Screw the DSTV and PSP movie player, this is a hundred times better!

[OB1]

I just found out about this from the PA forums, and I can't believe how Bojacksome it is. It's a compact flash card device for the GBA (and DS) which lets you play movies of just about any format, as well as mp3s, e-books, and even Famicom emulation. Gamespot, Gamesarefun, and a bunch of other sites have given the device rave reviews, and it's only $25! As soon as I can afford one I'm gonna order it ASAP. You can buy one at Lik-Sang.

[Great Rumbler]

A good SD card will cost about $25-$50 depending on how much space you want. Still, this is a very interesting device.

[OB1]

You mean compact flash. You can get a good 256 MB one for $20. That's more than enough space.

[Great Rumbler]

Ah, I just assumed that it used the SD cards. Anyway, this is definitely something I'll want to look into more, since I've got a large amount of MP3s and carrying a dozen CDs around isn't very convenient.

[OB1]

This is so much better than the PSP UMD thing. The only thing that could beat it is if you could play DVDs... dvds that you could shrink with a shrink-ray.

[Dark Jaguar]

They REALLY need to standardize memory cards... I'm sick of about a billiion (well, like 5 or so) completely incombatible completely different shaped cards that can only be used in this or that device. As such, if Panasonic makes the camera you want but Sony makes the... I dunno, whatever ELSE uses memory cards... that you want, you have to buy TWO cards, so might as well not bother paying for those really REALLY big cards if you aren't going to be filling them up very quickly....

STANDARDIZE you stupid industry! You know, like how ethernet is more or less standardized!

[Great Rumbler]

That's capitalism for you.

[OB1]

Compact Flash cards are one of the most widely-used cards in the industry. There's no worry of them working just for one or two things.

[Dark Jaguar]

Yes, capitalism, but capitalism also nurtures standardization. For example, there aren't a million different incompatible CD-Rom formats, just the one, because they realized well enough that with just one format, everyone can buy it. DVDs were tricky, but the formats are all pretty much set as a package all DVD players have and no one is dumb enough, yet, to create an unsupported DVD format on top of those.

USB is a pretty famous one, the idea being that pretty much all hardware should be using the same format connection. Even the PS2 has some USB ports. Honestly, I expect all 3 next gen consoles to have USB ports, maybe even as the controller ports. Standardization is pretty much always good, so long as the standard is designed with upgradability in mind.

Anyway, the thing is, aside from console controllers, the biggest nonstandardized thing right now is memory cards. There are like 5 companies that won't back down from their formats. It's not nearly as bad as a problem I've given up on, standardized ink cartridges for printers :D, but it should be fixed before it BECOMES that.

[A Black Falcon]

Standardized ink cartridges for printers will never happen. The printer companies make most of their money off ink cartridges after all (or at least I sure wouldn't be surprised if they do)...

As for these cards, it's not so bad. But this is coming from someone who owns no devices that use any of them, so it's somewhat abstract... if I had a bunch of that stuff and they were all incompatible I would probably be annoyed by it.

And the big compatibility issue right now is HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray, I'd say.

[OB1]

Indeed. If neither one becomes the clear choice very soon, the next format won't catch on for a while.

[Great Rumbler]

Soo...remind me again why it's necessary to have a new time of medium like 8 years after DVDs came out, aside from the horrifying fact that we absolutely NEED mediums for our movies that look as crystal clear as we can possibly make them, not with standing the fact that we just bought that very movie two years ago on DVD and also do you really think that companies will put more episodes of TV shows or movies on single discs and still charge the same $20? That's just the way I feel about it. Feel free to decipher that mess if you can.

[A Black Falcon]

Because when new technology is possible people will want to use it. In this case, it allows stuff like HDTV-quality movies on single discs (not possible with DVD), one-disk products instead of multidisc ones, etc... strictly needed no, but useful.

[OB1]

Because people are finally switching to hi-definition tvs after 50 years of having basically the same crappy type of tv, and therefor people will want to watch movies that take advantage of the superior resolution of hi-def tvs. It's definitely not just a capacity issue.

[A Black Falcon]

As I said. :p

[OB1]

I clicked reply before your message was posted.

[Great Rumbler]

I certianly think that switching to DVDs was a good move, the earlier batches of VHS tapes were deteriorating quickly and people were beginning to see that tapes weren't all that great and they'd been out for sometime and were not as cool as they used to be. Now, DVDs are still cool though; they're relatively new and still at the height of their popularity, and still rising I'd think, so to release something new at this point, particularly one with few real benefits except to the still small percentage of people with high-end TVs. This will change though, that's something I realize as well, but I think the release of a new medium should wait at least 3-5 years.

[A Black Falcon]

It won't, though. It won't immediately supplant DVD, as that format is for most people all they need, but new formats will start to filter out... though if they can't agree on a standard things definitely will be slowed down. I'd bet on Blu-Ray, what with Sony's very strong support... but I don't think HD-DVD is going to roll over and die, so who knows what will happen. Or when they will begin to make an impact on the DVD market.

Of course, for PC games, by the time that DVD games get common the next format will be out already...

[OB1]

The hi-def tv userbase is rapidly growing and movie studios want to take advantage of that as well as make tons of money re-releasing their library on a new format, but don't worry, dvds will not phase out anytime soon.

[A Black Falcon]

Right, for one both formats are backwards compatible with DVDs. They aren't going away, and for most people the new formats won't have any advantage except less disk swapping.

[Great Rumbler]

Right, for one both formats are backwards compatible with DVDs.

Okay, that definitely makes a difference.

[OB1]

But when one of the two new formats becomes the clear victor, you will want to start buying them since you will want to get an hdtv within the next few years, when they get really cheap. And when the players become cheap enough.

[Great Rumbler]

I certainly can't afford one at the prices they're at right now, but you're right in a few years they won't be nearly as expensive.

[OB1]

Neither can I. :D And I'm the supposedly "rich" one around here.

Since I have a job.

Because having a job makes you rich.

No matter how much you actually get paid.



Hey it's DJ's logic, not mine!

[Dark Jaguar]

An HDTV would be nice to have, but it would be a tad irresponsible to buy one right now, being so expensive and all.

What is the highest resolution on those things anyway? If it's less than my moniter, then I propose that the new TV format should actually just be a computer moniter with speakers and a channel surfing OS built into it. Why not just unify the two display types into one?

Of course, even when they do that, high end displays are just way too costly for me. My money keeps flying to stuff I actually NEED to pay for.