Main > Everything Else

It's Over! Blu-Ray Officially Wins!

<< < (9/13) > >>

ChadTower:

--- Quote from: boykster on February 26, 2008, 01:39:53 am --- Additionally, the increase of HD content on cable and satellite provides something that DVD didn't have when it was competing with VHS: a direct example of how you COULD/SHOULD be seeing your movies.  When you can watch Law & Order in full HD glory, but your copy of Beowulf looks grainy, you'll want to find a way to fix that.

--- End quote ---

I completely disagree with that.  When you were watching your noisy VHS copy of Ghostbusters your direct example of DVD video quality was watching the same movie on HBO.  DVD video isn't any better, for most players and most TVs during the adoption period, than standard cable or DirecTV, while at the same time being a substantial improvement over a VHS rental tape.  Even progressive scan didn't really improve all that much and I don't know many people even now who know or care about it.

MaximRecoil:

--- Quote from: boykster on February 26, 2008, 01:39:53 am ---
--- Quote from: GinsuVictim on February 25, 2008, 05:54:47 pm ---Now that HD-DVD is gone, how long before Blu-ray is dead? The average consumer has just now made the switch fully to DVD and has a good collection going.

The difference from VHS to DVD was amazing. The difference from DVD to Blu-ray? Not enough for the average person. Also the idea of buying a new TV just to watch a certain format turns most people off.

I'll stick with DVD for years to come, and so will most everyone else.

--- End quote ---

Doubtful; full adoption of DVD took a heck of a long time too, but it eventually happened, and VHS had a longer foothold than DVD did.  Also, the myth that VHS-> DVD was a greater jump than DVD-> BluRay (or HD-DVD) is bunk.  The resolution increase from DVD (480p) to HD content (1080p) is greater than VHS (230 lines) to DVD (480). 
--- End quote ---

You're not taking into account diminishing returns. Also, the jump from VHS to DVD covered more ground than simply a boost in resolution. VHS was an analog format recorded and played back in the composite domain, while DVD is a digital format which offers much higher quality connections (RGB and component) and also potential progressive playback (VHS is natively interlaced).

VHS looked pretty bad while DVD looks pretty good, especially when used to its full potential (DVD-9, high bitrate, quality hardware MPEG-2 encoder, anamorphic, etc.)

Going from "pretty bad" to "pretty good" tends to be perceived as a bigger jump than going from "pretty good" to "better".

And of course, on a standard TV, DVD is already overkill, so HD content won't look any better.

On a PC monitor, I can set my screen resolution (22" Mitsubishi Diamondtron CRT) to 1024x768 and watch a good anamorphic DVD encode and be perfectly satisfied. I can then move the resolution up to 1280x1024 and watch a 720p movie and it is a little sharper and clearer, but not a big deal. I can turn the screen resolution to 1920x1440 and watch 1080p material, and with this size monitor, it is not a significant improvement over 720p.

I actually like the grain in a DVD. It reminds me of how film looks in a theater.

But where HD content shines is with really large displays, but most people don't have those due to cost and/or lack of space.

AtomSmasher:
DVD's also introduced 5.1 surround sound, which was one of my motivating factors when I upgraded to dvd's.  Yes they now have 7.1, but for the average sized room 5.1 is all that is actually needed.

ChadTower:

DVD isn't quite the straight stereo to full surround leap people say.  Pro Logic worked on VHS pretty well for people who had the appropriate setup (also required for 5.1).

Look at it this way - Pro Logic II is still in current use.  The Wii uses it.

AtomSmasher:

--- Quote from: ChadTower on February 26, 2008, 01:31:28 pm ---
DVD isn't quite the straight stereo to full surround leap people say.  Pro Logic worked on VHS pretty well for people who had the appropriate setup (also required for 5.1).

Look at it this way - Pro Logic II is still in current use.  The Wii uses it.

--- End quote ---
I never knew VHS had 5.1.  I don't ever remember seeing a vcr with more then just a left and right audio connection.

*edit* just looked it up and see that Pro Logic was more like a 4.0 setup (left, right, center, and rear (both rear speakers were same channel)), but still interesting that they had some sort of surround sound on VHS.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page

Go to full version