DVD+ Formats Controversy

[Jerry Jones]

http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-861495.html

[KuroNeko]

Well, I have heard a lot of complaints about this. It's not just HP, allmost all companies early to the + market have this problem, because they all used the same OEM Ricoh drive!

We warned then about the R issue, that it was by no means certain, but people still wanted + drives because they believed the market hype that it was the more compatible format.

Those that bought -R/RW drives are now all going "I told you so"

Another blow to the + camp is that Sony is spotted at Cebit feeling a bit uncomfortable with +. Their new drives will support both + and - formats, but they do look like they're waiting for an excuse to jump ship on +. Looks like the forum's decision on the HDTV format not being the new Blueray system but rather the same old DVD format but new codec has made a number of + supporters nervous about the future...

Neko

[dZeus]

Regardless of what they claimed their drives could be upgraded to, people should have enough common sense to understand that it's a unlikely claim, with the standard not yet finalized at the moment of proeduction of their unit.
(What I'm saying is that it's not only bad marketing, but some naivity on the buyers side as well).

About the DVD-Forum and Blu-Ray: I hope the DVD-Forum will _not_ have influence on wether Blu-Ray or their own format will be used eventually. Formats for higher capacity are always much better than higher compression for HDTV imho

[KuroNeko]

I agree, bigger formats are desirable, but unfortunately, the DVD Forum has the last word on what will be the official HDTV DVD Format, and they've decieded on standard DVD-9 with lowbitrate codec like MPEG4.

So the decision's been made and unless MPEG4 or whathever codec they'll decide on doesn't deliver the goods, they won't accept Blu-Ray.

It's understandable though, with DVD not very long in the market and manufacturing plants investing large amounts in DVD pressing, they're not willing to do this again so soon. Not to mention blue laser tech is very new, and DVD had/has still some serious problems (in manufacturing and esp. R discs). With even smaller data structures and rewritability right from the start, Blu-Ray is a big gamble. My guess is they want to wait until this technology has proven itself, and don't want to wait that long for HDTV, now that D-VHS is entering the prerecorded HDTV market.

Blu-Ray may yet make it to the market for PC drives though, which would be already good enough for me.

Neko

[Dr Mordrid]

One thing complicating the use of MPEG-4 everywhere is MPEG LA's contention that a use fee for each play be imposed on streaming MPEG-4.

This may affect its acceptance across the board given their unfortunate, and obvious, money grab.

Dr. Mordrid

[KuroNeko]

Yep, Apple already put QT on hold because of this. But the DVD Forum has choices aplenty. There's the DIVX codec, the new Corona codec from MS and quite a few more contenders are vieing for the Forum's attention. If the MPEG4 guys don't drop their policy, they'll lose out. Serves them right *NEG*

Corona looks great sofar, can't wait to see it happen. A collegue has a demo codec of the H265 (if that's the right number, can't remember) on which Corona is based, but maybe we'll see other implementations too (DIVX-X anyone )

Neko