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DIGITAL VERSATILE DISK: IS IT READY FOR THE MASS MARKET?
The long awaited digital versatile disk will be delayed
yet again. The culprit is concern by content suppliers over copy protection
of their intellectual property. What content suppliers are worried about
is that the DVD with its MPEG-2 encoded video; promises far better quality
than available on a videocassette.
Unlike VCR tape, the DVD image quality does not degrade over time. Furthermore,
in digital form, the data can be broadcast over the Internet easily
and without any loss in video quality. The impasse has pushed introduction
dates for DVD players back from the original September time frame.
Toshiba America Consumer Products, Inc. had planned to introduce its
Model SD-3006 and Model SD-1006 DVD players to the market this September
at suggested retail prices of $699 and $599, respectively.
The players offer 133 minutes of video playback on a single side of
a 5-inch DVD disc (enough playback time to accommodate 92% of all feature-length
films). Video images are reproduced with quality that exceeds laserdisc
and VHS—with enhanced color purity and resolution of 720 pixels
per horizontal line.
Color-difference outputs on the SD-3006, make it possible to route a
component video signal directly to line scanning converters (doublers,
quadruplers, etc) and high-end video displays. By retrieving the signal
before it is converted to composite form, overall picture quality is
dramatically improved.
Typical NTSC artifacts—including dot crawl and moiré—are
completely eliminated, resulting in a low-noise, highly detailed picture
with astounding color purity. For high-resolution displays, the SD-3006
is also equipped with S-Video outputs. Gold-plated outputs are provided
for maximum audio and video performance.
No one building DVD players believes the debate over intellectual property
rights will affect DVD development long term. To illustrate this point,
Toshiba rival, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. of New York
City, has just established Panasonic Disc Services Corporation (PDSC).
PDSC will concentrate on mastering and replicating discs to support
the launch of DVD players and DVD-ROM products. Matsushita has made
a $25 million investment in PDSC to build DVD discs, for movies, computer
software and music, in the U.S. Production is expected to begin in spring,
1997.
Matsushita Electric expects that worldwide demand for DVD discs, as
a standard format for multimedia software, including movies, music and
computer software, may reach up to one billion units annually by the
year 2000. Demand in the U.S. could grow to roughly 400 million units
by that time.
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