Technology is moving *too* fast (1 Viewer)

[Todd Robertson]

I don't know about you but I wouldn't want DVD to be the best available format 20 years from now.

true, but all I'm asking is that the 1,400 fav films I'll have on dvd in 20 years will still be playable. at least other formats like vhs and cds...you can back up. so it's just replace all 1,400 every 10 or 20 years...I'll pass. I still want to upgrade, but I wont have 1,400 hd discs. watching a film like "Detour" would never happen on the format anyway. very selected films may only add up to 1 or 200...if that. so I'm more concerned with phantom quality control for the current format, which seems oblivious to the amount of poorly manufactured discs which are dying fast as time goes on...some which will be very difficult to replace. they just need to stop dreaming so hard of the future and work a little harder on the present.

 

[John Watson]

The lack of quality control is related to the disposability of the product, and the rush to innovate is often flight from accountability. (Make the suckers forget the failed promises about the last generation technology, blind them with marketing science, tell them to film their dreams, and burn them to DVD for granny to watch on her Palm Pilot.)
William Gibson and William Gates have a lot to answer for..
Muddying the waters?
Anyway, here's to backward compatibility, and a sense of the value of the past

 

[Qui-Gon John]

This is what I love about DVD. For me, the movie is everything. The picture quality of most DVDs is good enough that I would be happy if it was never released again.

This is pretty much how I feel. If another format eventually comes along to dethrone DVD I hope it's at least as long off as the timeframe that VHS ruled the roost. Considering how long people have been saying HDTV and HD-DVD are coming, this may still wind up how things happen. If we finally get HD-DVD, it must be backwards compatible.

Those who are pining for HD-DVD and don't seem too happy with DVD quality, it must have been a long time since you were forced to watch movies on VHS.

 

[Patrick Larkin]

I think the technology changes in Home Entertainment are coming very slowly - which suits me fine because I'm happy with DVD and laserdisc for the time being.

Copy protection paranoia is impeding the movement in most every realm of home entertainment. How can we distribute this stuff and keep people from ripping it off? A ridiculous notion (as it was with cassette tape, video tape, mp3, etc)...

I find it slightly annoying that I can't easily take content from discs I bought and use it how I see fit. Now, the paranoia is spreading like wildfire with the slow to market Video on Demand that now Microsoft of all people are joining the fray. I don't know about you, but I want M$ nowhere NEAR my home entertainment content.

 

[Jeff Adams]

I like the fact that technology moves at a quick pace. That is why we are where we are today. Technology is so much better and has never been more affordable. The one major thing I want to see them do, is make everything backwards compatible. That is a must. I am beyond excited about HD-DVD. I can't wait till it comes out, but it better be able to play my current dvd's. And I am sure they will. Because I am not going to repurchase my whole dvd collection, just my favorite movies.

 

[Jay Sylvester]

I don't get the whole backwards compatibility fear. Who said you have to throw your current deck out when you get an HD-DVD player? Can't both a DVD player and HD-DVD player reside next to each other in your rack? People are acting like they have to take their DVD player and all their DVDs and toss them in the trash in order to accept the arrival of HD-DVD.

With so many people buying into DVDs now, standard DVD players will be readily available for decades should your deck ever fail. Up until last year you could still buy a new LD player (still can, if you know where to go), and VHS decks, despite the lameness of the format, simply refuse to die.

 

[Todd Hochard]

Do people really fear that they'll not be able to buy a DVD player 15-20 years from now? I'd say there's no chance of that. Compare DVD to VHS, and see the kind of support that still exists for VHS, which is coming up on 30 years old.

Todd

 

[Jonathan Dagmar]

the reason i fear lack of backward compatabilty is that I dont like ym home theatre to be the center of attention. My TV hide behind door, and my speaker are tucked away on the walls, i dont have a huge stack of components, and don't have room for one either, that was the beauty of DVD for me, I now have a player that plays DVD,s Cds, Mp3s, everyting all in one.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

No, what they mean is that you wouldn't be able to graft a DVD layer onto them. It will be a trivial matter to make HD-DVD play DVDs. Both technologies are and will be based on MPEG, and worse comes to worse all they'll need is to add another laser on just like they did for CDs

But what if Sony's cartridge-based BluRay format wins out in the end?

 

[Todd Robertson]

Do people really fear that they'll not be able to buy a DVD player 15-20 years from now? I'd say there's no chance of that.

