Tech Titans Prepare to Battle Over Next DVD Format 453
securitas writes "The New York Times Technology has an excellent feature by Ken Belson about the coming battle over the next-generation DVD format that consumer electronics and technology giants are already preparing for. The article covers the (high-definition) HD DVD group, led by Toshiba and NEC, and the Blu-ray Group, led by Sony and Matsushita (Panasonic/JVC). Mass production is expected to begin in 2005, but both sides are expected to show prototypes and aggresively pursue partners at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas next week. Add to the mix a nine-company Chinese faction that says it will develop its own DVD format because - fearing their technology could be used by Chinese rivals - the Japanese manufacturers haven't shared much information, even within the DVD Forum. Finally, Disney, Microsoft, IBM and Intel have yet to weigh in. The worst thing that could happen would be another Betamax/VHS-type war. In that case, 'Everyone is a loser, particularly Hollywood studios, the retailer community and, most importantly, the consumer,' says Warren N. Lieberfarb, developer of the original DVD format."
Whatever happens... (Score:0, Interesting)
How are the media companies losers (Score:2, Interesting)
How About (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:exponential or incremental improvement? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Too late. (Score:2, Interesting)
*sigh* (Score:4, Interesting)
I wonder what the purpose of the DVD Forum was again?
1. To establish a single format for each DVD application product, including revisions, improvements and enhancements for the benefit of consumers and users
2. To promote broad acceptance of DVD products on a worldwide basis, including the entertainment, consumer electronics and IT industries as well as the general public.
Ooh, I see...
We're already in a Betamax/VHS war (Score:2, Interesting)
Personally I think it's foolish of these companies to try to create their own proprietory formats to make more money as it's usually always the case that the cheapest most open format wins. e.g. VHS, x86 etc. And you have consumers upset that their purchase has become obsolete who won't necessarily have the cash to buy the "victorious" format.
And what about people who have 50+ DVDs in their collection? Are they supposed to replace all their Lord of the Rings DVDs with HD-DVDs? I remember people bitching about replacing all their VHS with DVDs, I don't think having to do it again so soon will help the introduction of a new format.
Re:exponential or incremental improvement? (Score:3, Interesting)
The market is just beginning to buy into HDTV in any significant quantity. The NY Times had an article on 12/24 about the intense demand for DLP and LCD RP televisions this season; stores simply cannot keep these in stock. And these sets all do 720p quite nicely.
The trouble is, there's very little HD broadcast content. I can get a whopping 6 channels of HD with digital cable here, and about 1/3 of it would be even halfway interesting to me (ie, no sports).
If a new DVD format is available that is true (ie, telecined at 720p or better) HD resolution, it may be enough of a cause-effect loop to suck people in -- HD owners who want more HD content will buy the format, and it will also drive people to buy more HD TVs.
I'm most concerned that the new formats aren't high enough capacity. I think we're on the verge of seeing 1080p or even higher displays. A format not capable of displaying video at these resolutions will be seen as DOA and won't be adopted. If display resolutions hold tight at 720p for fixed-pixel displays in the sub-$10k market, then it will be a "good enough" format for a while.
I just wish manufacturers would agree on an HD resolution (in the way that 480i was the standard for a long time) so that we can reach an era where we don't rely on scalers as much. I'd love to see content telecined for and displayed at the same resolution.
Smaller Discs, Protective Casing (Score:2, Interesting)
Although there good in the way they hold lots and lots of quite quick to access information, I think CD's and DVD's are some of the crappiest pieces of technology about. There clunky, just to big to hold easily in your hand (escpecially if your female) and get scratched so, so easy its pathetic. What percentage of your games/music CD's from say 6 years ago isn't scratched?
The best format for holding such data I have seen was on that Sylvester Stallone movie "Demolition Man", at some point on that you see Sandra Bullock use something which is like 4 minidisc's stacked on top of each other.
Re:exponential or incremental improvement? (Score:3, Interesting)
Considering that the earliest this tech will hit the mass market is 2005 (expect at least another year before serious adoption occurs), high[er]-resolution DVDs will be hitting shelves just as a lot of people will start wanting them for their new screens. Sounds like good timing to me.
Re:How are the media companies losers (Score:4, Interesting)
In reality the big problem is the fact that all these factions want to make money on royalties so they have not incentive to work together. All these companies see is their bottom line and they definitely want their format adopted. I really would love to see royalty free DVDs and it seems the Chinese want the same thing to. If I was a studio executive or a some manufacturer I'd support the Chinese.
Re:How are the media companies losers (Score:0, Interesting)
I am so torn about this. On the one hand, I love my cheap CD-Rs and DVD-Rs. But I hate how fragile [roxio.com] they are and how there's no consensus on how to properly label [slashdot.org] them. Not to mention the hours I spend on Afterdawn [afterdawn.com] trying to figure out what the best *-R discs are...muttering about polycarbonate the whole time.
