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| Author: |  Andy Wilman |
| Feature Title: | Keeping it Reel #2 - At the Mercy of the Studios |
| Date: |
Thursday June 03 2004 |
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#2 - At the Mercy of the Studios
DVD - A Godsend, for now
If you're serious about movies, chances are you've got a large collection of titles on DVD or VHS, or both. When DVD was first introduced in 1995, it was a godsend for movie fans. Great picture quality, digital surround sound, multiple language tracks, director's in-film commentaries and other extra features were a big improvement on the soft, grainy, slow VHS format. So the movie studios took advantage of this situation, knowing that consumers would be eager to replace their aging VHS collections with pristine DVD versions.
So loyal movie fans the world over have spent hundreds and even thousands of dollars re-purchasing their movie collections to get their films in the new-spangled DVD format. Consumers have really embraced the new format (understandably), only to be faced with the harsh reality of the movie studios' greed. The reality is that we're effectively re-purchasing the rights to see the same films that we've already paid for. If this was an isolated incident, or something that only happened every 20 years or so, I think most consumers would find it acceptable.
Nothing lasts forever
Instead, we've got a situation where every few years, we will have to re-purchase our entire movie collections if we want to view our movies in the best possible quality. This is because modern technology has a built-in obsolescence factor. You can sample its delights, but only for a fleeting moment in technology-time. The inevitable march of technology means that the DVD format will be superseded in the next few years by a better, higher capacity version (current forecasts predict that the Blu-Ray format promoted by firms such as Sony, Pioneer, and Panasonic will replace DVD).
The studios have been keen to promote the fact that a DVD's picture and sound quality will not deteriorate over time like it does on the VHS format, but this is misleading. While (theoretically at least) a DVD disc can last a lifetime with no loss of quality, in reality the discs are really rather fragile and as mentioned above, it's only a matter of time before the DVD format is replaced by something better.
Santa's never had it so good
While the future of digital video technology may be unclear, one thing's for certain: Santa's gonna need a bigger sled. In fact, maybe Hollywood will buy Santa. They'll offer him a promotion with more money and more elves, providing that he only gives people the latest movie format at Christmas time. So if a kid asks for a DVD for Christmas, Santa ignores them and says that they can only have Die Hard 7: Die Hard as a Rock in the new, expensive Santa-Vid format.
Time to upgrade, again
Anyway, I digress. Of course, the DVD format and the discs and players that go with it will be around for many years to come, but at some point in the next five years you will be faced with the ?upgrade dilemma? ? do you put-up with the good (but not ideal) picture quality of DVD, or do you keep up with your friends and get the latest high-definition format?
Next week, I'll be offering a possible solution to this, arguing that the film industry needs to adapt its business practices if it wants to survive in the digital age.
So stay tuned for next week's installment of... Keeping it Reel! |
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