High Definition DVD

The New world of High Definition:
There is a lot to look forward to in terms of what HD is going to do in terms of available content and experiences, spring of 2006 ( not that far off ). It has been a long time coming for sure and plenty of industry rhetoric and showmanship over prototypes and vaporware... but now we know what to expect since production lines are making the stuff right now.

Home Entertainment Systems become Media Centers.
Trust this... billions are being spent to cater your business in every possible way, with HD being the enabler. For the moment lets just look into the world of Sony, Specifically the PS3.

What? A game machine? .. yes. but the title will be "Media Center"

For one thing, it will likely be the easiest to afford Blu-ray High Definition DVD player you will be able to buy, and it will come with all it takes to perform that task with surround sound integrity. And of couse if you have kids ( or grownups that are really kids at heart ) then the family gets the most stunning game realism in whatever is on the screen.

Blu-Ray is yet another format for DVD's and it will be media for True HD content, the situation as always is price-point and consumer adoption. Demand for a High Definition DVD will be based on whether or not the consumer owns a player and has an HD TV. At this time Blu-ray has the approval of many media giants that require copy-protection of digital content.

My Guess?
The practical yankee early adopters with a usual paycheck are not likely to spend $500-$800 bucks on a High definition DVD player, but they will spend the $299 for a PS3 just to get the most out of thier HDTV investment have and a Blu-Ray DVD player ( one of the few practical ways to get and see 1080p content) . I would expect the PS3 price point at market entry to be maybe $399+ and then drop down in price over the following months as the economy of scale meets the market saturation of the "Must Have" consumer, and available content expands. For this reason i expect the "Media Center" name to become yet another abused title for such stuff where the feature set can vary dramatically within a product line. Optional components will abound, like wireless networking, wireless controllers, external hard drives and DVR. For an added membership-like fee there will be likely be downloadable content and of course, multiplayer subscription gaming. It is the Holy Water in the grail and even an alternative to Pay-tv's Movies On Demand. I already know of a couple on-line magazines that have thoughts of subscription video magazine offerings, and they desire to be doing it with the added value of HD quality.

Blu-Ray? What does that have to do with a DVD?
In its specs the blue ray can deliver 50+ GB of storage. A Blu-ray DVD holds just under 6 times the data of a regular DVD. Massive. They call it "blu" and "ray" to identify that it is employing a Blue Laser of very short wavelength as the means of reading the DVD... honestly i think the consumer could care less and in fact it may put people off that do not realize that blue has anything to do with High Definition. They need a new logo http://www.blu-raydisc.info/



Lots to look forward to.
Next: the DVD encryption... Media-Player-Network - is this just copy protection?