|
As
we know - Blu-Ray has 'won' as of April, 2008 - but we're
leaving the below for history and 'general
caution.'
Here are
two recent news articles:
New York
Times
David
Pogue
Which New
DVD Format? Neither Just Yet
Published:
June 22, 2006
WELCOME
to high-definition-DVD-FAQs.com, your one-stop info resource
about the next generation of home movie equipment! Here
you'll find all the frequently asked questions about the new
DVD players ... and, better yet, the answers.
Forrester
Research says that 17 percent of American households have
high-def TV screens; no wonder the electronics industry
thinks that DVD technology is ready for an upgrade, too.
After all, the 60,000 movies already available on DVD may
look good on your TV today — but they're not true high
definition. You're not seeing the full color, clarity and
contrast your high-def screen is capable of.
Your
timing in visiting our site couldn't be better — the
very first Blu-ray DVD player, Samsung's BD-P1000, arrives
in stores next week. Read on for details on this
revolutionary new player.
And
now, on with the Frequently Asked
Questions!
What
about the format war?
Yes,
there are two incompatible types of high-definition DVD
players: HD-DVD (backed by Toshiba, Microsoft, Sanyo, NEC
and movie studios like New Line and Universal) and Blu-ray
(backed by Sony, Apple, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Sharp,
Pioneer, Dell and movie studios like Sony, 20th Century Fox,
Lions Gate and Disney).
Most
movies will be available in only one high-def format.
Whichever you choose, you won't be able to play some of your
favorite movies on DVD [
If
you own only one of the 2
formats
]. Isn't competition fun?
Which
format plays movies better?
The two
formats offer equally spectacular picture and sensational
sound. The image is much sharper than before, and the detail
is incredible.
Video
buffs notice the difference right away. Most people,
however, would notice a difference only if an ordinary DVD
and a high-def DVD were playing side-by-side on big
screens.
What
about features?
Both DVD
formats let you summon pop-up, on-screen menus without
stopping the movie, so you can switch languages or change
scenes without a detour to a main menu. Nice.
Both
formats make possible new kinds of DVD extras, like
picture-in-picture director commentaries (rather than just
audio commentaries). And Blu-ray discs can offer a Scene
Search function: a clickable menu of the actors and the
scenes in which they appear.
All of
this is so far theoretical, however. We here at
high-definition-DVD-FAQs.com have sampled 10 early HD-DVD
movies and 7 Blu-ray discs — and not one of them offers
any of these features. In fact, for the most part, the DVD
extras aren't even in high definition. Clearly, the first
order of business for the movie studios was just converting
the actual movies to high-def DVD; filling in the blanks can
come later.
Which is
the best high-definition player?
You mean,
of the two available so far?
The new
Samsung Blu-ray player costs a cool $1,000 — twice as
much as the Toshiba HD-DVD player that arrived last month.
(Both players also play standard DVD's, even "up-converting"
them to improve the picture on high-def
screens.)
Samsung
concedes that $1,000 isn't exactly pricing for the masses,
and stresses that its new machine is intended for well-off
early adopters. Which is sort of self-evident, isn't it?
"The target audience for this player is whoever will buy it.
..."
Then
again, that $1,000 buys you a number of advantages over the
Toshiba; for example, the Samsung is substantially smaller
(17 by 12.1 by 3.1 inches). Lighter, too. And absolutely
great-looking: the piano-black, pseudo-lacquered finish of
the front panel wraps around to form the entire top surface.
The front panel glows with cool blue accents.
The
Samsung also has memory card slots, so that you can watch
your digital camera's pictures in high definition. They look
really amazing that way.
In fact,
Samsung must think they look really, really amazing; even in
its fastest slide-show mode, each photo lingers on the
screen for at least 15 seconds. We love our kids and all,
but that's about 12 seconds longer than
necessary.
I heard
that the Toshiba takes more than a minute to start playing a
DVD. How about the Samsung Blu-ray deck?
Only 30
seconds.
