WEBVTT - Stuff You Can Hook Up to Your TV 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.960 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:09.040 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 0:00:09.119 --> 0:00:18.160 tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello, everybody, 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:20.520 Welcome to tech Stuff. My name is Chris Pouette, and 0:00:20.520 --> 0:00:23.079 I'm an editor here at how stuff works dot Com. 0:00:23.079 --> 0:00:26.279 Sitting across from me as usual as senior writer Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:29.440 Hey there, Crispy. Alright, so today we were going to 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:33.800 talk about something really vague. Stuff you can hook up 0:00:33.840 --> 0:00:40.400 to your TV, right, go, okay, so cam qorders, uh, 0:00:40.680 --> 0:00:47.120 very small rocks, cherries, cherries. We wanted to talk about 0:00:47.600 --> 0:00:51.239 really sort of pretty much everything home theater related that 0:00:51.280 --> 0:00:53.560 you you hook up to your television. Actually I didn't 0:00:53.600 --> 0:00:55.960 go into a V receivers, but I thought we'd do 0:00:56.000 --> 0:01:00.200 another episode later on about home theater components specifically, But 0:01:00.280 --> 0:01:03.040 we kind of wanted to talk about different stuff that 0:01:03.080 --> 0:01:05.679 you can hook up to your TV to get content. 0:01:05.920 --> 0:01:08.039 Really that was That's the way I looked at it, anyway, 0:01:08.040 --> 0:01:10.800 I'm not sure about you. Yeah, okay, So we're not 0:01:10.840 --> 0:01:15.399 talking about antenna's or cable boxes or satellite boxes for 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:18.720 that matter, because that's really or at least I wasn't, 0:01:18.760 --> 0:01:21.840 at least not by themselves. No, no, no, that's their 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:25.240 only application. We're talking about stuff that enhances what you 0:01:25.240 --> 0:01:27.360 you know, the basics. Yes, if it's a pair of 0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:29.040 rabbit ears that you can bake a potato on, I 0:01:29.080 --> 0:01:30.880 think that qualifies because it can do more than one thing. 0:01:31.080 --> 0:01:33.399 That's true. That's true. And if you have one of those. 0:01:33.680 --> 0:01:38.199 UM sent it to Chris. He's apparently very interested. Um 0:01:38.360 --> 0:01:42.600 so the first thing I was going to talk about. 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:44.680 But well, what was the first thing you were going 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:46.880 to talk about before I jump in? No, No, I'm 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:49.200 I'm interested to hear where you're going. I was gonna 0:01:49.240 --> 0:01:52.200 start off by talking about the Great Wars, the Great 0:01:52.240 --> 0:01:56.800 Wars between Beta Max and VHS. Okay, I thought we 0:01:56.800 --> 0:01:59.080 were going to have to get into that whole Austro 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:03.000 Hungarian thing. And no, I wasn't prepared to talk about wars. No, 0:02:03.120 --> 0:02:06.320 well this I hope you're prepared to talk about this one. Okay, 0:02:06.320 --> 0:02:11.440 So with Beta Max and VHS UM. For our younger 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:13.600 listeners out there, you may wonder what the heck these 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:16.280 things are. This is what we old folks used to 0:02:16.280 --> 0:02:21.440 watch movie pictures on UM back shortly after we you know, 0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:26.480 hooked up the view master to the ends fire then 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:32.000 Beta Max. So Beta max was it was a Sony project, right, 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:37.640 And so you had Sony on one side JVC with 0:02:37.720 --> 0:02:41.239 the VHS technology on the other side. And these were 0:02:41.480 --> 0:02:46.440 both technologies that would allow home theater enthusiasts to watch 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:51.640 programming on their television, prerecorded programming anytime they liked, which 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:56.079 was a revolutionary thing at that point. And um, so 0:02:56.560 --> 0:02:59.400 it was two different technologies that were kind of similar. 