If you'll pardon us a loose pun, DVD technology started as a slow-burner. Consumers content with low-cost VHS recorders and videotapes were initially ambivalent about a home-video format onto which they could not record and demanded an investment of hundreds of pounds in order to play back the handful of movies that were available. Meanwhile, computer users, used to recordable CDs, were broadly unimpressed by the playback-only technology of early DVD equipment.
Within a couple of years though, the price of domestic DVD players had dropped. DVD recorders - of both the PC and home varieties - were far more affordable and DVD movies were being released thick and fast. Today, DVD is every bit as ingrained in living rooms and offices as VHS and recordable CD was before it. But could that be about to change?
Well, possibly. If the industry has its way, we'll soon be dumping our existing equipment in favour of one of two so-called 'next generation' DVD formats - Blu-ray and HD-DVD. Both have greater storage capacities than the existing DVD format, which means higher-quality video and expanded content. And both have eyes on securing the largest market share in both the home entertainment and computing markets. What's more, their arrival in the UK is imminent, and you can expect Blu-ray and HD-DVD devices and discs to arrive before Christmas.
Two's company
If everyone on the planet could be friends, then there wouldn't be any wars. This same wistful world would breed only one next-generation DVD format. Sadly, folks find it tough to get along and competing interests have decreed that there must be two new DVD formats, when consumers aren't even sure that they're ready for one.
So, in the red corner stands HD-DVD and in the blue corner there's Blu-ray. HD-DVD is essentially the creation of Toshiba, though it has the backing of a number of big name companies, including Microsoft and Intel. Blu-ray, on the other hand, is the primarily the work of Sony and has backing from the likes of Apple, Dell and Samsung.
Clearly, both camps are heavyweights and the marketing hype put out by each side would have consumers believe that their new format represents the gateway to a new world of stunning high-definition video, with hitherto unseen vividness of colours and image depth. Inevitably though, much of that is balderdash.
What's in store?
Viewed more soberly, Blu-ray and HD-DVD discs are little more than DVDs with greater capacity. A year or so ago, it would have been easy to summarise the difference between the two formats by saying Blu-ray discs can hold up to 50GB of data, while HD-DVD could store 30GB. However, waters on both sides have since become muddied by numerous revisions and enhancements, including doubled-sided discs and discs with two or even three data-storage layers - dubbed dual- and triple-layer discs. Written another way, the storage capacity of next-generation discs may be anywhere between 15GB and 90GB.
This isn't so very different from the existing DVD market, where capacities vary depending on the disc type and technology in use. A basic single-sided, single-layer DVD, for example, stores 4.7GB of data, while a commercial dual-layer movie disc may hold 8.5GB. However, distilled down, Blu-ray will always have the capacity advantage, simply because it can store more data per disc layer (25GB) than HD-DVD (15GB). Indeed, the Blu-ray Disc Association claims that double-sided multi-layer discs will eventually allow up to 200GB of data to be stored on a single 12cm disc. Time will tell on that particular claim.
The high-definition deal
Capacity is important, but it is not the be all and end all in determining the attractiveness of a disc format. After all, movie studios rarely release single titles longer than, say, an epic like The Godfather, so all that extra room must be for some purpose - and that's where the video-quality aspect comes into play.
The specifications of both the next-generation disc formats state a maximum resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels (the best High-Definition video quality), with the usual array of embedded surround-sound options. By comparison, existing DVDs are encoded at a maximum resolution of 720 x 576. As a rule of thumb, a single-sided 25GB Blu-ray disc (or BD-ROM) will store around two hours of video encoded at the top resolution of 1920 x 1080.
None of this means home-video divisions of the film studios have to encode Blu-ray or HD-DVD discs at the highest specified resolution, merely that the option is there. To date, however, most discs released on the two formats have contained higher-resolution video than the original DVD releases.
Protection palaver
Much of the drive for these new disc formats comes from Hollywood. Film studios have been quick to realise that a new movie medium offers them a chance to put a stop to piracy, and both HD-DVD and Blu-ray include a copy-protection system called High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP).
An invention of Intel, this is designed to restrict the copying of HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs by requiring specific compatible hardware in both players (standalone and in computers) and displays, along with a new type of connection to link them together. At the moment, full implementation of HDCP has been limited to allow owners of high-definition TVs to watch high-definition discs. However, it's possible that in the future you may not be able to play some next-generation discs on non-HDCP-compliant equipment. Yet again, it's watch-this-space territory, which is a bad place for a technology that's already being rolled out worldwide.
The PC pitch
Inevitably, a lot of our discussion has been about the home entertainment angle of the next-generation DVD formats, because this is what the various interested parties are busy promoting. Naturally though, Blu-ray and HD-DVD will be coming to a PC near you soon. Toshiba has already introduced a laptop PC with an HD-DVD drive - the Qosmio G35 costs just under $3,000 (around £1,575) - and other companies are likely to follow suit.
However, the technology most likely to drive the next-generation DVD market in relation to computers is disc recording/burning. This is a big part of the marketing roadmaps of both the HD-DVD and Blu-ray camps, but broadly speaking it's not currently available for UK consumers to buy. Overseas though, Pioneer has just released the BDR-101A, a PC drive capable of burning to writable Blu-ray media - it costs $1,000 (about £525), so hardly affordable right now.
Next-generation inclination?
So, that's the next-generation DVD debate digested - is the technology worth getting excited about? Frankly, we don't think so. Undoubtedly, there are benefits to be had from higher-storage capacities, not to mention baseline content specifications designed to promote the distribution of movies in high-definition video quality. We're not at all sure that these aspects will prove sufficiently compelling for consumers to en masse abandon the existing DVD format in favour of one or both of the new contenders. Moreover, to fully appreciate improvements to video quality, consumers face not only buying a next-generation DVD player, but also a high-definition television set - and that's not to mention the cost of purchasing (or re-purchasing) movies in HD format.
To our mind, it's in the computing and gaming arenas where these next-generation DVD formats may well be made or broken. PC users are much more likely to want to make use of the higher capacities, with recordable equipment. Sony's PlayStation 3 console (due for release in November) will have a built-in Blu-ray drive and an HD-DVD drive is on the cards for Microsoft's Xbox 360. However, success in the gaming arena may not translate into more widespread popularity for either HD-DVD or Blu-ray. So, to summarise the next-generation DVD situation in just three short words - it's a mess.
The future of DVD