Now that Blu-Ray players have reached the Walmart/$100 level, it is safe to say the DVD is history. Anyone wanting to continue to “build a library” of movie titles should discontinue DVD purchases immediately…unless they find something relatively obscure.
DVD was a huge step forward. As the first digital format for film, it offered a stable image and a convenient viewing experience (aside from overcooked menu systems and previews). It looks good while viewing on a medium-sized screen. However, hit the “pause” button at any point and it is easy to see the muddy reality of the frames that comprise the moving image. Thumbnails, really.
Blu-Ray, then, as the winning v2.0 of digital home movies, is much better. Hit the pause button and there is virtually no loss in perceived quality. And teaming one of these newly affordable Blu-Ray players with any one of the crop of sub-$1,000 HDTV’s, and you have an affordable viewing experience hardly imagineable just ten years ago.
But meanwhile, something has gone wrong in the world of computer monitors. 24″ LCD monitors have quietly been getting WORSE resolution, trading 1920 x1200 resolution for a shorter 1920 x 1080 “FullHD” image. The unknowing computer monitor customer loses about a vertical inch of area for browsing, etc. And years have past since Apple introduced their 30″ Cinema Display, at 2400 x 1600.
Like it or not, computer monitors are now tied to the 16:9 aspect ratio of movie media. Great for a few things (wide spreadsheet), bad for most everything else. However, 4096 x 2160 is coming! This resolution is the Next Big Thing for movies, and will promise a great computer experience as well.
But it is sure long in coming. There were demos made four years ago, and no one seems eager to roll out the products, not even computer makers whose users would benefit from this resolution right away. I hope we aren’t going to reach some kind of complacency here. 1,080 is hardly impressive, consider it isn’t even twice the vertical resolution of ancient S-VGA at 800 x 600!
Let’s hope that we start seeing 4096 x 2160 in more places, soon.