0:02:59.400 --> 0:03:03.519 Beta Max a slightly better picture, um, but VHS could 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:07.120 pack a lot more programming onto one tape than Beta 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:10.519 Max could. And so you had this this battle early 0:03:10.600 --> 0:03:12.800 on between the two formats. Is it gonna be Beta 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:16.600 Max or is it gonna be VHS? Yep. And honestly, 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:19.440 the from what I understand, the two formats are not 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:23.680 all that different in quality. I mean VHS. Uh. If 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:27.400 you read stuff about the The Great Wars um a 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:29.560 lot of times you'll hear that Beta Max was the 0:03:29.560 --> 0:03:33.440 superior format and it just you know, completely created the VHS. 0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:35.880 But from what I've you know, and digging in a 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:38.280 little bit more from what I've read, they really weren't 0:03:38.280 --> 0:03:41.240 all that different as far as quality. I mean not 0:03:41.360 --> 0:03:44.960 that most people worry about it. I mean even you know, 0:03:45.000 --> 0:03:49.280 when people were using VCRs more than they do now. Uh, 0:03:49.440 --> 0:03:52.480 a lot of times people would put record when they 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:56.080 were record stuff that that record things for themselves, they 0:03:56.080 --> 0:04:00.440 would use a uh slower recording time, and and that 0:04:00.600 --> 0:04:05.680 decreased the quality of the playback considerably. So, um, you 0:04:05.720 --> 0:04:08.120 know it's it. It actually became more of an issue 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:10.240 of convenience and the length of the tape more than 0:04:10.280 --> 0:04:13.240 it was video quality. Right in the original Beta Max, 0:04:13.280 --> 0:04:15.320 I think you could only record up to an hour's 0:04:15.360 --> 0:04:20.080 worth of programming, and the VHS to let you have 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:22.520 to right, or up to four if you change the speed. 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:25.000 The original Beta max is you couldn't even change the speed. 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:27.760 So when you think about that, you're thinking, well, how 0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:30.520 how many programs on television would you want to record 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:33.080 that are over an hour long? Yeah? There are plenty. 0:04:33.640 --> 0:04:36.800 Sports events would be over an hour long if you 0:04:36.839 --> 0:04:38.960 wanted to. If you want to record an evening's worth 0:04:39.040 --> 0:04:42.520 of shows like you wanted to, you know, get the 0:04:42.520 --> 0:04:45.240 prime time programming from your favorite station, that would be 0:04:45.279 --> 0:04:47.360 up more than an hour. It's probably two hours right there. 0:04:47.440 --> 0:04:49.320 Or if it's a movie that's going to be longer, 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:53.760 so VHS was more convenient, and it got the leg 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:58.520 up and eventually ended up beating out Beta max. Um. 0:04:58.640 --> 0:05:02.680 Have you ever taken a look at a super VHS um, 0:05:02.720 --> 0:05:05.680 Not that I remember. I have a friend who owns 0:05:05.800 --> 0:05:11.600 a super VHS machine and actually has super VHS. Uh. 0:05:11.720 --> 0:05:15.440 It does not. Um. It does wear glasses on occasion, 0:05:15.720 --> 0:05:21.400 and I've never seen it next to the VHS machine. UM. 0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:25.000 So super VHS was really it's the same sort of thing, 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:27.120 the same sort of technology is VHS, but it was 0:05:27.160 --> 0:05:32.920 able to pack more lines of resolution into a recording 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:35.159 than VHS, so your quality was better. It was it 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:39.400 was more luminescent um colors sometimes suffered, but it was 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:42.479 it was in general of a sharper picture. Well, both 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:45.159 technologies got better as the years went on, right, but 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:48.440 by the point that that happened, that BETA had already 0:05:48.440 --> 0:05:52.600 lost out socially, except for you know, like TV production exactly. Yes, 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:58.040 for home theater, Beta's pretty much it become a nonentity. Well. 