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My wife tells me that she has heard that a new DVD system is being introduced.

She is not getting confused about regions or PAL/NTSC, but is rather describing a situation which would parallel the old VHS/Betamax one, with two completely different systems vying for supremacy.

Can anyone clarify this please?

DVD is dead, every system. Market gone down 20% in 4 months. Blockbuster just bought a movie download site ? She might meen Blu-Ray.

Phil McC

She's talking about HD DVD and Blueray, high definition video. I've got a HD DVD player for my Xbox 360 and it looks amazing on a very big screen. Don't bother if you've only got a 32 inch though.

Thank you.

It's just that our DVD player, like its owners, is showing rather marked signs of age and needs replacing.

I'm now unsure what to buy.

Presumably we will have to buy one that is compatible with a digital television as, at some point, we will have no choice but to buy one of those?

Buy a normal DVD out of ASDA, ?30. These are more compatable than anythin else. Digital switch over is only about analogue Tv signals. Your ASDA DVD is digital.

Phil McC

There are two new conflicting formats.

One called Blu Ray and the other called HD DVD. They are backed by two different groups of hardware makers (phillps, sony, etc, usual suspects).

Both a VERY new and there are very few players around and they are VERY expensive.

I doubt if they will become common for at LEAST a year, maybe more, so no rush.

DVDs will continue to be made for a few years yet, and both these new players will play DVDs anyway.

Sony have put a Blu Ray player in their PS3 and Microsoft have a HD DVD player you can add to their XBox 360 so they have gone into conflicting camps.

Both Blu Ray and HD DVD have been created for HD films and High Defintion TV. They both hold far more data than a DVD so you can store HD TV on them.

A standard DVD is about 7Gb, but these new formats can hold between about 30Gb and 50Gb.

Pre-recorded feature films are coming out in HD DVD and Blu Ray, but as yet few people have the players to play them so it will be a gradual switch over, I reckon it will take about 3 or 4 years.

I second that Pacific DVD players from ASDA seem to play anything except DVD-RAM and MPEG4. Easy to make multi-region too if needed.

Many thanks! !thumbsup!

LG has a machine out that handles both Blue-Ray & HD; problem is, it costs about 1100 USD. Both technologies have some pretty heavy backers. Further complicating things is word that Taiwan & mainland China also have versions of hi-def out (anyone remember the quadraphonic wars??). You need a 1080p (which regular broadcast telly is incapable of BTW) TV to realize the potential of any form of hi-def anyway. My advice is simply to wait a year or 2 & see how things shake out.