Holy God. people need to WAKE UP!!!!! how many times do I have to be the only one it seems who is concerned about the real problem? people should be more concerned with the fact that the dvds they now own, may not be playable due to the dvd itself...not the player. if it was fear of not finding a dvd player in 20 years...problem solved. go out and buy 5 or 6 players and put'em on ice. you'll always have a player. but start thinking about "dvd cancer" that is slowly starting to show it's signs of invasion. "cancer"....also known as dvd rot or delamination. better known as poor manufacturing or just shotty quality control. whats even worse is some are mistaking this for just a dirty disc. hopefully, most trouble will be simple to solve. but once a disc starts showing signs of manufacturing error...it's over. better hope they will replace all the limited editions and oop's for free. just another reason we should be able to back up our collections...like we still can with cds, vhs and lps.

 

[John Watson]

I heard that Todd. Poor manufacturing, and lack of standards for playability imo.

In personal experience with about 300 DVDs, I've had about 10 unplayables, or badly defectives.

In experience with 2500 cd's, one that rotted, and 3 or so with defects affecting playing.

 

[David Von Pein]

As to home viewing, how much better can it get?

This is a question I have as well.

SD-DVD has excellent quality!
Are our eyes so perfectly tuned that we're REALLY going to notice THAT much of an improvement from SD to HD-DVD? I've often wondered.

Maybe I'll feel differently once I've seen HD ... but maybe not.

Once the picture gets to that "Really, Really Good" stage (with current SD-DVD), is adding one more "Really" going to be that much better?

 

[David Von Pein]

In personal experience with about 300 DVDs, I've had about 10 unplayables, or badly defectives.

That's a ridiculously high pct. (esp. for a supposed "lifetime" format), if you ask me!

We should all advocate "Only Single Layer DVDs". Make 'em all dual-sided if that's what is required to get rid of this problem. Right??

 

[Todd Hochard]

DavidVP- are you being sarcastic? I can't tell.

I've purchased nearly 500 DVDs, and all but one have played. And that ONE was defective out of the box. I'd suggest looking at how you're handling your collection. If the problem were widespread, we'd hear about it here. There have been a few (e.g. Contact), but that was related to specific, early pressings.

Every single one of my CDs I've ever purchased still plays (I recently confirmed this as I spent quite a long time transferring them to my Hard Drive). Some date to 1984.

So, I've no need to wake up. I'm wide awake and not worried.

Todd

 

[Todd Robertson]

We should all advocate "Only Single Layer DVDs". Make 'em all dual-sided if that's what is required to get rid of this problem. Right??

If it cancels out the problem, count me in. whatever works. I'm far from an expert on the problem and how to fix it, but if not for these forums and the smarter people posting on them, I may not know what I do know now. if enough of us speak up to the right people, wouldnt they want to investigate at least? are they not aware enough concerning this issue? maybe it's still to rare to be an official problem..but hopefully it's just not being ignored either. maybe this topic should be it's own permanent thread so that industry leaders could hear from enough dvd lovers that there is a problem and how they see it being solved.
then again, maybe I'm just feeling hostile today. this morning was the first Tuesday in 2 years, that I did not run out all amped up....buying all my new releases. sure wasnt much of a protest, since me not buying 6 new titles didnt kill the industry. not even a ripple in the pool. I'll give into the addiction soon enough because I am weak. I love dvds...but I love films too much to ignore the format for long. I just want the disc quality to last longer than 2 to 10 years.

 

[Jeff Kohn]

SD-DVD has excellent quality!
Are our eyes so perfectly tuned that we're REALLY going to notice THAT much of an improvement from SD to HD-DVD? I've often wondered.

Maybe I'll feel differently once I've seen HD ... but maybe not.

Once the picture gets to that "Really, Really Good" stage (with current SD-DVD), is adding one more "Really" going to be that much better?

OMG, are you serious? Anybody with a large display will tell you there are definitely limits to the quality of standard DVD's because of the resolution. I have a 55" HDTV, and the difference between DVD's and HDTV programming (HD film transfers, I'm not even talking about HD video) is striking; I'm sure the difference is even greater on a high-end projector with a 10 foot screen.

 

[David Von Pein]

OMG, are you serious?

Deadly.

 

[Qui-Gon John]

Do people really fear that they'll not be able to buy a DVD player 15-20 years from now? I'd say there's no chance of that.

I don't know. Anyone see any Beta decks on the market during the last 5 years? 10 years?

 

[Dan Rudolph]

Beta's different as it never did get mainstream success. I doubt you'll be able to find laser disc players anywhere in a few years. I can't find them now. DVD is here for a good while though.

 

[Jeff Kohn]

David, what size display do you have, and how far away from it is your viewing position? You imply in your previous post that you haven't even seen HD, all I can say is you don't know what you're missing.