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:00.000 The interesting thing, the reason why I bring up super 0:06:00.160 --> 0:06:03.840 VHS is because it never really caught on. You know, 0:06:03.960 --> 0:06:06.800 even though it was better quality than VHS, it never 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:10.839 really took off in the home market. So you're talking 0:06:10.880 --> 0:06:15.680 about a technology that's similar to an existing technology, but 0:06:15.800 --> 0:06:19.760 it doesn't go anywhere because consumers are happy with the 0:06:19.760 --> 0:06:22.880 technology they have being good enough. That's going to come 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:26.040 into play later, is it really? Yeah? I can think 0:06:26.040 --> 0:06:28.400 of another. I can think of a parallel to that, 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:32.120 a current one. But before we get to that, I 0:06:32.120 --> 0:06:33.800 was going to talk about a couple of other sort 0:06:33.800 --> 0:06:38.000 of legacy home theater devices. For for a moment, I 0:06:38.040 --> 0:06:39.880 thought you were talking about XP but then I realized 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:44.080 we weren't talking to computers. No, No, I'm switched the theater. 0:06:44.560 --> 0:06:48.200 So we also have the laser disc. Yes, I was 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:49.839 going to make sure that you mentioned this because I 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:53.239 know this is one of your pet technologies, well, laser disc, 0:06:53.480 --> 0:06:55.800 laser discause I never owned a laser disc. Again, I 0:06:55.800 --> 0:06:57.799 have a I have several friends who did own laser 0:06:57.800 --> 0:07:02.080 disc systems, and uh I remember as a kid going 0:07:02.160 --> 0:07:06.080 over to friends houses where they had laser disc systems 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:08.279 and just being totally blown away because the picture was 0:07:08.400 --> 0:07:13.360 so much better than VHS, remarkably better. Uh I got 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:15.400 a little annoying if you had to flip the disc 0:07:15.520 --> 0:07:19.760 halfway through, but other than that, it was really an 0:07:19.800 --> 0:07:22.840 amazing picture. Again, another one of those kind of a 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:26.600 niche market. I mean you had early adopters grab onto them, 0:07:26.640 --> 0:07:28.240 and then you had, you know, a small market in 0:07:28.280 --> 0:07:30.520 the US. It never really took off outside of the 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:34.360 United States. And uh, CD technology is actually based off 0:07:34.360 --> 0:07:37.480 of laser disc technology. Yep, and and so is another 0:07:37.520 --> 0:07:39.520 one that you're going to talk about in a minute, 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:42.960 but I'm not there yet. Yeah. Yeah, the laser disc 0:07:43.000 --> 0:07:46.200 apparently had four five lines of resolution. And one of 0:07:46.200 --> 0:07:49.440 the things that I found out in doing research, even 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:52.360 though I sort of looked at laser discs before, I 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:55.880 didn't realize that the video format was analog. It was 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:59.760 not digital, which is kind of funny compared to that 0:07:59.800 --> 0:08:02.160 other technology that everybody knows what we're going to talk about, 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:06.240 but we're not yet, yes, exactly, all right. So I 0:08:06.240 --> 0:08:08.000 was also going to go ahead and mention I've mentioned 0:08:08.000 --> 0:08:12.880 this in other podcasts, but the capacitance electronic disc that 0:08:13.520 --> 0:08:15.320 was the one that we owned. We didn't have the 0:08:15.400 --> 0:08:18.920 laser disc. Oh no, no, we had the capacity its 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:22.640 electronic disc. And uh I've talked about it before, but 0:08:22.680 --> 0:08:24.760 I'm gonna go ahead and give the spiel again. So 0:08:24.880 --> 0:08:28.000 what you had was a disk inside a plastic sheath. 