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What's wrong with HDTV? From what I hear its the next and greatest coming thing in technology.

Hi,
great question. I've been observing the video format debates for the last 20 years.

Beta vs. VHS was really a Japanese format vs. European format issue.

DVD is similar, but the advancements in digital processing has curtailed the actual format for recording.

It appears to me that the format for recording data is really irrelevant at this juncture. Whether the data is encoded on tape, CD, DVD, or hard drive; the data is digital.

Analog means of recording video signals have gone the way of the dodo.

So, what's left to consider?

The PC revolution in the early 1980's needed a killer app to ignite the market. Word processors like Wang were the rage in big companies. Laser Printing ignited Apple Mac sales and if you recall the initial marketing of the Mac was in conjunction with the initial laser printers.

Now, with the implosion of the .COMs the tech industry needs to reignite sales. What takes more bandwidth, more memory, and more CPU power? VIDEO.

VIDEO encoding has been in the works at MSFT for 6 years plus now. I've been following their work at Redmond through their NetShow product. They morphed it into Windows Media Technology. At the very point MSFT began compressing video and feeding it out to hobbyists, Clinton hit the company with his infamous litigation.

Why?

If MSFT had rolled out this process two years ago, the Demonrats would have lost control of Hollywood's propaganda engines.

Now, the jig is up anyway. People are using the internet and democratizing the politics of the world. Freepers are exchanging pics and thoughts like we are.

What if the Freepers began having the right to quickly produce their own documentaries on a display standard that matches big theatres (see my posting above on LCD projectors)?

Digital format LCD projectors match theatre experiences for small rooms (i.e. 10-15 people at a time).

So, the HDTV standard is not relevant. Broadcast HDTV will not reach widespread acceptance before PC based digital TV standards. If the GTW system reaches widespread sales (which GTW says is happening due to the price point), it will force other plasma TV manufacturers to make HDTV standards as secondary. Sony, Phillips, et al will not fight to protect HDTV. They will shift and include some HDTV functionality but will prioritize the s-VGA plug and make sure that the Windows guys have drivers for their displays.

The price point of the plasmas has to match LCD projectors for the plasmas to gain. The other factor is that the LCD's are only good if the lamp is strong and the room can be dimmed. If you look at how plasmas are displayed, they often are in dimmed floor space. HDTV is not the standard.

The standard is now Windows Media Center Technology and there's not a darn thing Hollywood can do about it.

I have an HDTV setup and it is like nothing you have ever seen. If you watch TV and have access to HD in your area(either from cable or over the air with an antenna like I have) you should really look into it. Take a look out of an open window at your backyard, that is how HDTV looks. The quality of the picture can't really be described to anyone who has not seen it. It is better than any DVD or computer monitor you have ever seen.