DVD to be superseded

BLITZ_Molloy

I'm sure you've all heard of these new Digital VHS tapes? The quality is 4 times that of DVD although you'll need a hi-definition TV to avail of this.

The publishers want to swtch to this format soon as a replacement or viable alternative to DVD because it's much harder to make copies and pirate the DVHS. The 'extra features' thing on DVDs will also be obsolete soon - actors have started to ask for royalties and percentages for these extras which will make the disks unprofitable. Also in the american market the best selling DVDs mostly were'nt the ones with options and features - just the bog standard ones. In the UK and Ireland this wasn' the case but we're a small market so that doesn't matter.

do you see another Betamax/VHS type battle or do you think the two formats can coexist side by side? I wonder is DVHS cheap? DVDs cost too much!

Terminator

I knew something like this would happen. That's why I haven't really built up much of a DVD collection.

Anyway, in a couple of years we'll all be downloading movies to our hard disks / TIVO sets so what does it matter?

gandalf

I think the fact that you have to buy a HDTV which is an extremely expensive piece of kit will mean that DVD will be around for quite a while still.

I do have a large DVD collection and tbh I am very happy with the picture quality that I am getting from them. As regards extras from actors, most of the extras that they are involved in are crap, the extras that interest me are directors commentries, uncut versions of a film, interviews with the actors is normally way down the list.

Gandalf.

Baz_

Originally posted by Terminator
Anyway, in a couple of years we'll all be downloading movies to our hard disks / TIVO sets so what does it matter?

Exactly, theres never going to be a standard that lasts forever, especially when it comes to storage, there will always be a search for bigger and faster storage, called progress.

I think dvds will last a good while as a computer medium, though, dont keep me at my word because its really not very easy to predict such things.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

www.c-3d.net

well as soon as Fmd's come out, 'twill be nice

terrabyte on a cd sized disc

b20uvkft6m5xwg

Any link to this information Blitz?
Would like to read about it- sounds interesting!

Doe this mean that exisiting VCR's will be able to play these DVHS??
I peronally think DVD is a well established and "here to stay" format mainly becuase of its versatility- vis-a-vis home entertainment systems and PC's- but then again its very easy for ppl intent on pirating to do so.

ThreadKiller

Won't happen, biggest selling DVDs in the US are ones with no extras & enhanced sound & image - they call them "superbit" titles.

Be handy to have all six star wars movies back to back though...

alb

Originally posted by BLITZ_Molloy

Also in the american market the best selling DVDs mostly were'nt the ones with options and features - just the bog standard ones. In the UK and Ireland this wasn' the case but we're a small market so that doesn't matter.

This seems to imply americans are buying certain DVD's because they have no options or extra features. That doesn't make any sense, I'm sure they'd have still bought them even if they did have these features. Maybe its just that the most popluar movies don't, whereas the most popular in ireland do.

Unless of course these disks had beeter sound/picture quality due to the missing features, but I doubt you meant this.

stereo_steve

Dvd isn't going anywhere! It hasn't been superseded at all. Heres a link to a faq I found on DVHS

http://www.dvhs.co.uk/100002.htm

I would much prefer to watch a film on DVD than DVHS.

hudson806

By blitz
The publishers want to swtch to this format soon as a replacement or viable alternative to DVD because it's much harder to make copies and pirate the DVHS.

The main driving force behind DVHS is the ability to store Hi-Def (1080 line) MPEG video - DVD can only(!) do 10Mb/s - only enough for low-def (480 line).

Realistically, this is still unlikely to kill DVD - nobody wants to go back to using tape and better compression techniques will likely soon allow Hi-Def to squash into 10Mb/s or so, and fit onto a newly extended DVD standard.

I think D-VHS is even less likely to get a foothold here than in the US - as there is no European HDTV standard (and we are pretty unlikely to get one any time soon), HDTV DVDs are about as useful to us as tits on a bull.

Won't happen, biggest selling DVDs in the US are ones with no extras & enhanced sound & image - they call them "superbit" titles.

