1 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:07,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production of I Heart Radios, 2 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:13,880 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. Hey there, and welcome to tex Stuff. 3 00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:16,920 Speaker 1: I am your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer 4 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:18,720 Speaker 1: with How Stuff Works and I heart radio and I 5 00:00:18,760 --> 00:00:22,320 Speaker 1: love all things tech and you know what, guys, Originally 6 00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:24,720 Speaker 1: I thought this was going to be the last in 7 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:29,840 Speaker 1: an epic six part series about the history of the 8 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:34,239 Speaker 1: evolution of entertainment media and our relationship with it. But 9 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:38,000 Speaker 1: as it turns out, that was being uh optimistic. This 10 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:41,120 Speaker 1: is going to be part six of I think seven 11 00:00:41,159 --> 00:00:45,239 Speaker 1: episodes now because there's just so much to say, and 12 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:47,360 Speaker 1: there's so much that goes into this and that that 13 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:51,400 Speaker 1: is reflective of our relationship with media and also the 14 00:00:51,440 --> 00:00:54,720 Speaker 1: business of media. This is a really complicated, deep topic, 15 00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:59,800 Speaker 1: and obviously I could have looked at launching a full podcast, 16 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:03,480 Speaker 1: not just an episode, but a full series around the 17 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:07,559 Speaker 1: technology of media and its evolution and our our relationship 18 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:10,720 Speaker 1: with it. That could have been, you know, a mini series, 19 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:13,880 Speaker 1: like a fifteen part mini series or something. But I 20 00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:17,880 Speaker 1: do want to continue this and conclude it, so I'm 21 00:01:17,920 --> 00:01:20,520 Speaker 1: hoping that in this episode of the next one, I'll 22 00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:22,959 Speaker 1: be able to do that. We'll see how that goes. 23 00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:25,959 Speaker 1: But in our last episode, I ended by talking about 24 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:30,280 Speaker 1: how DVDs rose up to take the torch from VHS, 25 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:34,399 Speaker 1: the VHS video cassette tapes, and how the DVD became 26 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:38,080 Speaker 1: the dominant form of media in the home theater space. 27 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:40,000 Speaker 1: But I ran out of time to talk about a 28 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:43,160 Speaker 1: few other interesting points about DVDs, such as why some 29 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:47,039 Speaker 1: entertainment companies were excited about the DVD format and some 30 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:50,720 Speaker 1: were reluctant to support it. Now, to understand all this, 31 00:01:51,240 --> 00:01:55,480 Speaker 1: we need to think about the television industry at the 32 00:01:55,560 --> 00:01:58,880 Speaker 1: time that the DVD was starting to to come about. 33 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:01,840 Speaker 1: And it's been a while since I've talked about television 34 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:05,120 Speaker 1: in this series, and in a much earlier episode, I 35 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:08,760 Speaker 1: talked about the birth of cable and also the transition 36 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:12,280 Speaker 1: that happened between black and white to color television, which 37 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:15,040 Speaker 1: was actually pretty early in the days of TV, but 38 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:18,160 Speaker 1: it took more than a decade for color TV to 39 00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:21,200 Speaker 1: become kind of the norm in households across the world. 40 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:25,480 Speaker 1: But besides cable delivery, you also had the rise of 41 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:30,119 Speaker 1: satellite television, and with that customers could access more channels 42 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:34,520 Speaker 1: than what over the air broad broadcast could support in 43 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:38,880 Speaker 1: those days. So if you had rabbitier antenna or you know, 44 00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:41,200 Speaker 1: an antenna up on the roof and you're using that 45 00:02:41,240 --> 00:02:44,079 Speaker 1: to pull down signals to watch on TV, you had 46 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:47,240 Speaker 1: a certain number of channels at your disposal, but cable 47 00:02:47,320 --> 00:02:51,840 Speaker 1: customers and satellite TV customers had access to far more channels. 48 00:02:52,040 --> 00:02:55,320 Speaker 1: Some of them were premium cable channels like HBO or 49 00:02:55,440 --> 00:02:59,280 Speaker 1: pay per view services, and it meant that customers had 50 00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:01,919 Speaker 1: way more options than they would if they just got 51 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:05,960 Speaker 1: their their television over the air. And it also meant 52 00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:10,240 Speaker 1: that some of the control for media was leaving the 53 00:03:10,280 --> 00:03:13,560 Speaker 1: hands of the entertainment studios that were producing it and 54 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:17,000 Speaker 1: going more toward the companies that were distributing it, so 55 00:03:17,160 --> 00:03:20,560 Speaker 1: cable companies, satellite companies, that sort of thing. So that 56 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:23,840 Speaker 1: meant that some of the studios were starting to get 57 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:28,280 Speaker 1: a little antsy, because every player in a game wants 58 00:03:28,320 --> 00:03:31,200 Speaker 1: to be in the lead. You don't want to see 59 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:35,360 Speaker 1: another element in that game start to outperform you. And 60 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:39,040 Speaker 1: that was sort of the feeling that these studios were 61 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:42,440 Speaker 1: getting at the time. And meanwhile, you had another player 62 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:44,800 Speaker 1: on the field that was also causing issue. That would 63 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:48,640 Speaker 1: be blockbuster video. It had ascended to a position of 64 00:03:48,760 --> 00:03:53,080 Speaker 1: dominance in the video rental market. It controlled almost half 65 00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:56,800 Speaker 1: of the market share of all video rentals across the 66 00:03:56,880 --> 00:03:59,920 Speaker 1: United States, and that gave Blockbuster a lot of power 67 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:04,360 Speaker 1: at the negotiating table when working with studios. Blockbusters gain 68 00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:08,320 Speaker 1: meant lower profits for those studios that were actually producing 69 00:04:08,360 --> 00:04:12,160 Speaker 1: the content, and the entertainment world is a cutthroat environment. 70 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:16,120 Speaker 1: The various entities are constantly maneuvering to get a better 71 00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:19,480 Speaker 1: deal than the other guy has. And also during this time, 72 00:04:19,520 --> 00:04:23,840 Speaker 1: we saw entertainment companies began the process of consolidation with 73 00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:29,000 Speaker 1: other big, big companies like providers and building towards what 74 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:31,920 Speaker 1: we would see today with these movie and television studios 75 00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:37,359 Speaker 1: being part of gigantic telecommunications companies. So you could argue 76 00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:41,560 Speaker 1: that these days, these mega giants are setting all the rules. 77 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:43,880 Speaker 1: But this was still in a time where everyone was 78 00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:46,200 Speaker 1: kind of maneuvering. It was sort of a game of thrones, 79 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:50,080 Speaker 1: but in the entertainment industry, not in a sword and 80 00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:54,000 Speaker 1: sorcery kind of way. Anyway, back to why this matters 81 00:04:54,120 --> 00:04:58,520 Speaker 1: for DVD, the studios preferred selling copies of movies to 82 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:03,080 Speaker 1: customers rather than the rental model. Because the studio has 83 00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:06,799 Speaker 1: got a larger share of the sales revenue for sold 84 00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:11,400 Speaker 1: movies than they would get from a rental royalty. It 85 00:05:11,440 --> 00:05:14,040 Speaker 1: would take time for Blockbuster to make the switch from 86 00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:18,480 Speaker 1: VHS to DVD. In fact, the lack of speed on Blockbusters. 87 00:05:18,520 --> 00:05:21,520 Speaker 1: Part of this is frequently cited as one of the 88 00:05:21,560 --> 00:05:24,960 Speaker 1: many reasons that company eventually went bankrupt. But I did 89 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:27,279 Speaker 1: full episodes on Blockbuster already, so I'm not gonna go 90 00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:31,280 Speaker 1: back into that. Warner Brothers in particular, was really jazzed 91 00:05:31,320 --> 00:05:37,320 Speaker 1: about developing the DVD technology. Meanwhile, Disney, Paramount, and Fox 92 00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:40,880 Speaker 1: were less enthusiastic. There was a fear that the copy 93 00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:44,920 Speaker 1: protection on DVDs wouldn't be sufficient to keep piracy at bay, 94 00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:49,159 Speaker 1: so these companies really wanted stronger DRM put on two 95 00:05:49,240 --> 00:05:53,800 Speaker 1: DVDs and for DVD players. Plus to use the DVD technology, 96 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:56,320 Speaker 1: the companies would have to pay a royalty fee to 97 00:05:56,400 --> 00:05:59,520 Speaker 1: Warner Brothers. Because Warner Brothers was one of the entities 98 00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:03,560 Speaker 1: that it was involved in the development of the DVD format. 