The Nineties in America - Salem Press (2009)

(C. Jardin) #1

tibility to damage, their high cost, and their inability
to record television programs. Three million laser
disc players had been sold in the United States by
1997.
Consumers waited patiently while a cheaper,
more adaptable technology was developed. By 1993,
Philips and Sony had developed the smaller Multi-
Media Compact Disc, while Toshiba had created its
Super Density Disc. Philips and Sony, wanting to
avoid a format war, eventually decided to proceed
with the specifications of the Toshiba disc, and the
DVD was born. Though the industry initially insisted
that “DVD” stood for “digital versatile disc,” most
consumers assumed it meant “digital video disc,”
and the nomenclature was changed.
DVDs and DVD players entered the U.S. market
in late 1997. At first, only recent popular films were
offered, with older and more esoteric films becom-
ing available late in the 1990’s. Some consumers
were hesitant at first because the first DVDs were not
recordable, but those who had been reluctant to buy
laser discs quickly embraced the cheaper, smaller
(the same size as audio compact discs), and easier-to-
store discs. These buyers found that
the picture, with the same resolu-
tion as laser discs, was vastly superior
to that of videocassettes, and when
connected to the proper equipment
(receiver, speakers), multichannel
audio was possible. As a result, Pio-
neer, the main champion of laser
discs, abandoned this format in
June, 1999.


Quick Success Though DVDs
were initially slow to catch on with
the general public, matters soon
changed as more and more consum-
ers heard about the improved au-
diovisual quality and saw it demon-
strated in electronics stores. The
entertainment industry had as-
sumed that DVDs would slowly sup-
plement or perhaps even replace
VHS, but experts underestimated
the public by assuming that con-
sumers would continue to rent
much more than they purchased.
Though some had developed VHS
collections of their favorite films,


the bulky tapes took up considerable room. DVDs
occupied much less space, were at first only slightly
costlier than VHS cassettes, and were much more
durable, inviting multiple viewings.
Contributing to this early success was the inclu-
sion of extras. Following the lead of laser discs, the
makers of DVDs offered commentaries by filmmak-
ers and film scholars. Viewers could watch films ei-
ther with or without commentaries, which explained
the production details of the films and, with older
films, placed them in a historical context. Con-
sumers wanted more and more extras and soon got
on-set interviews, documentaries about the making
of the films, deleted scenes, and more.
DVDs also offered viewers the option, for many
films made since the mid-1950’s, of watching them
in a full-screen format that filled every inch of screen
space but cut off the corners of the images or in the
film’s original wide-screen format, meaning that the
tops, bottoms, and sides of images were no longer
excised. As television screens became larger, the
wide-screen format option became more important.
In 1998, two million DVD players were sold in the

The Nineties in America DVDs  279


Robert Minkhorst, president of Philips Consumer Electronics Company, displays a dig-
ital video disc during the 1996 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.(AP/Wide
World Photos)
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