1996 predictions about DVD (a funny flashback)

http://tinyurl.com/bwgty

It's funny to think this was all-too-typical of laserdisc fans'
predictions for DVD at the time. I still remember arguing in 1997 with
alt.video.laserdisc denizens who would claim "DVD's are too fragile to
rent" and "No way they'll stay this cheap" (this was when DVD's
*AVERAGED* $25 a disc and $15 discs were unheard of).

Of course, I've been wrong myself sometimes. I never expected HDTV's to
catch on as fast as they have. And even I was surprised how quickly and
thoroughly DVD's caught on with the general public.

-Eric

elrous0@pop.uky.edu

wrote:

>It's funny to think this was all-too-typical of laserdisc fans'
>predictions for DVD at the time.

The key point that was missed in that discussion, I think, is that LD was
never more than a niche format that attracted technology geeks (like me).
DVD's small size and low price managed to break through to the VHS market,
which is where the majority of people were. All the tech issues, some of
which were (and are) valid concerns, didn't matter to people who
thought recording 3 movies on one tape was a pretty cool thing to do.
Size and price did matter.

Kimba W. Lion

wrote:
> http://tinyurl.com/bwgty
>
> It's funny to think this was all-too-typical of laserdisc fans'
> predictions for DVD at the time. I still remember arguing in 1997 with
> alt.video.laserdisc denizens who would claim "DVD's are too fragile to
> rent" and "No way they'll stay this cheap" (this was when DVD's
> *AVERAGED* $25 a disc and $15 discs were unheard of).
>
> Of course, I've been wrong myself sometimes. I never expected HDTV's to
> catch on as fast as they have. And even I was surprised how quickly and
> thoroughly DVD's caught on with the general public.
>
> -Eric

Of course many of those that proclaimed that they digital artifacts
were awful and prefered the look of LDs to them and who proclaim that
audio on LD is better likely STILL collect and watch LDs. I know I
unloaded a whole hell of a lot of them.

To be fair, many early DVDs that I saw DIDN'T look that good. Even
worse was seeing it in a poorly calibrated tv at (say) Best Buy.

Of course now with HDTVs, LDs are even more obsolete as (i don't think)
there's no such thing as an anamorphic LD.

-goro-

Goro

There is a wonderful synergy that has materialized with the DVD format.
"Loverly and quite a surpreze", Count Olaf explained to me.

It's definitely a "sweet-spot". A modern computer has plently of
processing power and hard-drive space that, combined with broadband
cable access & a DVD-burner, can unshackle a person from the
entertainment slave-masters.

For stand-alone players operated by the average Joe, it's a dependable,
convenient and quality format that anyone can learn how to use. When I
have my movie night over at my neighbor's house (who will never age
mentally beyond being ~15 years old or so) I allow him to operate the
DVD remote. He's gotten pretty good at it.



wrote:
> http://tinyurl.com/bwgty
>
> It's funny to think this was all-too-typical of laserdisc fans'
> predictions for DVD at the time. I still remember arguing in 1997 with
> alt.video.laserdisc denizens who would claim "DVD's are too fragile to
> rent" and "No way they'll stay this cheap" (this was when DVD's
> *AVERAGED* $25 a disc and $15 discs were unheard of).
>
> Of course, I've been wrong myself sometimes. I never expected HDTV's to
> catch on as fast as they have. And even I was surprised how quickly and
> thoroughly DVD's caught on with the general public.
>
> -Eric
>

From today's perspective, those LaserDisc fans do look kinda stoogy. :~)

However, since I'm sorely tempted to buy a certain ED! Panasonic plasma
television, I may be joining the laser fan-club near future. 8*P


- Winfield

WinField

() wrote in alt.video.dvd:
> I still remember arguing in 1997 with
> alt.video.laserdisc denizens who would claim "DVD's are too fragile to
> rent"

They *are* too fragile to rent...at least the way most people treat them.
But, since they are now so cheap at wholesale, the loss due to pizza sauce
and frisbee emulation isn't really a big deal.

