2008 Woodie Awards
High-definition formats: Does anyone really care?
Britton Peele
Issue date: 2/8/08 Section: Opinions
That's not to say that these formats don't matter on some level. They hold much more data - Blu-ray can hold 50 gigabytes: 6 times what a normal DVD could - which has potential in a number of areas. It would be great if we'd soon see the end of "special edition" DVDs that have all of the extra features that the company was too cheap to include in the standard package, as it would require two discs. It may be a long shot, but since movies like "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" contain their "special edition" features on the Blu-ray disc, it's certainly possible.
Moving to a new disc format also makes sense for video games. As games become bigger and bigger - and better and better looking - they need more space for all the game assets, no matter how good their data compression is. While the Xbox 360, with its DVD-only drive - you can purchase an HD-DVD add-on for the system, but Microsoft has stated it never will be used for games themselves - already has seen games that require more than one DVD, the PS3 - sneaking a "cheap" Blu-ray player into gamers' homes everywhere - won't likely see that problem. In fact, with so much room on the disc, some developers have taken to including every single language track they produce - English, Spanish, French… you name it Â- onto one BD that they can more easily ship worldwide.
High Definition is no doubt nice, and it's no doubt the future of our TV experiences. But I think it's yet to be seen whether general consumers are ready to start replacing their DVDs with something else.
Moving to a new disc format also makes sense for video games. As games become bigger and bigger - and better and better looking - they need more space for all the game assets, no matter how good their data compression is. While the Xbox 360, with its DVD-only drive - you can purchase an HD-DVD add-on for the system, but Microsoft has stated it never will be used for games themselves - already has seen games that require more than one DVD, the PS3 - sneaking a "cheap" Blu-ray player into gamers' homes everywhere - won't likely see that problem. In fact, with so much room on the disc, some developers have taken to including every single language track they produce - English, Spanish, French… you name it Â- onto one BD that they can more easily ship worldwide.
High Definition is no doubt nice, and it's no doubt the future of our TV experiences. But I think it's yet to be seen whether general consumers are ready to start replacing their DVDs with something else.
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Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
superdynamite
posted 2/10/08 @ 3:13 PM CST
Yes, people care. People that purchased a certain format feel the need to justify their purchase. That is why they argue.
Now that Blu-ray has won the format war, it will be interesting to see which people will fall for the slick promotional techniques of the HD-DVD manufacturers. (Continued…)
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