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Sorry, but Jack is correct.

Posted by Audiophilander (A) on August 31, 2007 at 14:31:30

In Reply to: Laserdisc's competitor was DVD, which thoroughly kicked its butt once introduced posted by Jazz Inmate on August 31, 2007 at 13:00:08:

LD had been a niche product since the mid-80's even after the demise of CED (remember the RCA video disc format that employed a saphire stylis?). It never took off because it was too expensive and cumbersome, and the 425 line maximum resolution not a significant 'enough' gain over tape based formats to grab the general public attention.

Yes, laser disc did achieve niche market status after the first format war with CED and initial curiosity wore off. It also pointed the way for a future format (helped in large part to the overwhelming success of that 'other' 5" disc format for music), but DVD was never an issue in LD niche status.

Times have changed and I don't see this as a battle that will end with a niche market. There is only one real direction that this can move and that has pretty much been government mandated: digital, with higher definition WS progressive scan televisions being the norm to replace older sets. What that means is a ready made market to fill with higher definition video products (at the same time minimizing the pain some folks feel toward being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century).

IMO, "niche market" is an inexact term where high definition is concerned. Looking into my virtual crystal ball I predict that a high definition format will achieve wide public acceptance in time, perhaps not as rapidly as the entertainment industry would like, but in an easily collectible disc format since that's a proven winner. Whether it's HD-DVD or Blu-ray remains to be seen, but I suspect that both will gain ground due in part to backwards compatibility and the arrival of multi-format players.

Folks who already have accumulated large DVD collections aren't going to give them up easily, and with many titles standard definition may be good enough. When you factor in backwards compatibility with discounted prices of new hardware (including multi-format players) & software with nice film transfers and bonus features, the liklihood of high definition being accepted by the masses will increase.

The only unpredictable factor I envision is the one that no one can control: the economy.

AuPh

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