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| DVD Knowledge Base 33 - Will high-definition DVD or 720p DVD make current players and discs obsolete? |
Not for a while. The high definition Blu-ray Disc format is still new, and it will take years before Blu-ray surpasses DVD as the dominant format. Even then, Blu-ray players can play old DVD discs and often make them look even better (with progressive-scan video and HD upconversion). New Blu-ray discs don't play in standard DVD players, but your collection of standard DVDs will be playable for years if not decades to come, and they will only become "obsolete" in the sense that you might want to replace them with new high-definition versions. In other words, you'll need to buy a new player if you want to be able to play the new discs, but you don't necessarily have to replace any of the discs you already own. Consider that U.S. HDTV was anticipated to be available in 1989, yet it was not finalized until 1996 and did not appear until 1998. Has it made standard-definition programming obsolete yet?
Ironically, computers supported HDTV before set-top players, because 2x DVD-ROM drives coupled with appropriate playback and display hardware met the 19 Mbps data rate needed for HDTV. This led to various "720p DVD" projects, which use the existing DVD format to store video in 1280x720 or 1920x1080 resolution at 24 progressive frames per second. It's possible that 720p DVDs can be made compatible with existing players (which would only recognize and play the 480-line line data).
Note: The term HDVD has already been taken for "high-density volumetric display."
Some have speculated that a "double-headed" player reading both sides of the disc at the same time could double the data rate or provide an enhancement stream for applications such as HDTV. This is currently impossible since the track spirals go in opposite directions (unless all four layers are used). The DVD spec would have to be changed to allow reverse spirals on layer 0. Even then, keeping both sides in sync, especially with MPEG-2's variable bit rate, would require independently tracking heads, precise track and pit spacing, and a larger, more sophisticated track buffer. Another option would be to use two heads to read both layers of one side simultaneously. This is technically feasible but has no advantage over reading one layer twice as fast, which is simpler and cheaper.
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