[geeks] D-VHS

[Bill Vinson]

On Tue, Nov 12, 2002 at 11:04:32AM -0500, vance at neurotica.com wrote:
> On Mon, 11 Nov 2002, Bill Vinson wrote:
> 
> > > Higher resolution.  Longer recording.  Can record HDTV native.  There are
> > > a whole bunch more.
> >
> > Three on the other end and the reasons I have NO attention of using it...
> >
> > Not random access
> 
> Same problem with Digital8 or MiniDV.  No difference.
> 
> > Rewinding
> 
> Again.

Sorry, I guess I missed most of the thread.  I do not consider D-VHS to
be a competitor to MiniDV and Digital8 will become less and less
prominent over time as it is really only a stop gap format (albeit a
fairly nice one).  D-VHS is a competitor to DVD in my mind.  I haven't
seen D-VHS to make a comparison, but I don't consider ANY video quality
increase to be worth the change from an optical to a tape based format
and eventually HD-DVD will come out.  I don't consider HDTV to be ready
for prime time yet anyway (Cost, availability, potential restrictions of
my rights as a consumer).

> > Studios will never let you record HDTV digitally at full quality
> 
> Not familiar with their methods.  Care to elaborate?

Well, for one the firewire port that was being considered is under heavy
attack and will probably not be used widely (or at all). There are also
all of the watermarking, record flags, etc. that are designed with one
thing in mind.  Allowing producers to decide what can and cannot be
recorded.  This is not just designed to prevent consumers from archiving
shows, but also from watching at another time (TiVO) or skipping over
commercials.  To begin with it will probably start as you cannot record
HDTV signals or can only do so with a lower end video signal, but I do
believe this is eventually a move to remove all recording of TV.

I don't mind region-coding on DVD even though I think it is stupid. DVDs
offer enough value at a small price that I feel that I am getting what I
deserve for my money. They also usually offer enough extra content that
I wouldn't simply want to tape the same movie off of TV (even if it were
shown at or above the quality of a DVD).

However, I am considered about any attempt to eliminate my ability as a
consumer to tape '24' and watch it later as I would prefer to watch
'Smallville' :)

Just my take on things,
Bill