--
Jeff Rife |
| http://www.nabs.net/Cartoons/RhymesW...e/BirdDogs.jpg

Jeff Rife

Kimba W. Lion wrote:

>>It's funny to think this was all-too-typical of laserdisc fans'
>>predictions for DVD at the time.
>
> The key point that was missed in that discussion, I think, is that LD was
> never more than a niche format that attracted technology geeks (like me).
> DVD's small size and low price managed to break through to the VHS market,
> which is where the majority of people were. All the tech issues, some of
> which were (and are) valid concerns, didn't matter to people who
> thought recording 3 movies on one tape was a pretty cool thing to do.
> Size and price did matter.

Also, the key issue that has sunk many another new A/V format to a
watery grave: Nobody had to buy new equipment.

Only niche HT geeks went out and paid $600 for the big Sony players--
The first non-LD people to discover the "big deal" about DVD's and
spread the word were computer techies who could play the movies on their
desktop disk-drives, and the gamerz who could play them on their
PlayStations. (Remember those disk labels on kids/anime titles that
said "PlayStation compatible"?)

Hence the lesson that most companies forget when trotting out new
technologies:
MOST people are cheap, and don't spend money on things they don't know.

Derek Janssen (and okay, who wants to quote the traditional "Third Rock"
joke?)

Derek Janssen

Once you got to sub-$100 players at Wal-Mart, DVD's dominance was
assured. No reason for Joe Sixpack not to replace his VCR.

There are other factors that helped DVD along. Bigger, cheaper and
better TV's helped alot. Just compare what you could buy 10 years ago
to what's out there now. If Pioneer had been more agressive in their
pricing, maybe LD could have done better in the late 80's, early 90's
when it had the market to itself.

That being said, I recently pulled my LD player and discs out of
storage after 2 1/2 years and 2 moves, just to see if it still worked.
Hooked it up to my 32 inch HDTV and after a couple of false starts due
to a disc-clamping issue, it fired right up. I was pretty pleased with
the picture. Not progressive scan DVD quality to be sure, but better
than I ever remember LD being (likely a function of the TV being so
much better than the TV I had 2.5 years ago). I'm looking forward to
revisiting my LD collection. I'm kind of glad I didn't sell everything
off at firesale prices.

-beaumon

lorincantrell@yahoo.com

Goro wrote:
> [...]
> Of course now with HDTVs, LDs are even more obsolete as (i don't think)
> there's no such thing as an anamorphic LD.

Actually there were, just not too many. I thought I had a list but,
alas, no;
one would have to visit the AVL archives for it. Most of them were
special
demo discs because anamorphic displays were rare circa 1990s.

There were also HDTV Muse HiVision LDs back then with higher resolution
than any present DVD; visit URL:

<http://thadlabs.com/LD_info/>

scroll down to "MUSE" and see the January 1999 listing. A number of us
had full HDTV setups at home 8+ years ago.

thad@thadlabs.com

wrote:
> Goro wrote:
> > [...]
> > Of course now with HDTVs, LDs are even more obsolete as (i don't think)
> > there's no such thing as an anamorphic LD.
>
> Actually there were, just not too many. I thought I had a list but,
> alas, no;
> one would have to visit the AVL archives for it. Most of them were
> special
> demo discs because anamorphic displays were rare circa 1990s.
>
> There were also HDTV Muse HiVision LDs back then with higher resolution
> than any present DVD; visit URL:
>
> <http://thadlabs.com/LD_info/>
>
> scroll down to "MUSE" and see the January 1999 listing. A number of us
> had full HDTV setups at home 8+ years ago.

I stand corrected... and impressed. That's pretty damb cool. I knew
about line doublers/quadruplers and projectors from back in the day,
but I didn't know of any true HD. How did the High Def (how many
lines?) analog LD look compared to the 1080i or 720p vids now?

thx
-goro-

Goro

<> wrote in message
news: oups.com...
>> Of course now with HDTVs, LDs are even more obsolete as (i don't
>> think)
>> there's no such thing as an anamorphic LD.
>
> Actually there were, just not too many. I thought I had a list but,
> alas, no;
> one would have to visit the AVL archives for it. Most of them were
> special
> demo discs because anamorphic displays were rare circa 1990s.

You can find the list on this page:

http://www.mindspring.com/~laserguru/squeeze.html

Joshua Zyber