Word: dvd
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...fill the racks in video stores, in packages that look like the shorter siblings of DVDs. Netflix carries nearly 1,400 of them, along with 100,000 of the old models. They are Blu-ray discs. This Sony video format, having won a staring contest with rival HD DVD, is now officially the next generation in home entertainment. The promise is that movies will look better than ever, duplicating and perhaps surpassing the big-screen experience. Manufacturers and film companies, investing zillions in the process, want you to say, Wow! But first they want you to buy the stuff...
...producers are pinning their hopes on Blu-ray for a simple reason: the DVD business, which accounts for most of their revenue, is in the doldrums, and a new format might spur a worldwide shopping spree for the latest application of a cool gimmick - like for PlayStation 3 or Wii, only more so. Yeah, but money's tight these days. Consumers want to know if they have to buy a Blu-ray or whether it's just an incremental improvement that will soon be rendered obsolete when high-quality movie downloads from the Internet become available...
...also has a practical advantage: DVDs can be played on it. Every other upgrade in home entertainment - from 16 mm to laser disc to VHS and DVD - has meant the obsolescence of the previous format. This time you can embrace the new technology without mothballing your DVD collection. No awful separation anxiety. (See the top 10 movie performances...
...They were a big advance over videocassettes in clarity and durability; whereas a cassette, like a vinyl record or an eight-track, deteriorated simply by being played, DVDs don't erode with age. The Searchers, The Third Man, The Dark Knight and WALL?E all look terrific on DVD. As terrific as on Blu-ray? Not quite. But what are we, eye doctors...
...years is a lifetime in entertainment technology; it's about as long as the age of DVD. Until the digital millennium arrives, Blu-ray is the best, and best-looking, way to see movies at home. It's less than a revolution but more than a gimmick...