0:08:28.240 --> 0:08:31.680 The plastic sheath was about the same size as This 0:08:31.760 --> 0:08:33.880 is also a dated reference for you folks out there, 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:38.720 a vinyl record album cover. What, Yeah, exactly, So you 0:08:38.840 --> 0:08:42.040 kids who don't know what we're talking about. Um, something 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:44.280 that you've never heard of is about the same size 0:08:44.320 --> 0:08:48.839 as something else that you've never heard of, and I'm yeah, 0:08:49.040 --> 0:08:52.320 I just wanted to clear that up. So the discs 0:08:52.320 --> 0:08:54.959 actually had little grooves in them, and you know, a 0:08:55.040 --> 0:08:59.360 laser disc obviously the method that with the device would 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:02.240 read the the information off the disc, they used a laser. 0:09:02.679 --> 0:09:06.800 Thus the laser disc um capacits electronic disk, did not 0:09:07.000 --> 0:09:10.160 use a laser. He used a needle. So there was 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:12.640 a very very fine needle and it would create an 0:09:12.640 --> 0:09:16.280 electronic connection between the needle and the disc itself and 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:19.520 make a circuit as the disc turned, and that's how 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:22.679 it would read information off the disk and display it 0:09:22.760 --> 0:09:25.920 on your television. So it was more like a vinyl 0:09:26.000 --> 0:09:30.559 record than a laser disc. And uh, you couldn't write 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:32.600 to them, you could only read from them, so you 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:34.960 would buy movies or whatever. And again, after about I 0:09:34.960 --> 0:09:37.160 think it was around forty minutes or so, maybe thirty 0:09:37.200 --> 0:09:40.599 I can't remember quite right now. But you didn't have 0:09:40.679 --> 0:09:43.320 to flip it over. It would it would run out 0:09:43.320 --> 0:09:46.600 of space. And we had several movies. Um. I remember 0:09:46.679 --> 0:09:50.000 Rais Last arc always ended with they're digging in the 0:09:50.000 --> 0:09:57.319 wrong place flip. So that was my experience in home 0:09:57.400 --> 0:10:00.640 theater as a kid growing up. Um, and then there's 0:10:00.679 --> 0:10:03.400 a pretty big gap. I mean, VHS kind of reigned 0:10:03.400 --> 0:10:08.800 supreme for several years and as just now really truly 0:10:08.800 --> 0:10:12.920 going extinct, and none of the other the videotape formats 0:10:12.960 --> 0:10:17.600 really have managed to displace it at all. I mean 0:10:17.800 --> 0:10:20.720 not the you know, the digital eight You don't see 0:10:20.720 --> 0:10:24.679 digital eight players. You know camcorders, yes, as you mentioned before, 0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:27.240 I mean, and you can for most of them anyway, 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:29.439 plug them right into your TV and watch the movies 0:10:29.520 --> 0:10:33.920 you record. But you didn't buy movies on those formats. 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:37.760 So as far as as uh magnetic tape goes, that's 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:39.439 pretty much the end of the line as far as 0:10:39.800 --> 0:10:42.199 watching movies. And I meant to mention this before just 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:44.280 because I thought it was funny. Do you know what 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:49.520 the original marketing term for a laser disc was, um 0:10:49.760 --> 0:10:55.719 beulah No, Okay, disco Vision, you're kidding. No. If I 0:10:55.760 --> 0:10:57.520 were kidding, i'd say a priest, a rabbi, and a 0:10:57.559 --> 0:11:00.920 horse walk into a bar. But I'm not kid crispy. 