What's the overall opinion on this opinion?

[Danny_Boy]

What's the overall opinion on this opinion?

http://go.msn.com/CM/14837/default.asp?target=http://slate.msn.com/id/2077945/

www.msn.com > Opinion & Commentary > Why recordable DVDs won't last

[Ian]

I hate it when non-tech writers, write tech articles.

DVD recorders will survive as long as long as there isn't an alternative thats cheaper and move convenient. Personally, I don't see that happening.

[Danny_Boy]

But he does raise a decent point, I believe. With the continued trend towards connecting electronic devices to the internet, what is to stop the recordable DVD-R from going the way of the floppy?

The main reason the floppy died was because it was more convenient to send files 2MB or less over the internet. With products like TIVO and ReplayTV beginning to allow recorded video files over the internet, albeit at very slow speeds, it is likely that the technology will grow more widespread as time goes on. With high-speed internet connections and technology enabling the sending of 250 MB of video to be akin to sending a 1MB document file, will the recordable DVD-R be just like a floppy? For something solid, which is good to store away, without risk of data loss in a computer, but likely to be loss or damaged.

[Ian]

I admit for stuff like that, using a Tivo or some PVR product is more convenient. However, if you're archiving data or movies, its more affordable to use recordable media like DVD discs. Of course, HDD's are getting so cheap that you its about $1 a gig these days.. cheaper per gig than DVD RW media.

[lexu8]

I agree with Ian,
That guy don't even know tech half of what he stated. 1st of all Floppy is still kicking! It's a single piece of technology that out last just about every hardware. It still in use in 99.95% of Desk top/laptop today and still will tomorrow.
2nd, Have you try moving/Coppying a large file say, 50GB -100GB through 802.11a or b? No, Well how about just 20GB to 30GB of DivX/XviD/Data from one computer to another? If you did, you know that the guy who wrote the that stuffs for MSN's been smoking very bad weeds
None of any wireless today or next few seasons can replace a good Old Cat5/Cat6 cables. Not when you want it to Transfer any large file anyway.
So my vote is No, Not anytime soon.

[aviationwiz]

My Uncle sent me this article the other day. I think that Tivo's will be to expensive for the average user. Lets compare:


Tivo v.s. DVD Recordables


Tivo is a large box which has a hard drive basically, not very portable.
DVD Recordables are portable and more convinient then Tivo for the On-The-Go User.

DVD Recordables WIN!

Tivo: 0
DVD Recordables: 1



Tivo is very convinient if all you are going to do is sit at home and watch everything ONLY at home.

DVD Recordables are convinient for the On-The-Go User and are convinient for the sit-at-home user also. DVD Recordables can be better arranged than files on a Hard Drive.

DVD Recordables WIN!

Tivo: 0
DVD Recordables: 2


Tivo will remain expensive and will not become mainstream.

DVD Recordable Drives will become mainstream in computers like CD-RW drives did and the user will only have to buy the disks to burn files onto a DVD.

DVD Recordables WIN!

Tivo: 0
DVD Recordables: 3


So what looks better? DVD Recordables or Tivo? Umm, I have to go with DVD Recordables.

Yet that Sony DRU-500A that Santa left under the tree is more laserdisc than compact disc, as the Golden Age of home-burned DVDs will be rather fleeting.

Not to mention that the DRU-500A is the best DVD burner that is availible as of now. And I better not hear someone saying the DRU-500AX is better, because it is the exact same fucking drive as the DRU-500A with just the new firmware in it to give the new 4x DVD+R write speed. I think that is totally unfair to the customers who bought the DRU-500A and do not know that it is just a simple firmware update to turn thier drive into a "DRU-500AX."

[Ian]

As long as we're dissing his quotes, here's another one.

The self-pressed DVD's heyday won't be as brief as the flagging MiniDisc's, perhaps, but it won't last as long as the floppy diskette did, either.

Doesn't the guy realize that Minidiscs have been around for about a decade now?

[Solr_Flare]

Recordable DVDs? Oh heck yeah they are eventually going to phase out CD burners computer wise. The main problem right now is price and with the DRU500 models the competing formats have begun to become a non-issue. As of right now the only barrier is price...

I'd say the state of the DVD-burner industry right now is about at the same point as CD burners were in 1996/97..just starting to enter the mainstream. When the prices on DVD burners start dropping consistantly bellow the $200 mark is when you are going to start seeing the huge explosion. Why? Because you can still do your blank cds with them and with broadband becomming a more common reality, the advent of DVD burners is going to do to the video industry what cd burners did to the music industr for good or for ill. Also the advantages of being able to store over 4gb of data per disc makes them an attractive option for backup purposes and general data storage..much more so than cdrs with the amount of data people want to store today.

I'd say we are about 1 to two years away from the big explosion of DVD burning....around the same time we will start to see the next supplanter of DVD burners start to hit the market and the cycle will start all over again just as it has for CD burners and now DVD burners. I'd guess though that it won't be until around 2008 or so before the next big thing in portable recordable storage goes mainstream.

You are right in that this stuff won't last forever in its current incarnation, but such is the way of the tech industry....and DVD burners havn't even hit full stride as of yet, but they are getting pretty close.

[lexu8]

As long as we're dissing his quotes, here's another one.

The self-pressed DVD's heyday won't be as brief as the flagging MiniDisc's, perhaps, but it won't last as long as the floppy diskette did, either.

Doesn't the guy realize that Minidiscs have been around for about a
decade now?

I just wonder where the heck is the guy come from? Pluto or Mars?

[freeloader]

To think DVD will die-out because of movies, T.V., I-net, games and similar is, at best, myopic. What will drive DVD is it's increased storage capacity for all types of data.

Floppy still has it's niche , but has been supplanted by CD-R/RW. CD-R/RW is now king of the hill but will go the way of the floppy, being replaced by DVD+/- R/RW. In the near future DVD+/- R/RW will stand on top untill another media format with larger capacity and /or being better suited to data storage needs comes along.

The growth in size and complexity of OS's and the larger and more complex programs they will run necessitate greater storage capacity for the data produced and needed by these programs. That's the reason the floppy had faded into the background, the reason the CD will do the same and eventually DVD will do likewise when something better comes along. As far as I know, nothing definite is yet on the horizon to do a better job than DVD. DVD will be around for many years to come.