DVD Demystified

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Chapter 7
consumer electronics, movie, and computer industries, all with different priorities
and different motivations—other than profit—it is amazing that
DVD turned out as well as it did.
DVD is not the be-all and end-all medium for entertainment or computer
data storage, nor was it ever intended to be. Technology had reached the
point where it was time to introduce a new format, free of the drawbacks
and dead ends of compact disc, videotape, and laserdisc. Detractors complain
that DVD should have waited longer and taken advantage of new
technology such as shorter-wavelength lasers in order to store even more
data, or that DVD-Video is not sufficiently improved over laserdisc, or that
it should have waited and fully supported HDTV. This kind of argument
leaves one forever poised on the edge of a leap that is never taken, however,
because something better is always around the corner. Once blue lasers are
available commercially, ultraviolet lasers will be in the laboratories, promising
even greater storage density. And how much better is “enough?” Realistically,
DVD-Video is already capable of more than most televisions can
deliver. Improving the quality would have made DVD more expensive and
less reliable for little or no visible gain. And HDTV, as promising as it may
be, is experiencing the most sluggish introduction ever seen; it will take
many long years to establish an HDTV market able to sustain a major consumer
electronics product such as DVD.
All in all, DVD is a major step forward in many areas. There is certainly
room for improvement, but even the Brave Little Tailor killed only seven in
one blow.