99 00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:06,960 Speaker 1: So if you wanted to put your movies on DVD, 100 00:06:07,279 --> 00:06:09,559 Speaker 1: it meant that you had to pay a small, well 101 00:06:10,240 --> 00:06:13,200 Speaker 1: not that small, but a licensing via Royalty v to 102 00:06:13,320 --> 00:06:16,880 Speaker 1: Warner Brothers, and as it turns out, entertainment companies are 103 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:21,080 Speaker 1: rarely keen to send cash to their direct competitors. Funny 104 00:06:21,120 --> 00:06:24,320 Speaker 1: thing that getting those studios on board ended up taking 105 00:06:24,360 --> 00:06:28,920 Speaker 1: a lot of negotiations and deals. For example, Fox agreed 106 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:33,000 Speaker 1: to jump on board the DVD wagon when Warner Brothers 107 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:36,960 Speaker 1: president Warren liber Fab was able to negotiate for Time 108 00:06:36,960 --> 00:06:41,160 Speaker 1: Warner to carry Fox News on its cable package. Time 109 00:06:41,160 --> 00:06:45,560 Speaker 1: Warner had previously refused to carry Fox News because the 110 00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:49,440 Speaker 1: company had been in a pretty public spat with Rupert Murdoch, 111 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:53,600 Speaker 1: the owner of Fox News, so liber Fat was able 112 00:06:53,640 --> 00:06:56,200 Speaker 1: to smooth that out to get Time Warner to say, 113 00:06:56,240 --> 00:07:00,000 Speaker 1: all right, we will carry Fox News on our cable 114 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:04,560 Speaker 1: subscription packages if, in turn, twentieth century Fox agrees to 115 00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:08,000 Speaker 1: support the DVD standard. Now, while the first DVD players 116 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:10,760 Speaker 1: on the market cost around eight hundred dollars, that was 117 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:14,200 Speaker 1: still cheaper than the first VCRs, particularly if you take 118 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:18,840 Speaker 1: into account inflation, and that price dropped fairly quickly. In fact, 119 00:07:18,840 --> 00:07:21,840 Speaker 1: the DVD player would become one of the fastest adopted 120 00:07:21,920 --> 00:07:27,560 Speaker 1: consumer electronics gadgets ever. It debuted in and by two 121 00:07:27,600 --> 00:07:32,160 Speaker 1: thousand three, DVD rentals were outperforming VHS rentals, but it 122 00:07:32,200 --> 00:07:36,600 Speaker 1: was in sales where you really saw the big difference. 123 00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:40,520 Speaker 1: Not only were studios making lots of moolah from the business, 124 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:44,120 Speaker 1: but also lead to big companies like Target and Walmart 125 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:48,520 Speaker 1: getting truly enormous by selling DVDs in their stores. Big 126 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:52,200 Speaker 1: retailers were carrying DVDs and it was a profitable business. 127 00:07:52,280 --> 00:07:55,320 Speaker 1: And it was because of a change in consumer behavior 128 00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:58,920 Speaker 1: ce DVDs managed to do something that vhs had largely 129 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:03,760 Speaker 1: failed to do. It made buying movies a fairly mainstream activity. 130 00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:07,600 Speaker 1: There were a few people out there who had impressive 131 00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:11,560 Speaker 1: libraries of movies on VHS tape, but most people were 132 00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:14,960 Speaker 1: buying blank tapes and copying stuff off television. They might 133 00:08:15,040 --> 00:08:19,440 Speaker 1: own one or two prerecorded movies. Often they were family films, 134 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:23,040 Speaker 1: things that were appropriate for families, in other words, but 135 00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:26,640 Speaker 1: most people were just renting VHS video cassettes. They weren't 136 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:29,120 Speaker 1: going out and buying a copy. But DVDs were a 137 00:08:29,120 --> 00:08:33,040 Speaker 1: different story. Average consumers were more likely to purchase a DVD, 138 00:08:33,720 --> 00:08:37,240 Speaker 1: and so we see how a change in technology changed 139 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:41,760 Speaker 1: our consumption of the media. On that technology, rather than 140 00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:44,440 Speaker 1: rent something so that we could watch it. We would 141 00:08:44,440 --> 00:08:46,560 Speaker 1: actually go out and purchase something so we could own 142 00:08:46,600 --> 00:08:49,760 Speaker 1: a copy, and DVD became a place where a film 143 00:08:49,840 --> 00:08:53,240 Speaker 1: that performed poorly at the box office could thrive in 144 00:08:53,280 --> 00:08:56,600 Speaker 1: the home market. Fight Club is one of the most 145 00:08:56,760 --> 00:09:00,400 Speaker 1: cited examples of this particular phenomena because in the movie 146 00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:04,240 Speaker 1: came out in nine it made a paltry thirty seven 147 00:09:04,240 --> 00:09:07,320 Speaker 1: million dollars at the U S box office against a 148 00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:10,600 Speaker 1: budget that was estimated at sixty seven million, so it 149 00:09:10,679 --> 00:09:14,840 Speaker 1: was by all definitions a box office flop. But then 150 00:09:14,840 --> 00:09:17,160 Speaker 1: it came out on DVD. It was stacked to the 151 00:09:17,160 --> 00:09:19,880 Speaker 1: brim with special features, which helped to kind of define 152 00:09:19,920 --> 00:09:23,360 Speaker 1: what special features would be for DVDs, and it flourished 153 00:09:23,800 --> 00:09:26,360 Speaker 1: on in the home market. It became a best seller. 154 00:09:27,040 --> 00:09:30,760 Speaker 1: There was another film that had a similar story, Office Space. 155 00:09:31,360 --> 00:09:34,200 Speaker 1: It made a measly ten point eight million dollars at 156 00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:36,720 Speaker 1: the box office, but it would go on to become 157 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:40,319 Speaker 1: a big success on home video, particularly after the cable 158 00:09:40,400 --> 00:09:43,760 Speaker 1: channel Comedy Central aired the film in two thousand one. 159 00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:47,560 Speaker 1: Now I could get into some armchair psychology to talk 160 00:09:47,559 --> 00:09:52,080 Speaker 1: about the implications of renting versus owning, but Frankly, I'm 161 00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:55,920 Speaker 1: not qualified as a psychologist, so I'm not gonna really 162 00:09:55,920 --> 00:09:58,240 Speaker 1: do that. However, it does seem interesting to me that 163 00:09:58,280 --> 00:10:01,880 Speaker 1: we saw a shift from renting a film, so we 164 00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:04,760 Speaker 1: might say I never got around to seeing that movie, 165 00:10:04,800 --> 00:10:06,640 Speaker 1: I want to rent it and watch it, and then 166 00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:09,920 Speaker 1: we shift over to purchasing a copy of a film 167 00:10:10,160 --> 00:10:13,200 Speaker 1: that we can watch whenever we want. And DVDs began 168 00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:17,199 Speaker 1: to really appeal to collectors, particularly if those collectors were 169 00:10:17,240 --> 00:10:22,040 Speaker 1: interested in special features that were available on many DVDs. 170 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:24,360 Speaker 1: And I'm one of those people. I certainly fell into 171 00:10:24,360 --> 00:10:28,200 Speaker 1: the trap of collecting DVDs. I probably own a dozen 172 00:10:28,520 --> 00:10:30,720 Speaker 1: that I've never even taken out of the shrink wrap. 173 00:10:31,080 --> 00:10:34,199 Speaker 1: But it has been years since I bought a DVD, 174 00:10:34,400 --> 00:10:36,920 Speaker 1: so I'd say I'm mostly over it until the next 175 00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:41,520 Speaker 1: Uber Super Definitive edition of Evil Dead comes out, anyway. 176 00:10:41,559 --> 00:10:45,440 Speaker 1: But like the VHS tape, the DVD craze also followed 177 00:10:45,480 --> 00:10:48,480 Speaker 1: a peak and a decline. The early to mid two 178 00:10:48,520 --> 00:10:52,560 Speaker 1: thousand's would mark the height of the DVD's dominance in 179 00:10:52,640 --> 00:10:56,520 Speaker 1: home theater media. It was king, but by two thousand 180 00:10:56,600 --> 00:11:00,160 Speaker 1: seven those numbers were starting to dip. In the United States, 181 00:11:00,280 --> 00:11:03,319 Speaker 1: In other places, the sales would continue to climb a 182 00:11:03,360 --> 00:11:06,320 Speaker 1: little bit longer. For example, in the United Kingdom, two 183 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:09,000 Speaker 1: thousand nine would mark the first year that would see 184 00:11:09,040 --> 00:11:13,640 Speaker 1: a decline in sales. So why we're DVD sales on 185 00:11:13,679 --> 00:11:17,160 Speaker 1: the decline by two thousand seven to two thousand nine. Well, 186 00:11:17,160 --> 00:11:20,120 Speaker 1: one big reason for the decline was the next generation 187 00:11:20,160 --> 00:11:23,960 Speaker 1: of home video media was emerging at that time. The 188 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:26,720 Speaker 1: media would be able to take advantage of another advance 189 00:11:26,800 --> 00:11:29,480 Speaker 1: in technology that would affect our consumption, and that was 190 00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:33,959 Speaker 1: the development of high definition television. The history of HDTV 191 00:11:34,720 --> 00:11:38,200 Speaker 1: is a surprisingly long one, and it could merit a 192 00:11:38,280 --> 00:11:41,600 Speaker 1: full episode on its own, but I'll give a short 193 00:11:41,840 --> 00:11:46,080 Speaker 1: overview all the way back in nineteen seventy, a Japanese 194 00:11:46,080 --> 00:11:49,319 Speaker 1: company called the Japan Broadcasting Corporation or n h K, 195 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:54,240 