I realize this may hit a hot button with a few people but please read through this first. DVD was a big leap forward and gave us a much needed improvement in video and audio quality over the old VHS tapes! Especially nice when renting a video from Blockbuster or even Netflix when that service came about. We did not have to worry about the VCR damaging the tape or renting a movie that had been damaged. With DVD no more rewinding the movie after every viewing or the next time we wanted to watch the movie. We went from approximately 230 lines of resolution with VHS to 480 lines with DVD and we went from an analog dolby prologic audio mix to discrete 5.1 digital surround sound mixes. Just before DVD hit the market Dolby Digital and DTS surround sound formats where born. VHS and Beta saw the birth of home video and really took off with the birth of DVD discs! DVD's arrived in US Markets around 1995/1996 and the format was a big hit and consumers can still purchase content on DVD discs at local retailers and at online stores as well. Around 2004 the next format was released but once again we had a format war on our hands just like back in the day when VHS and Beta Max battled it out. But then we had HD-DVD and Blu-ray disc fighting it out and we all know what happened then. Blu-ray discs are currently offer the best presentation for those of us that have HDTV's and it may be a strange concept but many people do not yet have an HDTV aprox 10 years after HDTV's with full 1080p HD basically came out.
So now we have digital HD downloads, we can rent a movie using video on demand and we can even stream HD content from a number of different services. We can also buy or even rent high definition movies on Blu-ray discs which has been available for some time now. Vinyl records came out around the 1920's and lasted all the way up to approx 1991 when the left the mainstream. The Compact Disc came about around 1982 and can still be purchased today even though music can be downloaded via the internet. While vinyl records and music CD's have had a much longer lifespan compared to the DVD there comes a time when you ether wonder or have to ask if the format has out lived its usefulness or if should be retired?
Many of us have been involved in audio and or video have seen formats come and go and it is just a matter of progress. Towards the end of 2015 we are looking at having three different formats available and one has to wonder how disruptive and counter productive it might be for three formats to share our local retail space or even the rack space at online retailers. When DVD first came out and for years afterword the format offered the best presentation but now compared to the 1080p blu-ray disc the video depending on the quality of the encode and or transfer can be really bad to ok. There is also all the other ways we can download and or stream content to our computers, blu-ray players, HDTV's and other devices. How much longer should studios keep supporting and releasing content on the old and outdated 480p dvd disc?
Soon we will have a new format that will not only give us a boost in resolution but more color bit rate and wider color gamete. We will soon have a format close to the commercial cinema for the first time and it has the capability to give those with dedicated ht rooms and projection set ups close to the 4K presentation/35mm film quality one would have to go to the theater to get. We already have audio superior to the commercial cinema with audio codex like DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby True HD and uncompressed PCM audio. Along with 1080p Blu-ray that is in millions of consumers homes and with all the other choices consumers have available to them is it finally time to kill off DVD? Maybe what needs to happen is for the DVD/Bluray combos to go away and for the movies to be released in 1080p Blu-ray/UHD Blu-ray combo packs instead. This might get more consumers that have not gotten around to upgrading to HDTV to actually at least upgrade to a HDTV display and to a HD Blu-ray player as well. And maybe even get some to bypass 1080p HDTV displays and go directly to a UHD TV.
So the question is should DVD be allowed to die and has it now so hopelessly outdated that maybe it is time for studios to say goodbye to the DVD? If not around the end of 2015 or the end of 2016, when? Just something to think about!
So now we have digital HD downloads, we can rent a movie using video on demand and we can even stream HD content from a number of different services. We can also buy or even rent high definition movies on Blu-ray discs which has been available for some time now. Vinyl records came out around the 1920's and lasted all the way up to approx 1991 when the left the mainstream. The Compact Disc came about around 1982 and can still be purchased today even though music can be downloaded via the internet. While vinyl records and music CD's have had a much longer lifespan compared to the DVD there comes a time when you ether wonder or have to ask if the format has out lived its usefulness or if should be retired?
Many of us have been involved in audio and or video have seen formats come and go and it is just a matter of progress. Towards the end of 2015 we are looking at having three different formats available and one has to wonder how disruptive and counter productive it might be for three formats to share our local retail space or even the rack space at online retailers. When DVD first came out and for years afterword the format offered the best presentation but now compared to the 1080p blu-ray disc the video depending on the quality of the encode and or transfer can be really bad to ok. There is also all the other ways we can download and or stream content to our computers, blu-ray players, HDTV's and other devices. How much longer should studios keep supporting and releasing content on the old and outdated 480p dvd disc?
Soon we will have a new format that will not only give us a boost in resolution but more color bit rate and wider color gamete. We will soon have a format close to the commercial cinema for the first time and it has the capability to give those with dedicated ht rooms and projection set ups close to the 4K presentation/35mm film quality one would have to go to the theater to get. We already have audio superior to the commercial cinema with audio codex like DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby True HD and uncompressed PCM audio. Along with 1080p Blu-ray that is in millions of consumers homes and with all the other choices consumers have available to them is it finally time to kill off DVD? Maybe what needs to happen is for the DVD/Bluray combos to go away and for the movies to be released in 1080p Blu-ray/UHD Blu-ray combo packs instead. This might get more consumers that have not gotten around to upgrading to HDTV to actually at least upgrade to a HDTV display and to a HD Blu-ray player as well. And maybe even get some to bypass 1080p HDTV displays and go directly to a UHD TV.
So the question is should DVD be allowed to die and has it now so hopelessly outdated that maybe it is time for studios to say goodbye to the DVD? If not around the end of 2015 or the end of 2016, when? Just something to think about!