.

[Aaeden]

DVD is going to be the mainstream format for a long time yet, until costs come down. No, the Blu-ray version is not worth the $10 extra dollars right now, but once they start putting the time and effort into the effects, the bonuses, and other things and get their minds out of the 'DVD bonuses' style of things, it'll be far more worth it.

HD is dead, unfortunately. I was actually surprised by it. They're not even making HD DVD players in any form anymore. I'm glad the only HD disk I have is a 'special edition' disk of a porn combo package I got. On the plus side, HD DVDs still work just fine on computers.

VHS is long dead, but I do miss the time I spent in the communications technology room working on the video editing equipment with the old VHS tapes. :3

[Mobile Suit Bunny]

I don't think all technology has to go hand in hand. One of the reasons I like the idea of digital media instead of physical ones is so that people wouldn't have to adapt so often, and always be re-buying their media.

You still have to rebuy hardware. Motherboard/CPU/GPU have their limits as well. A Pentium3 wouldn't be able to run the 1040 or 720 standards. I've tried. It's not a codec issue, it's a compression (ie hardware) issue.

I don't think there's a video card out today that can't handle MPEG-2 on its own. It's not so much the processor as the GPU running on it. I remember buying ATI cards back in the day when a main selling point was its capability for smooth DVD playback. =P

Hells, PS2 played DVDs and that's not even 300MHz. My Eee (sorry to keep bringing that up ) is playing Life of Brian full screen off an external DVD drive right now and that's only 600MHz Celeron.

Drew -- I don't have a mobile either. I don't trust phones. =P And there's anpther good reason we can't switch over to all-digital media yet: media safety. Yeah, you scratch a DVD, it's your own fault. What about hard drive crashes though? How can you get it through ole mum and dad's head to back up or they could lose all their movies? =P I know, we techie people know better but I'm trying to think of every possible problem the bottom rung of the tech ladder could run up against.

[Aaeden]

Please. Bring up the EEE PC as much as you can. It's a wonder of old-school machinery in a modern package.

She's totally right too, (not that she needed my support), but MPEG-2, back when I worked with a lot more digital media stuff, was the be-all and end-all of "THIS WORKS WITH EFFING EVERYTHING". MPEG-4 was just becoming bigger, and I would have been worried about putting stuff in that format, specifically because of the compatibility issues with codecs and whatnot. MPEG-1 has been around since May 1988, and MPEG-2 since July 1990, so I'm pretty sure any card will be able to play MPEG-2 natively without a worry.

Oh, and by the 336, you're referring to the HMCS Montreal? o.o Just noticed it in your sig. :3

[Mobile Suit Bunny]

Please. Bring up the EEE PC as much as you can. It's a wonder of old-school machinery in a modern package.

She's totally right too, (not that she needed my support), but MPEG-2, back when I worked with a lot more digital media stuff, was the be-all and end-all of "THIS WORKS WITH EFFING EVERYTHING". MPEG-4 was just becoming bigger, and I would have been worried about putting stuff in that format, specifically because of the compatibility issues with codecs and whatnot. MPEG-1 has been around since May 1988, and MPEG-2 since July 1990, so I'm pretty sure any card will be able to play MPEG-2 natively without a worry.

Oh, and by the 336, you're referring to the HMCS Montreal? o.o Just noticed it in your sig. :3

I don't think anything would have an issue playing anything. Hardware is really a moot point =P

And yes, 336, the Montreal. Three years on her so far =P Really not happy with this no-onboard-helo thing, it guarantees us replacing the Freddie on fishpats. -sigh-

[Aaeden]

Eep, yeah, hardware is a moot point. Put 'Computer' into my statement instead of 'card', and it should be fine. I moreso meant natively as in "without added codecs" moreso than "being physically capable of playing the format". I had the option of choosing between DIVX, XVID, and MPEG-2 when making a video CD for our final project, and MPEG-2 won hands down. Too many people can barely figure out how to get a CD in their computer, nevermind getting a non-native codec to play.