Speaker 1: began researching how to develop high resolution televisions along with 196 00:11:54,320 --> 00:11:58,120 Speaker 1: the formats that those televisions would rely upon. By nine 197 00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:02,079 Speaker 1: seventy seven, the Society of Ocean Picture and Television Engineers 198 00:12:02,320 --> 00:12:05,120 Speaker 1: would form a committee called the Study Group on High 199 00:12:05,160 --> 00:12:09,480 Speaker 1: Definition Television. That group worked on recommendations for standards, including 200 00:12:09,480 --> 00:12:13,760 Speaker 1: a recommendation to shift away from the four by three 201 00:12:13,920 --> 00:12:17,439 Speaker 1: aspect ratio of television at the time to the widescreen 202 00:12:17,520 --> 00:12:22,079 Speaker 1: format or the sixteen by nine format. The group published 203 00:12:22,120 --> 00:12:26,840 Speaker 1: their recommendations in nineteen eighty. Now work was continuing on 204 00:12:26,920 --> 00:12:31,080 Speaker 1: developing the technology for HD, but progress was slow, and 205 00:12:31,120 --> 00:12:34,840 Speaker 1: that wasn't just because of technological limitations, but also the 206 00:12:34,880 --> 00:12:39,240 Speaker 1: need to establish agreed upon standards and regulations. So in 207 00:12:39,280 --> 00:12:43,080 Speaker 1: the United States, the FCC formed an Advisory Committee on 208 00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:48,240 Speaker 1: Advanced Television Service UH and they stacked it with people 209 00:12:48,280 --> 00:12:51,760 Speaker 1: from the private industry to kind of talk about, argue 210 00:12:51,800 --> 00:12:55,360 Speaker 1: over and and hash out the proposals for a high 211 00:12:55,360 --> 00:13:00,839 Speaker 1: definition television standard. The initial versions would rely on analog 212 00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:05,440 Speaker 1: technology analog signals in high definition format, but by nine 213 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:09,520 Speaker 1: the committee had largely abandoned those ideas to consider an 214 00:13:09,520 --> 00:13:13,880 Speaker 1: all digital approach. Eventually, a confederation of companies proposed an 215 00:13:13,880 --> 00:13:16,240 Speaker 1: all digital format for h D t V to the 216 00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:20,760 Speaker 1: f c C in nineteen and after some additional tweaks, 217 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:24,920 Speaker 1: the FCC established the standard for digital TV and hd 218 00:13:24,920 --> 00:13:28,560 Speaker 1: TV prodcasting at the end of nineteen ninety six in 219 00:13:28,559 --> 00:13:32,600 Speaker 1: the United States. The standard definition resolution in the US 220 00:13:32,760 --> 00:13:35,719 Speaker 1: ends up essentially being six forty by four a d 221 00:13:35,840 --> 00:13:38,719 Speaker 1: pixels we usually refer to it just as four A D. 222 00:13:39,679 --> 00:13:43,040 Speaker 1: H D is a little more confusing because you could 223 00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:45,760 Speaker 1: get a h D screen that was twelve e d 224 00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:49,559 Speaker 1: by seven twenty pixels in wide screen. Uh, there were 225 00:13:49,600 --> 00:13:53,120 Speaker 1: some that were sold that were nine sixty by seven twenty, 226 00:13:53,200 --> 00:13:57,240 Speaker 1: which you could argue as not really HD, but is 227 00:13:57,320 --> 00:14:01,000 Speaker 1: better as a higher resolution than standard mission. It was 228 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:04,400 Speaker 1: also in the old four by three aspect ratio. And also, 229 00:14:04,559 --> 00:14:07,280 Speaker 1: just in case you are wondering what I mean by resolution, 230 00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:10,040 Speaker 1: think of your Your image that you're seeing on a 231 00:14:10,040 --> 00:14:13,360 Speaker 1: television is a collection of pixels, little points of light. 232 00:14:14,120 --> 00:14:16,760 Speaker 1: The more points of light you have, the smaller they 233 00:14:17,160 --> 00:14:19,640 Speaker 1: each have to be to fit on the screen. Uh. 234 00:14:19,680 --> 00:14:23,000 Speaker 1: The higher your resolution is, the sharper the image, the 235 00:14:23,080 --> 00:14:25,720 Speaker 1: more clear the details are. So if you have a 236 00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:30,040 Speaker 1: higher resolution image, it just it typically looks better up 237 00:14:30,080 --> 00:14:32,360 Speaker 1: to a point. You start to reach a level of 238 00:14:32,400 --> 00:14:37,440 Speaker 1: resolution that ends up being greater than what the eye 239 00:14:37,440 --> 00:14:39,840 Speaker 1: can detect. And at that point it doesn't really matter 240 00:14:40,080 --> 00:14:41,920 Speaker 1: if you have higher resolution because you wouldn't be able 241 00:14:41,960 --> 00:14:46,120 Speaker 1: to tell the difference that ranges from person to person. Personally, 242 00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:50,200 Speaker 1: I find it very challenging to tell the difference between say, 243 00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:53,160 Speaker 1: an eight K set and a four K set. To me, 244 00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:57,480 Speaker 1: they look practically the same unless I'm really close to 245 00:14:57,520 --> 00:15:00,000 Speaker 1: the screen and in some cases have a magnifying glass 246 00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:02,880 Speaker 1: in my hand. Anyway, back to resolutions, So you had 247 00:15:02,880 --> 00:15:08,080 Speaker 1: the seven twenty version, that's one version of HD, but 248 00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:12,200 Speaker 1: you also had a nineteen twenty by ten eight HD screens, 249 00:15:12,280 --> 00:15:15,080 Speaker 1: so we usually referred to that as seven twenty versus 250 00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:18,800 Speaker 1: ten eight. In addition, there were other little letters that 251 00:15:18,840 --> 00:15:22,240 Speaker 1: were attached to these, like P or I. P means 252 00:15:22,240 --> 00:15:26,160 Speaker 1: progressive scan, I means interlaced, which made it a bit 253 00:15:26,160 --> 00:15:28,600 Speaker 1: of a head scratcher for consumers. They were a little 254 00:15:28,600 --> 00:15:31,800 Speaker 1: confused as to what that actually meant. But the message 255 00:15:31,880 --> 00:15:35,800 Speaker 1: was that these televisions and broadcast standards would provide much 256 00:15:35,880 --> 00:15:39,600 Speaker 1: higher resolution images than standard television was able to do, 257 00:15:39,920 --> 00:15:42,920 Speaker 1: and the next generation home video systems would likewise be 258 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:47,640 Speaker 1: able to deliver high resolution video because a DVD has 259 00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:50,760 Speaker 1: a limit to the resolution it could deliver, and that 260 00:15:50,840 --> 00:15:54,720 Speaker 1: limit was seven twenty by four eight d pixels for 261 00:15:54,840 --> 00:15:57,880 Speaker 1: the n t SC format or seven twenty by five 262 00:15:57,960 --> 00:16:01,560 Speaker 1: seventies six for PAL, and that doesn't really qualify for 263 00:16:01,800 --> 00:16:06,000 Speaker 1: HD standard. So even with a DVD with the best 264 00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:09,360 Speaker 1: picture you could get. It was not the same as 265 00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:13,400 Speaker 1: high definition, so the next generation of home media would 266 00:16:13,480 --> 00:16:17,120 Speaker 1: change that. And before I jump into that hornet's nest, 267 00:16:17,480 --> 00:16:20,040 Speaker 1: I should also mention that the FCC would eventually rule 268 00:16:20,280 --> 00:16:23,960 Speaker 1: that all United States based TV signals would have to 269 00:16:24,040 --> 00:16:27,360 Speaker 1: switch over to digital transmission. They made that decision in 270 00:16:27,520 --> 00:16:32,040 Speaker 1: June of two thousand nine. That caused an enormous amount 271 00:16:32,040 --> 00:16:35,280 Speaker 1: of confusion in the United States, largely based off ignorance. 272 00:16:35,560 --> 00:16:37,720 Speaker 1: People were worried about whether or not they'd be able 273 00:16:37,760 --> 00:16:40,600 Speaker 1: to get anything on their televisions once the switch happened, 274 00:16:40,920 --> 00:16:44,440 Speaker 1: and despite numerous efforts to communicate what this all meant, 275 00:16:44,920 --> 00:16:48,480 Speaker 1: people were really confused, and it turned out that the 276 00:16:48,720 --> 00:16:51,640 Speaker 1: people who needed to worry about this represented only a 277 00:16:51,720 --> 00:16:55,760 Speaker 1: small percentage of the overall population. Those were people who 278 00:16:55,760 --> 00:16:59,400 Speaker 1: are getting their television broadcasts over the air, as opposed 279 00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:02,560 Speaker 1: to people who are getting their broadcast through satellite or cable. 280 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:06,439 Speaker 1: If they had older analog TV sets, they would have 281 00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:10,159 Speaker 1: to purchase a digital converter box and that would allow 282 00:17:10,320 --> 00:17:14,359 Speaker 1: them to accept incoming digital transmissions. It would go through 283 00:17:14,400 --> 00:17:16,840 Speaker 1: this converter box, which would then convert that to an 284 00:17:16,880 --> 00:17:20,639 Speaker 1: analog signal and then pass that analog signal on to 285 00:17:20,760 --> 00:17:23,760 Speaker 1: the television. So it's just just a converter, that's all 286 00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:26,840 Speaker 1: it was. And for months there were stories about people 287 00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:30,400 Speaker 1: buying converters even though they didn't really need one because 288 00:17:30,480 --> 00:17:34,040 Speaker 1: they weren't getting their television over the air, or they 289 00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:36,159 Speaker 1: had a newer television that didn't need it in the 290 00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:39,520 Speaker 1: first place. We even did a classic Tech Stuff episode 291 00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:41,920 Speaker 1: about that to explain what was going on. I've thought 292 00:17:41,960 --> 00:17:45,280 Speaker 1: about doing a classic rerun of that episode just for fun, 293 00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:48,680 Speaker 1: but ultimately decided not to do it because it's it's 294 00:17:48,680 --> 00:17:52,000 Speaker 1: completely obsolete. It doesn't it doesn't have any bearing on 295 00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:55,520 Speaker 1: anything anymore, so it really is just a footnote. No. 296 00:17:56,080 --> 00:17:58,280 Speaker 1: What I really wanted to do, though, is get into 297 00:17:58,320 --> 00:18:01,439 Speaker 1: a really big format war, one that was similar in 298 00:18:01,480 --> 00:18:05,120 Speaker 1: some ways to the Beta Max versus VHS fight