So with the "DVD War" coming up...

[brokentusk16 0]

I've read some articles about the release of HD-DVD's and Blu Ray's, but does all this mean that I won't be able to watch my regular DVD's and have to buy them all over again? I honestly don't know that much about this shitstorm, so any info is greatly appreciated.

[Guest sek69]

I would imagine the next generation of DVD players would be backward compatible with current DVDs. I know I read articles saying that the industry knows it would piss off a lot of the diehard movie buffs to be told their mega DVD collection was rendered useless in one fell swoop.

[razazteca 0]

Hm, who won the recordable DVD war?

[GreatWhiteNope 0]

Hm, who won the recordable DVD war?

Whoever makes DVD-R discs.

 

Like already mentioned, the new players will be backward compatible.

 

And it's not like transferring anything over 20 years old to HD-DVD will enhance the quality of the picture. Hell, look at the Seinfeld DVD's which were supposedly remastered in HD. They can't work wonders.

 

I'm looking forward to having season sets of TV shows on single discs.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

I wouldn't see a point in repurchasing several titles for the new format. Maybe new action movies or something like that, but classic films and TV shows probably aren't going to improve enough to warrant a repurchase. Plus, can you imagine how long it'd take for EVERYTHING to be released? The DVD format is almost a decade old and there's still a ton of stuff not out yet.

[Mole 0]

I'm looking forward to having season sets of TV shows on single discs.

Damn, that is how good they are? I didn't think that was possible yet.

[GreatWhiteNope 0]

I'm looking forward to having season sets of TV shows on single discs.

Damn, that is how good they are? I didn't think that was possible yet.

Well with the extra space of HD-DVD discs you can either use it for high-resolution video or extra storage in normal video quality.

 

I would prefer older TV shows get released in normal quality instead of having them upsampled for HD. Older shows don't need HD anyways. That way you can cram a ton of episodes on one disc.

[El Psycho Diablo 0]

The new format is especially for HD programming..so if it wasn't recorded (or animated, whatever) in HD, you won't see a noticeable improvement.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

For the "Theres gonna be a format confusion!" people, JVC has made a combo blu-ray/regular DVD disc that can fit both formats on one disc so they can avoid format confusion by selling only 1 disc.

 

Blu Ray has way more space than HD-DVD (20 GB single side/30 GB double sided vs 27 GB single sided/50 GB double sided)

 

But...I Wouldn't get too excited..Pioneer is messing with Ultraviolet light and thinks they can get 500 (FIVE HUNDRED!!)GB on a disc. So the Blu-Ray/HD-DVD era may be really short lived.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

I'm looking forward to having season sets of TV shows on single discs.

Damn, that is how good they are? I didn't think that was possible yet.

Some shows (Cartoons/sitcoms) will fit on 1 disc, but for the most part you might need 2 instead of 7.

 

Consider the following:

 

24 Season 3 on DVD - 7 Discs in double layer format (9.4 GB a disc)

7 x 9.4 = 65.8 GB

 

It would probably take up 2 HD-DVDs in double layer mode or 2 Blu Ray discs in Single layer mode minus the extras disc.

[edotherocket 0]

I was under the impression BluRay was not backwards compatible with DVDs.

[Mole 0]

But...I Wouldn't get too excited..Pioneer is messing with Ultraviolet light and thinks they can get 500 (FIVE HUNDRED!!)GB on a disc. So the Blu-Ray/HD-DVD era may be really short lived.

Wow, that is a lot of 0's and 1's in a very tiny space.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

I was under the impression BluRay was not backwards compatible with DVDs.

Me too.

 

Regardless, I find it hard to get excited about this. The thing about DVDs is that it was such a huge leap over VHS that it was noticeable to any idiot on the street. I already get all the extras I want now, the quality is adequate in most cases and for old films usually there isn't a whole lot you can do because the original source material is in poor shape, and I don't mind switching disks. The only thing that concerns me are the prices. If they are still charging $50+ for seasons when it is on one or two disks, then fuck them.

[Vanhalen 0]

I would imagine the next generation of DVD players would be backward compatible with current DVDs. I know I read articles saying that the industry knows it would piss off a lot of the diehard movie buffs to be told their mega DVD collection was rendered useless in one fell swoop.

See, what I dont understand is, people say, "omg your dvds will become obselete", WHY NOT JUST CARRY ON WATCHING THEM ON THE FUCKING DVD PLAYER YOU NO DOUBT STILL OWN and stop whining on about technology moving old, dvd is an old format relativitly speaking, or do you want us to carry on using VHS and laserdiscs?

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

Laserdiscs never made a dent, and DVD is a bigger jump from VHS than HD-DVD is from DVD. There has to be a market for something, and I'm not convinced that it is there for the new formats. It could be the next DVD, it also could be the next Betamax. When DVD Players were coming out my thoughts were 'Wow! I gotta get me one of those!'. With the new formats I'm like 'Eh...I'm pretty satisfied, I'll see about it when the price drops.' There just isn't the motivation there to run out and get one.

[Vanhalen 0]

Oh I realise that mate, what I was trying to say is that people say, "it makes your dvd's/vhs obselete, and providing you keep the equiptment needed to play them, how can they become obselete? it just means you cant buy new copies of films/tv/etc in that format, but you can still use your old ones"

[Kaertos 0]

Basically, the new HiDef DVD's are for the high-end Home Theater market, at least at first. If it survives, then chances are it will take over the standard DVD format since it will be backwards compatable by that time (As I understand it, Blu-Ray isn't compatable now, but will be when released on the consumer market) Theoretically, there will come a point where standard DVD isn't manufactured anymore, just the HiDef formats, just like regular TV's aren't supposed to be sold after like 2006 (like that's going to happen).

 

On the other hand, it could go the way of SuperVHS...

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

VHS is still sold now. By the time they stop producing DVDs, it is likely that the next generation after HDDVD/BluRay will be out.