Do we really need hi-definition?

Surfing on the web today I found a rather interesting article related on the next generation hi definition formats.

The reason I find it interesting is that seems that I'm not the only one to be worried about the Blu-ray vs HD-DVD "war". Until now, the only thing produced by this "war" is a lot of confusion in end-consumers and a lot of very expensive hardware devices.

Yes, I know. It's very common that first generation devices of a new technology are more costly when delivered for the first time. I still remember when I bought my first DVD burner, because my wallet is still growling 😉

What worries me is not initial high prices of devices, but the apparently endless confusion between the two formats. I already used the example of "Betamax", and there are people that still remember it because of the money they lost, but it seems that history is repeating again.

The guys that designed the standards for high-def content must truly be business wizards. Has anyone else noticed that HDTV can't be just HDTV? Oh, no. We have to make it more than that. After all, it's no fun if it just works. HDTV requires HDCP. This is just the tip of an acronym iceberg that includes everything from connectivity measures (DVI vs. HDMI vs. VGA vs. Component) to resolution (1080? 720? i? p?). Of course, none of it is truly standard, except maybe our favorite little acronym - DRM .

I can understand that both competitors don't want to lose money from patents, so I can understand why each one wants to win. But what I can't understand is why end-consumers' wallet must sustain this war.

If majors wasn't able to find an accord to divide the cake, it's not right that people must pay for this. What people want is a simple life, not another useless war to increase expenses.

So I'm starting to ask to myself: Do we really need hi definition? Do we really need to buy again HD versions of the DVDs we already own? Is it really necessary to waste our money for something still not well defined?

Have you ever noticed how much noise there is in latest releases that make very difficult to hear what actors are saying, because there is something bumping loudly in the background? Maybe that loudly bumping subwoofer was purposely created to confuse people and mask the fact that the movie is totally empty. Consequently, isn't it better to spend money to increase the quality of content instead of increase the resolution of totally empty and useless stuff? 😉

The original article can be found here.

Source: bit-tech.net