The Skinny On This HD Media Thing
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I was a little sad when companies started to drop the HD-DVD as their format of choice (they dropped it quick and all at once, nonetheless). The HD-DVD sounded like exactly what it is, a better DVD. The Blu-Ray just sounded ridiculous. But, we don’t like to judge books by their covers (ed. yes we do), so we’ll spare the Blu-Ray. To say it simply, the HD-DVD just seemed simple enough for what it was: a DVD with more capability. Easy, right?
The problem I had is that people are being misled into thinking that an HD-DVD or Blu-Ray disc automatically has great high-definition content on it, or that they are superior in video quality. It isn’t… the file sizes are greater so that developers can put higher-definition content on the disc. This isn’t because the disc is some magic wonder-plastic, its because that the discs have more space on them to hold more content. In this case, more content being a lot more information for a higher resolution video.
Don’t get me wrong, this doesn’t mean these formats are simply DVDs on crack, they are completely different in their manufacturing and writing processes. Older DVD players won’t be able to play these high-capacity discs; back in the day you couldn’t play a DVD in a simple CD-ROM drive.
So what’s so special about these formats?
These formats, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray can only be played with their specific readers. The real “next-generation” technology lies with the Blu-Ray players (we’re refraining from using HD-DVD past this point, because there is no future for this format). The players are able to broadcast the highest resolution available today, 1080p, and are capable of helping your older DVDs look better on large displays as well. This technology of upscaling and HDMI output is really what general people are looking at (we’re excluding early adopters, explained later) for their TV sets. Most people don’t know the technological difference between 1080i and 1080p, let alone know how to spot one broadcast over the other (there’s a good explanation at HomeTheater.com). People do know that HDMI = good, and upscale could only mean something greater than normal.
What I’m simply trying to say here, it’s getting closer to the point where people will realize that BD-ROM is the future of DVD. HD technology is still upcoming for a lot of people, and many will weep over the death of the popular DVD. It is going to happen, regardless, however. BD-ROM is the next format, and we will soon need to make way for its HD-capabilities. First step, buy a new flatscreen!
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