High Definition - Is it doomed ?

[Merton Park]

Can't really tell the difference. Who would want to see the individual blades of grass anyway? Unless you are a Gardner that is!

[christoph404]

Isn't it amazing how cheap large flat screen LCD or Plasma HD ready screens are? I mean only a few years ago a plasma TV was three grand plus, now they are about 500 to 700 pounds. Regarding the 16;9 and 4x3 format.....do people still buy 4x3 tvs?, if you go into a large tv store such as comet or currys almost every TV is a "widescreen" 16x9 with a few token 4x3 tvs at the back of the shop,aren't new electronics expensive to begin with then cheaper as mass production kicks in? Normal DVD discs were expensive when they came out now they are off loaded in a similar way to fruit and veg......5 for £30!.........maybe HD DVDs will go the same way eventually?...

[Lord Brett]

name='DB7']Expense is the problem. There's always a minority of gadget freaks who'll buy any new AV device but to cross-over it needs support and to be reasonably priced.



I pay too much in Sky subs already and I'll be beggared if I'm paying more for HD channels.

I would literally be beggared if I forked out any more to Sky!

[Windthrop]

name='knobbykins']DVD producers never fill ordinary discs with data now,so it doesn't matter how many gigs,migs or frigs a HD disc has,only the latest big releases will get special treatment and the older films enjoyed by this board will be ignored,on the whole,as they are now.

Don't let yourselves get conned by marketing,just ask yourself what's actually wrong with your DVDs now.

Standard DVDs with an 'upscaler' are not that poorer in quality compared with HD/BLURAY and more to the point what we are not being told is that at the back of this all is anti-piracy. Apparently the HD/BLURAY discs are that much more difficult to pirate. In a sense the public are being enticed into investing in new equipment and discs for marginal quality benefit to help the companies combat piracy. They should be paying us !

[marker]

name='Windthrop']Standard DVDs with an 'upscaler' are not that poorer in quality compared with HD/BLURAY and more to the point what we are not being told is that at the back of this all is anti-piracy. Apparently the HD/BLURAY discs are that much more difficult to pirate. In a sense the public are being enticed into investing in new equipment and discs for marginal quality benefit to help the companies combat piracy. They should be paying us !

Flat screen tvs are imho perfectly ok as they are and give a more than adequate picture, so why bother trying to make so called improvements, only so they can screw more money out of us, I have looked at these in the shops and cant see much in the way of picture improvement.



So if the new discs are more difficult to pirate does this mean we wont be able to make a copy ???

[Modular]

name='marker']

So if the new discs are more difficult to pirate does this mean we wont be able to make a copy ???

Nope. Copies are easily achievable.

[Windthrop]

name='Modular']Nope. Copies are easily achievable.

Serves Sony right

[Modular]

name='Windthrop']

Serves Sony right

.

[marker]

name='Modular']Nope. Copies are easily achievable.

well thats a relief I often like to back up expensive commercial discs if I am going to be watching them a lot and keep the originals out of harms way at least if the dog or the wife chews them I don't have to worry to much

[christoph404]

Oh well, I guess we should take comfort from the fact that the Hd discs are easy to copy and pirate.....

less profit for sony and more illicit cash for international gangsters to fund hardcore and child porn amongst other things....

[Modular]

name='christoph404']

Oh well, I guess we should take comfort from the fact that the Hd discs are easy to copy and pirate.....

Whatever anti-pirate measures are developed, there'll always be those who consider it a challenge to crack them and then pass the info into the public domain. Manufacturers are well aware of it...

[Aaryk Noctivagus]

name='marker']well thats a relief I often like to back up expensive commercial discs if I am going to be watching them a lot and keep the originals out of harms way at least if the dog or the wife chews them I don't have to worry to much

I tend to make back-up copies when my children have a fad for a certain movie... in case the DVD comes to harm... Tried to back up 'Spider-Man II' because my son is mad keen on it... but it just won't work... the security on that disk is very firm...



That's technology for you... gone are the days when you could make a back up copy (quite legal if for personal use)... now, because of the pirates, its all tied down so you can't even make legitimate copies.



The pirates aren't probably foiled even though I am by that DVD.

[Modular]

name='Aaryk Noctivagus']

I tend to make back-up copies when my children have a fad for a certain movie... in case the DVD comes to harm...

Kids and DVDs usually don't mix!



Friends of mine (who value their collections) always give their young kids a back-up copy to play. It's just safer that way.



As for back-ups themselves, all DVDs can be ripped. Just occasionally though, you can stumble upon a stubborn one...

[Aaryk Noctivagus]

name='Modular']Friends of mine (who value their collections) always give their young kids a back-up copy to play. It's just safer that way.



As for back-ups themselves, all DVDs can be ripped. Just occasionally though, you can stumble upon a stubborn one...

Yeps... that's what I try to do... but 'Spider-Man II' is stubborn... and I'm not dedicated enough to ripping DVDs to try beyond the software I already have for composing purposes - getting how footage is sent to me, into forms I can use for timings.

[christoph404]

name='Modular']Whatever anti-pirate measures are developed, there'll always be those who consider it a challenge to crack them and then pass the info into the public domain. Manufacturers are well aware of it...

