Quote Originally Posted by F9zDark View Post
Why doesn't it make sense? DVDs do not have the capacity to hold Uncompressed, HD 7.1 surround sound, nor do they have the capacity to hold even a compressed HD, 1080p encoded movie.

When DVDs first came out they were equally expensive as Blu-Rays are now. Simply because they are expensive doesn't mean they won't sell. The same was true of CDs when they first came out as well.

The space capacity increases made them worth it. Before DVDs there were Laser Discs, which were huge "CDs" that could hold a movie. Can you imagine if DVD failed to take the marketplace against that? Needless to say we wouldn't have portable DVD players now would we?

The fact of the matter is, for a truly HD experience Blu-Ray is the only way to go, and again, considering that the sales slump was ONLY 8% I'd seriously question any sane person saying that Blu-Ray will fail to succeed.

This author wrote this article haphazardly, using this sales slump to bring forth his DVD-loving rhetoric. I guarantee you the sales slump was due to the poor economic situation the US experiencing...
The whole issue though is that it isn't as big a difference as DVD was to VHS. In that transition we got: Smaller medium, more durable medium, non-linear playback, true pause ability, soft subtitles, multiple audio and video tracks, extra content (which was availible on VHS but combined with non-linear playback is actually useful), software interactivity on computer, simpler hardware, and higher quality, digital video and audio.

Compare that to the additions in Blu-Ray: Higher quality audio, Higher quality video, more expansive menus, simultaneous playback of multiple video streams, internet connectivity (with certain players), same physical medium but more sensitive, and MUCH more complex players.

On top of that, DVDs pretty much look better than VHS on any TV. The difference between Blu-Ray and DVD on an SD TV is much smaller.

Don't get me wrong, I love the look and sound of HD material on the giganto-vision 73in HDTV, but advocates seem to forget how huge the jump from VHS to DVD was for DVD to gain acceptance and how many formats that simply offered the same thing... but better! failed.

I see Blu-Ray as the equivilant of S-VHS and W-VHS to VHS. Better quality video, better quality audio... that's about it.