DiViDe and Conquer?
It's hard to get a clear picture of the future of Digital Video Disc
Daniel Greenberg
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09/26/97
The Washington Post
FINAL
N37
Copyright 1997, The Washington Post Co. All Rights Reserved
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A large faction of the electronics and entertainment industries is hoping Christmas started this spring -- but is there something for you to celebrate as well?
Six months ago, these companies launched their newest creation, DVD (Digital Video/Versatile Disc). They've spared few expenses to let you know that these compact disc-size platters deliver picture quality beyond all other forms of available video, surround-sound audio as good or better than CDs, computer data storage beyond CD-ROMs and compatibility with future widescreen, high-definition TVs.
Against the odds, this alliance pulled off a nearly flawless product launch. One -hundred-fifty-thousand videophiles trusted the industry enough to risk purchasing the new players for $600 and up. As if to prove that the launch was a success, laserdisc sales plummeted (those larger, non-digital discs had clung to a technophile fringe market for years). And hundreds of DVD movies flooded into stores at a reasonable $20 price.
This success happened with good reason. DVD looks and sounds vastly better than videotape, won't wear out like it and offers more viewing options than plain old VHS. For instance, DVD releases usually contain both "letterbox" and "pan-and-scan" versions of movies -- so you can watch the flick in its original, rectangular-movie-screen proportions or in a format edited to fit your TV's more squared-off screen. Most DVD titles also throw in goodies like outtakes and interviews with directors and stars, plussoundtracks and subtitles in multiple languages. If you like checking out director's cuts of movies, this is the format for you.
Beyond what DVD can do now, there's the far-off-but-constantly-touted promise of rewritable DVD . You'll be able to use a disc to record TV shows and movies as with any videotape today, but with much better quality. Someday, the story goes, you'll be able to retire your VCR.
So far, so good -- and maybe much better in the future. Now that this wonder has been available for six months, there's only one little question: Is this something you actually need to buy, or is it just an expensive toy for the laserdisc crowd? There are two things to consider. One is what you can watch on a DVD player today; the other is whether the industry can maintain the solidarity that's sustained DVD 's momentum to date.
Movie studios have approached the format cautiously. Some, like Warner Bros., jumped in right at the start but have not pledged to release all their new movies on DVD in the same way that they currently release everything on VHS. Many of this pioneering DVD content is great movie fare, like Jerry Maguire or Into the Woods. But for every classic like Midnight Cowboy, there's also a Dumb and Dumber -- because you needed to hear the bathroom scene in full movie-quality surround sound.
But other big video companies, like Disney, have not yet released anything on DVD -- although that firm recently announced it will have some for Christmas. Some DVD omissions make no sense at all. The Star Wars Special Edition, for instance, is now out on VHS and even laserdisc, but not on DVD . If you can imagine the newly cleaned up and computer-rejiggered Star Wars trilogy in crystal-clear widescreen video on your own TV, you'll understand why some DVD enthusiasts have begun a letter-writing campaign to demand George Lucas's lovable Darth Vader on DVD .
All told, about 200 DVD movies are available now; Best Buy boasts that it stocks 165 titles, and Circuit City stocks them in quantity as well. But don't expect to find DVDs at most video rental stores around Washington yet; the only places we could find that rented discs were Blockbusters in Annapolis, Columbia and Ellicott City. (These stores, however, are charging the same for DVD rental as for VHS rental, an uncommonly nice marketing tactic.)
Even more bizarre, however, is the renewed threat of -- but you were about to guess this -- VHS vs. Betamax-type splits in the DVD market. Barely after the cash registers had begun ringing, the DVD consortium began faltering and fragmenting; once again, press-release warfare has broken out along the DVD DMZ.
Sniping began when behind-the-scenes problems delayed the creation of a format for all-audio DVDs, which developers promise will sound much clearer and warmer than all forms of audio currently available, offering no fewer than six channels of stereo sound (how this will sound on headphones, we have no idea).
Then the major manufacturers split into two factions over the yet-to-be finalized format for rewritable DVD discs, with Sony and five other firms seceding from the coalition to push a higher-capacity alternative. This infighting could add a year or more to the process of introducing a recordable version of DVD , an eminently desirable goal that the industry hasn't exactly been sprinting towards in the first place. For now, we have basically no idea what rewritable DVDiscs or DVD recorder-players will costor when realistically to expect them on store shelves.
And just three weeks ago, the consortium splintered further when three DVD hardware makers and Circuit City announced a completely new standard for disposable discs, called Divx (short for "digital video express"). The Divx standard is geared towards the rental market: Divx discs expire two days after you first play them, and if you want to watch the movie again, a modem in your Divx player makes a phone call and charges you a rental fee. If you'd rather not, you don't have to return the disc -- just play frisbee with it or use it for home decor. The catch: Divx players (likely to cost $100 more than their DVD counterparts) can handle DVD discs, but not vice versa -- hardly news to warm the hearts of those 150,000 videophiles.
The Divx system is supposed to prevent piracy, but it seems primarily targeted at Blockbuster's lunch. The DVD companies are used to trying to beat each others' brains out in direct competition, and seem uncomfortable with cooperation -- even the kind of cooperation designed to bring in vast gobs of money. So the coalition, shaky from the start, again appears on the verge of collapse. Consumers are guaranteed to be confused if the consortium spews up not one but four (or more) incompatible DVD formats.
There are some bright spots in the DVD world. The latest players from the likes of Toshiba and Sony have some great new features, like digital zoom, improved surround sound and smoother fast forwards and slow-motion video. Perhaps the best thing about a new generation of player, though, is that prices will drop on the early models: Expect prices on first-generation hardware to decrease by about $100, to $500 for entry-level models. And all of these prices are well below what VCRs originally cost.
And the ultimate promise of DVD , a sort of grand unification theory of consumer electronics, remains intact: When DVD discs become recordable in a few years, they could (theoretically) replace CDs, videotapes, audio cassettes, CD-ROMs, computer diskettes, laserdiscs, MiniDiscs and Digital Audio Tapes. If you buy a DVD player tomorrow -- all that could be yours. Or you might wind up with an orphaned machine that's only good for playing movies you've purchased outright, while the rest of the world rents cheap, disposable Divx discs that your hardware can only spit out onto the carpet.
So, just as soon as we were anticipating a user-friendly price war that could finally establish DVD , we find ourselves on the verge of a user-hostile format war. How long will it be until we have a single standard for playing and recording movies, music and computer data? The answer is the same we've heard in just about every other aspect of DVD : a little while longer.
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