That's
still not as fast as a traditional DVD player, though. And
the Samsung introduces several-second pauses here and there
— between the studio logo and the menu screen, between
the menu and the start of the movie, and so
on.
Samsung's
engineers fill these intervals with what may be the world's
worst "please wait" symbol: an hourglass icon, as in
Microsoft Windows. It's our guess that most people would
rather be spared the constant reminder that they've stuck a
glorified PC under their TV sets. What's next — the
Blu-ray Screen of Death?
The
hourglass appears almost constantly during those
excruciatingly slow photo slide shows. Worse, it appears
right smack in the middle of each photo, often on a loved
one's forehead.
I'm a
videophile. Can you give me all the geeky specs that make my
heart pound?
That's
what we're here for!
The
Samsung can connect to your TV using any of these connector
types: HDMI, DVI (with an optional HDMI adapter), component
cables or composite (RCA) cables. It hooks up to your sound
system using coaxial, optical or stereo outputs, and
understands Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby DTS and
MP3 audio tracks.
The
Samsung can pump out the highest-def high-def picture there
is: a 1080p signal. (That means the image is formed by 1,080
horizontal lines, painted progressively down the screen.)
Not many TV sets can even display 1080p yet, and there's not
what you'd call a world of difference between 1080p and the
Toshiba's best effort, 1080i (which is 1,080 lines,
appearing as alternating, interlaced sets of
540).
But for
those early adopters with $1,000 to spend, at least they
know their system is futureproof.
How's the
remote?
Hey,
Samsung — we just paid you $1,000. How about tossing us
a bone — like illuminated buttons on the remote? Ever
heard of someone watching a movie with the lights turned
low?
The
Play/Pause and Stop buttons are larger than the others and
distinguished by recognizable rubber bumps, which is a good
thing.
On the
other hand, the remote is filled with buttons that don't
seem to do anything. (Some of them, like Cancel, are just a
tease.) And there are no fewer than three different Menu
buttons. (They correspond to the player's menu, the movie's
menu and the in-movie pop-up menu.)
Should I
buy one?
It's
pretty early to consider a high-def DVD player. Keep in mind
that for the next six months, the movie selection will be
pitiful. The day the Samsung arrives, for example, a grand
total of nine Blu-ray movies will be available, including
"50 First Dates," "Hitch" and "The Fifth Element." Lions
Gate will add five more the following week (like "Crash" and
"Saw"), but even by the end of July, the entire Blu-ray
library will consist of 24 flicks. (At least 130 other
movies are slated for Blu-rayification, but release dates
haven't been set.)
Besides,
if you can wait until November, you'll be able to buy a
Blu-ray player for only $500 — in the form of Sony's
PlayStation 3 game console, which will double as a Blu-ray
DVD player. Furthermore, rumor has it that dual-format
players (HD-DVD and Blu-ray) are in the works for
2007.
But I
really want it!
Are you
sure? It's really awfully early. It's so early, even Samsung
is a little sheepish about the glitches. "Blu-ray Disc is a
new and evolving format," the user manual says.
"Accordingly, disc compatibility issues with new and
existing format discs are possible. Not every disc will play
back."
I know,
but I still want it.
Listen:
What part of "It's too early" don't you
understand?
If you
buy one now, you risk making a huge investment in Blu-ray
gear and movies (about $20 each), and then watching in
horror as HD-DVD winds up winning the format war. Or vice
versa. If that's your fate, you'll have to junk your whole
investment.
In that
case, don't forget to visit our sister site,
Modern-day-Betamax-suckers.com.
E-mail:
Pogue@nytimes.com
+++++++++++++++++
LG to
deliver dual-format HD DVD/Blu-ray
By Sue
Zeidler
Reuters
Tuesday,
March 14, 2006; 7:52 PM
LOS
ANGELES (Reuters) - Korea's LG Electronics Inc. said on
Tuesday it planned to launch a next-generation DVD player
that will bridge the yawning gap between two competing
formats by playing both HD DVD and Blu-ray.
