Quote Originally Posted by nightflier
But Isn't it true that standard (non-HDTV) broadcasts will soon be removed from the airwaves? I'm sure it will be pushed back several times, but currently it's supposed to be terminated in 2009, if I remember correctly. When that happens, I'm sure that the only access to media will be through a subscription based service.
Actually, the only mandate is that ANALOG over-the-air broadcasts end sometime in the future. It only mandates that future broadcasts be digital, not necessarily that they broadcast in HD. And that future has been pushed back at least a couple of times. The original mandate required that analog broadcasts end in 2006. That termination date is now a lot more open ended, pretty much it will end only when the percentage of households buying digital-ready TVs reaches a majority of sets sold.

The other thing to consider is that most households get their broadcast TV thru cable and satellite, and those are still compatible with existing sets, so you are right about subscription services having a big role in the future.

Quote Originally Posted by nightflier
That is why I suspect that this new format war is a non event; because the industry is pushing for downloadable content only. This way, there won't be any disks to own or copy anymore. All digital content will be limited-time use and non shareable. This is the wet dream that Gates, Stringer, Renzer, and Turner would like us all to slip into.
I think that's reason why there's such a huge push on right now to get Blu-ray and/or HD-DVD established in the market. The hardware manufacturers are well aware of the burgeoning competition from on-demand services, HD broadcasts, and downloaded content. With the DVD, all of these services will surpass the DVD's picture and audio quality in a relatively short time.

All of this nonsense could have been avoided if the DVD hadn't been rushed to market so quickly. I've said many times on this board that the DVD should have been a HD format from the very beginning. The digital TV specs were approved back in 1992, well before development on the DVD format was finalized. The players in the DVD consortium have viewed the DVD as an interim format (or at least that's what they're saying now). Problem is that they created an interim format that's now installed in almost 100 million households, with a lot of them already investing a huge amount into their disc libraries. The studios and the hardware manufacturers were well aware that HDTV was on the horizon, but they got greedy and created a non-HD disc format on the presumption that they could persuade consumers to invest in an all-new HD format once it became available. All they have to do is look at the marketing disaster of DVD-A and SACD to see what can happen when they make these kinds of presumptions (and what can happen when draconian copy protection schemes detract from the practical functioning of a format).