Electronics industry is going to sock it to the consumer

[lufttiger]

Well as of yesterday, HD dvd are dead and Blu-ray is the wave of the future.
The disc is certainaly better, it can hold 25 GB on a single layer, vs HD dvd
of only 4.7 GB. But here is the problem, can your current dvd players play
blu-ray?? (I don't know), They are making new players to play blu-ray and
also DVD's. How bout your computer? will it be compatable? (I don't know)

No more analog tv, its all digital next year. You can buy a new TV, Ouch! or
you can buy a converter box. The Govt is handing out 2 coupons per household to help with the cost, although i think you need to sign up for it??

I realize new technoligy is a good a better thing, but for the consumer, this
can really hurt the pocket book.

[Jim O]

I believe that most Blu-Ray machines are backward compatible, that is they have a second laser that will play standard definition DVD's. And older DVD's aren't just going to go away. It was quite awhile before VHS tapes really disappeared so you should have a bit of life.

Your old DVD players and computer drives will not read Blu-ray discs, but as they become more common the price will come down. In fact they already have. Look at regular DVD players. When they came out they may have been $400. Now you can get a decent one for $40-$50.

Most US households get TV signals via cable or satellite. They will be unaffected even if they have no converter. Only people who rely on the airwaves and who have older televisions will be affected. Those people will be entitled to two $40 vouchers per household which will defray most of the cost of converting to being able to receive the digital signals.

Technology and progress costs money. I like having airbags in my car. If the government hadn't mandated them we wouldn't have them. Who pays for them? The consumer does. The airwaves belong to the people. The frequencies being used by analog television signals will be re-sold and likely used for cellular phone signals or something else. More competition in that area will lower our costs there even more than they already have come down.

So...there is a trade off. But in the end "progress" almost always wins.

[lufttiger]

Thanks for that info Jim, that helps alot. So most people including myself
will be good on the tv change. But its the disc change that will cause me problems. I won't be able to play Blu-ray at all without a new machine, but
already 7 major movie compaines or releaseing new movies in blu-ray as well
as HD DVD for awhile. I think they will stop in the future to release dvd movies and go only with Blu-ray?

[Whiterook]

It took my wife and I until just last year to upgrade from our 20" TV to a 40" HD LCD. We've been married 23 years and had only one TV until only a few years ago (Mom-n-Law jettisoned an old 20" to us, bringing us up to 2). Just never could quite blow big $$$ on HiDef until recently...life, you know? I now look at this LCD and think, it's just like watching a movie in the theater! I still hold tenaciously onto my record player, but we own a few CD players. We even each own an IPod! Yes, electronics have wormed their way into our household, but sometimes I wonder if to our detriment.

I remember a TV commercial with Tom Selleck...touting something like "Imagine someday sitting on a beach typing on your laptop...you will". I don't (not on the beach, anyway) but it's all arond us. I go to the movie, and these fools are NOT watching the movie, but futzing on their cell phones Texting. Whats up with that? You had to drag my sorry butt inside the house as a kid...now, I don't see any kids ouside building snow forts or playing Army. Hmmmm, progress is good?

[MAGNA]

It's all changing isn't it ? Blu-ray disks and drives will give us better viewing in the long run (include games in that) and we will have to pay more for a while if it really is required. Don't forget the humble bit-box though (computer to non tech types). The changes are coming sooner than we think with these.

Think no keyboard necessary and no mouse. Look at touch screen technology and you will see why. Sounds strange, even bad in a way. It will come though as the computer turns into a laptop that doesn't fold up. Think also large storage with no mechanical parts - a bit like flash ram but more storage and blindingly fast access. In both cases, hardly any moving parts left. It's not so far off either and many won't like it. I was really worried when I got my first 20 meg hard drive about 100 years ago. It cost so much and the things actually broke down after a year or two back then if you didn't keep parking the heads and so on. Now I can buy a hard drive with enough storage for all the speeches Castro ever made including video for the price of the original 20 meg drive and they actually throw in the rest of the computer with it.

[Jim O]

Originally Posted by MAGNA

I was really worried when I got my first 20 meg hard drive about 100 years ago. It cost so much and the things actually broke down after a year or two back then if you didn't keep parking the heads and so on. Now I can buy a hard drive with enough storage for all the speeches Castro ever made including video for the price of the original 20 meg drive and they actually throw in the rest of the computer with it.

Mine was 30 megabytes. I remember the salesman told me I could go to 40 but would never fill the 30 "in a hundred years". My how times have changed.

I'll admit to having waited out the HD-DVD vs Blu-ray competition, believing that with some studios committed to each format it was going to last awhile. In the Betamax vs VHS competition Sony had not gotten strategic partners and that was a part of why they lost that time. They learned well from that mistake. That, and they made a superior product with more options. 480p that I get from my "old fashioned" DVD player looks nice on the LCD screen but I am looking forward to 1080p, an option not yet available for cable/air/satellite television in the US, as yet.

[Whiterook]

It does all sound a little Star Treky, doesn't it? My first computer was a Cpmpaq Presario All-In-One unit.....that seems almost ancient now...wait a minute, it is!

[MAGNA]

Wow, you had a monster for your first machine rook. I had a Commodore 64 with a tape drive - a sure cure for insomnia.

[Whiterook]

I think my brother-in-law had a Com64...I was horrible addicted to a version of Asteroids, where you piloted your spacecraft through asteroid belts...ring any bells?

[PanzerBob]

If we all refuse to buy them unless they work with current players....................then I woke up. I like Hi-tech as much as the guy to some degree, but this is getting stupid and wasteful, I've already got three dang boxes sitting on top of my freakin' Flat Screen, (brought only because no one could fix my old TV for less the price of a small motorcyle)

Tech for Tech sake is such a cash grab. and don't get me started on Cell Phones............