back 299 00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:07,879 Speaker 1: in the nineteen seventies. So I'm going to talk about 300 00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:12,840 Speaker 1: Blu Ray versus h D DVD, but first let's take 301 00:18:13,080 --> 00:18:23,560 Speaker 1: a quick break. High definition televisions began to enter the 302 00:18:23,600 --> 00:18:27,080 Speaker 1: consumer market in the early to mid two thousand's. Like 303 00:18:27,200 --> 00:18:31,720 Speaker 1: most technologies, they're really freaking expensive when they first came out, 304 00:18:31,800 --> 00:18:35,000 Speaker 1: so there was a limited market at the very early days. 305 00:18:35,359 --> 00:18:38,360 Speaker 1: There were also there's limited content. There wasn't a whole 306 00:18:38,359 --> 00:18:40,840 Speaker 1: lot you could watch on them. DVDs couldn't match the 307 00:18:40,880 --> 00:18:43,879 Speaker 1: resolution of even a seven twenty P h d t 308 00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:47,119 Speaker 1: V set, let alone the ten A d P and 309 00:18:47,240 --> 00:18:51,159 Speaker 1: ten A d I models. There were very few channels 310 00:18:51,160 --> 00:18:55,679 Speaker 1: that offered h d t V format, so it was 311 00:18:55,920 --> 00:18:58,600 Speaker 1: kind of hard to sell these. However, it was clear 312 00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:01,280 Speaker 1: the demand was there. People wanted to be able to 313 00:19:01,320 --> 00:19:05,359 Speaker 1: see this higher resolution television at home, and eventually there 314 00:19:05,359 --> 00:19:09,360 Speaker 1: were enough early adopters to allow prices to gradually fall 315 00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:12,280 Speaker 1: enough so that more consumers could jump on board. And 316 00:19:12,359 --> 00:19:15,200 Speaker 1: so this created the incentive to develop a high resolution 317 00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:19,720 Speaker 1: optical media disc format. Now, unlike the DVD, which evolved 318 00:19:19,760 --> 00:19:23,040 Speaker 1: as a standard thanks to a unified effort among numerous 319 00:19:23,080 --> 00:19:26,240 Speaker 1: companies to avoid another format war, the next generation of 320 00:19:26,280 --> 00:19:30,840 Speaker 1: technologies coagulated into two opposing camps. So on one side 321 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:33,440 Speaker 1: you had Sony and Pioneer, and they were showing off 322 00:19:33,440 --> 00:19:37,119 Speaker 1: a prototype system that at the time was called DVR Blue. 323 00:19:37,359 --> 00:19:39,840 Speaker 1: This would be around two thousand. This is what would 324 00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:43,920 Speaker 1: evolve into Blu Ray. Sony had also explored an alternative 325 00:19:44,160 --> 00:19:48,240 Speaker 1: called ultra density optical, but ultimately that technology would be 326 00:19:48,240 --> 00:19:50,800 Speaker 1: reserved for professional use and not really make its way 327 00:19:50,840 --> 00:19:54,200 Speaker 1: into the consumer video market. It did exist in parallel, 328 00:19:54,359 --> 00:19:57,119 Speaker 1: but for other uses. Now on the other side, the 329 00:19:57,160 --> 00:20:01,400 Speaker 1: other camp was being led by Toshiba. The company initially 330 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:06,600 Speaker 1: resisted Sony's approach because the early version of Sony's DVR 331 00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:11,159 Speaker 1: Blue was expensive. Sony was proposing an optical disc reader 332 00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:14,040 Speaker 1: that used a blue laser rather than the red one 333 00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:16,960 Speaker 1: that DVD players used. So why do that? Why switch 334 00:20:17,040 --> 00:20:20,119 Speaker 1: to blue once? Because a blue laser can detect smaller 335 00:20:20,119 --> 00:20:23,639 Speaker 1: objects than a red laser can. And it's all because 336 00:20:23,640 --> 00:20:26,040 Speaker 1: of the wavelength of light. So if you look at 337 00:20:26,040 --> 00:20:29,399 Speaker 1: a rainbow, you can see the spectrum the roy G BIV. 338 00:20:30,400 --> 00:20:33,720 Speaker 1: Those colors also denote the range of wavelengths of light 339 00:20:34,119 --> 00:20:37,240 Speaker 1: and it goes from longest to shortest. Red light has 340 00:20:37,240 --> 00:20:41,119 Speaker 1: a longer wavelength than blue light. The shorter wavelength lights 341 00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:45,400 Speaker 1: can detect smaller pits on the surface of an optical disc, 342 00:20:45,840 --> 00:20:49,159 Speaker 1: and pits are what represent information. So if your laser 343 00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:52,359 Speaker 1: can detect smaller pets, that means you can pack more 344 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:56,240 Speaker 1: pits into the same amount of space of an optical 345 00:20:56,320 --> 00:20:58,480 Speaker 1: disc right, you can fit more of them on there 346 00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:01,879 Speaker 1: because they are tinier. So if you make the pits smaller, 347 00:21:02,119 --> 00:21:04,200 Speaker 1: you fit more information on there. You can have a 348 00:21:04,359 --> 00:21:09,200 Speaker 1: high resolution video stored on there. However, blue lasers are 349 00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:13,400 Speaker 1: also more expensive than red ones, and Sony's initial design 350 00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:17,800 Speaker 1: required a special protective case around the discs. Uh the 351 00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:20,440 Speaker 1: original one, it was almost like a cartridge that carried 352 00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:22,640 Speaker 1: the disc and it was meant to protect it from 353 00:21:22,680 --> 00:21:26,440 Speaker 1: being handled and getting scratched up. And that also meant 354 00:21:26,480 --> 00:21:28,560 Speaker 1: that it was going to cost more to produce those 355 00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:31,080 Speaker 1: discs because you had to produce little case that they 356 00:21:31,119 --> 00:21:34,240 Speaker 1: would come into. And Toshiba wanted to find a different way, 357 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:39,080 Speaker 1: so the company eventually would propose its own blue laser format. 358 00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:44,000 Speaker 1: The DVD Forum adopted to Sheba's proposal as the successor 359 00:21:44,119 --> 00:21:47,640 Speaker 1: to the DVD format and it would be called HD 360 00:21:47,760 --> 00:21:50,840 Speaker 1: d v D. This was around two thousand two. So 361 00:21:50,920 --> 00:21:53,800 Speaker 1: now you have the two camps that eventually became known 362 00:21:53,840 --> 00:21:56,560 Speaker 1: as the Blu Ray Disc Association or b d A. 363 00:21:57,080 --> 00:21:59,800 Speaker 1: That's with Sony and its team, and then you have 364 00:21:59,880 --> 00:22:03,760 Speaker 1: the DVD Forum with Tashiba, and each tried to establish 365 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:07,520 Speaker 1: their technologies as the standard, and it would be a 366 00:22:07,520 --> 00:22:11,320 Speaker 1: few years before either group would produce anything for consumers. 367 00:22:11,359 --> 00:22:15,320 Speaker 1: So this is all happening behind closed doors at the 368 00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:18,760 Speaker 1: at the time, they tried a few times to agree 369 00:22:18,880 --> 00:22:23,080 Speaker 1: upon a unified standard, but ultimately one side would say, no, 370 00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:25,040 Speaker 1: I don't want to do it your way, you should 371 00:22:25,040 --> 00:22:27,400 Speaker 1: do it my way, and the others I would say, 372 00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:30,080 Speaker 1: pound sand, I don't want to do it your way. 373 00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:32,840 Speaker 1: We're gonna do it my way, and so no agreement 374 00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:36,439 Speaker 1: was ever reached. They had hoped that they could avoid 375 00:22:36,440 --> 00:22:39,600 Speaker 1: the kind of format war that Sony and JVC had 376 00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:43,720 Speaker 1: fought in the nineteen seventies. Sony was backing Beta Max 377 00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:49,040 Speaker 1: and JVC was backing VHS. Sony lost that fight. The 378 00:22:49,080 --> 00:22:51,520 Speaker 1: company was not eager to go into another format war, 379 00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:54,960 Speaker 1: but they were never able to come to any kind 380 00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:57,520 Speaker 1: of agreement. And you can sort of understand why, because 381 00:22:57,520 --> 00:23:01,720 Speaker 1: whichever group was responsible for establishing the technology that everyone 382 00:23:01,800 --> 00:23:03,880 Speaker 1: was going to use could make a ton of money 383 00:23:03,920 --> 00:23:06,959 Speaker 1: off of it in royalties or licensing fees. So no 384 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:09,600 Speaker 1: one was eager to give that up. No one wanted 385 00:23:09,640 --> 00:23:12,359 Speaker 1: to say, find your idea is good, now, let me 386 00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:15,600 Speaker 1: pay you for the privilege of being able to use 387 00:23:15,640 --> 00:23:19,399 Speaker 1: your technology. Now, most of these fights happened well outside 388 00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:22,639 Speaker 1: of the consciousness of the general public. H d t 389 00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:26,000 Speaker 1: V was barely even a thing yet, and most people 390 00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:29,280 Speaker 1: were still marveling over DVDs, so most homes didn't have 391 00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:32,240 Speaker 1: an hd TV at the time. But behind the scenes, 392 00:23:32,480 --> 00:23:36,280 Speaker 1: the DVD form and the Blu Ray Disc Association were 393 00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:41,080 Speaker 1: making deals with entertainment studios to get exclusivity agreements for 394 00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:44,800 Speaker 1: their formats. It's a lot like how video game consoles 395 00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:49,360 Speaker 1: will sign an exclusive title for their individual programs, and 396 00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:52,960 Speaker 1: uh game consoles would play a role in this HD 397 00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:56,880 Speaker 1: DVD versus Blu Ray format war as well. The PlayStation three, 398 00:23:57,160 --> 00:24:02,000 Speaker 1: Sony's video game console. Unsurprised Rising Lee would support Blu 399 00:24:02,160 --> 00:24:04,920 Speaker 1: Ray It was a Blu Ray player. In fact, when 400 00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:07,160 Speaker 1: the p S three came out, it would be one 401 00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:11,280 Speaker 1: of the cheapest Blu Ray players available, So it really 402 00:24:11,359 --> 00:24:15,280 Speaker 1: helped Blue Ray or p S three sales because people 403 00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:17,439 Speaker 1: who wanted a video game console would pick it up 404 00:24:17,440 --> 00:24:19,280 Speaker 1: for the video games, people who wanted a cheap Blu 405 00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:21,720 Speaker 1: Ray player would pick it up and both got to 406 00:24:21,840 --> 00:24:27,960 Speaker 1: enjoy all the different aspects of that device. Microsoft did 407 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:32,040 Speaker 1: not make HD DVD support native to its own console, 408 00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:35,240 Speaker 1: that would be the Xbox three sixty. But the company 409 00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:39,680 Speaker 1: did manufacture an HD DVD accessory drive that you could 410 00:24:39,720 --> 00:24:42,880 Speaker 1: purchase and then connect to an Xbox three six console. 