Originally posted by: JediFlyer06
I also wouldn't bet on optical discs going away any time soon. Consumers have invested a huge amount of money in dvd video libraries, and none of them is interested in replacing all of those titles all over again. I wager that any "revolutionary" video format would face a FORMIDABLE task in just survining, let alone dominating the market or replacing dvd. And don't throw the "dvd beat vhs" argument at me either. When VHS was king, we were a nation of renters and recorders. VERY few had voluminous video libraries. Today...just look at dvd sales figures. Hell, studios plan on dvd sales as a part of their profit model. I have over 400. At last count, my boss had over 650, and most on my staff have upwards of 50 titles or more on their shelves.
I also wouldn't bet on optical discs going away any time soon. Consumers have invested a huge amount of money in dvd video libraries, and none of them is interested in replacing all of those titles all over again. I wager that any "revolutionary" video format would face a FORMIDABLE task in just survining, let alone dominating the market or replacing dvd. And don't throw the "dvd beat vhs" argument at me either. When VHS was king, we were a nation of renters and recorders. VERY few had voluminous video libraries. Today...just look at dvd sales figures. Hell, studios plan on dvd sales as a part of their profit model. I have over 400. At last count, my boss had over 650, and most on my staff have upwards of 50 titles or more on their shelves.
Thank you, i have been saying the same thing.
Regardless of what format "wins" the war...none of them will become common consumer products or replace DVD. DVD is here to stay for a long time and HD format will become the new Laserdisk--a high-quality alternative for home theater enthusiasts who are willing to spend the extra cash on high quality. People aren't going to give up on DVD just as it becomes the new standard.
As for "Blu-Ray is better so it will win"...well, I'm not so sure. Keep in mind i am a Blu-Ray supporter: i do indeed believe this is the superior of the two current formats. But let us not forget that Betamax was clearly superior to VHS. Convienence and price go a long way, though admittedly because HD is not going to be widely owned this factor is not as crucial as it was with the early tape format wars where the battle was for the heart of Joe Blow consumer. Still, something to keep in mind.
Really, HD-DVD botched their early release very majorly but have now caught up with themselves, and then Blu-Ray botched their early release. Lets give them a chance to get back on their feet. Both of these things are due to the rushed manner in which they were put out obviously, trying to race each other to release date and neither was ready. Soon we will see VC1 encoded disks instead of MPEG and then we will see what Blu-Ray is really made of. I think Christmas or early 2007 is an appropriate time to actually start guaging how well either format is. Until then, they both have some good and bad qualities about them.