DVD's obsolete in ten years?

[TheBigSwigg 0]

I know it's not a great source, but this was on Yahoo News: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/a...us_040713172320

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FRANKFURT (AFP) - DVDs will be obsolete in 10 years at the latest, Microsoft boss and founder Bill Gates predicted.

 

Asked what home entertainment would like in the future, Gates said that DVD technology would be "obsolete in 10 years at the latest. If you consider that nowadays we have to carry around film and music on little silver discs and stick them in the computer, it's ridiculous," Gates said in comments reproduced in German in the mass-circulation daily Bild.

 

 

"These things can scratch or simply get lost."

 

 

Gates' vision of television of the future was: "TV that will simply show what we want to see, when we want to see it. When we get home, the home computer will know who we are from our voice or our face. It will know what we want to watch, our favourite programmes, or what the kids shouldn't be allowed to see."

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I don't know about everyone else, but I don't watch DVD's off my computer, so part of his argument is slightly flawed.

[Youth N Asia 0]

And if you have the thousands and thousands of dollars this technology will cost then it'll be great!

[starvenger 0]

I'm sure Gates uses his computer to watch DVDs - on his 100 foot plasma screen "monitor" or something like that.

 

The thing is that Gates is probably right, but DVDs will be replaced by whatever uberDVD that Sony, Phillips et al are conjuring.

[Guest JMA]

But I LIKE DVDs.

[razazteca 0]

The companies can't even agree which rewriteable format should be standard! How is the public going to accept the next medium if various companies fight over standards? I don't think DVR will become the future of tv.

[Slayer 0]

Hopefully in ten years Microsoft will be obsolete

[Mole 0]

HDVDs are already out, but only people like Gates can afford them.

[Art Sandusky 0]

Oh, just put every bit of information in the world into one of those clear cubes that hold a bazillion googlebytes of information.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Someone should make sure that Fox knows this so they'll move a bit faster releasing the Simpsons Season sets..

[NoCalMike 0]

This sounds very Back to the Future 2.......

 

The problem I would have with Bill Gates scenario though is, does that mean no one will own movies anymore? Would the people be at the mercy at what programmers wanted to offer. I mean gawd forbid another Janet Jackson incident and the FCC & the like decide to try to "buckle down" again. Also, would EVERY MOVIE BE AVAILABLE or would this be similar to ITUNES to where they purposely carry a catalogue of mostly top 40 songs. Before I signed up for any tv system that stored all the shows/movies for that the claimed I never need to own a DVD of MY OWN, I better be able to turn it on and say, "Braindead International uncut version"

[Guest Smell the ratings!!!]

I'm still on VHS, so this is actually good news.

[razazteca 0]

I think Bill Gates concept is suppose to be the much talked about Video-On-Demand which is actually a glorified PPV system. That's right you get the chance to watch the hot new releases at anytime you like.......so for your convience Charlies Angels Full Throttle will be on channel 454-470 and Tomb Raider will be on channels 471-480.

[dubq 0]

Gates' vision of television of the future was: "TV that will simply show what we want to see, when we want to see it. When we get home, the home computer will know who we are from our voice or our face. It will know what we want to watch, our favourite programmes, or what the kids shouldn't be allowed to see."

Christ, was he drinking heavily that day or something?

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

Gates' vision of television of the future was: "TV that will simply show what we want to see, when we want to see it. When we get home, the home computer will know who we are from our voice or our face. It will know what we want to watch, our favourite programmes, or what the kids shouldn't be allowed to see."

 

Ehhhh...... a decade is a little soon for something like this. I see several problems with this:

 

1. This sounds way too expensive to be something everyone can afford.

 

2. I can't possibly seeing the studios agreeing to work with each other and share profits so that probably means you have to subscribe to each individual studio's library.

 

3. Broadband. Something of this sort will probably require a lot of bandwidth so it'll probably need the next advancement in net speed to be viable. So how many homes would have such a set up?

 

4. Memory. This is going to need a ton of memory for someone to be able to hold all the information for these movies. While compression will be better I'm expecting a cabinet sized hard drive to hold the amount of movies I would want in my library.

 

So this sounds like laserdisk all over again. Too expensive and too big. I imagine what he's thinking of will be a failure but will lead to the next medium like laserdisk leading to the DVD.

[dubq 0]

Gates' vision of television of the future was: "TV that will simply show what we want to see, when we want to see it. When we get home, the home computer will know who we are from our voice or our face. It will know what we want to watch, our favourite programmes, or what the kids shouldn't be allowed to see."

 

Ehhhh...... a decade is a little soon for something like this. I see several problems with this:

 

1. This sounds way too expensive to be something everyone can afford.

 

2. I can't possibly seeing the studios agreeing to work with each other and share profits so that probably means you have to subscribe to each individual studio's library.

 

3. Broadband. Something of this sort will probably require a lot of bandwidth so it'll probably need the next advancement in net speed to be viable. So how many homes would have such a set up?

