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5 years into DVD-ROM Drives being on the PC..

E

erub

Diamond Member
and still very few mainstream software available for DVD. I remember it was 5 years ago cause I got a Dell P200 MMX back in Feb 1997 and about a month later they started offering them as options (so I'm guessing they came out earlier). Still the only thing to do with your DVD drive is to watch movies - and with standalone players so cheap and so much better for TV output, there's little reason to buy one today. Even large software, that takes a few discs, is still being produced on CD. My friend recenlty brought the Everquest Expansion, and it was 3 CDs...nobody seems to have a problem with switching discs, and it probably costs more to make one dvd than 3 cds at this point. I'm not sure I can see a point in the next few years when most/all software will be on DVD - did the floppy-->CD transition take this long? I don't remember.
 
well, some DVD movies have some special features that can only be viewed on a DVD ROM, but its mostly games and online stuff....so I guess there is no real point of having a DVD ROM right now...just something you put in to make you look good....
 
Yeah I remember all the fanfare about DVDs years back as well. Everyone was saying DVD software is the way of the future, increased capacities, GO BUY NOW!!! Well, I bought a 6x drive thinking that there will be a DVD revolution but it seems that movies are the only thing for it now...
 
Ah, give it another couple of years. DVD rewriters will come down in price, and DVD media will as well. People will start using them more often, and then industry will follow suit. That's my take at it, at least.
 
hahaha, yeah my DVD drive doesn't see any use at all. I could take it out and not miss it.
 
Some random thoughts on why hasn't it taken off as fast?

The CDROM holds almost 450x the data of a floppy. DVD only holds 8 to 28x the data of a cd.
CDROM's are (today) MUCH faster than floppy drives. DVD Rom drives are marginally faster (if that) than CDROM Drives. What's the push to upgrade?

CDROM drives are still cheaper than DVD-ROM Drives (by some amount) and thus are still being sold in entry level PC's... thus... even today not all new pc's have DVD drives. What % of people have CDRoms in their PC's (nearly 100% I'd guess). What % have DVD ROMS? I have no idea, but, developers are going to go after the largest market.

Most products still fit and are sold on 1-3 CD's and can be installed to a local drive so the media isn't accessed after installation (except for weak copy protection perhaps).

That said, One good application is the National Geographic collection... you can get it all on one DVD or 17+ CD's.






 
I've been telling people for years when they ask my advice on what to buy (with regard to PC's)...... If you are not planning on watching DVD's on your PC, don't bother getting a DVD player in your PC. Save the money and buy something else.

With the price of DVD players having fallen significantly, you might as well get a DVD rom instead of a CD Rom at this point, but for the past 5 or 6 years it's just simply been a waste of time for everyone that doesn't want to watch movies on the PC.
 
The only game I know of on DVD is Myst III. I bought the CD-ROM version, but would have enjoyed the DVD version more had it been available at the time.

MIII is a good game, btw.
 
The reason is DVD was not put in an enforced spec.
This is one time I wish microsoft had been more hardassed about something
 
Cmon, you guys are ranting about DVD software not being out there? How about the freaking FLOPPY DISK DRIVE! Why do we still put up with that stupid POS! If the FDD isnt gonna die, how do you expect the DVD drive to replace the CDROM drive?

--Ben
 
Technology is taken by the masses when it is needed. Almost everything still fits on CD, so people don't feel the need for DVD yet.

Remember when CDs came out in '81? How many people had CD players by '86? Very very few people. I'm surprised that DVD is taking so long to get adapted by the general public as well.
 
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