Hmmm , What about DVD ?

[rififis]

The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) expects every Blu-ray Disc device to be backward compatible with DVDs.

1. According to this , companies around the world aren't forced to make their blu ray devices backward compatible with DVDs. So, should we expect players not supporting dvds ?

2. DVDs : extinct species ?

---

3. Irrelevant : How long can you store DVDs and use them again ? What's their shelf life ? And what about blu-ray discs ?

Thanx in advance

[marzetta7]

Originally Posted by rififis

1. According to this , companies around the world aren't forced to make their blu ray devices backward compatible with DVDs. So, should we expect players not supporting dvds ?

2. DVDs : extinct species ?

---

3. Irrelevant : How long can you store DVDs and use them again ? What's their shelf life ? And what about blu-ray discs ?

Thanx in advance

From what I've seen thus far, all Blu-ray players from the Blu-ray camp are or will be able to play DVD. I don't think you have anything to worry about, especially considering that the manufacturers have gone through the engineering process of upscaling DVDs to 1080i or 1080P within their Blu-ray players. So, in general, DVDs are far from an extinct species.

[Shadowself]

Originally Posted by rififis

1. According to this , companies around the world aren't forced to make their blu ray devices backward compatible with DVDs. So, should we expect players not supporting dvds ?

2. DVDs : extinct species ?

---

3. Irrelevant : How long can you store DVDs and use them again ? What's their shelf life ? And what about blu-ray discs ?

Thanx in advance

I expect that most (but not necessarily all) BD players will be backwards compatible with DVDs and CDs. Some may even be compatible with the more unusual variants of DVDs and CDs.

I don't expect DVDs to be extinct for at least 5 - 10 years -- no more than DVDs have made CDs extinct. DVDs have not even made VCR tapes extinct yet. Sure VCR tape is a dying breed, but without too much effort you can still find video rental stores that carry tape.

Shelf life of DVDs?
Depends upon the media used. Even with extreme care some of the poorer quality DVD+/-R and DVD+/-RW disks have a shelf life of less than a year. Most commercially created DVDs containing movies from the major studios will supposedly have shelf lives exceeding 30 years (and I've read claims of more than 50 years).

[zombie]

I expect that all Blu-ray players will play DVD as well for several years. Legacy support is important to a lot of people. The CEs are well aware of this.

[JTK]

1.) DVD is MANY YEARS from ever being extinct, no matter what.

2.) Everyone knew going in: If any format makes the mistake of marketing itself as "replacing" DVD...they're setting themselves up for serious trouble.

There isn't ONE PERSON I know that looks forward to the prospect of going through a repeat of what they did when going from VHS to DVD.

It would behoove all concerned to steer clear of any rhetoric that even HINTS to a situation like that.

[suprmallet]

HD and BD require an HDTV (well, they don't, but anyone without an HDTV would be insane to get into either format), so until 95% of America owns an HDTV, DVD will be far from extinct.

[159753]

Like most DVD players/recorders can play VCD/SVCD discs, I am petty sure about BD players/recorders playing DVDs, possibly playing VCDs!

One small question, will BD recorders record on to DVD as well as BD, because BDs are quite expensive.

[Dr Kain]

Blu-ray is automatically BC because of the technology used. It isn't a choice, it just is.

[Psiweaver]

blu ray players probably won't play vcd intially though maybe in the future they will. I'm just not terribly sure that its a feature that is highly desirable for an hd player since many vcds are very cheap.

[Blue]

Blu Ray is not automatically backward compatible (hence the reason for multiple lasers on the head and all the fun that has been going on from 04 - 05 to come up with neat (I think cheap is more accurate) solutions. This is nothing to be scared of, as it will only happen when there is no more need for dvd. For example in a related industry, where do you stick your floppy disk into your laptop and it won't be long before they are gone from desktops as they have lost their use what can you fit on 1.4MB these days? Anyone tried to read a 5.25 floppy? If HD-DVD lasts that long they will remove DVD from their standard. It's going to happen overnight, but it will eventually happen.

[JTK]

Sort of an aside:

I am not a fan of what I'm seeing HD-DVD try and do with these dual format discs that have both DVD and HD-DVD version on the same disc. (Do I understand that right?)

Reason: It's a price gouge job. They're basically chargin you as if you bought two discs, instead of just one.

People that buy an HD-DVD disc (or BR) aren't going to give two @#$%ts less about standard defintion anything. So why even bother?

At the very least, the choice should be made available on ALL HD discs to buy JUST the HD version if the customer so chooses vs. this strong-arming gouge job setup.

[Psiweaver]

becauser then in the future the customer won't have to go out and buy all new hd dvd discs when they end up upgrading to the new player and new discs.