Impressed by DVD

[quinnox]

I know I am probably the last person to get one, but finally hooked up a DVD player and I have to admit it is a cool new way to watch movies. Plus, they have good storage capabilites and there are many neat extra special features available on them as well as good tv shows that you can buy the entire run of on DVD.

[MissMarple]

1. Now what do we do with all these laser discs?

Not to mention the video cassettes. And in the not too distant future there will some other, more efficient technology. Arrgh! Progress. :D

And congratulations! They are pretty cool.

[ProudGerman]

3. Not too distant future being now

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=528&e=1&u=/ap/20040419/ap_on_hi_te/on_deck_dvd_tech

Once again, Sony is trying to own a technology by offering up its own format.

[cjbuchanan]

2. Will you go all out

and join Netflix?

We did it a year or so ago and are very happy with it.

Why does it sound like I'm trying to sell you something? Sorry about that.

[djeseru]

4. Yea Netflix!

Joined up a couple of years ago and haven't seen the inside of a video rental shop since.

[2bfree]

8. Me too!

No more waiting in line, late fees or poor choices at our local podunk video store!

[Deja Q]

5. Avoid Columbia/Tristar

Everything released from them has been poorly transferred and compressed. The end result is quality not unlike VHS. :puke:

Corporations hyped DVD for quality reasons and I hate corporations who don't follow through on quality and I'm perturbed by people who'll buy the movie or tv series and then say they don't care if the quality is crap (some people of which then attack the people who openly say we demand the quality.)

[Tummler]

6. WTF?

As the owner of 1300+ DVDs and someone who cares very much about the A/V quality of my DVDs and home theater setup, I have no problem with Columbia/Tri-Star.

In particular, the Columbia/Tri-Star "Superbit" line is really nice.

To say that "everything released from them has been poorly transferred and compressed" is utterly ridiculous.

[Deja Q]

7. Interesting...

so how come every TV show Columbia/TS has released looks like crap? It's not the masters. There's a difference between the quality of the master, the digital restoration, and the transfer quality. (the movies may be another issue, but I don't own any movies that they've released. Oddly.)

And if we're going to get out the proverbial tape measure, I own 200 DVDs. It's bollocks that one's level of expertise is determined by the number of discs one owns.

I should check out some of their movies and look at their quality. It's possible you're not seeing the artifacting (it takes a while to see the pattern) or it's just as possible that Columbia/TS puts more effort into movie releases, in which case I'll buy the pie you can throw at my face.

And Suberbit is a different story. It's nothing more than a lower compression rate, better audio, and a dual-layer disc so it all fits. Big woof. If only they'd release a GOOD movie in that format, then I'd buy it. I love higher quality...

But you're right, glibly blaming all of Columbia/TS's releases based on the quality of 5 prominent TV series they've released isn't fair. (Jeffersons, AitF, GT, S&S, and notably MWC...)

Maybe I'll go to that bar tonight and booze it up. :-)

[sir_captain]

9. Part of it could be

that many tv shows are shot on video, which is a lot crappier than film. I couldn't decipher your acronyms, but the Jefferson's could not be in very good shape now, I wouldn't think.

[LiviaOlivia]

10. FYI: Netflix Plans to Deliver Films Via Web in 2005

CEO: Netflix Plans to Deliver Films Via Web in 2005
Fri Apr 23, 2004 04:27 PM ET

By Michael Learmonth
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Movie rental service Netflix Inc. plans to do next year what its name has always promised: deliver a movie via the Internet. "Our strategy is to get huge in DVDs and then expand into downloads," Netflix Chief Executive Reed Hastings told Reuters on Friday. "When we get to 5 million or 10 million subscribers, eventually what we spend on postage becomes a prize for the movie studios."

<snip>
But next year Netflix plans to begin offering movies for download via the Internet, a business model that has felled many entrepreneurs in recent years. Hollywood movie studios continue to be in quandary over just how big a business movie downloading on the Web can be. Hastings said he anticipates his service will have 5 million members paying $22 a month by 2006.

<snip>
Hastings said he expects "moderate" consumer interest in downloads initially because most homes don't have Internet-connected television sets and because "DVD by mail works so well." "We're not interested in downloading to the computer," Hastings said, but rather expanding wireless connections in the home from a broadband Internet connection to the TV.

Another option would be to send digital movie files to existing set-top boxes like TiVo. TiVo CEO Mike Ramsey serves on the Netflix board. "This is something we talk about all the time, when are there enough units out there and when are there enough (movie) rights," Hastings said.


http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=4926763