"LG is a
supporter of Blu-ray and is now considering a dual format
player for later this year," said John Taylor, a U.S.
spokesman for the Korean company.
Both
Blu-ray, developed by a Sony Corp <6758.T>-led
consortium, and HD DVD, championed by Toshiba Corp
<6502.T>, offer more capacity than current DVDs, but
the groups' failure to reach a unified front has paved the
way for a costly battle in the $24 billion home video
market, like the VHS/Betamax war of 25 years ago that caused
widespread customer confusion.
Korean LG
Electronics last week became the second high-profile Blu-ray
supporter after Hewlett-Packard <HPQ.N> to announce it
would also support HD DVD.
In
addition to throwing its support behind HD DVD, the
Korean-based electronics maker also notified dealers in a
memo that it was developing a dual-format HD DVD/Blu-ray
Disc player, Taylor said.
Richard
Doherty, analyst with Envisioneering, said LG planned the
launch for fall. A dual player would be a win for both
retailers and consumers who will likely face months or years
of frustration and confusion in a standards war, he
added.
"While LG
is the first to announce a dual player, we're sure it will
not be the last system that gives consumers what they expect
-- high definition discs that play with no questions asked,"
he said.
HD DVD
players are expected to be out of the gate first, hitting
stores later this month, while Blu-ray has said it expects
its first players and titles to hit the market in
May.
Both
sides were the subject of rumored delays on
Tuesday.
The Nihon
Keizai business daily said on Tuesday that Sony will push
back the release of its much anticipated PlayStation 3 video
game console, which will include a Blu-ray drive, to
November, although a U.S. Sony spokesman said plans to
launch the PS3 in the spring remained on
track.
A Blu-ray
spokesman also said the spring launch of the format and
players remained on track.
The
Hollywood Reporter also on Tuesday said HD DVD films from
Time Warner Inc's<TWX.N> Warner Bros. may not be ready
in time for the launch of Toshiba's player on March 28,
contrary to expectations.
Retailers
are already frustrated by the format battle.
"A lot of
people are asking if this is Betamax revisited. I think it's
frustrating to a lot of people in the market," said Tom
Drake, president and chief executive officer of North
American Retail Dealers Association.
++++++
Hard
choices ahead in HD-DVD/Blu-ray battle
Should
firms offer products now, or wait for the full licence?
Robert Jaques, vnunet.com 27 Feb
2006
Hardware
manufacturers have been placed on the horns of a dilemma by
recent moves to create an interim licence for content
protection standards on next-generation DVD formats which
would enable playback devices to be manufactured now,
Gartner has warned.
The
Advanced Access Content System Licensing Authority (AACSLA)
announced the availability of an interim licence for the
copy protection system on 21 February that will be used to
protect high-definition Blu-ray and HD-DVD
formats.
But
Gartner noted that many of the advanced features of the
AACSLA specification, such as "managed copy" which would let
consumers move content onto other devices, will not be
enabled in this release.
The
release of the incomplete interim specification will enable
hardware manufacturers to begin making Blu-ray and HD-DVD
players to meet what they perceive as pent-up demand for
next-generation DVDs, Gartner stated.
Hardware
manufacturers including Panasonic, Toshiba and Sony are
expected to offer players as soon as March.
Executives
at AACSLA said that movie studios are expected to receive a
version of the interim licence "within days", and will soon
have Blu-ray and HD-DVD-based DVDs rolling off the disc
replication lines, according to Gartner.
"The
interim licence presents a tough choice for hardware
manufacturers. They must decide whether to take early
advantage of the perceived demand for HD content, or wait
until the final licence is completed," said a research note
written by Gartner analysts Mike McGuire and Laura
Behrens.
"Waiting
will prolong the uncertainty of manufacturing and marketing
schedules, and may cause them to miss out on critical
holiday sales.
"But
getting an early start will require hardware manufacturers
to choose whether to release a playback-only device that
will quickly reach its end of life, or to make consumers
install a firmware upgrade with advanced features later,
after the standard is finalised."
