The world does not need high resolution DVD

Witness the emergence of new generation DVD technology, many people wonder: What happens with the current DVD format when it still offers beautiful images, vivid sound, rich movie catalogs and affordable prices? physical? New York Times (USA) had an analysis of this issue.

Source: Redbows

"When are you beginning to be skeptical about technology? When the VHS format is outdated and you have to buy all the movies on DVD? Or when the 3-month product warranty has ended, only two days later, the device began to show signs of malfunction?

Last month, Toshiba's high resolution HD-A1 DVD player appeared on store shelves. This is the first blow to open the "nonsense war" between the giants in the film, electronics and computing industries. Currently, 82% of American households own at least one DVD player. Yet electronic experts claim: it's time to throw them into the trash and start over. In fact, the sentence was cut off from the beginning: " Because the market for traditional DVD players is saturated . " and people turn to discuss image quality.

Unfortunately, the idea of ​​high-definition, high-definition DVD technology with large storage capacity all comes together in Sony and Toshiba. Each party dreams of his format becoming the standard technology. They set up an army of powerful partners. Toshiba's format, called HD DVD, attracted Microsoft, Sanyo, NEC and studios such as New Line and Universal. Sony-backed technology called Blu-ray earned support from Apple, Philips, Sharp, Panasonic, Samsung, Pioneer, Dell and Sony studio, 20th Century Fox and Disney. Meanwhile, HP, LG, Warner Brothers and Paramount announced they will provide products that support both formats.

Initially, observers predicted that Blu-ray would win because it has attracted quite a few movie studios, this technology-based DVD has a larger capacity and PlayStation 3 gaming devices, which also play a role. A Blu-ray player, has the potential to become one of the best-selling items next fall.

But Toshiba also owns at least two power cards. First of all, their HD DVD players were on the market while Blu-ray products had to wait until June. Second, the HD-A1 was sold for only $ 500, half cheaper than the device. Blu-ray.

However, despite being more dominant than rivals, HD DVD still has many defects. The HD-A1 head is quite bulky with a size of 45 x 11 cm, much like an early VCR recorder rather than a modern DVD device.

Moreover, 500 USD is not the only price one has to pay when it wants to become one of the first to support new technology. This "immature" product takes more than a minute to boot, the menu key sometimes reacts slowly, and after installing the DVD, people will have to wait up to 45 seconds before the screen shows up the FBI recommendation text. . The remote control keys are designed exactly the same, the arrangement is not reasonable and the color is faint.

In addition, high-definition TVs (HDTV) are produced in 720p (1280 x 720 pixels), 1080i (1920 x 1080 pixels), and 1080p (1920 x 1080 pixels) standards. But Toshiba's locomotive does not display 1080p images - it is considered a resolution of the future.

Three reasons people should not buy new generation DVD products:

Reason 1: An ordinary person can hardly see the difference in image quality between traditional DVD and new generation DVD unless it is displayed on a large screen with high resolution. The new step is not really a revolution like from VHS format to DVD.

Reason 2: The HD-A1 device is sold at an affordable price but there are too many defects. Moreover, there are currently only 20 HD DVD-compatible movies ($ 20 - $ 40) and about several hundred later this year (while movies in traditional DVD format have tens of thousands).

Reason 3: People are betting big money on an erratic racing horse.

In general, consumers should wait until the price drops, the number of movies increases and one of the two standards really dominates, otherwise risk being excluded from the game after having invested some money big shopping ".

TN