[Jason Vines]

Dan Ramer of DVDFILE says, "High definition is here. But what might the future hold?"

Anyone who thought high-definition DVD would constitute the be-all, end-all of the home theater experience is wrong, maintains Ramer.

Dan Ramer of DVDFILE said:

Apparently the eyeball can perceive much finer detail than we enjoy with high definition. My 8-foot wide home theater screen is positioned for about a 42-degree wide field of view. But if I can perceive 0.59 arc minutes, I?d need 8542 pixels across the screen to reach my limit of visual acuity (42 * 60 / 0.59 = 4271 line-pairs or 8542 pixels). But even the Digital Cinema Initiative 4K specification calls for only 4096 x 2160 pixels. So it?s safe to say that vision is far better than today?s high definition or tomorrow?s digital cinema. Does that matter?

In a sense, no. If the object of home theater is to replicate the motion picture experience, based on today?s film technology, we?ve very likely achieved replication with HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc and 1080p displays. But if in the not too distant future our eyeballs become spoiled by 4K?s 8,847,360 pixels on the motion picture screen, digitally projected and unspoiled by film wear and tear, we may find ourselves demanding better at home. We may find ourselves embroiled in another format war, this time over a 4K digital format.

So I must concede with mixed feelings that replacing DVDs with HD DVDs or Blu-ray Discs or a mix of both may not be the last time we would be asked to buy the same films all over again.

The atrocious copy protection measures Hollywood forced on high-definition DVD's, which shut out consumers with older HDTV's and computer monitors, had already convinced me not to spend a dime on high-definition DVD's. Ramer's argument fortifies my resolve. Why support greedy corporate whores when their wares will in the near future fade into obsolescence?

Maybe when the electronics and entertainment industries introduce the Next Big Thing in home theater, the memory of flopping high-definition DVD's will convince them to treat the public as valued customers instead of dirty criminals.

[Jason Vines]

Looks like Mr. Ramer was right: Ultra High Definition is on the horizon.

UHD has a resolution of 7680 x 4320. Currently, no LCD or plasma screen can produce that resolution. But the technology to view UHD in the home will come in the future.

25 years, the projected ETA for home usage, is a long time, though...

[Bondo]

Yes, and draconian copyright aside, it is all about the films I watch. And I expect for most purposes DVD is fine. Old movies often need extensive restoration anyway, and there is simply a limit on the film quality, and higher resolutions only make the flaws more apparent. At any rate, catalog films, particularly old catalog films, will only trickle out.

Although I would love seeing Vertigo HD or the lush HD technicolor films