The final
standard will not be released until later this year, Gartner
predicts, and is likely to include the more advanced
features promised for Blu-ray and HD-DVD
discs.
The most
notable of these features will enable users to make a
"managed copy " of DVD content for use on another machine,
such as a portable playback device.
Gartner
is advising hardware manufacturers to make very clear to
consumers that they are buying a product that delivers great
visual fidelity, but will not include advanced
features.
Those
firms that decide to produce a commercial offering now which
can be updated later should start planning for the
inevitable customer support issues that will crop
up.
Two
articles from the New York Times
December
2003 and April 2004
From "The New York
Times"
December 29, 2003
Heavyweights Are
Choosing Sides in Battle Over Next DVD Format
By KEN
BELSON
TOKYO, Dec. 28 - When Hisashi
Yamada pulls back his bow, he thinks of only one thing:
Hitting the bull's-eye 92 feet away.
"When I concentrate on the target,"
said Mr. Yamada, a champion archer who demonstrates his
skill dressed in the traditional blue-and-white hakama, "I
forget about everything else."
In his regular job, Mr. Yamada, a
60-year-old electrical engineer, is putting that same
single-minded focus to work for the Toshiba Corporation,
which is battling like a Japanese samurai warrior of old in
a fight to the finish over whose format will be used in the
next generation of DVD's.
The discs, which have been under
development for several years, will hold four to five times
more digital video and audio data than those now on the
market. They are needed because broadcasters and movie
studios are planning to take advantage of the spread of
high-definition television screens to produce more digital
programming with multitrack sound and much better
resolution.
The new discs and their players
will not be widely available until at least 2005, but
already the world's largest electronics, computer and
entertainment companies are embroiled in a
multibillion-dollar fight over whose technology will become
an industry standard.
The arguments are in many ways
reminiscent of the Betamax-VHS showdown in the 1970's and
the clashes over digital audiotape, compact discs and the
original digital videodiscs released in 1997. As in those
battles, technology is just the starting point for debates
filled with emotion and industry politics.
Beyond the technical details like
tracking speed and tilt is a serious tussle over how to
divide - and protect - the billions of dollars in royalties
from the licensing of this technology and the content sold
on the discs. Also at stake is an effort by electronics
makers to prevent emerging Chinese rivals and
well-established Silicon Valley computer makers from making
significant inroads into the home entertainment
business.
"This is a very intense conflict
over intellectual property," said Warren N. Lieberfarb, a
driving force behind the development of the original DVD
format. It has the added overlay, he said, "of the Japanese,
Korean and European consumer electronics industries fearing
China's aggressively emerging consumer electronics industry
as well as the PC industry."
At the technological level, the
combatants are divided roughly into two camps. Under Mr.
Yamada's leadership, NEC and Toshiba have formed a group
that has developed the HD (high definition) DVD, a disc that
is 0.6 millimeter thick and made with machinery similar to
that used for today's DVD's. On the other side is the
10-company Blu-ray Group, led by Sony and Matsushita, whose
best-known brands are Panasonic and JVC. That group has
developed a disc only 0.1 millimeter thick that can hold
more data but needs additional investment to be produced.
Information on the discs can be overwritten after it is
recorded, something that is not possible with the HD DVD's
now.
At 12 centimeters in diameter, both
discs are similar to today's offerings, though Sony's discs
are protected from fingerprints, dust and scratches by
square plastic cartridges when not in use. The HD DVD group
has developed a single lens that emits red and blue rays to
read both current and next-generation discs. The Blu-ray
machines require two separate lenses.
While the discs are still at least
a year away from mass production, both sides are expected to
be out in full body armor trying to win new allies at the
big Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Jan. 8 through
11, where they are planning to show prototypes of their
devices.
There are many battles left to
fight, though, before these new DVD's hit the shelves, and
it is entirely possible that the camps will never reach a
consensus, forcing consumers, retailers, movie studios and
others to adapt, at least initially, to two competing
standards.