0:11:01.040 --> 0:11:04.800 This is being serious here, Disco vision. I don't know 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:09.160 why they changed it. Um so, probably because they were 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:12.360 trying to keep it past going past the seventies. Yes, 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:16.079 exactly so. Yeah, the VHS, the Beta Max, the Capassitan's 0:11:16.080 --> 0:11:18.719 electronic disk, that laser view. Those are laser disc round, 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:21.439 not laser view. All of those have their origins back 0:11:21.440 --> 0:11:25.800 in the mid to late seventies and then throughout the eighties. Uh, 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:28.520 laser just like we said, never really got much of 0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:30.640 a foothold. Um. It had a larger market in the 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:33.680 US than anywhere else, and then VHS was reigning supreme 0:11:33.720 --> 0:11:37.320 for a while until the DVD came along. Can we 0:11:37.360 --> 0:11:41.840 talk about it now? Sure, let's go, okay, go for it. Um. Well, 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:46.040 these are these are much smaller than the laser disc. 0:11:46.240 --> 0:11:51.040 You may be familiar with the DVD format, dominant media 0:11:51.160 --> 0:11:55.920 format in every culture today. Yes, yes, um, you know. 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:59.000 DVDs caught on for a couple of big reasons, um, 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:02.320 One of which is that, um, you know, it's smaller 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:06.440 and more convenient. The other is price, and the price 0:12:06.440 --> 0:12:09.640 of the DVD players, which is now what like forty 0:12:09.679 --> 0:12:11.520 five cents or something like that. Yeah, but when they 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:16.120 first came out, they were I remember, the big incredibly expensive. Actually, 0:12:16.120 --> 0:12:19.920 I think um, to some degree, DVDs have benefited from 0:12:19.920 --> 0:12:24.160 the success of vhs because when um, again, this is 0:12:24.160 --> 0:12:26.160 one of the things that that some of the younger 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:29.679 listeners may not remember because it may really technically be 0:12:29.679 --> 0:12:33.000 before your time. But when used to buy vhs, I 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:36.439 remember when we've got our first VHS player, movies were 0:12:36.480 --> 0:12:40.360 like ninety dollars. They were really expensive. Ye. A lot 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:44.120 of that was because you had these these rental agencies 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:46.520 like Blockbuster cut popping up, and what they would do 0:12:46.600 --> 0:12:49.920 is they would purchase the movies that would hit the market. 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:52.960 Were really meant more for these these you know, aftermarket 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:55.559 kind of places. UM. So what would happen is a 0:12:55.600 --> 0:13:00.000 rental agency would purchase however many copies of you know, uh, 0:13:00.679 --> 0:13:03.960 Empire Strikes Back or whatever, and then you would be 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:05.680 you would rent it and they would make their money 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:08.960 back through the rentals. Um. And and it wasn't until 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:12.240 the market had really established itself before he started seeing 0:13:12.320 --> 0:13:15.760 some you know, the more popular movies start falling into 0:13:15.920 --> 0:13:20.520 home market you know, price ranges, and then it started 0:13:20.520 --> 0:13:23.120 to uh, to affect the whole the whole system. But 0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:27.040 I mean, I own a movie that up until the 0:13:27.040 --> 0:13:29.840 point where I went out of print, the only way 0:13:29.880 --> 0:13:32.400 you could buy it officially was if you dished out 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:35.840 a hundred bucks. Yeah. Yeah, and I'm sorry, but Blood 0:13:35.840 --> 0:13:38.800 Salvage is not worth a hundred dollars. But if Jake 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:44.040 can't fix it, it's been dead too long. I was 0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:46.520 in that movie. Yeah, that's kind of why I wanted it. 0:13:47.080 --> 0:13:51.720 I bought it on eBay, alright, moving gone. Yeah. But 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:53.960 the I think that helped the DVD because by the 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:58.120 time the DVDs became the primary format for videos, it 0:13:58.160 --> 0:14:00.920 was a player that was expensive and the videos were 0:14:00.960 --> 0:14:03.640 considerably cheaper. Now, I mean they were more expensive, sort 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:05.520 of like another format that we're going to talk about 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:09.679 in a moment um, you know, more expensive than VHS tapes. 