nytimes.com — "Just contemplating the rise of a new DVD format is enough to make you feel played. What's wrong with the original DVD format, anyway? It offers brilliant picture, thundering surround sound and bonus material. The catalog of DVD movies is immense and reasonably priced."
May 11, 2006 View in Crawl 4
jayselleMay 12, 2006
HD-DVD's only have 6 times the resolution of the current DVD. What's the big deal here? (sarcasm)For those of us who have large screen HDTV's this will be wonderful. The fact is that we would rather watch HD content through our cable or satelite provider than on a DVD. I have a very nice upconverting dvd player as well, it's still not the same as HD. There is a significant difference between current DVD and HD.The haters against must be against technology in general and grasping at their mono speaker 19" television with the built in VHS player.
Closed AccountMay 12, 2006
Say bad things about me, but I download 1080i HD rips from the net and the quality is amazingly better than standard DVDs on my 61 inch projection screen. I welcome a format that will allow me to have good legal copies of most movies and even some of my favorite tv shows. If you've ever watched Enterprise, Stargate Atlantis in HDTV vs. DVD you would never go back.
trakaisMay 12, 2006
Once I saw an HD video on my iMac (you don't even need a 60in plasma) - i never wanted to see DVDs again. People, before you say something, please see it for yourself. Everyone can criticise something they don't know.
pjbonovoxMay 12, 2006
No-one here is saying that's it's a huge difference and it's changed the way they watch movies. They're just saying it definitely looks different.So, to the tech companies and movie houses, take your new format and go f**k yourself.
Closed AccountMay 12, 2006
1. Progress is overrated2. I have seen 1080p content (a WMV-HD disc that played on Linux with xine and player) and while it looks really good most "Joe Averages" won't notice the differenceIt's just like the difference between 44.1KHz, 48KHz and 96KHz audio sampling rates. There IS a difference, but your average listener would be hard pressed to notice it. And that's who the NYT article is talking to. It's not addressed to people with diamond eyes and golden ears who know better. We're in the minority. My wife can't tell the difference between a DVD or 1080p on our HD monitor, but I can. Better definition, more clarity in details and better color saturation. To her it's just a "nice pitcture" but there is no perception of why it looks nice other than the possible cinematography itself. Do not assume that everyone can percieve or actually cares about quality. Just think about the number of people out there who will happily listen to classical music MP3s at 128k and not notice the horrible artifacts in the string and cymbal sounds. If you can tell, consider yourself gifted and blessed. If you can't, you're really not missing that much. But above all, those of you with better perception should stop assuming that everyone else sees and hears the same thing.
hoowahmanMay 12, 2006
First of all I dont even see why people buy DVDs, sure they are great to own and have but do you really watch them enough to justify the $15-$20 price tag? I know I don't so I rent them. I would rather rent HD-DVD than DVD anyday and it'll be the same price. Who said anything about rebuying all my movies all over again?
schadenfreudeMay 12, 2006
I pooh-poohed the HD thing until I actually saw it on the TV of someone I was housesitting for. I am in fact a crotchety old man, but I can't deny the awesomeness of high-def.That said, the article makes a good point. The leap in quality/features from VHS to DVD was incredible. From DVD to HD-DVD, the leap is more incremental. Evolutionary rather than revolutionary. And I think for a lot of people who aren't tech geeks or who have a lot of money to burn, there's a certain amount of upgrade fatigue.And really, just because you can appreciate the advantages of a thing doesn't necessarily mean you're compelled to rush out and buy it. Not everyone has to be chained to the consumerist treadmill.
stenkMay 16, 2006
Well said. Digg +1