In the Betamax-VHS war, one
standard ultimately triumphed. That is an important reason
the two chief antagonists in that fight - Sony, the loser,
and Matsushita, the winner - are now allies. In the wake of
other format conflicts, including the one over the first
generation of DVD's, multiple standards co-exist, with the
differences papered over by machines that can play several
formats. But in other cases, including the development of
higher-quality music discs, the disputes seem to have scared
away consumers and retailers caught in the
middle.
The ideal, everyone involved
insists, is for one format to emerge as the winner so costs
can be kept to a minimum. But as Mr. Yamada knows, that is
about the only thing on which people can agree. In addition
to his role at Toshiba, he is chairman of the powerful
Technical Coordination Group at the DVD Forum, a
six-year-old group of more than 200 companies that is trying
to decide on one format.
In November, the HD DVD camp's
specifications were endorsed by the forum's steering
committee. The victory was significant, but tellingly
contentious. The format was not approved until the third
ballot, and only after voting rules were changed and several
companies abstained. The Blu-ray Group did not submit
specifications for a read-only disc, which Hollywood is
eager to have for movie sales and rentals.
Mr. Yamada called the negotiations
"very delicate," and said the Blu-ray Group was trying to
prevent the HD DVD from becoming the industry standard
because it does not yet have a solid
alternative.
"They don't want to approve HD DVD
in the forum, but since they only have rewriteable discs,
they can't say theirs is better than ours," said Mr. Yamada,
who argues that his goal is to produce an open format that
all companies can share. The Blu-ray Group, he said, "wants
to control the technological standards themselves."
The HD DVD group may get an
additional lift in February, when the Walt Disney Company,
Microsoft and Sanyo are expected to take over leadership of
the DVD Forum. The three companies have not sided with
either format, but are seen by some as friendlier to the
Toshiba-NEC group.
Though the two camps produce discs
that store similar amounts of data, manufacturers say that
the HD DVD discs cost only 15 percent more to produce than
current discs, a fraction of what they say the Blu-ray discs
will cost. Stamping out prerecorded discs cheaply is the key
to wooing Hollywood studios, which want to keep their retail
prices low in a business that now brings in more money than
movies in first-run theaters. Retailers also want one
standard so they do not have to stock two versions of every
movie.
"What Hollywood cares about is
cost," said Kanji Katsuura, the chief technical officer at
Memory-Tech, the second-largest maker of DVD's in Japan.
"They basically want the same price as discs
now."
Sony and its allies dismiss claims
that their technology is too expensive, saying that the cost
per disc will naturally fall as production takes off. They
also say their rewriteable discs are what consumers really
want because they can be used not only to play movies but
also to record high-definition digital television
programming, now available selectively in the United States
and offered on a limited basis in Japan starting this month.
"What we are striving for with
Blu-ray is the next stage in the evolution of this
technology," said Yukinori Kawauchi, a manager in the
planning and control division at Sony's broadband network
unit. Such a leap happens only "every 10 or 20 years, like
the transition from CD's to DVD's," he said. In April, Sony
started selling Blu-ray DVD recorders in Japan, where they
cost 378,000 yen, or $3,500, and take discs that sell for
3,000 yen, or about $27. Sony does not release sales
figures, but industry sources said only a few hundred
players had been sold so far.
Mr. Yamada said Toshiba wanted to
introduce DVD recorders in 2005 that cost less than $2,000
and players priced below $1,000. They would be much cheaper
than machines using the competing format, but would still be
aimed mostly at the early adopters, who are the first to try
new technologies. As in the past, the new formats are not
expected to take off in the mass market until the price
falls sharply.
"The battle really depends on the
price level," said Yuki Sugi, a consumer electronics analyst
at Deutsche Securities in Tokyo. "When the price falls to
120,000 yen ($1,080), it will catch on. This is a kind of
magic number for high-priced electronics."
