thematrix

Whats the latest news ?? Has anybody heard what may eventually replace the DVD ?? Thanks...

El-Kabong

What kind of technology? The Jackhammer Jesus.

cloudnin

Yes, you'd really have to because as soon as HD-DVDs are released all regular DVDs will automatically self-destruct, not unlike the messages that Inspector Gadget receives from Chief Quimby that self-destruct shortly after he reads them.

The topic of HD-DVDs has been covered on these forums extensively, so do a search for HD-DVD or HD-DVDs and you should get plenty of reading material (note: your computer probably will not self-destruct when you finish reading all the messages about HD-DVD.

The video and audio quality will be better with HD-DVDs, but you won't have to do anything. You could rebuy all your DVDs on HD-DVD, but would you do the same thing again in 10 years when the next format is released? I think adopting an every other format upgrade, at most, is wise, so you're never more than 1 format back, but you don't waste a lot of money on 1 step upgrades. I only plan on upgrading to HD-DVD for the action movies that I really like, and I'm not much of an action fan, so it won't cost very much.

Absolut

There was an article that RCA has created a type of player that will play both HD-DVD's and the current generation. Good news indeed. Hopefully the industry will adopt that type of format.

victant

That's some pretty sound advice, cloudnin! And I hope the technology that absolut mentioned will be the norm, so that a lot of my dvd's won't just sit unwatched!

Personally, I don't see myself upgrading at all...unless they get to holograms. There's quite a few movies I wouldn't mind getting myself immersed in.... Yeah, holograms.

Frank S

Big deal! So will ever other manufacturer put out players that will play both formats, the only difference with RCA is you would be getting a piece of crap player like all their other electronics!

darkside

I can't imagine my older films on DVD are really going to look that much better on HD-DVD. I'm not planning on replacing my whole collection ever. I still have a lot of movies on LD for that matter.

I'm sure I will get some HD-DVD movies at some point, but I don't think we are going to have to replace entire collections.

Jackskeleton

dvd's look good enough for me. I really need a clear picture since it looks clear enough as it is.

danwiz

There's a rumor going around that the next technology will be a movie on a "pin" and we'll just stick the pin in our forehead and pull our ear-lobe to start it playing. The benefits are amazing - talk about "full screen" this is truly "full mind"!!!

He, he!

MasterCXtreme

If the HD-DVD players are cross compatible I won't have a problem. And most likley, I won't re-buy any of my current DVD's, unless of course there's good reason to (ex. new features, best of the best video/sound).

If it isn't compatable, or there's a new format out, I wouldn't upgrade ALL my titles, probably just some of my favorites. Of course, this all depends on what exactly makes this format superior. Right now, it's hard to imagine how it could get better. Untill we get a Minority Report style format where the movie is actually played out in your living room.

I know for sure, I would keep all my TV DVD's. By the time this will come out and be popular, a lot of my favorite shows will be completley released on DVD, so that will be something to hang on to. As long as I have a DVD player, I could watch any episode my favorite show any time I wanted the rest of my life.

So, in short, I have a lot of DVD's that would just go to waste if I upgraded, so I'd rather hang on to them, even if I am behind in technology. At least untill whatever's after HD-DVD.

DiscGuy

Say goodbye to all physical media.

Sall hello to on-line, real time access to huge movie databases. It's all ones and zero's folks. We just need connectivity and bandwidth. Soon we'll have a direct link into the entire library of each studio. Any movie you want, any time you want.

Local storage for the movie collectors? Sure, if you feel you want it. Chips, bubble memory, or some new, currently unknown technology will allow you to store a movie's 1s and 0s at home. But if EVERYONE has immediate access to ALL media content, what's the point of collecting copies? If the cost to access is less than the cost to store, say "bye, bye" to home collections.

DVD might possibly be the last "physical" media with HD-DVD, and blue laser technology being accepted only by the "philes".

Tarnower

I completely agree with this. I have read that in the near future, that particular generation will look back and laugh at all the physical entertainment products that we own and store. And that, like the above statement proclaims, all music, movies, etc. will be available on chips and/or direct access via connecting through on bandwidth. I don't know how I'll feel about that, since I really like owning physical copies of all my dear favorites. But who's to say how anyone will really feel about it until the time comes. When the reality of the situation discloses all the advantages and cost-savings, it may be the greatest thing for your movie and music collecting since the advent of Sound.

darkside

I laugh at the idea of paying to watch a movie every single time I want to see it. I will never except on demand as a way to watch movies. A lot of people will always want to actually own their movies. They may end up on smaller discs or chips at some point in the far future, but we will always want to have movie libraries.

