Blu-ray vs HD-DVD
p2pnet.net News:- Toshiba says it has the first DVD able to play both standard and high-definition content.
Will this be enough?
Read on >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
High-Def DVD Formats Fight for Dominance
By Tina Harlan – TechNewsWorld
If you’re already confused by the proliferation of digital music types and don’t know the difference between a DVD-R, DVD+R, or DVD-RW, get ready for the next assault. The good news is that digital television and the resulting high-definition DVD technology will be a vast improvement over the images we typically see on TV today. The bad news is that once again there is no standardized format, so compatibility remains an issue.
Hollywood studios, however, are beginning to take sides. Toshiba’s next-generation technology, known as HD DVD, is the format of choice for Warner Bros. Studios, Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures and New Line Cinema. Meanwhile, Sony, Dell and Samsung, among others, favor Blu-ray, a competitive technology. As one might expect, Blu-ray has the backing of Sony Pictures, and in all likelihood, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which has recently been acquired by a group led by Sony. Twentieth Century Fox is also thought to be in this camp.
Array of Formats
Both technologies use blue lasers, which allow discs to store data at the densities necessary for high definition. Since Congress has mandated that television stations in the United States switch to digital broadcasting, many DVD players and recorders will have to be replaced. Royalties from licensing the technology will further sweeten an already lucrative pot. DVD equipment is currently a US$10 billion a year market.
"We’ve been through the digital revolution in many ways already — from LPs to compact discs and from VHS to DVD," says Jeff Joseph, vice president of communications for the Consumer Electronics Association. "High definition is an important step forward, and we expect to see high definition consumer products by the fourth quarter of next year, even though there are competing formats now."
Such an array of confusing choices means that consumers will have to do their homework. According to Joseph, "the marketplace often determines the surviving format. Another thing that happens is that formats that start off as incompatible become compatible, such as we’ve seen with CDs and SACDs [Super Audio Compact Discs]. You’ll begin to see dual-format players or equipment that can playback a wide variety of formats."
Issues at Hand
In addition, Toshiba and Memory-Tech have announced a dual-layer DVD they claim can play both on today’s equipment and on high-definition players.
"Manufacturers are going to protect the legacy of their devices because no one wants angry consumers," predicts Joseph. "The big issue will be copy protection and how it’s handled."
With Hollywood studios concerned about losing profits to illegal distribution over the Internet, and consumers demanding the right to make legal copies for their own use, the protection issue is one more issue yet to be resolved.
Changing Landscape
Television stations will continue to provide analog programming until the end of 2006, and probably beyond. The date is likely to be extended until a majority of U.S. homes are able to receive the digital signal. Even when analog broadcasting ends, you’ll still be able to get a signal on older sets by purchasing a digital-to-analog converter box. Cable companies are also likely to offer the decoding as an additional feature of their converter boxes.
In the meantime, the FCC has established a Web site to help consumers who want to learn more about the coming changes.
And if you’re thinking about a new television for the holidays, Joseph has some advice. "Don’t buy a regular TV today, because analog broadcasting will end sometime within the next five years. Buy HDTV instead." Since the digital sets generally have wider, more rectangular screens, he said, "Be sure to measure before you buy."
Reproduced with permission of TechNewsWorld and ECT News Network. (c) 2004 ECT News Network. All Rights Reserved.
December 8th, 2004 at 2:57 pm
Blu-Ray offers more storage capacity, so that makes the most sense for computers. Studios are going to go with whomever feeds them the biggest line about security and DRM.
Are we taking bets on how long the encoding for the next generation of videodiscs lasts?
December 8th, 2004 at 4:32 pm
“Don’t buy a regular TV today, because analog broadcasting will end sometime within the next five years. Buy HDTV instead.” Since the digital sets generally have wider, more rectangular screens, he said, “Be sure to measure before you buy.”
Buy a regular TV if you’re buying anything around 27″ because most TVs around this size are still just HD monitors requiring an expensive HD tuner.
The wide look of HDTV is good for movies but looks stupid for many TV shows. You don’t need an HDTV to receive digital TV.
If you’re strapped for cash wait a couple more years because HDTV is still considered to be a new fad and the TV producers are cashing in on the geeks and the rich with their “got to have the latest tech” factor.
December 8th, 2004 at 5:57 pm
I read somewhere else that Sony may have the upper hand in the end because they did forsee this dilemma of another format war. In the recent past any new Sony DVD release was also encoded in High Definition to be released on whatever future format they come up with. Apparently Sony has more that 2000 titles already converted to HD and when they roll out their Blu-Ray format they will have those 2000+ titles ready on the shelves.
TV
December 9th, 2004 at 5:54 pm
I am a classic early adoption case.
I buy technology new, often before it makes public knowledge, and upgrade it quickly.
I refuse to buy into hdtv and hd-dvd for 2 reasons.
1. The technology is simply being replaced in order to foist new more restrictive DRM upon us.
2. Computer/recorder hardware is incapable of data transfer/write rates fast enough to make recording practical.(at the bleeding edge of dvd tech it takes hours to burn a dvd.. and they continue to release the technology before they’ve made the write speed practical).
3. HDTV standards are designed specifically to lock out the PC, which happens to be the best candidate for use as an HD receiver, since the monitor already qualifies as an HD device. Pc’s which are “tolerated”, or not locked out, like the M$ media center PC’s, are so loaded with DRM that their status as pc’s are in question(a pc is characterized by as much flexibility as is capable in the generation in which it was produced.)
December 10th, 2004 at 2:00 am
One thing I learned years ago is that no one can ever accurately predict which way the market will end up. That doesn’t stop pundits from giving advice and predictions, which tend to be wrong more often than they are right.
Late ’70s: “since VHS has inferior picture and sound quality to Beta video tape, it will probably never catch on”
What propelled VHS to crush beta was the fact that Hollywood entered on the side of the VHS camp. It was the lack of movie releases that killed Beta.
A decade later, 8mm was predicted to supercede VHS. Again, few if any titles were available.