 

4. Memory. This is going to need a ton of memory for someone to be able to hold all the information for these movies. While compression will be better I'm expecting a cabinet sized hard drive to hold the amount of movies I would want in my library.

 

So this sounds like laserdisk all over again. Too expensive and too big. I imagine what he's thinking of will be a failure but will lead to the next medium like laserdisk leading to the DVD.

It's either that or he wants a television implant that can project holograpic TV shows out of ones ass.

[Guest Nelly's Bandaid]

10 years is a little soon but he's right.

 

Soon we'll just have to go to blockbuster.com, pay for and download our new releases right to our computer/tv, where it will stay forever. Same with music.

 

Of course that's for people who already have the base technology in there house, and that's just not enough people for it to be considered obsolete in 10 years.

[art_vandelay 0]

I think Bill Gates concept is suppose to be the much talked about Video-On-Demand which is actually a glorified PPV system. That's right you get the chance to watch the hot new releases at anytime you like.......so for your convience Charlies Angels Full Throttle will be on channel 454-470 and Tomb Raider will be on channels 471-480.

We've already started receiving On Demand in Canada and it's actually quite convenient. I never buy movies on it, I just watch stuff on TMN On Demand (which is like HBO). It's all on one channel and you simply pick from a list the thing you want to watch. The Rewinding and Fast Forwarding functions can use some more speeds, however.

[Guest PlatinumBoy]

The way Gates has this seems too good to be true, like I could walk into my bedroom and sit down and be like, "TV, play every Aqua Teens episode involving the Moonites and then play some Conan O'Brien, and then just show that Great Leaders of History: George Washington scene from TV Funhouse." Because THAT would rule. But I see it more like some others have said--Computer turns on with picture of Gates' face that interacts with you, "Hi there PlatinumBoy! Today you can pick all your music and tv that you want to listen too and watch! You have selected music. You can listen to that incredible songwriter and lyricist Britney Spears by pressing 1, or some good old rock and roll by Limp Bizkit by pressing 2, and if you want some rap, P Diddy is right behind number 3!"

[Mole 0]

Whatever, as of right now DVDs are still selling like candy. They will be around for as long as CDs are going to stay.

 

Fuck Gates, not everyone is going to be able to afford what he thinks is the "future."

[MillenniumMan831 0]

I'm still on VHS, so this is actually good news.

Viva la VHS!!!

[Mole 0]

I'm still on VHS, so this is actually good news.

Viva la VHS!!!

Yeah....

 

I am surprised that people are still using VHS. I made my sister buy DVDs instead of VHS', just because she needs to get with the times.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

The next big thing: Paper DVDs!

 

A paper disc that can hold up to five times more data than current DVDs has been developed by Sony and another Japanese company.

 

The disc is 51% paper and could offer foolproof security, said officials.

 

"Since a paper disc can be cut by scissors easily, it is simple to preserve data security when disposing of the disc," said Hideaki Kawai of Toppan, which worked with Sony.

 

It is not yet clear when the technology will be commercially available.

 

 

The next big media storage device was supposed to be a DVD type disc that uses holograms to store data.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

So, wait...if I have a paper DVD and somebody drops it, it crumbles up...and then I can't watch it anymore. FUCK THAT!

[Mole 0]

Yeah, that doesn't make much sense to me. That would be like having a car that is half paper.

 

If it is better than it sounds, it probably won't be available to the consumer till 2015.

[BrokenTiger 0]

Or if I spilled my coffee on it...it'll dissolve.

 

 

::: ...Opps, spilled the coffee...OMG! My benoit dvd~! :::

 

Yeah, it's 51% paper, but still.

 

Wacky futurists.

[Mole 0]

And what if your little sister/cousin/whatever decides to color on it? There goes half of your PapVD collection.

 

Thank you Sony, for thinking of the worst thing ever.

[Guest Brian]

Vive la VHS~! How else would we purchase foreign and indie wrestling.

[griffinmills 0]

On the VHS front...

 

I work at a Rental Store in San Francisco, last time I went to make an account for somebody we had over 80,000 customers, I say this for perspective only... not bragging. It is becoming more and more frequent that, when we reccomend a title only available on VHS (we have a lot of rare and import stuff), the customer will actually claim to not own a VCR.

 

That being said we will ALWAYS carry VHS rentals unless we break down and start transferring those rarities to DVD and renting out Players for cheap/free with the rental.

 

Hell we would still be renting Laserdiscs if they weren't so danged huge! Our LD fan base was really disapointed when we had to pull them off the floor.

[Mole 0]

What is the quality of laserdiscs? Is it anywhere near DVD quality?

[Guest Staravenger]

I'm still on VHS, so this is actually good news.

Viva la VHS!!!

Buy DVD players you cheap bastards! (raises fist at sky and shakes)

 

Or at least a PS2 since they also play DVD's.