Which will come first - HD DVD or affordable DL media?

[Pisces225]

I won't consider DL media affordable until they land around 2 dollars a disc max. Single layer media used to be more expensive than what is currently the cheapest DL media. It will all come down to the price 'you' want eventually, if you wait long enough.

My question is this: Which will come first, the popularity of HD DVD or DL media hitting 2 bucks a disc tops?

[yoda313]

Hi,

Which will come first, the popularity of HD DVD or DL media hitting 2 bucks a disc tops?

Easy the dl media will drop first before the other. Hd-dvd isn't even the new standard yet. They're battling it out with blu-ray. Meanwhile dual layer recordable is as compatible as single layer and more and more people are buying dual layer burners as they're old singles die.

Kevin

[Pisces225]

I was reading up on the format war today and heard talk of two years before the new formats are marketed , or was this an old timeline? Isn't HD coming out this Christmas?

[koolaidwa]

that must be old timeline

as hd-dvd will be out end of year they say, so next year some time in reality

[waheed]

Well, my opinion:

I think that manufacturers aren't doing enough to render cheaper DL disks. To acheive this, theres needs to be a mass production of DL disks to warrant lower prices on a larger scale.

With the upcoming HD-DVD/Blu Ray, most companies are investing into the new format, rather than just produce DL disks in larger quantities and concentrate on the current format.

We will see a drop in prices for DL media over time, but I dont think this will be sigificant as was the case for single layer media.

[Hawseman]

I disagree.....

We'll see affordable DL well before HD/Blu-ray becomes mainstream. Maxell-Hitachi as well as others have announced entry into the DL manufacturing ring.

We may start seeing standalone players by years end.....but burners and recordable media will lag behind. Affordable burners and media will lag behind even more.

think about it:

HD/Blu-ray media are already 0% compatible with current technology. It's going to take some time after official release.

[Edmund Blackadder]

HD/Blu-ray media are already 0% compatible with current technology. It's going to take some time after official release.

That's right. And besides that, what will perpetually keep HD-DVD/Blu-Ray from becoming mainstream is that it will only otput HD video through a bloody HDMI input and not analog component. What are the millions of people with HDTV's (including me) to do if they don't have any DVI or HDMI inputs? Are we basically screwed? Just last year we got a nice professional multi-system Panasonic plasma for home, and it ain't going to be replaced anytime soon.

Also, I'm thrilled with High-Definition, I now have a Sony HVR-Z1U HDV videocamera and I'd be the first to jump into buying the next generation of optical disc. But I will not do so if it only uses a f***ing HDMI for anything higher than 480i/p.

Overprotected formats never gain popularity (SACD, DVD-Audio), and I hope that HD-DVD and Blu-Ray face the same doom .

[Pisces225]

I hate to say it, and it's kind OT, but Plasmas won't be around very long at all. They're finally reaching mainstream affordability, so the public is happy about that, but the fact remains that plasmas have the worst life span of any television ever made, and the industry hates them. They simply break way too often and don't last long enough.

Plasmas will be replaced by large, affordable LCD screens in five years max, likely sooner. LCD's have an average life span of 50,000 hours and that is under improvement as well. Do the math... even if you ran your TV a full twelve hours a day every single day it would take nearly ten years to burn out a lamp. Current proof of mainstream affordability of the new LCD's is evidenced already by the price trend of CRT vs. LCD in the computer monitor arena.

And the HDTV people shouldn't worry, it's always possible to use additional adapters/converters for various issues and if one is needed that currently doesn't exist, rest assured someone will make and produce one.

[Edmund Blackadder]

LCD's have an average life span of 50,000 hours and that is under improvement as well.

The Panasonic plasma we have has 40,000 hours life. So with a regular viewing it will last quite a number of years. And the picture for video signals looks A WHOLE LOT better than any LCD I've seen. On that Panasonic it's almost as good as CRT. I'm sorry, but LCD looks bad for the majority of video sources. It's only really suitable for computer use. Besides, even the best LCD's are still not showing colors/brightness uniformly, as you change your position. For me the best to worst: CRT->Plasma->LCD->RearProjectionTV. At this point, if you want a screen larger than 40" and still get a good, bright and uniform picture quality, plasma is the only way to go.

By the way, I think it's Toshiba or NEC that is working on a new flat thin display technology that uses a very similar technique as CRT, but without the actual ray. So the quality should be pretty much the same as CRT if not even better, but in as thin as plasma form factor. That will be the future. I just don't remember the name or it, but if you search for it, you'll find it.

And the HDTV people shouldn't worry, it's always possible to use additional adapters/converters for various issues and if one is needed that currently doesn't exist, rest assured someone will make and produce one.

But that's the whole point. HDMI will be encrypted beyond belief and will only require HDMI input right on the TV that will support encrypted signal. They don't want any analog loopholes, and it looks like this time they will succeed. Yes, you will probably be able to convert unencrypted HDMI signals to analog, but if they are encrypted it's probably not going to be possible. The industry will make sure that no such converter exists, or they'll sue the hell out of companies that might attempt to sell such devices. Even now, Sima is in trouble for selling simple analog Time Base Correctors, which existed way before Macrovision put the analog copy protection on the market.

I'm hoping though that there will be some Chinese companies that will make some sort of component outputs for HD video on their players, if they'll ever be allowed to do that, which I doubt.

[edDV]

And the HDTV people shouldn't worry, it's always possible to use additional adapters/converters for various issues and if one is needed that currently doesn't exist, rest assured someone will make and produce one.

The issue with the HDMI connector is encryption. It is not clear whether the new HD DVD players will allow non-encrypted home made HD DVDRs to play through the HDMI connector without encryption.

Most of the design spec HD Players have no component analog outputs even though the internal chips will support HD over component analog.

The revolution will begin if Hollywood forces all HD players to be HDMI only.