0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:12.920 But um, I think that that was sort of part 0:14:12.920 --> 0:14:17.440 of the transition. And another interesting point about this is 0:14:17.480 --> 0:14:21.280 that as people began to adopt DVD players, then you 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:26.120 started seeing U stores cut back on on the VHS 0:14:26.400 --> 0:14:29.840 inventory both Reynold places and you know, big box stores 0:14:29.920 --> 0:14:33.720 or whatever. So it began to force consumers to switch over, 0:14:33.760 --> 0:14:37.280 even the ones who weren't interested in necessarily upgrading their experience. 0:14:37.320 --> 0:14:42.160 Because the jump between VHS and super VHS wasn't huge, 0:14:42.320 --> 0:14:45.240 I mean, you could notice it, it wasn't unnoticeable, but 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:48.480 it wasn't enough to motivate people to switch. The jump 0:14:48.520 --> 0:14:53.200 between VHS and DVD was significant, and that was enough 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:55.360 to get enough people to jump over and adopt it 0:14:55.400 --> 0:14:59.840 to force the market to follow. And uh, Also, DVDs 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:03.640 had other great benefits as well, like you could include 0:15:03.640 --> 0:15:07.240 all these extras on DVDs and extra layers on DVDs 0:15:07.240 --> 0:15:10.040 so that you could watch the movie again with commentary 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:12.640 things like that that weren't possible with VHS unless you 0:15:12.680 --> 0:15:14.600 just had some talkative people in the room with you 0:15:14.640 --> 0:15:18.120 when you're trying to watch your damn movie. Right, Well, 0:15:18.160 --> 0:15:20.440 I mean it was possible to uh to do some 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:22.840 of that in laser disc to right, These are some 0:15:22.840 --> 0:15:27.000 of those features were introduced around that time, but um, 0:15:27.040 --> 0:15:29.920 you know, people hadn't really seen that because they were 0:15:29.960 --> 0:15:32.480 kind of ignoring the laser disc. Right, Yeah, only the 0:15:32.560 --> 0:15:34.760 laser disc enthusiasts knew about that, and they thought it 0:15:34.800 --> 0:15:37.360 was great, and everyone else just looked at them funny 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:41.720 whenever they would bring it up right right, But um, yeah, Actually, 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:45.520 I think the DVD also affected the TV itself because 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:48.000 you know, talking about stuff you hook up to your TV. 0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:51.320 I've got an older TV, got got it in the 0:15:51.720 --> 0:15:54.440 early nineties and if you look on the back of it, 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:58.720 it's got a coax connector on it and no composit, 0:15:58.880 --> 0:16:01.400 no s video, no HD m I, none of that stuff. 0:16:01.840 --> 0:16:04.560 So if I wanted to look up a DVD player, 0:16:04.920 --> 0:16:08.320 you know, there's no progressive scan, no cup or anything 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:11.600 like that. So, you know, I think it's one of 0:16:11.640 --> 0:16:14.360 those things where people said, m if they really want 0:16:14.360 --> 0:16:16.600 this kind of quality, if they really want DVD, we're 0:16:16.600 --> 0:16:18.880 gonna have to, you know, provide some kind of hook 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:22.200 up in order to make the TV worthwhile, and maybe 0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:24.880 they'll upgrade their TV too. It also ties into the 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:27.120 history of h D t V, which is a little 0:16:27.720 --> 0:16:30.200 more complex. I don't think we'll go into that because 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:32.680 it's maybe we'll do another podcast about that at some point, 0:16:32.680 --> 0:16:34.440 because I kind of went nuts on that on a 0:16:34.480 --> 0:16:38.320 recent article which was only tangentially involved with the history 0:16:38.360 --> 0:16:40.800 of HDTV, and I said, no, this is more interesting. 