How High Definition DVD will replace DVD

[Roger]

One criticism I’ve seen of both Blu-ray and HD-DVD is that the average consumer will be reluctant to buy into another format, regardless of its supposed superiority. Fair enough but I’ll argue that many of them won’t even know their buying another format or if they are aware, it won’t feel any different than replacing a cheap, broken DVD player.

Forget the hi-def DVD format war for a few minutes, for our purposes lets assume the date is May 12th, 2007. Let’s also assume that one side (Blu-ray or HD-DVD) has already established a market-share lead, not unreasonable in my opinion given the 12 month jump forward.

I see things unfolding something like this: (insert format name here) comes out on top and sales of that particular format increase, hardware costs will decrease accordingly and a snowball effect comes into play. Rinse repeat. In addition by this time, hi-def DVD’s will be released (day and date) right along with their SD-DVD counterparts. See where I’m going?

At some point in this evolutionary process, the price of the players and availability of titles will reach that magical-point where upgrading will be seamless or at the very least a fiscal afterthought. After all both HD-DVD and Blu-ray players are compatible with standard definition DVD’s as well, so it’s not as if those DVD’s will suddenly become useless.

What you’ll gain in this ‘evolutionary process’ is an easy upgrade path to a single player that allows you to enjoy HD versions of your favorite movies as well as your existing DVD collection, all without breaking the bank.

As to the actual costs of the players themselves in the year ahead, we can only speculate. But given the fact that the first DVD players sold for $1000, I think it’s reasonable to assume that hi-def DVD players will follow a similar price reduction path.

Add to this the need by both sides to become the dominate force with their respective formats and we might see a scenario where the manufacturers subsidize the hardware to even lower price points.

One of the reasons that high definition audio (aka DVD-A and SACD) has been such snore with consumers, is that no clear upgrade path exists. For example, you can easily spend several hundred dollars on a new CD player that may or may not include support for SACD. On the flip side of that coin, you might find that certain DVD players lack SACD support. How is this supposed to further the advancement of high resolution audio?

If DVD-A and/or SACD are really the holy grail of audio performance, why wouldn’t support for both formats be built into nearly all new DVD players? The answer is that no clear winner was established between DVD-A and SACD, so manufacturers are content to plod along status quo, until a clear reason to do otherwise presents itself.

Lessons Learned:

Assuming that a clear winner in the hi-def DVD format war can be declared in a reasonable amount of time, DVD players of all shapes, sizes, and price ranges will appear with support for the winning format. The end result of this will be (at some point) $300, $200 maybe even $100 hi-def DVD players that also support standard-def DVD’s.

It’s at this point those previously reluctant consumers, who are looking to replace broken DVD players or just add DVD playback to another room in their home, will either knowingly or unknowingly ‘buy into’ hi-def DVD. A good example of another piece of consumer electronics gear that followed this paradigm is car audio.

Years ago I was standing in a car audio shop and an older gentleman asked for a “car radio”. The salesmen asked, “CD or cassette?” The beleaguered shopper answered, “I just want a radio.” To which the salesmen answered, “Well sir I suppose we could special order one for you, but I could sell you a CD or cassette head-unit (with AM/FM) for about the same price today.” That shopper didn’t set out to buy a cassette head-unit that day, but that’s exactly what he got.

With the constraints of the format war removed, the players themselves can be presented as “High Definition DVD” players, or whatever other clever marketing term Madison Avenue comes up with. My point is that eventually these players will find their way into the homes of consumers, who didn’t necessarily set out to purchase a “hi-def” DVD player.

End result for us home theater fanatics? We can finally get down to what we should have been able to do from day one, own and enjoy high definition movies from all studios without the fear that our favorite titles will only be available on the ‘other’ format.

Link To Original Article

[JimP]

Interesting article.

Question in my mind is how well will the general public (not entheusiast) be willing to accept the new formats. Consider the JVC D-VHS machines and the movies that were available. Not that widely accepted. Will this be a repeat??

[Sonnie]

Well hello Jim... glad to see ya at the Shack finally!