On demand will never replace actually owning your movies, music and video games

cloudnin

From what's been posted here, the format the DVD forum adopted for HD-DVD is backwards compatible with DVD, but the format Sony and friends wanted is not (but is going to be in PS3 for sure and there may be a format war). I've just taken backwards compatibility with DVDs in HD-DVD machines for granted because if it's not, the format is going to fail or take a very long time to be adopted.

wmunn

considering what happened with larry ellison's "network device" instead of a PC on everyones desk, I can't imagine "on demand" movies getty any farther. People will not succumb to "big brother" in a way like that. We are too spoiled with controlling our own possesions. For every protection or copyguard type scheme, there is 100 people working hard to get around it upon its release. This scenario has played out too many times for it to stop now.

Frank S

Just because the DVD Forum adopted one format does not mean that is the only one available! It's a given that both formats will be produced by various manufacturers so people will have a choice. I prefer Blue-Ray since it has a much bigger storage capacity thus less compression. The big question will be which format the studios embrace. It may very well be that both formats get support from the studios so it then becomes a matter of which offers the best quality at a good price.

It's no big deal if Blue-Ray is NOT backwards compatible since all that is needed to make a Blue-Ray machine compatible with current DVD's is a second laser pickup that will read them. This is how DVD players started out with dual laser pickups until recently when they developed all-in-one laser pickups that read DVD and CD's both.

DiscGuy

Respectfully disagree.

Depends on the numbers. If the cost to download and watch a movie were 1/100th of the cost of owning a physical copy, and for that 1/100th of the cost you would have access to EVERYTHING...owning your own library would have no advantatges. The collector would be paying 100 times the costs to maintain a limited number of movies while his neighbor would be paying 1/100th the cost to have access to ANY title imaginable.

How many titles would you buy today at $20.00 each if you had instant digital access to ANY title for $0.20 each time? Physical media will one day (probably in our life times) become obsolete.

smirnoffski

I know that we will eventually copy our DVDs, home movies, etc. bit for bit into video hard drive servers and stream them to TV.
The DVDs will hit the basement and all purchases made in the future will be directly copied to the video hard drive or downloaded to it.

Such a product is already out but is a bit pricey, the winner of the CEDIA Best Video Product award.

www.kaleidescape.com for more info.

Roy28

I doubt the numbers will be this low though. In this case, I think the cost would be comparable to rental/PPV charges - since this is essentially what it is. For movies that you watch often, it would probably still be cheaper to own a physical copy or an unrestricted permanent download.

I agree with you that physical media will eventually become obsolete. When downloads take over, they will probably be sold/distributed much in the same way music downloads (legitimate ones) are today - you will be able to pay a set fee for a one-time or 24 hour, etc. viewing, or pay a higher cost for a permanent copy with unrestricted viewing for personal use.

mikewendt

ONE WORD...

INTERNET.

It's going to take over evrything...

Frank S

There is a VERY LARGE crowd of collectors (like myself) who will NOT buy into the VOD crapola that will leave us paying more for less in the long run. I like to have my film "in hand" and not subject to Internet downloads that could leave you with interrupted streams or overly compressed video to get the size down to be downloadable.

Shroud

Backwards compatibility shouldn't be an issue. If the new format isn't backwards compatible, you will see an endless mass of double sided machines that will play DVD and HD-DVD, just like the VCR and DVD machines out now. There may even be a triple machine with DVD, HD-DVD and VCR, now thats scary.

darkside

To be honest I would still buy most of my movies. I currently rent the mainstream stuff I'm only going to watch once so this would be no different. The idea that it would only be 20 cents a movie is hard to believe. I imagine what will happen is we will have to buy subscriptions to Warner Bros, Universal, etc where we have unlimited access to their librarys for $5-$10 a month. I wouldn't buy into that either. Sorry, but I want to own my movies and watch them when I feel like it. I have no problem with on demand for popcorn stuff like Bad Boys 2 that I might want to watch once but would never consider owning. However, for something like Casablanca or Citizen Kane I will gladly pay $20 to have it on my shelf.

Another problem is that even the fastest current broadband connection is too slow to stream DVD quality video. I'm just not convinced there will be that many changes and improvements in technology in my lifetime to make this idea of everything being online or on demand happen.

DiscGuy

Yeah, who knows what the cost will be to download movies in the future? (Twenty years ago who could have predicted long distance calls at $0.025/minute!). While we both agree that physical media will eventually become obsolete, there is some question as to whether there will be any advantages to owning (=storing) a local copy. I can see a possible future where there is no advantage to maintaining local copies. This is a future with instant, reliable, cheap, hiqh quality access to ALL available content.

With today's technologies, you are correct. Today I'm right here with you buying DVDs hand over fist. But Frank...what if future technologies delivered reliable, high quality downloads leaving you paying less for more in a "VOD" world? If the quality (bit stream) were the same or better, with instant, reliable service at a lower cost, local collections would offer no advantages.

Fiber optic infrastructure? Parallel bit streams? These things are not out of reach. And who knows what future technologies are unknown to us now. The next 20 years could be quite exciting.

atari2600

putting movies into contact lenses with wireless earpieces for audio. the movie is played via a small microchip that you can keep in your wallet.