History indicates that the magic
number might be reached earlier than anticipated. Sales of
DVD discs and players gathered steam when production began
in China, pushing prices lower. But some manufacturers worry
that their technology could be used by Chinese rivals,
legally or otherwise. This fear, some critics say, is why
the
Blu-ray group has kept a tight lid
on its technology instead of sharing more of its
specifications with other members of the DVD Forum. Striking
back, nine Chinese companies have said they plan to develop
their own DVD formats.
Copyright infringement is another
worry. After the rapid spread of illegally copied DVDs,
Hollywood is pushing both technical groups to come up with
new security measures to protect their movies. Neither group
has developed a prototype that satisfies the movie industry
- a major impediment to a commercial launch.
"We are very much focused on both
picture quality and content protection," said Peter Murphy,
senior executive vice president and chief strategic officer
at the Walt Disney Company, which has about one-fourth of
the home video market. "The consumer electronics
manufacturers can come up with the technical standards for
the next-generation discs, but unless we also agree on the
content protection standards, many of the studios may choose
to wait before releasing content in the new format."
Also lurking nearby are giants like
Microsoft, I.B.M. and Intel, which are eager to work their
way into family rooms by promoting their technology for use
in set-top boxes, DVD players and digital video recorders
with hard disk drives. American computer makers, adept at
producing hardware on thin margins by building sophisticated
global supply chains, could also develop competing products,
turning television into just another function of the home
computer.
"Younger generations are completely
happy working with a mouse, which is better than a
1,000-button remote," said Tom Adams, president of Adams
Media Research in Carmel, Calif. "Microsoft can dominate in
ways that Sony or Toshiba can't."
Some analysts contend that
high-speed Internet connections will ultimately make discs
less relevant as consumers download more music and movies,
though this is a more distant threat.
For now, discs remain the medium of
choice, and the decision on a format will ultimately be up
to Hollywood. Some movie executives are leaning toward the
HD DVD format because it is seen as the cheaper of the two.
But others are still weighing the technological and
financial arguments from both groups.
Many in the industry say the worst
case would be an endless fight, forcing the public to
wrestle with two formats.
If that happens, said Mr.
Lieberfarb, the developer of the original DVD format,
"everyone is a loser, particularly Hollywood studios, the
retailer community and, most importantly, the
consumer."
++
The New
York Times
April 19, 2004
DVD War
Looms As Advancements Draw Near
By THE ASSOCIATED
PRESS
NEW YORK (AP) -- The DVD
stands out as one of the most rapidly adopted consumer
technologies ever, but in the electronics industry it's akin
to an aging king in Shakespearean drama -- rivals are
lurking, knives drawn.
Just as consumers are
beginning to get comfortable with their DVD players,
electronics manufacturers are set to introduce
next-generation discs that store more -- and would be harder
to copy.
A dozen companies, headed by
Sony Corp., are pushing a disc called the
Blu-ray.
The other main contender,
the High Definition DVD, is promoted only by Toshiba Corp.
and NEC Corp. But it has an important endorsement from an
industry group and is also expected to get Microsoft Corp.'s
support as the software giant seeks a toehold for its
multimedia format in the consumer electronics
arena.
Movie studios generally
aren't commenting on the new formats. And the rival industry
groups aren't saying exactly when they expect to have
players on the market. Both, however, consider the DVD ripe
for replacement next year.
For consumers, the benefit
of a new format would be better image quality. Sales of
high-definition TV sets have finally started to take off,
but current DVDs don't have the resolution to get the most
out of HDTV sets.
For the industry, a new
format could mean an escape from the low-margin market DVD
players have become. From costing more than $500 when
introduced in 1997, players are now available for less than
$50.
The new discs, which look
much like DVDs, would be read by players with newly
developed blue lasers, which can pick out finer detail than
the red lasers used to play DVDs and CDs. This lets the new
discs store three to five times as much data as a DVD,
enough for high-definition movies with surround
sound.
Manufacturers from both
groups plan to also build red lasers into their new players,
allowing them to read current DVDs.
The Blu-ray disc has the
most storage capacity, up to 50 gigabytes. However, it
achieves that capacity by using a structure quite different
from DVDs. This means that the companies that make
prerecorded DVDs would have to invest in new equipment,
which is sure to give Hollywood pause as it ponders which
format to back.