Throw this in the loop... D-VHS didn't require you buy a new TV. HD DVD's will. So on top of and lot more expensive piece of equipment, in comparison to the difference in cost between the VHS and D-VHS, and the fact a HDTV is required... it's gonna be a challenge to get the general public to make the switch.

I consider my dad in that general public... he says, "HD who? What's the guys name?" lol Granted he sees a better pic when he visits and watches that BAMA game in HD on the 65" widescreen, but he ain't gonna buy no new TV anytime soon, if ever again, being he's 70 (close to 71).

I got friends (yeah I got friends)... that wouldn't even consider a DVD player until they got to 40-50 bucks. They sho-nuff ain't studying buying a new HDTV. They ooh and ahh over HD, but they hmmm and uggghh over the price to own it.

I see HD DVD's replacing DVD's for the enthusiast only... but the SD DVD will be around for a long time for the general public... IMO. Until we start seeing the $399 35" HDTV at Wal-Mart, (which I don't think has happened yet), and until we start seeing the 50-75 dollar HD DVD player... SD DVD will reign, and I suspect that will be a while, huh?

[Tommy]

For someone just building there HT theater, what should we start with, the good old dvd player or the new players?

[SteveCallas]

I agree with Sonnie's post 100% - hi def dvds will be for AV enthusiasts only.

For someone just building there HT theater, what should we start with, the good old dvd player or the new players?

The ones inbetween, an upconverting dvd player.

[bobgpsr]

IMHO if you have spent >$1000 on a surround system, >$500 on a subwoofer (not part of the $1K), added a BFD and done eq, spent >$1500 on a HDTV/display --- then spending $500 for a true high def source without macroblocking, etc that you get from over the air, cable or satellite hi def feeds, is well worth it. Of course then as Steve C says, you are then already kind of a AV enthusiast. I'm very pleased with the definition, color depth and sound from my HD DVD player. There is the approx 30% risk that you might get a problem player with these early (but very solidly built) players. Be prepared to keep exchanging it for one that plays without glitches. Two thirds of the users now have no major problems and 89% (from AVS polls) are very happy with the high definition performance and will continue to use their HD DVD players. Except for HDMI problems (broken connector on my display -- so I'm using component) I have not serious problems. Yes the player is a bit slow in startup (about a minute 40 sec from power up to playing a HD DVD). Hints are that a firmware update will speed it up some. The player has an ethernet port that accepts updates from the internet when connected and requested by the user.

It really depends do you want to enjoy high definition at its best right now or make do with a much lessor substitute with upscaling players or HTPCs.

Bob

[Tommy]

Interesting and good points to think about.

I dont want to blow a bunch of money on something that most likely will need to be replaced very very soon but at the same time after spending so much on this whole project I do want to see it all in the best possible picture that I can.

Anyway what are anyone thoughts on the player

Samsung DVD-HD960

Samsung's DVD-HD960 is slim, elegant DVD player with multiple features. The players offer up-conversion, HDMI outputs for simple, single-cable connection of uncompressed digital video, and HD JPEG playback for viewing crystal clear photos in the comfort of your home theater. The super-slim, DVD-HD960 goes up to a near HD, 1080p resolution. Includes Faroudja DCDi Video Processing!

I talked them into throwing it in for free when I ordered my projector. I'm not sure if it is worth installing in the new HT room or maybe just replacing one on a regular tv in the house.

Its free and Im happy with the added bonus but as Bob says after investing so much into this project I do want to see it with the best picture I can rather then half doing it at this step.

Bob how much difference in the new player do you actually see?

[Josuah]

We've got some DVD-HD960's at work. Not sure how well they fared, but I'm sure one of my teammates tested it. Be aware it's not actually an HD-DVD or Blu-Ray player. It just does upscaling of regular DVDs to 720p or 1080i. The Samsung players at Secrets did okay, but since the OPPO OPDV971H uses the same chipset, is about the same price, and scores much better....

[Sonnie]

Yeah... that OPPO scores at the top. Also notice the new one posted in Components earlier today... although it was stated that it probably would not test as high as the 971.

Tommy... you might wanna post this info in Components... may get more attention.

Btw... I like that link in your sig to your Equipment List. Good idea!