411 00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:46,800 Speaker 1: So you couldn't put an HD DVD disk directly into 412 00:24:46,840 --> 00:24:49,320 Speaker 1: an Xbox three six and have it play, but you 413 00:24:49,359 --> 00:24:53,520 Speaker 1: could go out and buy the successory this peripheral, attach 414 00:24:53,560 --> 00:24:56,760 Speaker 1: it to your Xbox three sixty and watch them that way. Now, 415 00:24:56,760 --> 00:24:59,520 Speaker 1: on the Blue ray side, you had studios like Sony 416 00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:03,760 Speaker 1: Pictures again no big surprise, Walt Disney Studios and twentieth 417 00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:07,960 Speaker 1: Century Fox on board. They had signed on to that camp. 418 00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:11,720 Speaker 1: Over on the h D DVD side, you had Paramount 419 00:25:12,040 --> 00:25:16,160 Speaker 1: Universal Studios and Warner Brothers signing on. And the hope 420 00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:19,040 Speaker 1: each side had was to get the support of entertainment 421 00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:23,159 Speaker 1: studios in an effort to force the other side to 422 00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:25,560 Speaker 1: give up and to say, all right, fine, we'll go 423 00:25:25,880 --> 00:25:29,080 Speaker 1: with your way. But that didn't happen, and development of 424 00:25:29,119 --> 00:25:32,680 Speaker 1: both technologies continued. So it's kind of like a giant 425 00:25:32,880 --> 00:25:36,480 Speaker 1: game of chicken, with Tashiba driving one car for h 426 00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:40,640 Speaker 1: D DVD at Sony driving the other for Blu ray, 427 00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:43,240 Speaker 1: and each of them had three movie studios sitting in 428 00:25:43,280 --> 00:25:47,200 Speaker 1: the back seat of their vehicles, and as the time 429 00:25:47,240 --> 00:25:50,520 Speaker 1: got closer for these two technologies to actually debut on 430 00:25:50,560 --> 00:25:54,439 Speaker 1: the consumer market, the studios in the back seat began 431 00:25:54,520 --> 00:25:59,080 Speaker 1: to get a little nervous. As production time neared, Paramount 432 00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:01,240 Speaker 1: and Warner brother there is, within days of each other, 433 00:26:01,400 --> 00:26:04,200 Speaker 1: flinched a bit, and both studios announced that they would 434 00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:07,920 Speaker 1: support both formats going forward. They would no longer just 435 00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:11,960 Speaker 1: agree to be exclusive to h D DVD. That came 436 00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:15,040 Speaker 1: as a blow to Tashiba, which can no longer hold 437 00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:17,840 Speaker 1: that exclusivity as a point of leverage, and this was 438 00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:20,920 Speaker 1: in two thousand five. This was a year that Tshiba 439 00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:24,359 Speaker 1: was supposed to actually launch the h D DVD player, 440 00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:28,880 Speaker 1: but that ended up being delayed. Production problems and other 441 00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:33,280 Speaker 1: delays forced their hand and they would actually launch in 442 00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:37,119 Speaker 1: April two thousand six. Even so, even with the delayed start, 443 00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:41,440 Speaker 1: they had a headstart over Blu Ray. The first consumer 444 00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:44,840 Speaker 1: Blu Ray player was from Samsung, which ran into some 445 00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:48,280 Speaker 1: production issues of their own, and that delayed launch until 446 00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:52,920 Speaker 1: June of two thousand six, and then the gloves were off. 447 00:26:53,359 --> 00:26:56,600 Speaker 1: Both sides had some early issues. Some early h D 448 00:26:56,760 --> 00:27:00,480 Speaker 1: DVD players weren't terribly reliable. It's a common problem with 449 00:27:00,520 --> 00:27:04,480 Speaker 1: brand new tech products. That's why I frequently suggest that 450 00:27:04,520 --> 00:27:07,680 Speaker 1: you wait for the second generation of a technology before 451 00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:11,080 Speaker 1: you jump into it, because frequently the first generation still 452 00:27:11,080 --> 00:27:13,040 Speaker 1: has a lot of bugs in it. And then on 453 00:27:13,080 --> 00:27:16,120 Speaker 1: the blue ray side, some of the early film transfers 454 00:27:16,359 --> 00:27:20,120 Speaker 1: were shockingly sub bar. You had this high expectation, I mean, 455 00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:24,840 Speaker 1: here you're supposed to get this high definition, high resolution video, 456 00:27:25,040 --> 00:27:28,639 Speaker 1: and some of those transfers were not good. It actually 457 00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:32,040 Speaker 1: prompted some recalls of some of those disks. And both 458 00:27:32,080 --> 00:27:36,160 Speaker 1: technologies allowed for different digital rights management strategies to help 459 00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:40,720 Speaker 1: prevent piracy, but those same strategies also posed some potential 460 00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:46,920 Speaker 1: problems for legitimate customers. In general, these entertainment companies really 461 00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:50,960 Speaker 1: like to have super strong DRM attached to the technologies 462 00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:56,840 Speaker 1: to prevent piracy, but in general consumers aren't crazy about 463 00:27:56,880 --> 00:28:00,320 Speaker 1: it because often it has a negative impact on how 464 00:28:00,359 --> 00:28:04,560 Speaker 1: we can access the stuff we actually buy. So the 465 00:28:04,920 --> 00:28:11,080 Speaker 1: perception is it's technology that actively penalizes people who have 466 00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:15,399 Speaker 1: been purchasing and supporting that technology, and it often is 467 00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:17,680 Speaker 1: not a very effective way to stop piracy, but it 468 00:28:17,840 --> 00:28:22,280 Speaker 1: is an effective way to irritate your customer base. Anyway, 469 00:28:22,560 --> 00:28:25,479 Speaker 1: this was when DVD sales were starting to slow down. Uh, 470 00:28:25,560 --> 00:28:28,800 Speaker 1: some people were jumping onto the HD bandwagon and they 471 00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:32,280 Speaker 1: would back one format or another. So some people were saying, 472 00:28:32,280 --> 00:28:33,879 Speaker 1: all right, well, I'm gonna get an h D DVD 473 00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:35,960 Speaker 1: player and go with that, somewhere going with Blu Ray. 474 00:28:36,840 --> 00:28:39,880 Speaker 1: Other folks like myself said, you know what, I'm gonna 475 00:28:39,880 --> 00:28:42,560 Speaker 1: wait and see to find out which format is going 476 00:28:42,640 --> 00:28:45,040 Speaker 1: to stand the test of time. I'm not too keen 477 00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:51,000 Speaker 1: on either jumping on one or worse yet, investing in both. 478 00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:54,400 Speaker 1: And we also spent time worrying that no format was 479 00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:56,880 Speaker 1: ever going to win out and that would end up 480 00:28:57,240 --> 00:29:00,280 Speaker 1: creating a split market and some films would oly be 481 00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:03,480 Speaker 1: available on one format and other films would only be 482 00:29:03,520 --> 00:29:06,560 Speaker 1: available on the other format. The release of the p 483 00:29:06,760 --> 00:29:09,360 Speaker 1: S three and November of two thousand six was a 484 00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:12,720 Speaker 1: huge help to Blu Ray gamers who love the PS 485 00:29:12,760 --> 00:29:14,840 Speaker 1: platform and only got a game console, but a Blu 486 00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:17,600 Speaker 1: Ray player as well. Meanwhile, Xbox fans would have to 487 00:29:17,640 --> 00:29:20,400 Speaker 1: shell out extra money for the HD DVD accessory. It 488 00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:23,760 Speaker 1: did not come standard with the Xbox three sixty, so 489 00:29:24,160 --> 00:29:26,960 Speaker 1: that was a score for the Blu Ray camp. I 490 00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:28,959 Speaker 1: say that, by the way, as an Xbox fan, I 491 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:33,080 Speaker 1: loved and still do the Xbox three sixty. I preferred 492 00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:36,240 Speaker 1: it to the p S three, But if you're looking 493 00:29:36,240 --> 00:29:39,360 Speaker 1: at it as far as features go, the Blu Ray 494 00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:43,120 Speaker 1: player on the p S three, I think far put 495 00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:48,920 Speaker 1: it ahead of Microsoft's support for h D DVD. Now, 496 00:29:48,960 --> 00:29:52,520 Speaker 1: I said before that these two formats were incompatible. You 497 00:29:52,520 --> 00:29:54,560 Speaker 1: could not put a Blu Ray disc into an h 498 00:29:54,680 --> 00:29:58,560 Speaker 1: D DVD player and watch it. The Blue ray format 499 00:29:58,720 --> 00:30:02,240 Speaker 1: could hold more data than the HD DVD discs, but 500 00:30:02,280 --> 00:30:04,440 