Degrees of Freedom vs. Hollywood Control Freaks

[Tim May]

On Wednesday, June 5, 2002, at 08:37  PM, Morlock Elloi wrote:

>> I only bought one (1) VHS tape, ever (*). That was "Pulp Fiction." So
>> far, I don't have it on DVD.
>
> DVDs are probably the first product ever rolled out exclusively for 
> content
> control purposes.
>
> Quality-wise, it's somewhat better than VHS and almost the same as Hi-8 
> (which
> I use for archiving purposes), and definitely inferior to analog 
> laserdisc,
> which had a thriving market but is now almost extinct (a nice 
> side-effect being
> that titles are now available for $5-10 and there are some which will 
> never
> make it to DVD).
>
> Hype and brandheads that salivate on words like "dolby" "surroundumb 
> sound"
> aside, average consumer got only new expense with DVDs - buying a 
> player.
>
> Like CDs, audio cassetes and IP protocol, VHS will stay forever with us.
>

I disagree, politely, with nearly every point you make.

DVDs are taking off faster than I have ever seen a product take off, and 
I've seen quite a few.

They are vastly  better than VHS, in picture quality, and are 
mechanically superior to VHS in nearly every way. (No broken/stretched 
tapes, no complicated read heads and capstans to get knocked out of 
whack, scratched, etc.)

(I also have Hi-8, but would never think of archiving _anything_ to it. 
Flimsy heads/capstans in spades. Ditto for DV, which I also have. It's 
resolution is the best of all, but it's convenience and robustness are 
dubious.)

I started looking at laser disks in 1979, but never bought one. The 
disks were too large and unwieldy to be a competitive format.

VHS will of course be around, in the same way that LPs are still around, 
and even in the way that 78s can still be played with the right 
equipment. But the morphism from LP --> CD is being outpaced by the 
VHS --> DVD morphism.

There's a good reason why DVDs are doing so well.

--Tim May
"They played all kinds of games, kept the House in session all night, 
and it was a very complicated bill. Maybe a handful of staffers actually 
read it, but the bill definitely was not available to members before the 
vote." --Rep. Ron Paul, TX, on how few Congresscritters saw the 
USA-PATRIOT Bill before voting overwhelmingly to impose a police state