Toshiba is throwing in the towel on HD-DVD. Looks like Sony won, this time.
That explains all the cut-rate players at Christmas time. I'm sure that the entertainment industry is happy to only have to deal with one new medium. Wonder how long they'll continue to produce standard DVDs?
I would guess that DVD has a long life ahead of it.
If a good Blu-Ray disc is a "10" on image quality, I would say a well-made DVD might go as high as an "8."
Yes, there is a difference, but how much of a difference really depends on how good the rest of your entertainment system is. If you have a cheap or small TV, the difference may not be apparent. With my 27" 1080i CRT, and playing both discs through a PS3, the difference is noticeable, but what's mainly apparent is that my TV looks a lot better in 1080i mode than it does in standard def. And the Blu-Ray has a little more detail and texture.
I suspect if I had a nice 1080P flatscreen, Blu-Ray would look even better, and the flaws in DVD would stand out more.
In short, for the average person, DVD is going to be good enough until they buy a really nice TV.
Was it Asimov that said we may lose a big chunk of history because we won't have any way to read the data? Ever new format reminds me of that.
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ken anthony wrote:
Was it Asimov that said we may lose a big chunk of history because we won't have any way to read the data? Ever new format reminds me of that.
February 19, 2008 1:46 PM
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He might have said that but that it hasn't been converted to E-book yet, so I don't know.
Will we really? Which is more fragile, a CD-ROM, or paper? I've gotten data off of CD-ROMs that were so badly scratched up I could see daylight through them.
Though, formats that have built-in encryption may be harder to read if the decryption algorithms are lost. OTOH, if the archaeologists have access to more advanced computer tech, they will probably be able to brute-force it without too much trouble.
The Blu-Ray standard doesn't include backward compatibility. Sony can easily force the issue by just flat-out dropping DVD playback from its Blu-Ray players. They're already doing it with PS3; newer models of the PS3 cannot play PS2 or PS1 games.