Speaker 1: there was some disagreement over whether or not that would 501 00:30:04,440 --> 00:30:08,920 Speaker 1: translate to an actual, perceivable improvement and picture compared to 502 00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:12,480 Speaker 1: h D DVD, and HD DVD was able to have 503 00:30:12,760 --> 00:30:16,680 Speaker 1: a feature called h d I which allowed for interactive 504 00:30:16,720 --> 00:30:19,959 Speaker 1: content based off the Java platform, so you could have 505 00:30:20,160 --> 00:30:23,800 Speaker 1: a more rich, dynamic, interactive experience with h D DVD 506 00:30:23,840 --> 00:30:26,040 Speaker 1: than you could with Blu Ray. So they each had 507 00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:29,040 Speaker 1: things that set them apart from the other. And while 508 00:30:29,080 --> 00:30:31,800 Speaker 1: the two formats weren't compatible, there were some companies that 509 00:30:31,840 --> 00:30:35,920 Speaker 1: began to produce dual player devices that essentially had two 510 00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:38,680 Speaker 1: sets of optical pathways inside them. In order to read 511 00:30:38,800 --> 00:30:41,800 Speaker 1: the different formats. The first of those was from l G, 512 00:30:42,240 --> 00:30:44,840 Speaker 1: but usually it also meant that you couldn't access all 513 00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:48,800 Speaker 1: of the features of a true player. So, for example, 514 00:30:49,040 --> 00:30:52,680 Speaker 1: with LGS dual Player, you couldn't access h D I 515 00:30:52,880 --> 00:30:55,960 Speaker 1: features in an HD DVD set it didn't support them. 516 00:30:55,960 --> 00:30:58,320 Speaker 1: You would need to get a dedicated h D DVD 517 00:30:58,360 --> 00:31:02,640 Speaker 1: player for that. Not first, h D DVD held the 518 00:31:02,760 --> 00:31:06,520 Speaker 1: largest market share for the HD media market, no big surprise. 519 00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:09,240 Speaker 1: It also had a two month head start, but by 520 00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:12,080 Speaker 1: the beginning of two thousand seven things had started to 521 00:31:12,120 --> 00:31:16,000 Speaker 1: shift into Blue rays favor. Now one big blow that 522 00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:19,480 Speaker 1: the b d A dealt The DVD Forum was in 523 00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:23,240 Speaker 1: a deal with Blockbuster. Blockbuster announced it would only carry 524 00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:26,840 Speaker 1: Blu ray discs for HD content in many, but not 525 00:31:26,920 --> 00:31:31,600 Speaker 1: necessarily all, of its stores. The DVD Forum would strike back, 526 00:31:31,920 --> 00:31:34,680 Speaker 1: and in the fall of two thousand seven, both DreamWorks 527 00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:39,080 Speaker 1: and Paramount announced that moving forward, all of their releases 528 00:31:39,280 --> 00:31:42,960 Speaker 1: in HD would be on the h D DVD format, 529 00:31:43,320 --> 00:31:47,320 Speaker 1: not Blu ray. So Paramount had started out as part 530 00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:49,800 Speaker 1: of h D DVD, then kind of hedged its beets 531 00:31:49,800 --> 00:31:52,040 Speaker 1: and said we're gonna support both, And then the fall 532 00:31:52,080 --> 00:31:54,040 Speaker 1: of two thousand seven, said Nope, just kidding, We're gonna 533 00:31:54,080 --> 00:31:57,480 Speaker 1: totally be with the h D DVD folks. It ticked 534 00:31:57,480 --> 00:32:01,920 Speaker 1: off some people movies like Transformers would exclusively move to 535 00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:04,800 Speaker 1: h D DVD. I would argue that that was actually 536 00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:07,640 Speaker 1: in favor of Blu ray but that's me inserting my 537 00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:11,160 Speaker 1: opinion of Michael Bay's Transformers movies. The less said about 538 00:32:11,320 --> 00:32:14,760 Speaker 1: the better, the gap between the two formats would narrow 539 00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:16,720 Speaker 1: a bit in the market, but Sony was still in 540 00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:19,479 Speaker 1: the lead at the end of two thousand seven. Just 541 00:32:19,720 --> 00:32:22,480 Speaker 1: a short time before c e S two thousand eight, 542 00:32:22,520 --> 00:32:25,400 Speaker 1: which happens c e S happens in early January each 543 00:32:25,480 --> 00:32:29,160 Speaker 1: year it's the Consumer Electronics Show, Warner Brothers made an 544 00:32:29,200 --> 00:32:32,880 Speaker 1: announcement that would in retrospect serve as the death knell 545 00:32:33,280 --> 00:32:36,320 Speaker 1: for h D DVD. Warner Brothers said they were going 546 00:32:36,360 --> 00:32:39,760 Speaker 1: to concentrate exclusively on making Blu ray discs from that 547 00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:44,000 Speaker 1: point forward, and Toshiba, rocked by this news, canceled an 548 00:32:44,120 --> 00:32:47,520 Speaker 1: h D DVD press conference at c e S, and 549 00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:51,200 Speaker 1: shortly after ce S, companies like Netflix, Best Buy, and 550 00:32:51,280 --> 00:32:54,640 Speaker 1: Walmart all shifted their focus to Blu ray disc rental 551 00:32:54,800 --> 00:32:59,200 Speaker 1: or disc sales. Toshiba considered its options but chose to 552 00:32:59,240 --> 00:33:02,760 Speaker 1: throw in the towel. They ceased productions on HD DVD 553 00:33:02,880 --> 00:33:05,960 Speaker 1: players and discs, and by the end of two thousand eight, 554 00:33:06,280 --> 00:33:09,680 Speaker 1: no major companies were pressing films to h D DVD, 555 00:33:10,320 --> 00:33:14,640 Speaker 1: and so Blu Ray would win the format war. This 556 00:33:14,680 --> 00:33:17,480 Speaker 1: war was hard on consumers, but at least it was 557 00:33:17,560 --> 00:33:19,600 Speaker 1: over by the end of two thousand eight, and at 558 00:33:19,640 --> 00:33:22,800 Speaker 1: that point less than half of all households in the 559 00:33:22,880 --> 00:33:26,640 Speaker 1: United States had a high definition television. So while the 560 00:33:26,680 --> 00:33:30,080 Speaker 1: format war had a negative impact on early adopters, a 561 00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:33,280 Speaker 1: large number of consumers never even really had to worry 562 00:33:33,280 --> 00:33:35,360 Speaker 1: about it because they didn't have a television they could 563 00:33:35,400 --> 00:33:39,120 Speaker 1: watch high definition content on the first place. But did 564 00:33:39,160 --> 00:33:41,440 Speaker 1: shake things up, and it also set the stage for 565 00:33:41,480 --> 00:33:44,640 Speaker 1: the next generation of media players, the Ultra h D 566 00:33:44,920 --> 00:33:49,240 Speaker 1: Blu Ray format, also known as four K. This format, 567 00:33:49,320 --> 00:33:52,600 Speaker 1: which requires an Ultra HD Blu ray player because older 568 00:33:52,640 --> 00:33:56,240 Speaker 1: Blu ray players are not compatible with it, can display 569 00:33:56,360 --> 00:33:59,320 Speaker 1: video at a resolution of three thousand, eight hundred forty 570 00:33:59,440 --> 00:34:04,280 Speaker 1: by two in sixty pixels, a much higher resolution than 571 00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:09,239 Speaker 1: h D and way way higher than standard definition. That 572 00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:12,279 Speaker 1: format would hit the market in two thousand sixteen. But 573 00:34:12,400 --> 00:34:14,880 Speaker 1: more on that later as it plays into the shifting 574 00:34:14,920 --> 00:34:18,919 Speaker 1: behaviors of consumers. Now, while Blu ray won the war, 575 00:34:19,400 --> 00:34:23,120 Speaker 1: it didn't become as ubiquitous as the DVD player. In 576 00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:27,960 Speaker 1: two thousand seventeen of all US households with a broadband 577 00:34:27,960 --> 00:34:31,160 Speaker 1: connection owned a Blu Ray player. This is according to 578 00:34:31,200 --> 00:34:35,520 Speaker 1: a Fortune magazine. Meanwhile, around eight seven percent of all 579 00:34:35,600 --> 00:34:39,480 Speaker 1: households owned a DVD player, So DVD was able to 580 00:34:39,680 --> 00:34:45,400 Speaker 1: displace VCRs, but Blu ray didn't quite displace DVD players, 581 00:34:45,760 --> 00:34:48,040 Speaker 1: and Blue Ray sales have been on the decline for 582 00:34:48,080 --> 00:34:50,239 Speaker 1: several years in a row. A big reason for that 583 00:34:50,680 --> 00:34:54,120 Speaker 1: falls to the Internet and digital files. So now I'm 584 00:34:54,120 --> 00:34:57,080 Speaker 1: going to switch gears and talk about the digital revolution 585 00:34:57,440 --> 00:35:00,360 Speaker 1: and how that changed the way we access entertainment. And 586 00:35:00,400 --> 00:35:02,920 Speaker 1: it's another complicated story, and it's one that requires me 587 00:35:02,960 --> 00:35:06,040 Speaker 1: to go back to talking about audio for a little bit. 588 00:35:06,640 --> 00:35:10,040 Speaker 1: So back in the late nineteen eighties, a German company 589 00:35:10,080 --> 00:35:15,759 Speaker 1: called frown Hoffer Gazelle Shaft funded research into audio compression technology. 590 00:35:16,040 --> 00:35:19,280 Speaker 1: According to Karl Heinz Brandenburg, who would play a pivotal 591 00:35:19,360 --> 00:35:22,640 Speaker 1: role in the development of the MP three compression format, 592 00:35:22,920 --> 00:35:25,440 Speaker 1: it all started with a discussion about how to transmit 593 00:35:25,560 --> 00:35:29,040 Speaker 1: music over digital phone lines, which happened all the way 594 00:35:29,080 --> 00:35:32,640 Speaker 1: back in nine two. The idea was theoretically possible, but 595 00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:35,680 Speaker 1: the technology was not yet up to the task, and 596 00:35:35,719 --> 00:35:39,200 Speaker 1: that remained the case until nine six. What happened next, 597 00:35:39,680 --> 00:35:50,120 Speaker 1: I'll tell you right after we take this quick break. So, 598 00:35:50,400 --> 00:35:54,000 Speaker 1: beginning in nineteen eighty six, Brandenburg and his colleagues were 599 00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:58,200 Speaker 1: hard at work on creating a psychoacoustic approach to audio compression. 