What If They Held A High
Definition Format War & Nobody Came? – Blu-Ray, HD-DVD and The Consumer
So, television as we know it is supposed to go all-digital
and high definition by 2009, but before that, regular DVD is going to have two
potential successors possibly battling it out for the consumer dollar and
market dominance. However, there are a
few possibilities no one has come up with in all the analysis in print and in
the web that is surprising. For one
thing, they look back at VHS vs. Betamax, that VHS won because Beta-owner Sony
refused to license the format. The VHS
people licensed it like crazy and consumer Beta was crushed, though it remained
the professional standard for analog NTSC used by TV stations all over the U.S.
and many other markets. Few remember
the two 12” videodiscs that took each other on, but there was a brief war
between CED Selectavision videodiscs from RCA and the DiscoVision format that
later went on to become the groundbreaking LaserDisc format. CED’s used a video needle and the discs
quickly became imbedded with dirt or the needle from the machine would skip or
stick. The discs were in a cover you
inserted into the machine, but sometimes that did not work either. LaserDisc was the first stereo home video
format and was the one to introduce digital sound to video at home, starting
with PCM CD-type sound. It later added
Dolby Digital and DTS to select discs before DVD-Video overtook it.
More recently, the high-definition audio formats Super Audio
Compact Disc (SACD) and DVD-Audio (DVD-A) took each other on and far inferior
MP3s penetrated the market before either could become huge commercial
hits. Still in production, many have
tried to declare the formats dead, but that was as premature as predictions
about the 12” LaserDisc (before it became a hot home theater item and peaked)
and the DTS sound format (which was not available on DVD at first due to brief
freeze-up troubles before the logarithm troubles were solved. That was the Dolby vs. DTS battle and both
co-exist. With machines that can play
all both audio signals, machines that could play back both SACD & DVD-A
surfaced all over the place and that solved that problem. If DVD-A had a different name and SACD began
with multi-channel sound and always had PCM CD tracks, they could have both
been hits before MP3 exploded. This
proves that if something is good and popular, and enough people support both
formats, they will co-exist. In theaters,
DTS, Dolby and Sony’s theater-only Sony Dynamic Digital Sound (SDDS) system also
now co-exist with each other.
That brings us to these new HD video formats. Also 5” each like CD, SACD and all DVD
formats, they each offer better picture and sound than DVD. The high definition audio signal on DVD-A,
Meridian Lossless Packing (MLP) will get a new life on HD-DVD, even accessible
through a downtraded version called Dolby Digital Plus for new receivers. DTS-HD will also be available on some of
these discs. Blu-Ray, which was in a
case like Selectavision and Sony’s pre-MP3 Mini-Disc format, may be available
“naked” and can even fit a bit more information on a slightly thinner
disc. It will also be the format for
the next generation of Sony’s popular Playstation videogame hardware. Retailers have considered threatening not to
carry either format until Hollywood and the electronic companies can come up
with one. However, what about a machine
that would play both?
Of course, that would be expensive at first, but then all
the hard ware and software for both is going to be expensive anyhow. The studios have split almost along the
lines of open DVD-Video vs. the idiotic pay-per-view DIVX system that bombed
spectacularly. Warner and Paramount are
supporting HD-DVD and supported open DVD in the beginning. They are joined by Universal, who simply
licensed their titles to Image Entertainment until Universal took the
plunge. Sony was also on board, but
they created Blu-Ray, so they are on the opposite side, along with MGM (which
they just purchased), 20th Century Fox and Disney. That is almost everyone who supported
DIVX. One side seems slightly more
concerned about copyright protection than the other, but make no mistake about
it, all the studios are waging the piracy war and that is the number one war on
their minds above all others.
DVD was not standardized enough when introduced and even The
Smithsonian does not recommend it for archiving, but there are some rare and
valuable discs out there that fans and collector’s will not be dumping anytime
soon. There are even old 12” LaserDiscs
owners will not get rid of, as DVD versions will NEVER make it to the market
for copyright reasons, especially some choice Criterion titles. It still has bugs and no one disc will play
on every single machine. It is hard to
say whether HD-DVD will have some of these same bugs, but Blu-Ray has had
enough years to develop in advance, so it will not be just put out there
without a history either. So what
should a consumer do?
Simple, as we always do with all the DVD-Video, DVD-Audio
and SACD software, we should expect the very best from both formats and really
put the pressure on the manufacturers and studios. For the machines, especially if they can do both formats, they
should offer all kinds of fun and exciting features. That is even if, like multi-angle capacity, it is not used
much. They should also offer many
picture and sound adjustment options and extras, though digital HD should be
pretty clear and optimal to begin with.
As for the studios, all films, TV series, concerts and even Music Videos
should be of the highest quality from restored materials and without
cheating. In the case of anything on
film, it should be restored on film, not just in the digital realm only, and
have the proper color. No more bad
telecine transfers, especially without the director(s) and/or
cinematographer(s) supervising the work.
As for the sound, DTS-HD and MLP/Dolby Digital Plus should be standard
on all discs, while films that are stereophonic should not suddenly turn up monophonic
because someone was too lazy to track down the original soundmaster.
Like DVD-Audio and SACD, there will be great titles on
Blu-Ray not on HD-DVD and vice versa, so that should be the way these HD
formats bottom out. Because I believe
consumers will be split on which ones look and sound better, both will likely
co-exist with no victor. That also
means they might not be immediate hits, especially since most people do not
have HDTVs yet. Most current models purchased
do not have the HDMI input(s) needed to play back the HD signal from HD-DVD, as
the makers of the format will not allow playback any other way. If you have three-RCA component input, you
will only get regular definition. If
you only have DVI input, a DVI/HDMI converter cord will not guarantee HD
performance. Blu-Ray will likely do the
same thing. Copyright concerns are the
studios, not yours, unless you break the laws of course.
The most important thing is that both visibly outperform
regular DVD and that they are an enjoyable step up. Ask not what you can do for your digital HD format; ask what your
digital HD format can do for you. Very
soon, you will get to put that to the test and so will this site. Stay tuned.
This is the homepage letter by Nicholas Sheffo posted as of
mid-August 2005.
