Audioholics Article: 10 MORE Reasons Why HD-DVD Formats Have Already Failed (1 Viewer)

[John H Ross]

The trick is to pick your time. My mates and I normally go straight after work (about 4pm) on a Wednesday. Hardly anybody in then, virtually a private screening. Okay, sometimes the sound is a bit dodgy, or the picture isn't particularly clean, but that's kinda half the fun.

Plus we go to KFC beforehand - which includes getting an over-sized coke for movie watching - so that removes the need for overpriced food at the cinema!

Plus you get to see the films 4-6 months ahead of the HT crowd. We're going to see Vacancy tomorrow. Probably Hostel Part II next week. Heard great things about both. Can't wait.

John

 

[Edwin-S]

They don't stop you from bringing outside food and drink in? There is no way that I could do that where I live. The only way to get outside food into the theatre is by smuggling it in.

 

[John H Ross]

Nope, I don't take food in, only drink. The food is noshed immediately beforehand. They're not really supposed to allow punters to take in their own drinks but, so far, nobody has stopped me (another perk of going at non-peak times I guess!)

 

[ppltd]

Not where I come from either. But my gal has taken to bringing a little Rum into the movies to mix with the Coke. You would be amazed how it can help sitting through such painfully excruciating (long) films like POTC 3.

 

[Edwin-S]

There is something just so right with the idea of smuggling RUM into a PIRATES flick. The crew of the Black Pearl would have made you two honorary members.......but only after they got their share.

 

[Douglas Monce]

Years ago when I was a projectionist, the booth I ran had the AC return in it. So as soon as someone brought food into the theater I could smell it. You wouldn't believe what people brought in. Once this family brought in a 4 course chinese meal in complete with fried rice and soup.

I thought.....Do I smell hot and sour soup?

Crazy.

 

[Nigel McN]

I am seeing DVDs with promos for the High Def formats already, and this was stupid for 3 reasons at least, I dislike forced ads, I don't like being told "oh you bought the crappy version, there is a better one!" and 3rd and probably the most obvious, trying to promo High Def images on a Standard Def DVD is pretty ineffectual.

 

[Robin_B]

I think it's hard to tell if the average consumer is going to buy into HD or not. When you try and compare it to other advancements in CE it would seem that it could go either way. I remember when most of the average consumers I know thought that tapes were just fine and they didn't really want or need CD. Now most if not all of them have replaced their tape deck with a CD player. Same with SD DVD. VHS was just fine with them. Sure DVD looks good but I'm happy with video, they would say. Besides DVD has those horrible black lines on it. Here we are 10 years later and try and find a VHS in Blockbusters. Of course this situation is a little different but I believe it could happen if us enthusiasts and early adopters can keep it alive long enough.

I don't understand why people think you need a huge screen to notice the difference between SD and HD. I only have a 36" TV and I could see a big difference between HD TV and DVD and that was downrezzed HD through cable. The difference is more noticable when you spend 2 hours + watching HD then switch it off and put a SD DVD on.

 

[Rachael B]

I do understand.....have you heard about eyeglasses and poor vision. Beyond that, alot of people just don't care. They consider TV's to be a piece of furniture that gives you the news.

 

[Marc Colella]

The difference was both cassette and VHS were tape based (and old) and improved quality wasn't the only benefit to CD and DVD. DVD is still a young format with many people only jumping on it the last 2 or 3 years. They're supposed to give up this format, rebuy their movies (at a higher price) and new players (at a higher price again) for something that offers slightly improved picture quality and nothing else? It's too much to ask of the average consumer this time around.

 

[John H Ross]

Absolutely correct. IMHO they should give up the fight and focus their collective attention on something transformational like chip-based smart cards. Something that can easily carry HD content (with a second chip for extra material - simply turn the card and re-insert etc) and which will strike the punters as something fresh, new, reliable (no moving parts) and will take up even less space on the shelf. Makes sense to me.

But even then I guess SOMEBODY would screw up and we'd be fighting over red cards and blue cards... ARGH.

John

 

[Jason Roer]

Let's just make 'em purple cards and call it a draw.

Sorry for my hippie rhetoric.

Cheers,

Jason

 

[Tim Glover]

HD-BVD!