Rant: dvd rom (1 Viewer)

[Brian O]

David -
I cant speak for the crowd you hang out with, but the majority of my friends/family have computers over and above what I have(P2 Celeron 464), including a DVD-Rom. I am 40 and college educated and my circle of friends and family have had computers for at least a decade. My system was top-line 3 years ago, but still runs everything great with only a RAM and Video card upgrade since.
My Mother/Step-Father still have their Compaq 133 which was top dog when they bought it. However, my Step-Father is 72 and doesnt use his computer for doing much other than basic business/accounting. He doesnt "get" the internet either. His loss.
I would think he would fall into your co-worker's category. He would not be the target of DVD and DVD-Rom material. It is just over his head and he just doesnt care.
Most kids are on the ball tech-wise. Computers systems are cheap enough now to where a family can have a high-end system for under $1K. Most middle-class families can/will afford that.
In addition, most of those kids will ALSO have a set-top game system too. Most people my age and younger grew up with them and so it is not out of the norm to have at least one, if not more dedicated game systems also. I find this to be the norm for middle America.
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[DavidEC]

Most people my age and younger grew up with them and so it is not out of the norm to have at least one, if not more dedicated game systems also. I find this to be the norm for middle America.

Brian -
This may of been true before 09/11/01, but many of my friends and neighbors work(ed) at Boeing and as it stands now many (5000+) of them will not have jobs come the end of the year.
--David

 

[Randy_M]

The only thing I've found DVD-ROM to be good for is those few discs that have full (and printable) movie scripts.
Most other stuff is rubbish, but this is a perfect application for the concept, IMHO.
Cheers

 

[Scott Kimball]

DVD-ROM "features" that are inaccessible to the masses (most people do NOT have DVD on their computer, yet -- and millions have Macs or use Linux...) is a joke. For those that do have DVD-ROM, there is very little that couldn't be done with standard internet apps - Explorer/Navigator, Quicktime, Flash, etc...
This has p*ssed me off from the start. "PCFriendly," my @ss...
Give me some startup capital and an "in" with the studios, and I could create really "friendly" content that the rest of us could use...
-- another Mac user.
-Scott

 

[Ted Todorov]

Re:Full, printable scripts on DVD-ROM.
Can you give us some examples? Are they PC only as well?
Thanks,
Ted

 

[dave_castilleja]

Well, this is an old topic, but I just got a new computer with a DVD-Rom drive, and this was the only relevant one I found. Is there some place that has compiled a list of which discs have Rom features? I only ask because it'd be nice to know which ones are worthwhile, since the majority of them are just wasted space and time!

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

Since this is being dredged up again, I'll reiterate my view that any DVD ROM material should be platform independent, formatted in a standard format, and NOT requiring the installation of proprietary software in order to access it.

The longevity of anything that is software specific is extremely limited. Why should a DVD become inaccessable after a few years, when a LD manufactured 20 years ago will still play fine?

 

[BrentPollard]

C:

 

[Chris Bardon]

I agree that ROM content should be shifted to set-top if possible, but there are things like the new commentary for TPM that you just couldn't deliver any way but online. It's a good idea if done right.