0:16:40.840 --> 0:16:43.600 I'm gonna write about this. Don't let everyone know that, 0:16:43.640 --> 0:16:47.760 I said that, don't don't let my bosses here this. Um. 0:16:47.800 --> 0:16:49.880 But all right, so we've got the DVDs, that's the 0:16:49.880 --> 0:16:52.520 dominant form on the market. Now, then of course you 0:16:52.560 --> 0:16:56.840 have the other format war that popped up, the HD 0:16:56.920 --> 0:17:00.480 DVD versus Blu Ray format for high definition video. And 0:17:00.480 --> 0:17:04.080 what's really funny or interesting to me is that even 0:17:04.160 --> 0:17:08.520 the winner of that format war isn't really doing that well. 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:15.119 So HD DVD was that was Toshiba's baby, and then 0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:17.399 you had Blue Ray Sony's baby. So Sony's back in 0:17:17.440 --> 0:17:20.240 the game. They're sticking from Beta max, but now they're 0:17:20.280 --> 0:17:22.720 back and ready to fight, and so they've got their 0:17:22.760 --> 0:17:26.000 back in Blu Ray. Uh. The battle between these two 0:17:26.040 --> 0:17:29.120 is actually really interesting to watch, at least from my perspective, 0:17:29.119 --> 0:17:33.960 because you could see different Hollywood studios getting behind, you know, 0:17:34.000 --> 0:17:36.080 one format versus another, and then you had a few 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:40.680 that were producing product for both. So you know, the 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:43.440 the interesting thing about these two high definition video formats 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:46.359 is that they were again pretty close to one another. 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:49.440 I mean, you had people arguing the superiority of one 0:17:49.560 --> 0:17:52.959 versus the other. And I think most people would say, 0:17:53.119 --> 0:17:55.600 if you really looked at the specifications, that Blu Ray 0:17:55.720 --> 0:17:58.919 did have the superior format. But it was interesting for 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:01.159 a while there, I thought I thought HD DVD was 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:04.520 gonna win because it looked like it had more public support. 0:18:05.160 --> 0:18:07.520 You know, it's funny because we've talked about this. It's 0:18:07.520 --> 0:18:09.439 been a long time since we brought up that format 0:18:09.440 --> 0:18:12.760 war um on the podcast, but uh, you know, you 0:18:12.800 --> 0:18:15.800 and I had talked about the reasons why we hadn't 0:18:15.800 --> 0:18:18.760 gotten involved with that one, and that was simply cost 0:18:19.640 --> 0:18:22.720 um and that I think was probably the biggest factor 0:18:22.760 --> 0:18:24.760 in all of it was people weren't adopting either one 0:18:24.800 --> 0:18:28.760 of them, so it kind of eroded any early support 0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:31.359 that HD DVD got. And yeah, that's kind of crazy 0:18:31.400 --> 0:18:35.360 because HD DVD was in general cheaper than Blu ray. 0:18:35.440 --> 0:18:37.880 The movies were about the same price, but the cheap 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:40.960 being a relative thing. Yeah, less expensive, I guess I 0:18:40.960 --> 0:18:44.280 should say, rather than cheaper, because yes, it was still 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:47.080 several hundred dollars for a player. A Blu Ray was 0:18:47.359 --> 0:18:50.000 almost a thousand dollars for a player. For a long 0:18:50.080 --> 0:18:52.720 time there. In fact, for a while, the Sony PS 0:18:52.800 --> 0:18:54.800 three was the cheapest Blu Ray player you could get, 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:58.040 and that was like six hundred bucks. So um. But 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:02.720 eventually an Off Studios backed Blu Ray, where Toshiba was 0:19:03.200 --> 0:19:06.119 you know, said all right, no moss. They threw in 0:19:06.160 --> 0:19:09.359 the towel and Blu Ray one that format warp. But 0:19:09.680 --> 0:19:12.879 Blue Ray still hasn't really taken off. I mean, the 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:16.960 numbers are up compared to where they were, but when 0:19:16.960 --> 0:19:20.680 you're going from you know, ten people owning one too, 0:19:21.080 --> 0:19:24.400 I mean that there's nowhere else to go. But so 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:28.200 DVD sales in general are down. Blu Ray sales are 0:19:28.320 --> 0:19:30.960 not taking off the way that people want. And I 0:19:30.960 --> 0:19:34.200 think part of it is the old s VHS argument. 