The Future of Media Post #81: Get Out Your Crystal Ball

1.I hate to see the DVD disappear so soon. I still have a large collection of VHS tapes that I can no longer play. I am glad that my DVD collection isn't as big as the VHS collection was. The more recent movies are available pretty quickly on HBO or other cable channels and so we don't feel like we have to own them. I also usee the library to borrow DVDs.  In fact, we have found that we don't watch the movies in our collection. We usually watch something that is being broadcast, even if we've seen it numerous times before. Is that the definition of a "couch potato?" I think more and more broadcasting over the Internet will be the most influental development in the future. I haven't really be following trends in new technology in this field, but have noticed that they are sending TV signals to cell phones. I definitely would not enjoy watching a program on a cell phone.

We just upgraded to HDTV this winter and so are just getting used to that technology. In fact when we had to have the cable company come out because of bad reception we found that we hadn't even been watching HDTV. We didn't have the TV set up properly. So we are already way behind the curve on new technology. I didn't know that Blu-Ray was in competition with HD DVD in a format war. I had no interest in either one. I can see the problems that traditional TV is going to come up against.  It will be a learning curve when the computer and TV merge, but it'll be nice to to be able to do computer things on the big screen. I am not really interested in 3-D TV. It won't be the same if you aren't sitting in the dark in a theater.

I enjoyed the article by Sexton about the future of 500-channel cable TV. I have often complained about having so many channels showing the same things over and over. My Mom who is 88 would sure like to see some of those old black and white movies from the 30's and 40's that no one shows any more. It was interesting to learn that back in the day when we had only 3 stations to chose from, we actually had more choice of what to watch. "On any given day 722 episodes of a television show with Law & Order in its title will air. 542 episodes of a television show with the letters CSI in one or another order will daily." And I watch most of them!

2.
I would say that I am  late adopter. I like to wait for the bugs to we worked out and the price to come down. Except for their bulkiness, I liked VHS tapes. You could stop it and it stayed in place and you could even take it out and put it in again, and then start from the same place. I liked audiocassettes for the same reason, but they were easily damaged with stretched out or twisted tapes. DVDs definitely have the advantage in picture quality and special features. I guess my favorite media gadget currently is our DVR. It is so much easier to record programs using the DVR and the program guide, than it was trying to program the VCR. We are a little late adopting this, my kids have been Tivo-ing for years.