D-VHS VCRs
Dear Gary: As I read through your exhaustive coverage of the JVC D-VHS D-Theater VCR, I was reminded of several things. I think it was back in the late seventies when various consumer electronics companies thought it would be fun to introduce a large-format analog audio cassette, which would provide extended bandwidth and reduced noise, compared with compact cassettes. It was called the Elcassette. I don’t think it lasted a year in the marketplace. Then there were a couple of digital versions of audiocassettes that had the same goal (to supplant compact cassettes). They were called DAT and Digital Compact Cassette, and neither gained any traction. The reason appeared to be the record companies’ reluctance to allow digital recordable hardware in the possession of the general public. They withheld prerecorded software on DAT and DCC, and the result was that DAT became strictly a niche product, used exclusively in professional studios, and DCC is gone altogether. Of course, optical disc recording really did catch the fancy of the public, and we all know the result of that. The electronics companies were smart enough to wait for record companies to issue enough software (supplanting vinyl albums) that, when it was time to introduce a recordable version, it was too late to stop digital audio recording from falling into the hands of the public. (They snuck it into computers first! Brilliant!) I believe the Hollywood studios will use exactly the same strategy. They will probably withhold prerecorded D-VHS software from the marketplace, and the format will suffer the same fate as DAT. Trust me on this. D-VHS is doomed to a niche market. There is no broad consortium of electronics companies salivating to license and manufacturer these machines. There are only four studios releasing limited titles. The public has come to expect the convenience of speedy random access provided by disc technology, and the suppliers are accustomed to stamping out the software by the tens of millions, at a cost of pennies apiece. Linear digital tape recording, whether audio or video, will forever remain the domain of broadcasters and recording studios, and never achieve the commercial success of CDs and DVDs. Save your money. As for optical disc? All hope rests on a unified standard for blue laser technology. First, studios must issue copy-protected HD-DVDs in this format, then there will be a long pause, as computer manufacturers develop the courage to introduce very expensive blue laser DVD burners, and then the general public will be able to digitally record HD video. It will probably take five years, maybe much more if Hollywood has anything to say about it. So, no, I will not be spending $2,000 for a D-VHS machine—to end up time-shifting TV shows. My $200 TiVo does that just fine. By the way, it records digitally to disk, too! (Anyone want to market an HDTV version of TiVo? Philips, are you listening?)
Steve Lawrence, Livonia, Michigan
Editor-In-Chief Gary Reber Comments:
Contrary to your view, I believe the demand for prerecorded movies in true high-definition format is so great that the D-VHS D-Theater format, being the only true HD format presently for the foreseeable future available, will find success with millions of consumers who have already invested in HDTV displays. I think studios will find unexpected demand for releasing their catalog and new releases in this HD-plus format, and since releasing in this format will be “found money” for the studio coffers, all the studios will eventually support it, just as they eventually all supported DVD. And I think the impact of these developments will be profound for the success of the transition from analog to digital TV, and for the development of a true HD-plus performance optical disc format. Unlike the references to other “forgotten” formats, or formats adopted by professionals but not consumers, the D-VHS D-Theater format is the first and currently only true HD recordable and prerecorded platform available to consumers. Costs for the HD digital VCRs will plummet within the next two years, and prerecorded movies at introduction are priced at no more than twice that of standard-definition DVDs (Artisan’s Terminator 2: Judgement Day carries an MSRP of $34.98). I do believe that for this platform to succeed, even if limited to a niche market, the studios will have to fully embrace it. I agree with you that if Hollywood withholds prerecorded D-VHS software from the marketplace, the format will suffer the same fate as DAT. Of course, this scenario is just as real for HD optical disc as it is for D-VHS. But then, the security robustness of the format is attributed to the added layer of copy-protected D-Theater encryption, which the studios supporting the format have endorsed.
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