THE FUNNY thing about the Blu-ray vs HD DVD war is that, 1. most people would still rather buy a DVD because many of us are perfectly happy with its quality, and that’s probably gonna be true for a few more years, and 2. pretty soon, it will make more sense for a growing number of people to just download high-definition content to their hard drives or stream it rather than buy a disc.
OK, personally I was rooting for HD DVD but it looks like I might have picked the wrong format after Warner Bros. drove a stake into Toshiba’s heart and decided to go exclusively Blu-ray. Toshiba has responded (well, after first canceling their Consumer Electronics Show press conference) by slashing the prices of its HD DVD players. By the way, as my fellow tech journalists and I have discussed time and again, another major factor that would determine the outcome of this latest format war would be: which one will the porn industry support? And according to this article, the adult film industry is still backing HD DVD. (But shouldn’t a blue movie be on Blu-ray? Heh, just kidding.)
Anyway, now that Apple also wants to corner the movie rental business with iTunes, expect movie downloads to become even more mainstream. (Now, if only Apple could make the iTunes store available in the Philippines and the rest of Asia…)
Check out this Reuters video report on Apple’s movie rental service.
I’m a big believer in watching video online (obviously, since I handle our online video service) and an avid fan of services like Joost. Just imagine how far we’ve come — a few years ago, broadcast-quality online video was a pipe dream.
Oh, and speaking of Apple, for the record, I’m drooling over the MacBook Air, the world’s thinnest notebook. Yes, I love Mikaela my (well, until the office changes its mind, heh) MacBook Pro, but damn, just look at the MacBook Air!
January 18th, 2008 at 9:13 am
michaelpaul, a bit off topic but I beieve 3 dimensional media storage is an up and coming concept where rather than a RAM chip or flat CD to store information, you have a deep reading laser that could write to a cube of material (or any other, more ergonomic, pocket sized shape) with the capability to store data several magnitudes higher than any disc. Exciting stuff!
January 18th, 2008 at 8:57 am
I can’t wait for HD quality! Obviously youv’e never watched a DVD on a screen bigger that 16″. The only benefit DVD has is that the quality is poor enough so that you don’t see any corner cutting in films.
So question answered, I cares! Not only that but there is also the issue of data storage. With bluray having a theoretical maximum capacity of several hundred Gb and hddvd at only a pallid 35Gb. Also I don’t think it is wise to corner ourselves to only being able to take HD content from the internet where movie companies can restrict your viewing and impose advertising upon you. The glory of unprotected media on disc is, I believe, sacred.
January 18th, 2008 at 8:20 am
haha, me too, joey, me too. i just finished looking at the online demo before i read your post!
January 18th, 2008 at 8:03 am
1) I have not seen an HD feed yet.
2) see 1.
3) When there is a 7.1 Uncompressed 24mbit Audio 1920×1080p 60fps TRUE HD feed that makes my 12 foot by 5 foot screen and 700wRMS audio look and sound as good as blu-ray (HD-DVD)…
Where am I going to Store this? My 500GB sas drive? That will not even store Harry Potter, Blader Runner, and Lord of the Rings. Hmmm, I think I am still going to need a disk. Probably one which holds 50-100GB of data.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DTS-HD_Master_Audio
January 18th, 2008 at 7:14 am
I would have to totally disagree with this. I would say 90% of the people I have talked to are not content with DVD’s quality and out of that 70% are going to or have bought a hd tv and are not about to adopt movie downloads as an alternative to buying a hard copy of the movie I think this is a total farce that all these “HD-DVD supporters are coming out now and saying movie downloads are the way to go. Then why were you supporting HD-dvd you freakin shortsighted tool. get off your Idea lost there is nothing more pathetic then a soar looser. and to all your F-n bought tech journalist your a bunch of tools do some real work and get out of the pockets of the industry. tech savy my arse you freakin tool.