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High tech: DVD and Divx
Sunday, March 28, 1999 By Barbara Vancheri, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
The bad news: You can't use it to record "Friends" so you can watch the sitcom later. At least not yet.
The good news: A DVD player, now as low as $300 or $400, will provide you with superior picture and sound, along with film frills such as audio commentary, alternate endings, the ability to jump to indexed scenes, cast biographies and other bonuses. It plays a small silver disc, the next generation of home video, that looks just like the one nestled in your CD player.
"One of the wonderful things about DVD is all that it offers enriches the movie-watching experience," suggests Gail Becker, vice president of publicity for Warner Home Video, which heralds DVD as "the media of the millennium."
Catherine Kelley, in the process of doubling her space at Classic Video in Oakland, recently added DVDs, or digital video discs. "Every week it's getting better. The very first week, it probably started 20 [videos] to one, but now that number is getting a little closer. If I don't have something on video, they ask if I have it on DVD."
The prospect of added space, plus requests from nearby college students who have computers equipped with DVD-ROM drives, prompted Kelley to make the technological leap. "It's digital, it's beautifully enhanced, it's in several languages, I could go on and on about how much better they are."
The reason it's crisper: DVD can provide 500 lines of horizontal resolution, more than twice the number of VHS.
If a DVD player popped up under your Christmas tree, you were not alone. For the fiscal year ending Feb. 27, Best Buy Co. sold 150,000 units.
"DVD was probably one of the hottest holiday items," says Best Buy spokeswoman Laurie Bauer. "It was really a runaway hit. By mid-December, we sold out of many models and were unable to fully meet customer demand for DVD. We felt we could have sold another 20,000."
Most video specialty stores (as opposed to places such as supermarkets), still handle only videos. Robert Liuag, director of research for the Video Software Dealers Association, estimates between 15 and 20 percent of such outlets rent DVDs as well as tapes.
About 750 of Blockbuster's 4,000 stores offer DVDs, with some of those stores also renting portable players for $14.99 or less. "We're still gauging customer demand in the stores where we have it right now," Blockbuster spokeswoman Stephanie Cota says.
Giant Eagle, which believes DVD is the format of the future, rents and sells the discs in about half of its stores that also handle videos. In the Pittsburgh area, that translates to 29 stores renting and selling DVDs and another half-dozen just renting DVDs.
Consumers, however, should realize not all movies are on DVD. Some, such as "A Bug's Life," are being released in both formats on the same day. Others experience a lag time between formats. And while there are millions of videos of "Titanic" out there, you won't find any DVD copies.
Almost 3,000 titles are on DVD, with projections for 4,500 titles by year's end. But compare that with the number of videos in the Movies Unlimited catalog: nearly 40,000.
Video insiders differ on what's prompting buyers to opt for a DVD player. "I don't think people are replacing their VCR with DVD; it's just an addition to the home-theater environment. It's a whole new way to watch and enjoy movies. It's not just about sticking a tape in and hitting go," says Amy Jo Donner, executive director of the DVD Video Group in Los Angeles.
Liuag has a slightly different take. "It's not like the average VCR home is running out to get a better picture quality or sound quality," he says. It's more likely that a consumer, looking to replace a CD player, figures he might as well go with a DVD player, which can be used for either movies or music, as long as the stereo equipment is hooked up.
A drawback, and it's a big one, is you cannot use your DVD player to record from TV.
"A significant percentage of VCR population uses the VCR to record. Until DVD offers that feature, its chance for mass penetration is limited," Liuag says. Now that Americans are addicted to the freedom a VCR provides (no need to stay home to watch "ER" when you can tape it), they are unlikely to relinquish it.
Philips Electronics has announced it will make a DVD player that can record available for consumers by the end of 2000, but it will be for "home-theater enthusiasts." In other words, very pricey to start.
Compared with video, DVD is still in its infancy. DVD was test-marketed in March 1997 in seven cities and rolled out nationally in the fall of that year. DVD is the video industry's attempt to blunt the increasing number of ways consumers can gain easy access to movies, from satellite dishes to digital cable to pay per view.
"It's a way to prolong the package medium. It's really the video industry's best hope," Becker acknowledges. Besides, she says, "DVD is really a collectible medium, in addition to being affordable. It's sleek, thin, easy to store, has sexy packaging."
With VCRs in nine out of 10 households, that means there are at least 89 million VCRs (some people have two or more), compared with 1.3 million DVD players and another 7 million to 8 million computers with DVD-ROM drives. By year's end, DVD players are expected to number 2 million.
Plain old DVD is not the only game in town, as consumers shopping around may have discovered. A competing format is called Divx, which stands for Digital Video Express. Circuit City stores are behind the Divx format, which offers cheaper discs that are sold (not rented) for $4.49 and then available for viewing for 48 hours, from the time you push play.
"Divx discs are yours to keep. You'll never have to make another late-night trip to the rental store again," a Divx brochure promises.
After you watch the disc initially, you can start an additional viewing period for $3.25. Once a month, you have to hook up your player to a phone line so it can dial a computer, which tracks your extra viewing and bills your credit or debit card.
Using an on-screen menu, you also can convert a disc to unlimited play. That means you can, in essence, buy "Antz" for $19.99.
Business Week magazine, in a November '98 story headlined "8-Tracks, Betamax - and Divx?" suggested that ordinary DVD was off to a roaring start. "Meanwhile, Divx players, which can also play DVD discs, face an uphill struggle. Most electronics retailers don't want to stock the players, and video stores won't touch Divx titles."
But Josh Dare, a Divx spokesman, says, "If traditional video rental places aren't inclined to carry Divx, we've had encouraging discussions with grocery, convenience and drugstore chains."
No deals have been struck (Giant Eagle has no plans to stock Divx), but Divx is trying to broaden the places you can buy the discs, and it's also entertaining talks with computer makers. A computer with a DVD-ROM drive will not play a Divx movie because of the disc's encryption, designed to prevent piracy.
Warner Home Video, for one, has cast its lot with regular DVD.
"We do not support Divx. We do not believe in Divx and neither does Columbia TriStar," says Becker. "Divx will not be able to compete against video on demand and near-video on demand. ... DVD offers something different; Divx offers the same concept with fewer features. We also think as we head into the millennium, to offer a product that isn't convergent with computers doesn't make sense."
Divx has become a whipping boy for competitors and film enthusiasts such as Roger Ebert, who has been critical of the decision to release Divx movies in pan-and-scan (the standard format, which fills out your screen) rather than wide-screen, which has the black bars above and below the picture.
"Not everyone likes to buy and collect movies," Dare says. "In fact, last year, people rented movies six times more than they purchased movies, and I know a lot of videophiles, people who are really into movies, who look down at Divx because we don't include a lot of the special features. ... But I can tell you, we don't find a market out there for widescreen."
However, he emphasizes the players sold at Circuit City can satisfy both camps since they play Divx and regular DVD.
If the selection of movies on DVD is limited, the number on Divx is even smaller, at close to 400. If you want to investigate availability, check out www.divx.com and click on "Divx Flix."
Will people who invest in Divx get burned, the way folks who bought 8-track tapes or, more recently, laser disc players?
"We have absolutely no intention of bailing. First and foremost, if you're buying a DVD player, you pay $50 to $100 more for the Divx feature, and we think it's a feature that's well worth the premium, given the added convenience. And perhaps if you're more of a renter than a buyer, ultimately it will save you money," says Dare.
"Circuit City has made a major financial commitment to this, and we are not going to walk away anytime soon."
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