Standard DVD Reviews
Dear Gary:
Can you confirm if your magazine is discontinuing standard DVD reviews? Since the studios are still marketing and selling standard DVDs, consumers should have a right to have the discs reviewed. That is my opinion. I have not put my trust in Blu-ray because who knows how long it will be around until something better comes along.
Roan Wynter
editorgary@widescreenreview.com
Editor-In-Chief and Publisher Gary Reber Comments:
Yes, we are now reviewing exclusively Blu-ray Discs, as this represents "the best that it can be” in picture and sound, which has been our mantra since we began publishing 17 years ago. We started Widescreen Review with LaserDiscs, when "everyone" was looking at VHS, then we discontinued LaserDisc reviews and adopted DVD, and now we are discontinuing DVD reviews and adopting Blu-ray Disc.
There simply is no comparison in quality presentation. Blu-ray tromps DVD in every performance aspect. Even if DVD can be made to look better with upscaling, it still never equals Blu-ray performance. Nor does it have the capacity for lossless multichannel soundtracks, which are far superior to lossy sound. And remember, sound represents upward of 80 percent of the experience.
Now, having said that, you can pretty much rely on a parity in review rating. If the Blu-ray edition receives high rating scores, then the DVD will also achieve high marks.
Any future format that comes along will only increase the data bit holding capacity. The real ingredients that pertain to quality are the video codec used and audio compression, which on Blu-ray Disc is either lossless or uncompressed multichannel discrete. DVD does not support VC-1 or MPEG-4 AVC codecs, or lossless digital master audio.
In the days of VHS, the studios launched DVD and still supported VHS. That will be the case until the majority of people have upgraded to Blu-ray Disc players, which are backward compatible with their DVD collection.
There will always be new formats attempting to become the “new” standard. It is always a rough road with no assurances. Blu-ray is well established and far ahead of adoption rates compared to the introduction of DVD. The format has entered the “early majority” adoption phase.
You can E-mail Widescreen Review @ editorgary@widescreenreview.com