Im a bit of a techno phobe myself, I had no idea that copying a DVD at home was done on such a casual and regular basis by, it would seem, many people. I guess it makes sense to have a back up copy of Spiderman or whatever so that you don't have to fork out for a new disk when the kids mash it up or play frisbee with it, I guess its a pity less scrupulous people make large amounts of money out of copying and selling discs, though I would assume the film companies would not differentiate that much from the thousands of home users making discs as a simple back up, from those entering into full scale commercial piracy? My feeling is that discs should be impossible to copy to erradicate commercial piracy, not convenient for those of us who want back up copies for the kids, but I can't think of another way to stamp it out. If one of my DVDs gets damaged I just buy another one, DVDs are so cheap in comparrison to going to the cinema (15 each in London) and DVDs on release are normally £12-£15? and one month or so later are in the special offer bin at £5-£7?.....or less. If discs were impossible to copy it wouldn't be the end of the world if the ikids mashed it, you could just buy another in the same way that you might replace a broken toy except hopefully the DVD would have come down in price and maybe the kids would learn to handle the DVDs more carefully...........good luck with cracking the code on 'Spiderman 2' Aaryk! if you can't crack it and you really need another copy you can get a brand new one from £2.50 on amazon.co.uk, thats less than a pint of beer where I live!........

[Modular]

name='christoph404']

I guess it makes sense to have a back up copy of Spiderman or whatever so that you don't have to fork out for a new disk when the kids mash it up or play frisbee with it,

I once (a couple of years ago) had the benefit of witnessing a friend entering the living room to find his four year old twins dancing on top of about fifty-odd DVDs and CDs out of their cases, and some of them had even been crayoned!!!



I won't repeat here what his initial outburst was...

[Windthrop]

name='christoph404']Im a bit of a techno phobe myself, I had no idea that copying a DVD at home was done on such a casual and regular basis by, it would seem, many people. I guess it makes sense to have a back up copy of Spiderman or whatever so that you don't have to fork out for a new disk when the kids mash it up or play frisbee with it, I guess its a pity less scrupulous people make large amounts of money out of copying and selling discs, though I would assume the film companies would not differentiate that much from the thousands of home users making discs as a simple back up, from those entering into full scale commercial piracy? My feeling is that discs should be impossible to copy to erradicate commercial piracy, not convenient for those of us who want back up copies for the kids, but I can't think of another way to stamp it out. If one of my DVDs gets damaged I just buy another one, DVDs are so cheap in comparrison to going to the cinema (15 each in London) and DVDs on release are normally £12-£15? and one month or so later are in the special offer bin at £5-£7?.....or less. If discs were impossible to copy it wouldn't be the end of the world if the ikids mashed it, you could just buy another in the same way that you might replace a broken toy except hopefully the DVD would have come down in price and maybe the kids would learn to handle the DVDs more carefully...........good luck with cracking the code on 'Spiderman 2' Aaryk! if you can't crack it and you really need another copy you can get a brand new one from £2.50 on amazon.co.uk, thats less than a pint of beer where I live!........

I take your point about commerical piracy and its associated evils but the whole pirate market started up in this country because the greedy video distributers in the early days of pre-recorded video tapes (late '70s) charged the earth (£30 - £70 and thats without inflation adjustment) and the pirates moved in and cleaned up. The film companies shot themselves in the foot like the US government did via prohibition.

[christoph404]

name='Windthrop']I take your point about commerical piracy and its associated evils but the whole pirate market started up in this country because the greedy video distributers in the early days of pre-recorded video tapes (late '70s) charged the earth (£30 - £70 and thats without inflation adjustment) and the pirates moved in and cleaned up. The film companies shot themselves in the foot like the US government did via prohibition.

Well I guess so, but I think it is possibly human nature to want things at the lowest possible price or even for nothing or even by illicit means (buying a pirate copy)if we can get away with it! I bought a fake Gucci handbag for my girlfriend while on a trip to New York a little while ago,which was indistiguisahable from the real thing, I of course told her it was counterfeit and she praised my initiative and common sense at not forking out a ludicrous amount of money for the real thing....phew!!! There are those who would reason that if you think something is too expensive and you can't afford it....then don't have it....I guess its difficult to resist the temptation and satisfaction of getting a 'bargain' People buy fake or pirate DVDs because they either grudge paying full price or is it because they can't afford it? I wonder if in most cases they can afford it but there is an opportunity to pay less to a less scrupulous buyer? I suppose its all relative, I personnaly see no point in buying a fake DVD when you can buy a bona fide item at a very cheap price anyway and to buy a blockbuster action film that cost 60+ million dollars to make for a few pounds seems good value to me! On the other hand I grudge paying six hundred quid for a handbag that cost 20 quid to produce. I guess that is a bit of a double standard on my part but it would seem there is a more well documented link between DVD piracy and organised crime of other kinds, and because I buy several DVDs per week I feel I should at least not contribute to the decline of the film industry by participating in the purchase of pirate DVDS, ..... the occasional fake handbag perhaps......

[christoph404]

name='Modular']I once (a couple of years ago) had the benefit of witnessing a friend entering the living room to find his four year old twins dancing on top of about fifty-odd DVDs and CDs out of their cases, and some of them had even been crayoned!!!



I won't repeat here what his initial outburst was...

.....little bleeders!!!!.......moral of that story.....keep the precious DVDs out of the reach of children....and don't leave them unatended in a room with crayons! especially at 4 years old!.....what did he expect!.........

[Modular]

name='christoph404']

.....little bleeders!!!!.......moral of that story.....keep the precious DVDs out of the reach of children....and don't leave them unatended in a room with crayons! especially at 4 years old!.....what did he expect!.........

Oh, stories like this involving young kids are anything but unusual.



Go back a few years, and you'll find a slice of jammy toast fitted the tape slot on a VHS player just nicely.



And I'll bet there are a few people here who have parents who could tell a tale about their youngsters having all the LPs out of the sleeves...