize it would probably mean a change in the specs for DVD and would also mean new DVD players, but imagine no more problems with layers changes or DTS space concerns.

 

[RobertR]

Jon:

It could, but I think the differences would be sufficiently marginal that they wouldn't bother. They're making plenty of money as it is from regular DVD, so there's no incentive for them to do what you suggest.

 

[Joe Cole]

This is good news if current DVDs will play on any new HD-DVD players.

What about audio?

Will this blue laser business change audio as drasticly as well? How about no or little compression on CDs?

So does this mean the end of SACDs and DVD-A for music?

Since I am about to buy a higher end SACD player this may change my plans.

 

[DarrylWHarrisJr]

tell you what...if i don't see Star Wars and Indy Jones trilogy on dvd by the time HD hits...i am throwing my precious dvd's out the window.

 

[Dave F]

"...which could appear in products as early as next year..." = "...Coming By Christmas?"

-Dave

 

[William G. Lipe]

I have to be honest. I'm really disappointed with today's annoucement. Here's why.
Widescreen Review magazine ran an artilce a couple of months ago on an up and coming disc technology called FMD(Flourescent Multilayered Disc). Basically, this new format could allow for between 20-100 Gigabytes of data on a single dvd-sized disc by useing multiple layers. The amount of data storage would of course depend on how many layers were used on a particular disc. The storage capacity is just one of the many advantages that this technology has over our current and "future" dvd standards.
It's interesting to note that at an FMD Demostration on march 27th of last year, the player used was a Toshiba model. Coincedently they did not annouce their support for the "Blu-Ray Disc" today.
Here's a link for more info on FMD.
http://www.c-3d.net/tech_frameset.html
Just wanted to see what ya'll though.
WiGgLe

 

[RobertR]

Hmm, interesting, William. Is this an indication of an upcoming format war? The FMD certainly seems to have the capacity advantage.

 

[Mark Maltais]

No matter what High-def is comming and nothing I think will stop it. The major studios will probably do there best to slow it down but if they can make that thing recordable there is no way they will be able to keep a 27 gig cd off the market, although I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it and there would definetly be a premium for movies on the format, kinda like there was on LD and I can just imagine what the players will cost :frowning: but I'll probably be the first one out to buy the thing when it does get released (much like my first gen. sony dvd which cost me $1200.00:b

 

[Brian-W]

No matter what High-def is comming and nothing I think will stop it

Yeah, that's what all us early HDTV adopters kept saying. We're still struggling to get some decent content to watch.
On the air since '99, and all we have is:
- CBS: Primetime and occasional movies
- NBC: Jay Leno, and time-shifted Olympics
- ABC: Some primetime, and occasional movies
- PBS: Re-runs of scenery material :frowning:
- FOX: No HDTV at all
Not to mention WB and UPN don't show any HD either (Rose Parade isn't enough).
So, coming up on the fourth year of HDTV, and while better than year one, still ain't enough of what was promised. I realize this topic is about HD-DVD, but we can't even get decent support OTA let alone talking about a new format.
-Brian

 

[Gruson]

HD rocks. DVDs pale in comparison to HD. Forget the general public and J6P, I want HD-DVD or DVHS now.

I own over 500 DVDs but I will gladly start buying HD-DVD or D-VHS when it comes out. Hell, I am thinking about buying a hipix even now.

 

[RobertR]

CBS: Primetime and occasional movies
- NBC: Jay Leno, and time-shifted Olympics
- ABC: Some primetime, and occasional movies
- PBS: Re-runs of scenery material
- FOX: No HDTV at all

You left out HBO, Brian, although they P&S 2.35:1 movies, so that makes them bad guys.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

How about no or little compression on CDs?

There never has been compression on CDs as far as data storage goes, as it is a PCM bitstream. It has been limited to a bit depth of 16bit and 44.1kHz sampling rate, both of which are now pretty old standards.

FMD (if it works on production models) promises far better quality delivery than any laser technology due to the significantly larger storage capacity. While they may have the blue laser working, whether it is robust in the field is yet to be seen.

 

[Mark-W]

I wasn't an LD buyer, so I don't know what they

felt like (as a majority) when DVD was on the horizon,

but were they not the first to embrace DVD?

I do confess that I became a "movie collector" with

the advent of DVD. I own more "classics" now than

I ever would've on VHS.

So, I am feeling conflicted:

Part of me says, "Sure! Bring it on!"

But the other part of me says, "The average person

is a long way off from owning an HDTV, much less

a HD-DVD player and discs."

I don't think the studios are quite ready to kill

off DVD, but they also must prepare for the war

with D-VHS, which is going after a certain niche

market HD-DVD wants to grab and hold on to.

The thing is, if HD-DVD is really so close to being

around the corner, with a little bit more confirmation

from the studios, I (along with many other

habitual DVD buyers) may radically change and reduce

my DVD purchasing.

I am sure the studios don't want that to happen.

But then again, look at how many titles we are still

begging for the studios to release on DVD?

Mark