IGN: Why DVD's better than Blu-Ray....

[Final-Fan]

twesterm said:
Ok, yes, if you try destroy a DVD you're going to destroy a DVD.  Stop playing stupid, you know what I mean when I say it's more durable.  I'm not talking about rubbing it against the pavement (and if you rub the actual tape against the pavement, same result as the DVD). 

I'm talking about with age, the DVD wins.  After 100 viewings, the DVD wins.  Also, DVD's players rarely destroy your DVD (I'm not saying they don't) but VHS players eat tapes A LOT.  I don't think I've ever lost a DVD due to a player malfunction and I've lost maybe two DVD's due to wear(and that was due to being in a freshman dorm) but I can't count the number of VHS tapes my VHS player has eaten or how many VHS tapes that have just become unwatchable due to wear and age (and I in general take excellent care of all my media).

I still have a good 50 or so VHS tapes at my parents house and I would say a good half half of those I can't watch anymore.  I guarantee you if I come back in 20 years and try to play my DVD's, they'll still work.

That is what I'm talking about with more durable. 

And I guess we just know different people because just about every non-tech person I know either doesn't see enough of a difference to care or just doesn't care (and this counts for all ages).

And I can skip every FBI warning by pressing fast forward or pressing skip chapter.  And even if I couldn't skip that, I would take the 10 seconds of FBI warning over the minutes it takes to rewind.  Jesus, talk about grasping at straws. :-p

-edit-
Whoops, forgot portability.

Perhaps portability is the wrong word I'm using, forgive me, I suck at words today.  I'm merely talking about the sheer number of devices you have that support the media.  Today, how many things do you have that play DVD's?  Ok, how many devices do you have that play BluRay?  If you're thinking about the switch, you have to sacrifice that, shall we say flexibility?

Yes, your DVD's still work everywhere but your BluRays don't.

And I said before, VHS just didn't have that flexibility.  You had your camcorder and your VHS player(s), today we have our DVD players, computers, consoles, portable DVD players, and probably other things I'm just not thinking of.  As soon as you go to BluRay, new movies can't take advantage of that.

I agree with you on a lot of your general position twesterm but I disagree with quite a few of your points. 

-- Durability:  You can't really say "well VHS is vulnerable in the magnetic tape so it's also easy to damage" because if someone isn't being an idiot then it's protected by the plastic shell.  The tape is only an issue for the player eating tapes.  DVDs, on the other hand, have the data exposed to the world (unless in the DVD case). 
-- I agree that VHS players do sometimes eat tapes while DVD players having the same problem is practically unheard of AFAIK unless it's a mechanical problem like in those 360s.  But it's very uncommon even in VHS players, to the point where it's really a nonissue for both sides. 
-- Tapes do age and wear out but unless it is being very heavily watched (e.g. kids with a Disney movie) then it can easily last decades.  I have some tapes going on 20 years if not older that still are perfectly watchable IIRC.  DVD definitely has the advantage here but tapes aren't as bad as you're saying if treated well. 
-- FBI warning / skipping:  I agree with you here, that "point" borders on nonsense.

-- Portability:  I think you may be coloring this with your own experience.  I can easily turn the tables:  When my household got a DVD player, we had 3 or 4 VHS players scattered throughout the house.  We only had the one DVD player for several years, maybe until 2005.  Now, the same household has 4 DVD players (counting the dual-drive PC once) and one Blu-ray player.  They might have just that one Blu-ray player for as long as they had just the one DVD player ... but probably they'll get another sooner.  I think it's a mistake to assume that this is a bigger disadvantage for BR compared to when DVD was in the same position.