600 00:35:58,480 --> 00:36:00,200 Speaker 1: And by that I mean they were trying to think 601 00:36:00,239 --> 00:36:04,160 Speaker 1: about the actual physical process of hearing sounds. Now, as 602 00:36:04,160 --> 00:36:06,360 Speaker 1: I mentioned in the previous episode about c d S, 603 00:36:06,600 --> 00:36:09,759 Speaker 1: the range of human hearing is limited. Sounds with a 604 00:36:09,760 --> 00:36:13,680 Speaker 1: pitch below twenty hurts or higher than twenty killer hurts 605 00:36:13,719 --> 00:36:17,640 Speaker 1: are imperceptible to the vast majority of human beings. But 606 00:36:17,719 --> 00:36:20,440 Speaker 1: there are other limitations to our hearing as well. So 607 00:36:20,520 --> 00:36:23,840 Speaker 1: for example, if you have a very quiet sound following 608 00:36:23,960 --> 00:36:26,520 Speaker 1: right behind a very loud sound, we tend to not 609 00:36:26,719 --> 00:36:29,520 Speaker 1: hear the quiet one. So if you're trying to come 610 00:36:29,560 --> 00:36:33,040 Speaker 1: up with a way to encode audio in a digital format, 611 00:36:33,480 --> 00:36:36,200 Speaker 1: and you're trying to save as much space as you can, 612 00:36:36,680 --> 00:36:39,680 Speaker 1: you might do what Brandenburg and his fellow researchers decided 613 00:36:39,719 --> 00:36:44,480 Speaker 1: to do. You exclude any information that wouldn't be perceptible 614 00:36:44,600 --> 00:36:47,200 Speaker 1: in the first place, because if you can't hear it, 615 00:36:47,200 --> 00:36:50,120 Speaker 1: it doesn't need to be there. This is what makes 616 00:36:50,160 --> 00:36:53,960 Speaker 1: the MP three a lossy format. It means that some 617 00:36:54,080 --> 00:36:57,960 Speaker 1: of the information in the original recording gets discarded through 618 00:36:57,960 --> 00:37:01,600 Speaker 1: the compression process, so the rest file does not contain 619 00:37:01,760 --> 00:37:05,719 Speaker 1: all the information of the original file. In nineteen eight, 620 00:37:06,360 --> 00:37:10,279 Speaker 1: the International Organization for Standardization requested the formation of a 621 00:37:10,360 --> 00:37:14,480 Speaker 1: group to oversee standards in audio recording. In response, the 622 00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:19,760 Speaker 1: Moving Picture Experts Group or IMPEG formed. The chief goal 623 00:37:19,960 --> 00:37:22,320 Speaker 1: of this group was to standardize a way to record 624 00:37:22,440 --> 00:37:26,359 Speaker 1: video to CD ROM discs, and audio compression was part 625 00:37:26,440 --> 00:37:29,200 Speaker 1: of that approach. It was had its own subgroup in 626 00:37:29,239 --> 00:37:32,960 Speaker 1: the department. Different groups worked on individual solutions to this, 627 00:37:33,040 --> 00:37:35,600 Speaker 1: with one group coming out on top. That group designed 628 00:37:35,640 --> 00:37:38,919 Speaker 1: a mode that was called Layer three, which we see 629 00:37:38,960 --> 00:37:42,000 Speaker 1: represented in the file extension of MP three. And it 630 00:37:42,040 --> 00:37:44,959 Speaker 1: took a long time to get the compression model right 631 00:37:45,320 --> 00:37:49,440 Speaker 1: in order to preserve fidelity and also reduce the file 632 00:37:49,520 --> 00:37:52,440 Speaker 1: size to the point where it was practical. Uh the 633 00:37:52,560 --> 00:37:56,719 Speaker 1: MP three technology would be unveiled in ninete two as 634 00:37:56,760 --> 00:38:00,760 Speaker 1: a potential audio encoding technology. The MP three file extension 635 00:38:00,920 --> 00:38:05,279 Speaker 1: wouldn't come along until and while the original concept was 636 00:38:05,320 --> 00:38:07,840 Speaker 1: to use the technology to transmit songs over I, S, 637 00:38:07,920 --> 00:38:10,560 Speaker 1: d N lines, it would be the Internet where the 638 00:38:10,680 --> 00:38:13,399 Speaker 1: MP three would really take off. Now, I gotta point 639 00:38:13,400 --> 00:38:17,120 Speaker 1: out the MP three is not the only audio file 640 00:38:17,200 --> 00:38:20,719 Speaker 1: format out there. Far from it. There are tons of 641 00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:24,919 Speaker 1: audio files and audio file formats, I should say, out there. 642 00:38:25,680 --> 00:38:29,160 Speaker 1: It's not even the only audio compression technology. There are 643 00:38:29,160 --> 00:38:33,520 Speaker 1: other lossy forms of audio compression, and they're also loss less, 644 00:38:33,640 --> 00:38:37,840 Speaker 1: meaning the compressed audio file contains all of the information 645 00:38:37,920 --> 00:38:42,480 Speaker 1: of the original file. However, MP three became the dominant 646 00:38:42,800 --> 00:38:45,880 Speaker 1: one on the Internet, and it lead to gadgets like 647 00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:49,040 Speaker 1: the MP three player, which is kind of a misnomer 648 00:38:49,360 --> 00:38:52,680 Speaker 1: because MP three players frequently could play lots of different 649 00:38:52,719 --> 00:38:56,759 Speaker 1: audio file formats, but we tended to call them MP 650 00:38:56,840 --> 00:39:00,160 Speaker 1: three players. The first portable MP three players be end 651 00:39:00,160 --> 00:39:04,319 Speaker 1: to hit the market around Apple would then introduce the 652 00:39:04,400 --> 00:39:07,279 Speaker 1: iPod in two thousand one, and I find it really 653 00:39:07,320 --> 00:39:10,920 Speaker 1: fascinating that MP three sort of became shorthand for audio files, 654 00:39:11,120 --> 00:39:13,960 Speaker 1: even if the person using the term MP three was 655 00:39:13,960 --> 00:39:17,920 Speaker 1: actually referring to other file formats and compression strategies. And 656 00:39:17,960 --> 00:39:20,360 Speaker 1: then not long after that, you had the introduction of 657 00:39:20,400 --> 00:39:23,759 Speaker 1: the iPod, and the term iPod sort of became shorthand 658 00:39:23,800 --> 00:39:26,800 Speaker 1: for digital audio file players or m P three players. 659 00:39:26,920 --> 00:39:29,000 Speaker 1: People would refer to it as an iPod, even if 660 00:39:29,040 --> 00:39:32,879 Speaker 1: it wasn't an Apple iPod. Heck, the reason we call 661 00:39:32,960 --> 00:39:36,759 Speaker 1: shows like mine podcasts is because of the iPod. Even 662 00:39:36,760 --> 00:39:40,440 Speaker 1: though most people aren't listening on dedicated iPods anymore, the 663 00:39:40,520 --> 00:39:43,680 Speaker 1: name stuck even as the technology would play itself out 664 00:39:43,719 --> 00:39:47,440 Speaker 1: tour fade a bit from prominence. Now, when the MP 665 00:39:47,560 --> 00:39:51,000 Speaker 1: three debuted, it was filling a real need in the 666 00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:54,480 Speaker 1: market because people wanted a way to share music. But 667 00:39:54,520 --> 00:39:57,440 Speaker 1: a raw music file is pretty big. It was way 668 00:39:57,520 --> 00:40:01,040 Speaker 1: too large to transfer easily, especially back in those days. 669 00:40:01,800 --> 00:40:04,120 Speaker 1: I dug up an article from c net back in 670 00:40:04,280 --> 00:40:10,439 Speaker 1: nine at quoted an analyst named Robert Katzev who said 671 00:40:10,480 --> 00:40:13,360 Speaker 1: that the sweet spot for a hard drive size on 672 00:40:13,440 --> 00:40:19,839 Speaker 1: a PC in was four gigabytes. Okay, so my smartphone 673 00:40:20,239 --> 00:40:22,880 Speaker 1: has a hard drive space of a hundred twenty eight 674 00:40:23,120 --> 00:40:28,120 Speaker 1: gigabytes on my phone back in a sweet spot for 675 00:40:28,160 --> 00:40:32,160 Speaker 1: hard drive was four. An uncompressed raw audio file tends 676 00:40:32,200 --> 00:40:35,239 Speaker 1: to run at about thirty four megabytes per minute if 677 00:40:35,360 --> 00:40:38,719 Speaker 1: you have a bit depth of twenty four bits and 678 00:40:38,840 --> 00:40:42,120 Speaker 1: a sample rate of ninety six killer hurts for stereo audio. 679 00:40:42,719 --> 00:40:46,920 Speaker 1: Obviously that that amount of space is dependent upon the 680 00:40:47,120 --> 00:40:49,480 Speaker 1: bit depth and the sample rate. If you played with those, 681 00:40:49,560 --> 00:40:52,239 Speaker 1: you could change how much space it takes. But if 682 00:40:52,280 --> 00:40:56,640 Speaker 1: you were using those uh uh standards as your your 683 00:40:56,680 --> 00:40:59,960 Speaker 1: recording or your encoding method, if you had a three 684 00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:02,040 Speaker 1: a minute song, it would take up about a hundred 685 00:41:02,120 --> 00:41:06,000 Speaker 1: four megabytes of space. And so you have an album 686 00:41:06,080 --> 00:41:08,719 Speaker 1: worth of songs, you've got at least a gigabyte worth 687 00:41:08,800 --> 00:41:11,440 Speaker 1: of data there. It doesn't take long before you've used 688 00:41:11,520 --> 00:41:14,880 Speaker 1: up that four gigs of storage space. Now, the data size, 689 00:41:14,880 --> 00:41:17,120 Speaker 1: again depends on sample rate and bit depth. So if 690 00:41:17,160 --> 00:41:18,920 Speaker 1: you started cheat with that a little bit, if you 691 00:41:19,040 --> 00:41:22,560 Speaker 1: made the sample rate lower, you decrease the bit depth, 692 00:41:23,040 --> 00:41:27,160 Speaker 1: you could fit more stuff onto a hard drive. But 693 00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:30,400 Speaker 1: the more you do that, the more you toy with 694 00:41:31,239 --> 00:41:35,600 Speaker 1: compromising the audio quality of the actual recording itself. So 695 00:41:36,080 --> 00:41:37,759 Speaker 1: something you have to keep in mind when you're playing 696 00:41:37,800 --> 00:41:40,440 Speaker 1: with these sort of things. Also, Internet speeds back in 697 00:41:40,480 --> 00:41:43,520 Speaker 1: the early two thousand's were not super fast. Most people 698 00:41:43,560 --> 00:41:46,520 Speaker 1: were relying on dial up internet, so they're actually using 699 00:41:46,560 --> 00:41:49,400 Speaker 1: a dial up modem, they're not using um, you know, 700 00:41:49,640 --> 00:41:52,120 Speaker 1: kind of a cable modem or anything like that. And 701 00:41:52,200 --> 00:41:54,960 Speaker 1: in the United States, less than twenty percent of households 702 00:41:55,000 --> 00:41:58,720 Speaker 1: had a home broadband subscription as late as two thousand five, 703 00:41:59,360 --> 00:42:03,279 Speaker 1: So it was necessary to have a compression format that 704 00:42:03,320 --> 00:42:06,120 Speaker 1: would allow people to store songs to a drive and 705 00:42:06,200 --> 00:42:09,440 Speaker 1: also to transfer them over the Internet without eating up 706 00:42:09,480 --> 00:42:12,600 Speaker 1: all their data plan or or taking hours to transmit. 707 00:42:12,880 --> 00:42:16,080 Speaker 1: B MP three and similar compression formats were solutions to 708 00:42:16,160 --> 00:42:19,360 Speaker 1: that problem, but those formats also opened up the floodgates 709 00:42:19,440 --> 00:42:23,359 Speaker 1: for piracy in an unprecedented way. Now, as we've seen 710 00:42:23,400 --> 00:42:26,560 Speaker 1: in this series, the history of the evolution of media 711 00:42:26,920 --> 00:42:29,560 Speaker 1: is one in which the industry tends to freak out 712 00:42:29,800 --> 00:42:33,719 Speaker 1: about the possibility of unlawful copies flooding the market every 713 00:42:33,800 --> 00:42:37,440 Speaker 1: time there's a new form of media that that arises. 