0:19:34.800 --> 0:19:38.840 The improvement of Blu Ray over regular DVDs well noticeable, 0:19:38.960 --> 0:19:41.680 isn't enough for people to be willing to switch to 0:19:41.720 --> 0:19:46.160 a new format potentially go back and purchase old titles 0:19:46.160 --> 0:19:49.440 that they already own on the new format. Um, They're 0:19:49.480 --> 0:19:51.720 just not It's just not enough of a of a 0:19:52.119 --> 0:19:55.960 you know, motivator. So I think that's why we still 0:19:56.000 --> 0:19:59.119 haven't seen Blu Ray really take off. Yeah, I mean 0:19:59.160 --> 0:20:01.240 the other thing that it keeps me from buying a 0:20:01.280 --> 0:20:04.280 Blu ray player other than price, is that I don't 0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:06.679 have an h d t V. You know, and you know, 0:20:06.720 --> 0:20:11.160 watching a regular DVD, it's it's seven ADP. Yeah that's 0:20:11.560 --> 0:20:14.639 I can't even see that probably on my standard definition television. 0:20:15.280 --> 0:20:20.199 Um technically, so you know the point of buying a 0:20:20.200 --> 0:20:23.199 Blu ray player for me is is moot, right, I 0:20:23.280 --> 0:20:26.760 have an hd TV, But I also have a wife. Yeah, 0:20:26.800 --> 0:20:28.160 and that would be why I don't have a Blu 0:20:28.280 --> 0:20:33.920 ray player. Yeah, I love you, honey. Um oh no, no, 0:20:33.960 --> 0:20:36.399 I can't put the blame on her, I honestly, I 0:20:36.400 --> 0:20:39.280 I have also looked at the difference in quality, and 0:20:39.320 --> 0:20:42.440 while I can recognize it, I can't justify the expense. 0:20:42.760 --> 0:20:45.199 It's and and they are cheaper now there are cheaper 0:20:45.240 --> 0:20:47.960 Blu ray players out there in the market. The movies 0:20:48.000 --> 0:20:51.199 are still more expensive than regular DVDs. Yeah, yeah, but 0:20:51.240 --> 0:20:54.720 the difference is different about the difference is different, that's wise. 0:20:55.560 --> 0:20:57.760 The difference is slighter than it used to be. Yes, 0:20:58.400 --> 0:21:00.679 and we can also I mean there's also the up 0:21:00.720 --> 0:21:05.160 converting DVD players where they add in information from the 0:21:05.200 --> 0:21:08.000 disks and then give you a slightly better experience. It's 0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:09.920 still not the same as Blu Ray, but it's better 0:21:09.960 --> 0:21:12.399 than a normal DVD and therefore, you know, it's an 0:21:12.440 --> 0:21:15.520 incremental uh improvement. It's not as expensive and you don't 0:21:15.560 --> 0:21:19.520 have to go back and replace your library. Yeah, and 0:21:19.520 --> 0:21:23.160 and they may be and maybe that the whole physical 0:21:23.200 --> 0:21:26.480 media thing is a moot point in in the first place. Yeah, 0:21:26.520 --> 0:21:28.400 I was actually getting ready to go there. Okay, let's 0:21:28.440 --> 0:21:32.080 move on. You know, the digital download thing, especially with 0:21:32.720 --> 0:21:37.959 um companies like Netflix, you know already that that's a 0:21:38.080 --> 0:21:41.560 very that's going to be a very easy transition because 0:21:42.240 --> 0:21:46.560 people who are already using Netflix to rent DVDs may 0:21:46.600 --> 0:21:48.280 just go ahead and go, you know what, they offer 0:21:48.320 --> 0:21:50.719 a download service and it's already integrated, so I can 0:21:50.800 --> 0:21:53.479 just switch over. And I think it's just gonna be 0:21:53.520 --> 0:21:55.720 one of those things that it's gonna be a transition 0:21:55.800 --> 0:21:58.840 to digital download that is much smoother than a lot 0:21:58.840 --> 0:22:01.600 of the other technology. You cool transitions have been simply 0:22:01.640 --> 0:22:05.320 because people already have you know, people are using computers 0:22:05.320 --> 0:22:08.600 already to access Netflix, so they're gonna start going, you 0:22:08.640 --> 0:22:10.640 know what, I can do this. This is not hard 0:22:10.760 --> 0:22:12.880 and even if you don't want to use a computer, 0:22:13.000 --> 0:22:15.520 if for some reason you find the idea of of 0:22:15.520 --> 0:22:18.119 hooking a computer up to a television is UH is 0:22:18.200 --> 0:22:23.040 intimidating in some way. Netflix is partnering with other UH 0:22:23.359 --> 0:22:27.240 set top box manufacturers too, to create a way for 0:22:27.280 --> 0:22:32.280 you to access Netflix entertainment through a box like Roku. Now, granted, 0:22:32.560 --> 0:22:35.880