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PC Mag's legendary John Dvorak does not buy regular DVDs any more. They're not sharp enough for him. Must be the glasses. He's only watching new HD-DVD releases. And he's frustrated. All these Neo-Luddites are raging against the machine! Poor wretches, frozen in time they are happy with regular DVDs! Asking for a single format. Silly people. Don't they realize these corporations have billions of dollars at stake? And what's all this nonsense with upconverting DVDs? How silly to buy an HD set and not spend the extra change on an HD-DVD player. That's the general gist of the January PC Mag article running on two very long pages.
One possible reason for Mr Dvorak's frustration, and the uninspiring article is the extra free time he gained when he shunned the gentle DVD. As of December 5, 2006 Endgadget counted some 130 HD DVD and 116 Blu-ray releases. That's too few for even an occasional movie watcher and a busy person like Mr. Dvorak, never mind serious movie buffs.
Mr. Dvorak's Neo-Luddites are happy, price-conscious consumers and techno-geeks trying to improve the machine, not break it. An HD set is a large purchase that is simply easier to rationalize. DVD was a revolutionary format. HD is a simple (but significant) improvement. Countless "regular" DVDs can look sweet on HD sets and there is plenty of reasonably priced equipment available to make movie watching a very enjoyable experience. Look up Oppo's 1080p upconverting player or Sony's 400 DVD changer. Dvorak compares upconverting vs HD to tofu vs meat. Funny and somewhat true but it's also true that well-prepared tofu can taste awesome.
I don't believe Mr. Dvorak is irrational, just subservient to the industry that's feeding the never ending consumer techno craze - his bread and butter by the way. In this light I also see the new iPhone which, given the company's size, aspirations and computing expertise could have been a far more inspiring product. Instead we are celebrating another very expensive toy. Kudos to Apple though. Hopefully we'll soon see a far more versatile and powerful mainstream hand held product.
Then we can all worship the machine.
One possible reason for Mr Dvorak's frustration, and the uninspiring article is the extra free time he gained when he shunned the gentle DVD. As of December 5, 2006 Endgadget counted some 130 HD DVD and 116 Blu-ray releases. That's too few for even an occasional movie watcher and a busy person like Mr. Dvorak, never mind serious movie buffs.
Mr. Dvorak's Neo-Luddites are happy, price-conscious consumers and techno-geeks trying to improve the machine, not break it. An HD set is a large purchase that is simply easier to rationalize. DVD was a revolutionary format. HD is a simple (but significant) improvement. Countless "regular" DVDs can look sweet on HD sets and there is plenty of reasonably priced equipment available to make movie watching a very enjoyable experience. Look up Oppo's 1080p upconverting player or Sony's 400 DVD changer. Dvorak compares upconverting vs HD to tofu vs meat. Funny and somewhat true but it's also true that well-prepared tofu can taste awesome.
I don't believe Mr. Dvorak is irrational, just subservient to the industry that's feeding the never ending consumer techno craze - his bread and butter by the way. In this light I also see the new iPhone which, given the company's size, aspirations and computing expertise could have been a far more inspiring product. Instead we are celebrating another very expensive toy. Kudos to Apple though. Hopefully we'll soon see a far more versatile and powerful mainstream hand held product.
Then we can all worship the machine.
The guy's a professional troll. I especially liked his complaining about XP being slow because of "this new idle process thing" that takes up 99% of the CPU 
It looks stunning compared to everything I've had previously and I can't imagine spending all the extra money to go the next step up, when it also gains you "more secure" DRM (aka against you) and probable obsolesence in a few years when they agree on BluRay or something else instead.
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