So one solution would be to put the discs in a caddy, which would drive up the price. But then I wouldn't have to worry about...anything short of stepping on them. Is Magneto Optical [slashdot.org] the answer?
So anyway, my point is when I see the headline "Tech Titans Prepare to Battle Over Next DVD Format"--all I can do is cringe because I can pretty much bet on caddy-less media. Why? My tin foil hat says: because the RIAA/MPAA makes more money every time your favorite disc gets scratched and you have to buy a new one.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:I Hope (Score:1, Interesting)
Consumer's won't upgrade for 8 years at least. Period, no matter the tech
Who did DVD's surprise? Rental chains, who saw their profits dip when more people bought that rented.
What this will come down to... (Score:4, Interesting)
- A more technologically advanced format (and more expensive). I deem this to be Blu-Ray since the discs need casing and it needs a dual head assembly for compatability.
Versus
- A less technologically advanced standard (but less expensive). This would probably be HD-DVD.
You've seen this movie before haven't you? I know I have. Guess who usually wins? I would bet on HD-DVD at this point. Blu-Ray might find a niche in data backups and the like however.
At any rate, you Slashdotters out there, for one reason or another, will probably champion one of these formats. It's kind of like that +R/-R DVD argument (tastes great/less filling), except that there are far less differences between those formats than these new HD DVDs.
Re:Next Gen DVD specs to stop/slow copying... (Score:4, Interesting)
On another note, a similar idea is the BIOS level CD/DVD players some media PCs shiped with earlier this year...great idea to let consumers watch movies and music, but keep it "seperate" from the actual PC! And very Linux friendly for both sides!
blah blah blah... consumers won't lose at all. (Score:3, Interesting)
Betamax sold some 30,000 units total. Today, DVD player sales easily exceed that number per month. Did the consumer lose in the DVD/Divx wars? Not at all. Have they lost in the +/- wars? Nope. Why? Simple. By the time the *average* consumer gets around to buying the product, market forces have already decided a winner.
In the case of Divx vs DVD, half the "prosumers", the early adopters, lost out when they chose Divx. The other half made what turned out to be the right decision. For the average consumer, the bulk of the market, the decision need not be made, it's already been decided for them.
Ditto with the DVD +/- market. The prosumers jumped on the first available DVD writers, and half of them may end up with useless writers. The vast majority of consumers will start buying DVD writers sometime this year (if ever), when technology has made the arguement moot with dual format writers.
It happens in almost every market, with every technology. Yes, the prosumers sometimes lose, but that's the price they pay for buying into the cutting edge of technology. The average consumers don't lose, by the time they're ready to accept the technology it's all been sorted out for them.
So new DVD format wars won't make any difference to consumers. If the format that wins the prosumer market isn't backwards compatible, by the time it reaches the consumer market, manufacturers will produce multi-format devices that are.
Why couldn't they get it right the first time? (Score:2, Interesting)
(1) Why do we still have so many different display-formatted DVDs out there (full-screen and wide-screen)? How difficult would it have been to simply make every DVD the same, and to supply a set of panning instructions to the DVD player itself to specify what visual portion of the movie will be displayed in full-screen mode?
(2) Going off the same idea as #1, why couldn't these DVDs have been set up to be HDTV compatible in the first place? I realize that HDTV has a higher resolution and whatnot, but... how hard would it have been to force DVDs to meet the HDTV standard and simply resize the visuals for non-HDTV televisions? Hell, it might even encourage people to go and buy a HDTV if they knew they could further increase the visual quality of their current (and already paid for) collection...
(3) You think this new format of DVD is going to be a pain in the ass to consumers, forcing them to switch over yet again to adopt the newest of the new? DVDs have made this jump once already... when dual-layer discs hit the market. No, the single-layer DVDs I had weren't worthless at all, but let me tell you... I wasn't too happy to know that I'd have to go buy a brand-new $300 player just to play dual-layer DVDs.
(4) Also, why aren't all DVDs compatible with all the different DVD players out there? If DVD is a standardized format and all, why am I still finding a movie every once in a while that works in one player but not the other? I never had disc compatibility issues back with my VHS and LD players.
(5) Now... this last one is just kinda nit-picky, but... regarding at least half of the DVDs I own, I absolutely hate their menus. Half the time I can't even tell what I'm selecting on the screen, or even know what all my options are. I know being unique is good and all, but why should a DVD that I purchased with my own money feel so alienated to me? Why must I solve puzzles to go through everything contained on my DVD?
As far as I'm concerned, the DVD was something that had very great potential but didn't quite live up to what I wanted. Will this new HDTV DVD do well, or like the format before it will it end up wastefully in a landfill along the side of "useless" cell phones and computers?
Comment removed (Score:3, Interesting)