The Blu-ray does have the
widest support among electronics manufacturers, counting not
only most of the big Japanese names but also Dell Inc. and
Hewlett-Packard Co. in its consortium.
Toshiba's HD-DVD stores up
to 30 gigabytes, but can close the quality gap with the
Blu-ray by using more efficient compression software than
the MPEG-2 standard already used in DVDs and planned for the
Blu-ray. One of the several compression schemes that may go
into the final HD-DVD standard is none other than
Microsoft's Windows Media 9 software.
``If that goes through, it's
going to be a huge win for Microsoft,'' says Vamsi Sistla,
an analyst at ABI Research. It wouldn't necessarily mean a
significant financial windfall -- the analyst estimates that
Microsoft may get 10 to 15 cents per player in royalties --
but that's not the point.
``More than money, they're
looking for the muscle power to enter the consumer
electronics industry,'' he says.
The HD-DVD has been endorsed
by the DVD Forum, the industry group that created the DVD,
but that may not be as crucial as it sounds. The group has
not succeeded in gathering industrywide consensus for any
disc standard since the original DVD in 1997. Both its audio
and rewriteable DVD standards have competitors.
The Blu-ray and HD-DVD both
use hardware advances to store high-definition movies.
However, that's not strictly necessary. Improvements in the
software used to pack a movie onto a disc means that it's
possible to store a high-definition movie on a regular DVD,
albeit with poorer quality and fewer special features than
on a blue-laser disc.
Microsoft demonstrated that
when it helped bring out a high-definition version of
``Terminator 2: Judgment Day'' on a DVD-ROM last year. It
played only on computers, but in theory, a specially built
DVD player could play it back. That lesson wasn't lost on
Japan's Asian competitors. In China, the EVD, or Enhanced
Video Disc, is already on sale. It uses software from On2
Technologies Inc. to store a high-definition movie on a
slightly modified DVD, read by a red laser.
Not to be outdone, Taiwanese
researchers this month demonstrated the FVD, or Forward
Versatile Disc, based on the same principle. Players should
be on sale this year.
The advantage of using red
lasers is that the components are much cheaper than the
blue-laser technology, and the players can read DVDs without
a second laser.
With all these alternatives,
there's a ``very good chance'' that there won't be one
successor to the DVD, but several, says Sistla. The Blu-ray
may dominate Japan, the cheaper EVD the rest of Asia, and
the HD-DVD could be the format of choice in the United
States and Europe.
The real kingmaker in the
drama is Hollywood. Of the big studios, only Columbia
TriStar has expressed support for either format. Since it's
owned by Sony, its choice was clear.
One thing the studios are
sure to appreciate is that the new discs promise much better
copy protection than DVDs. While the older format has been a
boon to the studios -- it grossed them more than theatrical
releases last year -- its susceptibility to piracy has been
a thorn.
A new disc format probably
holds another attraction for the studios -- the opportunity
to sell old movies all over again on new media.
But Geoffrey Kleinman, who
runs review site DVDtalk.com, doesn't think consumers are
clamoring for something better than the DVD.
``A high-quality
progressive-scan DVD player properly connected to high
definition TV looks fantastic,'' he says.
Also, what made the DVD
popular isn't just the quality advantage over videotape, but
also the addition of special features. So far, Kleinman
hasn't seen any similar must-have advantage planned for the
new formats.
If there's a pent-up demand
for a new disc, it's probably on the recording side,
Kleinman believes. There's no cheap or easy way to record
HDTV broadcasts, something recordable versions of the new
discs would address.
Sony is already selling a
Blu-ray recorder for HDTV satellite broadcasts in
Japan.
------
On the Net:
http://www.blu-raydisc-official.org
http://www.dvdforum.org
http://www.dvdtalk.com
Sound
Center Inc.
Yrjönkatu 8, p. (09)
441901
info@soundcenter.fi
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