As far as I know, the specifications haven't been released, but
http://asia.cnet.com/newstech/personaltech/0,39001147,39156239,00.htm
says it "promises five times the image quality of DVD movies". This probably means that it goes beyond the resolution of DVD... perhaps it supports the highest resolution HDTV formats...

If anyone can watch a show and see a difference between one at 50fps and one at 60fps, i'll eat my baseball cap (films only run at 24fps anyway). However the difference between the still-picture resolution of PAL and NTSC is quite noticable. More horizontal lines (about 576 visible to about 480) and better clarity along said lines as well (about 2.5mhz signal clock to 4mhz)... not to mention colour fidelity. NTSC has come on a lot colour wise but its STILL hella-easy to spot a programme recorded at 60fps in 480 line, 2.5mhz, AM colour NTSC vs one recorded at 50fps in 576 line, 4mhz, FM colour PAL/SECAM... because the NTSC one looks kinda poor in comparison (especially if you tune in to a BBC round-table discussion that should be recorded in PAL, only to find that it looks terrible because it's coming from Dubai for some reason, and their local standard is NTSC - that has to be further re-converted for UK broadcast). Extra smoothness my ass - you don't notice the difference between your tv and the cinema screen now, except the size.

Wasn't this article about how many chinese have HDTV anyway? Not PAL...

wow, they are -so- zooming ahead.

and 'better compression' etc? is this like a fusion of blu-ray and divx? i've noticed a flurry of cheapo HDTV and Divx-compatible players recently, probably spewing from china, wouldnt surprise me if some chinese techno-spy got hold of some blue ray prototype plans and sent them home for them to make a quick working production model.

Oh! "disks"!

boy did I misread that one...

StubePT, Beta is still going strong. Used widely in television, commercial recording, video transfer for commercial servers.

I had a Beta recorder stolen from my place back in the mid 80's. Ha ha, suckers probably shiat when they tried to pawn it.

I SURE AM GLAD I DIDN'T BUY INTO THIS WHOLE DVD FAD...I KNEW THERE'D BE SOMETHIN BETTER COME ALONG. I AM HOWEVER SLOWLY BEIN WON OVER BY THOSE CD'S, AND not useing the caps button like an idiot.

"you don't notice the difference between your tv and the cinema screen now, except the size."

Well I can notice the difference... the movement seems smoother and realer if the framerate is higher... but there has to be a lot of movement for me to be able to tell the difference...
If no-one is able to tell the difference between 24 fps and the 50/60 fps then why isn't TV at 24 fps?

Hot stock tip!

On2 produces the codec that enables EVD's to have their more efficient compression standards. The Chinese already have a contract and are scheduled to but a shiatload of these. On2 gets $2 royalties for every player produced.

Stock ticker is ONT. I have some shares, and you heard it here first.

DVD does not stand for Digital Video Disc, *or* for Digital Versitile Disc. Offically, it stands for nothing. (originally it was going to be Digital Video Disc, but then the DVD-ROM format was created, so they were going to call it Digital Versitile Disc, but in the end they just made it stand for itself)

nutkick_42:

just like minidisks did to cds

Minidiscs are a digital version of cassette tapes. They were not meant to compete with CDs, but to provide a lower cost way to record and transfer digital music.

MD was great until Sony killed it through its stupid uploads are evil anti-piracy measures.

neilyou:

StubePT, Beta is still going strong. Used widely in television, commercial recording, video transfer for commercial servers.

It's not the same Beta.

memphomaniac:

VHS vs Beta:
Beta is much better.

Lower generation loss a better format does not make.

icy_one:

In the early days of CD-ROMs, they used a caddy for the CD, but it never caught on because of the size of the caddy. It wasn't much bigger than the one in the photo above. I predict it will not catch on again.

That was bloody annoying. The caddy was too awkward for the format. I was never a fan.