it's all a moot point really, with all the work being done on quantum computers things are sort of going to change in the extreme.

BTW, has anyone heard of EVD, it's a chinese invention with basically 4 times the capacity of DVD.

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by Havoc
BTW, has anyone heard of EVD, it's a chinese invention with basically 4 times the capacity of DVD.

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Doesnt Blue Ray hold a lot more than that.

blu-ray & Hd dvd do hold more but they aren't royalty free China developed this self acclaimed standard (which ofcourse you can do with a home market of over 1.1 billion people) so they didn't need to pay royalty to companies outside of China

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by Wesley

While I love the features and options etc. I absolutely HATE the DVD itself.
The fact that they are so ridiculously sensitive to even the slightest spec of dust...and if there's a finger prints...

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In the past I have treated my CDs so badly that most are bearly usable. I decided not to let that happen with DVDs. My DVDs are taken carefully from the case, played, and then straight back into the case. All of them are immaculate and trouble free. Take care of them and they'll last a long time.

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I also hate the fact that what's contained on DVD's is compressed
Compression = loss of data
And if you want an uncompressed movie with no data loss your only option is the Superbit edition which cost a mint....

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Sorry to spoil your fun but all DVDs are compressed, Superbit editions just use a higher bitrate. Uncompressed video takes mountains of space.

While plenty of new media formats are coming to the fore boasting huge capacities, I wouldn't expect any of them to take DVDs place anytime soon. The format is now entrenched and many people have made a significant investment in it.

Quality often comes off second anyhow - BetaMax is actually superior to VHS, MP3s are very popular despite being inferior to CD and the high end DVD-A (DVD Audio) format has been a flop despite being superior to CD audio.

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Bring on Solid State! - only worry with solid state memory is magnets....and pretty much any kind of liquid....and heat....and cold....but at least you don't have to worry about finger prints or scratches

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As far as I know solid state memories dont suffer from the things you say. I've had a SmartMedia card go through both the wash and dry cycle with no ill effect!

I'd expect that optical technologies will have the edge over solid state for a long while to come.

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by Funky Monkey
Quality often comes off second anyhow - BetaMax is actually superior to VHS, MP3s are very popular despite being inferior to CD and the high end DVD-A (DVD Audio) format has been a flop despite being superior to CD audio.

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In both cases there were mitigating circumstances.

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by Havoc
(quotes)

In both cases there were mitigating circumstances.

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Such as?

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by Sydney
Such as?

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Better marketing, for one thing? (Well, for Betamax/VHS, anyway)


(Edited by Alan 19/01/2004 11:18)

Still buying vids. Got the Buffy season 7 and Angel season 4 ones although last one I got was a triple pack box set Queen Of The Damned, Gingersnaps and Interview With The Vampire. A tenner from ASDA

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by Sydney
Such as?

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Sony refused to share BetaMax tech wheras JVC shared VHS, same as thew IBM vs. Apple thing, one type shot down in price from huge amounts of research and actual price wars.

MP3's vs. CD's: you can store MP3\WMA's on your hard drive, WAV may be better quality but it takes up 10 times as much space.

CDa VS. DVDa: it's really to early to tell on this one, a combined CD\DVD audio player would probably launch this.

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by Havoc
CDa VS. DVDa: it's really to early to tell on this one, a combined CD\DVD audio player would probably launch this.

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I don't really see this one taking off except amongst audiophiles, who took off a long time ago. It's not any more convient or durable than CDs, and you need to own some serious audio equipment to make the investment worthwhile.

When it becomes so cheap it's too much effort not to have combo players, then it might slowly replace CDs, but I think MP3s have the edge at the mo, not least because they're so ... cost effective.

on friday night i dug out al my ancient old videos, and im talking like, pure years old. it was great! me and my boyfriend watched aladdin and basil the great mouse detective and really old cartoons!
it was so much fun, and ive still gots loads more for this weekend! (god, im a sad case lol)

by Havoc

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Sony refused to share BetaMax tech wheras JVC shared VHS...

MP3's vs. CD's: you can store MP3\WMA's on your hard drive, WAV may be better quality but it takes up 10 times as much space.

CDa VS. DVDa: it's really to early to tell on this one, a combined CD\DVD audio player would probably launch this.

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Precisely my point - that quality or storage space is only one factor in the sucess of a product. With MP3 you trade quality for convinience and size. Betamax - good quality, bad business decisions. DVD-A - very high quality limited almost exclusively to the audiophile market, which is why I believe it will never take off. Most people would not hear the difference and not see the point in buying new gear to play these.

Another case in point, Sony's minidisc format was perfectly poised to replace cassette tape. Its the obvious choice, it does eveything that tape does and more - recordable, portable, durable, excellent sound quality, editable, the list goes on but Sony insisted on charging manufacturers huge licensing costs which really stunted the format's growth. Minidiscs have been around since the early 90's,but it wasnt until the late 90's when Sony dropped the licensing and actively marketing it that it became well known - a little too late it seems as portable MP3 players seem to be more popular now.

by Byron

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but I think MP3s have the edge at the mo, not least because they're so ... cost effective.

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MP3s are here to stay in some form or another for a good while I reckon. It's interesting watching the format resist the new pretenders, M$ tried making WMA defacto and failed, OGG Vorbis has crap 'marketing', though I wonder if Apple's IPOD will boost the acceptance of AAC.

While I think the future of music distribution is online it does worry me that that compressed digital audio might one day be the only format - leaving audiophiles out in the cold..

We already have a situation where when it comes to analogue switch off time our only option is to watch compressed digital TV. I find it generally inferior to Analogue TV with good reception - but i'm sure the government will make a packet selling off the airspace.

I think then that the new optical formats will have the most success as computer media, and possibly as a HDTV DVD type format. Whatever format comes in next, backward compatibilty with people's DVDs collections will be a must.

Sony like to repeat mistakes it seems, Minidisc is also perfectly poised to replace floppies, but Sony is keeping the prices up

EDIT: WMA is enjoying new sucess, but only on the X-Box.

(Edited by Havoc 27/01/2004 19:45)

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by Havoc
Sony like to repeat mistakes it seems, Minidisc is also perfectly poised to replace floppies, but Sony is keeping the prices up

EDIT: WMA is enjoying new sucess, but only on the X-Box.

(Edited by Havoc 27/01/2004 19:45)

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Until the end of the 1990's Sony kept the royalty fees up way too high which meant that they where the only ones making the product and marketing it. Which indeed spoiled their market. When they finally dropped the prices mp3 was well on it's way in and however those minidisc players are relativly small compared to a cd player a 128mb flash mp3player was smaller and had a way bigger gadget rating

The bit mistake Sony made with Betamax was the fact that they forbid the use of porn.... and yet the early adopters of new technology is the porn industry And also it was a pain to copy

Windows Media Audio might not make a big flight now but we'll see more of that in the near future. Especially with the windows media format possibly making it into the new dvd standards and slowly making it's way into the digital cinema's replacing the old tapes. This will mean that the next generation (or the generation after that) of home players will support the format and with DRM becoming a major part of the online trade of music we'll probably see the Microsoft formats do well (due to their position in the market).