02-16-2007, 01:48 PM
HD-DVD and Blu-Ray use different lasers than regular DVD or CDs, so firmware updates are not possible.
I think regular DVD will be around for at least as long as VHS was following the release of DVD in the home theater market.
As far as the computer market goes, some people said DVD would threaten to supplant CD-ROM as the media of choice for retail programs but now we can see that most DVD discs are used for high-capacity backups, not retail software.
So, as it goes, people get larger and larger hard drives and need to find ways to effectively backup that data onto removeable media. Blu-Ray and HD-DVD will fit the bill there, but I don't think you will be 'forced' to upgrade any time soon.
No doubt major manufacturers will begin to offer this next generation of optical drives as options or even standards in new computers, but seeing as how floppy drives are still around in some PCs I think CD/DVD-ROM drives will have their place for a while yet.
I think regular DVD will be around for at least as long as VHS was following the release of DVD in the home theater market.
As far as the computer market goes, some people said DVD would threaten to supplant CD-ROM as the media of choice for retail programs but now we can see that most DVD discs are used for high-capacity backups, not retail software.
So, as it goes, people get larger and larger hard drives and need to find ways to effectively backup that data onto removeable media. Blu-Ray and HD-DVD will fit the bill there, but I don't think you will be 'forced' to upgrade any time soon.
No doubt major manufacturers will begin to offer this next generation of optical drives as options or even standards in new computers, but seeing as how floppy drives are still around in some PCs I think CD/DVD-ROM drives will have their place for a while yet.