Posted by IAmTheSlime on 10/14/07 02:24

On Sat, 13 Oct 2007 19:35:29 -0600, Big Boy <bigboy@home.net> wrote:

>Tarkus wrote:
>> Rich Billionaire wrote:
>>> Read about holographic disks on Wikipedia. Right now they have 300
>>> gigabyte holographic disks that they sell to TV stations for $120 each
>>> and the burners cost $10,000. But in the future I think the prices
>>> will come down enough for the consumer like everything else does in
>>> electronics. They say the upper limit for holographic disks is 1.6
>>> terrabytes.
>>> So after everyone has a blue ray or HD-DVD player plush a bunch of
>>> disks for those, I predict that they will put holographic disks on the
>>> consumer market and we'll be expected to buy those things all over
>>> again.
>>
>> Are they really doing that with HD discs? Seems to me they're pushing
>> new releases far more than they're pushing replacing your existing
>> catalog. Not that there isn't some of that too.
>>
>> But yeah, technology evolves and there will always be new formats. It's
>> up to each consumer to decide if there is sufficient value in them.
>> Unless you're opposed to capitalism, I see nothing wrong with that.
>>
>> They've yet to market a new format, for example, that renders existing
>> VHS tapes inoperable. And neither HD format renders existing DVDs
>> inoperable. IOW, if people are replacing their existing catalogs,
>> they're doing so by choice.
>
>I agree with you - up to a point. As you point out, they aren't
>deliberately rendering old technology (e.g. VHS tapes) inoperable.
>However, it is getting harder to find a VHS player.

If you watched an old VHS tape on your new 1080p display, you *should*
be quite disappointed with the results.

> There are many
>stores that don't bother carrying them, anymore.

I wouldn't either. They don't sell. You don't see any stores carrying
a PC XT anymore either.

> This trend will
>continue until it will be almost impossible to find a VHS player -

Trend? It's called PROGRESS. There are no PC XTs because nobody
wants to buy a box that takes nearly a full day to perform a check disk
on a 20MB drive. The microprocessor on a 10/100T router is more
powerful.

Are you starting to "get the picture" yet?

>thereby (effectively) rendering VHS useless.

I don't want to buy something that has parts in it (rubber) that degrade
over time, and that will render it unplayable, or out of calibration in a
matter of a mere few years. Why you would is amazing to me.

> The same thing can be
>expected to happen with DVD eventually, although (hopefully) not for
>some years, yet.

Not at all. Optical disc technology has the benefit of NON-degradable
media, and if the reader dies, we'll get another.

The current set of HD players, BTW, will read older format discs.
I don't think you are examining technological advancement correctly.

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