AUDIO MAGAZINE'S REVIEW OF RCA DVD PLAYER
Certainly, one of my key concerns about DVD is whether it's gonna be a WINNER or just a KLUNKER like QUAD-STEREO was a few years ago. I've concertedly been doing some personal investigation thru video/audio stores in my neck of the woods, reading as much as I can find.
AUDIO magazine's March 1997 edition caught my eye in the rack at my local BOOKSTAR with its header cover page text: FIRST LOOK: RCA DVD PLAYER.
Inside, the article's title is RCA RC5200P DVD PLAYER. It is a review by writer IAN G. MASTERS of his experience in testing out one of two of RCA's new DVD players.
Actually, the manufacturer of the RCA player, MASTERS notes, is THOMSON CONSUMER ELECTRONICS, based out of Indianapolis -- who has four DVD machines out there -- 2 under the RCA brand, 1 under the GE brand and another under the PROSCAN name.
The first TWO PARAGRAPHS of MASTER's article were definitely *telling* for me -- and certainly warmed my heart vis-a-vis my investment in CUBE. And so I quote MASTERS directly:
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*Few advances in home entertainment technology
have been as eagerly anticipated as the digital
videodisc (DVD). The period leading up to the
introduction of the COMPACT DISC 15 years ago was
similar, but because there was some initial
reluctance on the part of record labels to embrace
that format, there was little assurance it would
become a dominant medium. TODAY, however,
there seems to be little doubt that DVD will have
a major impact on home entertainment.
*One major fact is that the DVD Disc has both video
and computer applications, and work is progressing
on a pure audio standard as well. EVEN IF A CONSENSUS
ON AUDIO IS NOT REACHED, THE DVD STANDARD STIPULATES
THAT ALL PLAYERS MUST BE CAPABLE OF PLAYING CD's ...
so the single-source-component world is not far off.*
[BOLDING emphasis added]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, I like the *sound* of that!!!
MORE SO, I like the sound of what MASTERS writes later in the article about the BOTTOM-GUT-SENSE-LINE for the DVD:
~~~~~~~~~~~~
*Subjectively, THE PICTURE WAS A KNOCKOUT
FROM THE MOMENT I FIRST POPPED THE DVD INTO
THE PLAYER. In some ways, the experience was
rather similar to my early exposure to COMPACT
DISCS: Like most of us, I had become accustomed
to the noise, distortion, and flutter inherein in
ANALOG media that I hardly hear them -- until
they were NO LONGER THERE. It was their ABSENCE
that made CD such an impressive system at first,
and the absence of video noise and other distractions
produced a similar reaction to DVD. There was a kind
of SILKINESS to the picture that I had not seen from
even the best LASERDISCS.*
~~~~~~~~~~
Finally, I note, MASTERS pointed out that when THOMSON sent him the RCA DVD player for review, its representative said that the company - THOMSON - had enough DVD players to enter into the market right now, but that the MOVIE STUDIOS were *... just gearing up to produce discs, so that there were literally none available.*
Well folks, a few years ago, I was a starving student in law school *getting by* with my in-house crank record-player (not!) entertainment center, WHEN, finally one day getting a few bucks to spare, I went out to buy a brand new record album. Lo and behold, I discovered that I was gonna have tuh buy a whole new form of medium called the CD to get my music choice.
DO YOU THINK THE SAME THING is gonna happen here, boys & girls?
Will BLOCKBUSTER VIDEO's VCR tapes give way to rows and rows of DVD's?
Hmmmmm ... I think I might just buy some more CUBE this next week.
When are the academy awards?
POSTSCRIPT: Can anyone out there tell me whether it is CUBE's technology that THOMSON ELECTRONICS is using?
Merci, Gracias, Dzienkuje, Spaseebah! Molim Vas, Thank you..... |