Columbia's Superbit brand is doing reasonably well, though I'd hardly call them the biggest sellers by any stretch of the imagination. AFAIR, they are starting to sell R2 versions of those titles via their .uk website this month. Quality seems improved, but I'd wonder how many people have a good enough TV to appreciate them...

Oh, and because people in the US complained about the lack of extras, they are bringing out Superbit 2 disc editions soon, with the extras restored.

The main reason people buy Superbit isn't that they're extras-free, but rather that they have a very important extra: DTS soundtracks. I'm with Gandalf on this one - I also have a large collection, and all I want or watch on any of them is an uncut, widescreen version with a director's commentary. Let the studios keep all the other sh1te. (unless it's a Criterion Collection Edition).

I boggles the mind that someone would want to wade through the extras on garbage like Men in Black or Jurassic Park 3.

chernobyl

Who would generate the demand for HDTV in Europe?

Do Tv manfacturers make them first or broadcasters start using the HDTV format?

I have only seen it in action once, it looks impressive but projection TVs could only be improved on, their quality is terrible.

b20uvkft6m5xwg

Thanks for that info hudson
long time no speak:)

strat

its one thing developing a brandspanking new stogae media - terabye on a cd - lovely

its a WHOLE different getting it standardised
unless it is then the big companys who make them and the equipment wont touch it

recently all the big boys - Sony, Philips, Samsung, LG, Thomson, Hitachi, Pioneer, Matsu****a and Sharp agreed on "blue-ray" which holds abotu 27 gigs

hudson806

Originally posted by chernobyl
Who would generate the demand for HDTV in Europe?

Do Tv manfacturers make them first or broadcasters start using the HDTV format?

Unfortunately, I don't think so. Broadcast TV is the really the best application to drive HDTV into the mass-market - Mom and Pop simply aren't going to shell out for a spanky new $$$ TV that only improves their DVDs.

In North America, the drive to HDTV was started by the FCC, who decided that all analogue broadcast must end by the mid 2000's. As a carrot, the broadcasters were given a deal on the use of a substantial portion of spectrum for their content. This spurred the manufacturers to agree standards with the content providers, and start (still very limited) broadcasts.

In Europe, the drive for digital TV was always focused on SDTV (Standard-Def) and not HDTV. Even Progressive Scan SDTV doesn't seem to exist in Europe (very disappointing since Prog-Scan would give many of the quality benefits of HDTV without having to massively overhaul current Euro SDTV standards).

(Progressive scan is just the buzzword for non-interlaced display, as used on your computer monitor - try playing a DVD on your PC and you'll see the difference. Now imagine that on a 32' widescreen TV...)

At this point, though, I think we're screwed. The DVD-CCA (licensing authority for DVD technology, effectively controlled by the 4 biggest US movie studios) has shown no interest in improving the standard for outside their home market (USA) - no HTDV/Prog-Scan use-restriction (a.k.a 'copy-protection') system was even approved for the European market, and without it, nobody can legally build a European Prog-Scan DVD player, let alone a HDTV one...

Goodshape

Well, if you ask me, DVD is good enough. I couldint be arsed going back to tape. Does it not lack the versitility of DVDs? alternative audio tracks and so forth.

I'd say DVD is here for a good while at least. Too many people have embrased it.... and there so nice as well.

'scon the DVD. Yaw! etc.

Clinical Waste

Even the terminally stupid wont go back to tape now.
DVHS -Not a chance.

FMD though........

.................hmmmmmmmmmmmm..........dribble....dribble........hmmmmmm

(just like Mordeth said above)

hudson806

Originally posted by Clinical Waste
Even the terminally stupid wont go back to tape now.

I guess the only people who will care will be the really high end types - 1080i projector and the kind of audio setup to get the most from full-rate DTS tracks. Which rules out anybody in Europe

I can (almost) see it enjoying the kind of niche success that laserdisk enjoyed prior to the arrival of DVD, with price tags to match (ie >$100).