714 00:42:37,800 --> 00:42:40,160 Speaker 1: And most of the time that fear was kind of 715 00:42:40,200 --> 00:42:44,040 Speaker 1: hard to justify because, yeah, sure, in theory you could 716 00:42:44,160 --> 00:42:47,040 Speaker 1: make copies of VHS tapes. In fact, not theory, you 717 00:42:47,120 --> 00:42:49,400 Speaker 1: could practically do that. If you had two VCRs, or 718 00:42:49,760 --> 00:42:53,279 Speaker 1: a VCR that had to cassette readers on it, or 719 00:42:53,760 --> 00:42:57,880 Speaker 1: you had some professional duplication equipment, you could do that. 720 00:42:58,200 --> 00:43:01,160 Speaker 1: You could also transfer albums onto cassette if you wanted to. 721 00:43:01,400 --> 00:43:03,160 Speaker 1: You could burn c d s if you wanted to. 722 00:43:03,640 --> 00:43:07,160 Speaker 1: But these processes were typically time consuming and they required 723 00:43:07,280 --> 00:43:10,400 Speaker 1: an investment because you needed to transfer the content to 724 00:43:10,480 --> 00:43:12,880 Speaker 1: a physical medium. You had to go buy blank discs, 725 00:43:13,000 --> 00:43:17,000 Speaker 1: or blank video cassettes or blank audio cassettes. Digital files 726 00:43:17,360 --> 00:43:20,399 Speaker 1: removed a lot of those barriers. Duplicating a digital file 727 00:43:20,440 --> 00:43:22,600 Speaker 1: and storing it on drive as easy. You can do 728 00:43:22,640 --> 00:43:24,960 Speaker 1: it as many times as you like. You'll never wear 729 00:43:25,000 --> 00:43:27,759 Speaker 1: out the original file. You can distribute the file to 730 00:43:27,880 --> 00:43:30,759 Speaker 1: a wide audience, or that was far more common. You 731 00:43:30,800 --> 00:43:33,400 Speaker 1: can make a digital file available for other people to 732 00:43:33,520 --> 00:43:37,360 Speaker 1: copy and download from a central source. There's already software 733 00:43:37,360 --> 00:43:39,759 Speaker 1: out there that would let you rip audio tracks off 734 00:43:39,800 --> 00:43:41,520 Speaker 1: a CD in a computer. You put a CD in 735 00:43:41,560 --> 00:43:44,279 Speaker 1: your computer, you ripped the music off of it. You've 736 00:43:44,280 --> 00:43:47,680 Speaker 1: got them in digital files. You could then just compress 737 00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:49,880 Speaker 1: them if you wanted to run through a compression program. 738 00:43:50,239 --> 00:43:52,239 Speaker 1: You could upload the files to a server, or you 739 00:43:52,239 --> 00:43:55,040 Speaker 1: could join up heer to peer network and suddenly you 740 00:43:55,120 --> 00:44:00,160 Speaker 1: are bypassing the entertainment companies entirely. And boy how d 741 00:44:00,440 --> 00:44:04,239 Speaker 1: the companies hated that. They hated it a lot, and 742 00:44:04,360 --> 00:44:08,240 Speaker 1: there was enormous pressure from record labels, on law enforcement 743 00:44:08,400 --> 00:44:11,920 Speaker 1: and elected officials to do something about it. This was 744 00:44:11,960 --> 00:44:15,080 Speaker 1: when we started seeing some pretty dramatic claims about what 745 00:44:15,280 --> 00:44:18,280 Speaker 1: digital piracy was doing to businesses like the music industry, 746 00:44:18,520 --> 00:44:20,920 Speaker 1: and this also applies to the software industry and a 747 00:44:20,960 --> 00:44:23,759 Speaker 1: little bit later to film and television as well. I'd 748 00:44:23,800 --> 00:44:25,719 Speaker 1: say a lot of those claims were at best not 749 00:44:25,960 --> 00:44:28,480 Speaker 1: supported by evidence. I might even argue that some of 750 00:44:28,520 --> 00:44:31,000 Speaker 1: them were essentially made up. But let's break it down. 751 00:44:31,520 --> 00:44:34,480 Speaker 1: Music piracy was a thing, whether it was off of 752 00:44:34,560 --> 00:44:37,200 Speaker 1: servers or more frequently through peer to peer services like 753 00:44:37,280 --> 00:44:41,239 Speaker 1: kaza or Napster. People were sharing music files and other 754 00:44:41,280 --> 00:44:44,160 Speaker 1: types of files as well, without paying for them. Peer 755 00:44:44,200 --> 00:44:47,160 Speaker 1: to peer technology is a valid way to transfer files 756 00:44:47,200 --> 00:44:49,399 Speaker 1: from computer to computer, and it's meant to make those 757 00:44:49,440 --> 00:44:52,879 Speaker 1: processes fast by sidestepping the need for the traditional server 758 00:44:53,080 --> 00:44:57,640 Speaker 1: client model. Quick explanation. With that traditional model, you have 759 00:44:57,760 --> 00:45:00,719 Speaker 1: a central server, it's got files on it, and the 760 00:45:01,080 --> 00:45:04,520 Speaker 1: computers that are connecting to it are clients requesting copies 761 00:45:04,520 --> 00:45:06,640 Speaker 1: of that file. If a lot of clients are all 762 00:45:06,719 --> 00:45:09,719 Speaker 1: contacting the same survey can get bogged down. Peer to peer, 763 00:45:10,040 --> 00:45:12,839 Speaker 1: all the computers on the network are peers of each 764 00:45:12,880 --> 00:45:15,640 Speaker 1: other and they can share files between them. The more 765 00:45:15,760 --> 00:45:19,880 Speaker 1: computers that have a specific file on them, the faster 766 00:45:20,040 --> 00:45:24,040 Speaker 1: those transfers tend to go. So there's nothing illegal about 767 00:45:24,120 --> 00:45:26,920 Speaker 1: peer to peer networks on their on the basis of 768 00:45:27,000 --> 00:45:30,960 Speaker 1: it like that, that's a completely legitimate way to distribute files. Uh, 769 00:45:31,080 --> 00:45:34,520 Speaker 1: it's illegal if you are sharing files that you do 770 00:45:34,680 --> 00:45:37,480 Speaker 1: not have the right to distribute, like music files that 771 00:45:37,520 --> 00:45:40,680 Speaker 1: you didn't record yourself. Now, the music industry argued that 772 00:45:40,800 --> 00:45:45,000 Speaker 1: this was costing them lots and lots and lots of money. Critics, 773 00:45:45,120 --> 00:45:49,880 Speaker 1: including the Government Accountability Office, would counter that, saying there's 774 00:45:49,960 --> 00:45:53,720 Speaker 1: probably an impact to the revenue of the industry because 775 00:45:53,760 --> 00:45:57,520 Speaker 1: of piracy, but it is impossible to determine because you 776 00:45:57,640 --> 00:46:00,479 Speaker 1: cannot say for certain that someone who download did something 777 00:46:00,640 --> 00:46:04,800 Speaker 1: illegally would have purchased a legal copy if they didn't 778 00:46:04,840 --> 00:46:08,399 Speaker 1: have the opportunity to get it illegally. So, in other words, 779 00:46:08,600 --> 00:46:12,759 Speaker 1: if I download a copy of the Wolverine origin. That's 780 00:46:12,800 --> 00:46:15,239 Speaker 1: a great one because a lot of people did that. Um, 781 00:46:15,880 --> 00:46:19,480 Speaker 1: then you you can't tell me, oh, if you hadn't 782 00:46:19,520 --> 00:46:22,200 Speaker 1: downloaded that copy, you would have gone out and bought one. 783 00:46:22,920 --> 00:46:25,480 Speaker 1: Maybe I wouldn't have bought it at all. Either way, 784 00:46:26,480 --> 00:46:29,720 Speaker 1: the companies aren't getting my money. They're either not getting 785 00:46:29,760 --> 00:46:32,279 Speaker 1: it because I didn't even bother watching it, or they 786 00:46:32,320 --> 00:46:35,080 Speaker 1: didn't get it because I stole it. But the point 787 00:46:35,160 --> 00:46:40,160 Speaker 1: being that you cannot easily translate piracy to lost revenue 788 00:46:40,560 --> 00:46:42,880 Speaker 1: doesn't make piracy right. By the way, this is not 789 00:46:42,960 --> 00:46:46,480 Speaker 1: a justification for piracy. It's merely to say you cannot 790 00:46:46,560 --> 00:46:51,240 Speaker 1: make the argument that someone pirating digital files uh directly 791 00:46:51,360 --> 00:46:55,279 Speaker 1: translates to lost revenue. Now, the entertainment industries saw the 792 00:46:55,400 --> 00:46:59,080 Speaker 1: threat of technology like the Internet long before services like 793 00:46:59,200 --> 00:47:02,600 Speaker 1: Napster werepping up, and they lobbied hard to get updated 794 00:47:02,680 --> 00:47:06,560 Speaker 1: copyright protection laws in place to take into account the 795 00:47:06,640 --> 00:47:09,360 Speaker 1: power of the Internet. And in the United States, this 796 00:47:09,480 --> 00:47:12,200 Speaker 1: took on the form of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act 797 00:47:12,280 --> 00:47:14,520 Speaker 1: or d m c A, which was signed into law 798 00:47:14,719 --> 00:47:17,520 Speaker 1: in n The rules of the d m c A 799 00:47:17,560 --> 00:47:20,120 Speaker 1: would allow companies to go after people and entities that 800 00:47:20,160 --> 00:47:23,360 Speaker 1: were violating intellectual property law, while also allowing for the 801 00:47:23,440 --> 00:47:27,160 Speaker 1: concept of safe harbor, meaning the Internet service providers wouldn't 802 00:47:27,160 --> 00:47:30,000 Speaker 1: be held responsible for the actions that their customers were 803 00:47:30,080 --> 00:47:33,759 Speaker 1: taking while using their services. But there were also requirements 804 00:47:33,800 --> 00:47:35,960 Speaker 1: in there for the I s p s to follow. 805 00:47:36,719 --> 00:47:38,840 Speaker 1: They had to follow these rules in order to to 806 00:47:39,120 --> 00:47:42,480 Speaker 1: warrant safe harbor. That included taking steps to act on 807 00:47:42,520 --> 00:47:44,759 Speaker 1: the notification that a customer was using his or her 808 00:47:44,840 --> 00:47:48,480 Speaker 1: connection to share files illegally. Now, in our next episode, 809 00:47:48,560 --> 00:47:51,160 Speaker 1: I'm going to talk more about how digital files changed 810 00:47:51,200 --> 00:47:54,719 Speaker 1: the entertainment industry and how piracy and downloading gradually gave 811 00:47:54,800 --> 00:47:58,640 Speaker 1: way to a different business model, that of streaming. That'll 812 00:47:59,000 --> 00:48:02,759 Speaker 1: finally bring us up to our current situation, which I 813 00:48:02,840 --> 00:48:06,279 Speaker 1: think I've promised four times at this point in this 814 00:48:06,480 --> 00:48:08,640 Speaker 1: series because I kept getting bogged down with all these 815 00:48:08,680 --> 00:48:14,200 Speaker 1: cool details. But again, it shows how this nature of technology, 816 00:48:14,520 --> 00:48:19,680 Speaker 1: business and consumer behavior has changed dramatically over relatively short time. 817 00:48:19,880 --> 00:48:23,439 Speaker 1: I mean, the history of recorded media is not that long, 818 00:48:24,080 --> 00:48:27,960 Speaker 1: and yet we've seen some really dramatic shifts in consumer 819 00:48:28,040 --> 00:48:31,799 Speaker 1: behavior in that time. Within my own lifetime, I've seen 820 00:48:31,840 --> 00:48:34,160 Speaker 1: it changed dramatically. So we're gonna talk more about that 821 00:48:34,200 --> 00:48:36,680 Speaker 1: in the next episode. If you guys have suggestions for 822 00:48:36,800 --> 00:48:39,120 Speaker 1: future episodes of tech Stuff, send me a message. The 823 00:48:39,160 --> 00:48:42,120 Speaker 1: email address is tech Stuff at how stuff works dot com, 824 00:48:42,760 --> 00:48:44,960 Speaker 1: or if you want to check out our website, that's 825 00:48:45,080 --> 00:48:48,520 Speaker 1: tech stuff podcast dot com. You'll find an archive of 826 00:48:48,680 --> 00:48:52,040 Speaker 1: all of our previous episodes there. You also find links 827 00:48:52,080 --> 00:48:55,160 Speaker 1: to our social media accounts, so you can follow us 828 00:48:55,239 --> 00:48:57,919 Speaker 1: on Facebook or Twitter and reach out to us there. 829 00:48:58,320 --> 00:49:00,960 Speaker 1: And you can find a link to our online store, 830 00:49:01,160 --> 00:49:03,120 Speaker 1: where every purchase you make goes to help the show 831 00:49:03,120 --> 00:49:06,160 Speaker 1: and we greatly appreciate it, and I will talk to 832 00:49:06,200 --> 00:49:13,600 Speaker 1: you again really soon. Text Stuff is a production of 833 00:49:13,680 --> 00:49:16,719 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more podcasts from 834 00:49:16,760 --> 00:49:20,480 Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 835 00:49:20,640 --> 00:49:22,640 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.