Thanks for pointing that out, Mobile Suit Bunny, didn't mean to come off as unclear.

[Tiger_Dusk]

okie im not against the blue ray thingy... but i think it was kinda unnessary for them to just release it so quickly! I mean... im still getting used to dvd D: *ish embarassed* and eventually all the dvds will go away : ( like the way tapes did T.T i missed so many movies on tape... >> i have a dvd player.. and a bunch of movies for it... but like all these blue ray movies and games are comming out and like they are so expensive x3! it's just not fair : /

[Drewdle]

I don't think all technology has to go hand in hand. One of the reasons I like the idea of digital media instead of physical ones is so that people wouldn't have to adapt so often, and always be re-buying their media.

You still have to rebuy hardware. Motherboard/CPU/GPU have their limits as well. A Pentium3 wouldn't be able to run the 1040 or 720 standards. I've tried. It's not a codec issue, it's a compression (ie hardware) issue.

I don't think there's a video card out today that can't handle MPEG-2 on its own. It's not so much the processor as the GPU running on it. I remember buying ATI cards back in the day when a main selling point was its capability for smooth DVD playback. =P

Hells, PS2 played DVDs and that's not even 300MHz. My Eee (sorry to keep bringing that up ) is playing Life of Brian full screen off an external DVD drive right now and that's only 600MHz Celeron.

Drew -- I don't have a mobile either. I don't trust phones. =P And there's anpther good reason we can't switch over to all-digital media yet: media safety. Yeah, you scratch a DVD, it's your own fault. What about hard drive crashes though? How can you get it through ole mum and dad's head to back up or they could lose all their movies? =P I know, we techie people know better but I'm trying to think of every possible problem the bottom rung of the tech ladder could run up against.

I built a rig that I hooked up to my television, with a 466Mhz original class Celeron processor, 256megs of ram, a GeForce4 video card, and Xubuntu, and it played back DivX (Mpeg4) through a TV out connection just fine. The AppleTV plays 1080i HD content on a 1Ghz Celeron. You don't need that much power to do it, you just need to use the power efficiently.

It's difficult to get people to adjust. If I was going to make an investment in digital media, I would have to have some kind of backup solution or redundancy present before I'd be happy. 

[Benjamin]

I voted for DVD. Currently, as things stand, Blu-Ray is still for the rich, since the players are so pricey and there's no real advantage to it unless you've spent a heck of a lot of money on a new TV. I'm sure it's the way of the future, but for now, you don't really need a lot more than what a DVD provides.
Heck, we don't even sell Blu-Ray stuff in the electronics store I work at... yet. That is, unless you count the PS3s. They don't really count though.
 
Benjamin

[Benjamin]

I was trying to be humorous there.
 
PS3s are probably the best player you can get, so it seems. They're far less expensive than the stand-alone players, and they are updatable as well. Apparently, some of the earlier Blu-Ray systems have become incompatible with the newer offerings of that line... which is an expensive upgrade for those that have gone that route.
 
Benjamin

[Kesarra]

http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/04/87-of-playstation-3-owners-watching-blu-ray-movies-survey-says/

[Temperance]

I didn't see too much difference between Blu Ray and DVD until we got a new TV ^_^;;

BLU is significantly clearer and highly detailed, however without a nice new TV with all the features designed for high definition playback, you won't notice the difference at all.

[Mobile Suit Bunny]

That just factors into the initial cost of investment, sending it even higher. Oops, gotta buy a new TV, too.

With the switch from VHS to DVD, there was no such requirement.

[Temperance]

agreed.  If I didn't have a PS3, I wouldn't fork over the money for a Blu Ray player... I still balk at the $10 extra for a Blu Ray disk versus a DVD

[Seamus]

nobody should look at a bluray player and say "guess I have to buy a new hi def tv." and then get angry about it XP  You shouldn't even be looking at a bluray player unless you've got a good HDTV.