While the CD, as data storage and delivery media, lasted successfully for decades and seems to be alive and kicking as we speak, we can"t say the same about the DVD. On the market for a mere few years, the format is not very much taken into account when it comes to store and deliver video and audio content. Although at the beginning of the decade, the DVD seemed like a major discovery, it shortly proved itself unable to solve some of the most important problems that lead to its very creation.
As far as entertainment is concerned, the maximum video resolution DVD could provide, 720x480, was shortly overcame by the progress pace and new technical features of new TVs, multimedia projectors or other image display devices. But the main problem remains the poor security. DeCSS and DivX came as major surprises, and lessened the DVD enthusiasm. The IT industry wasn"t very excited either by the new disc, all things considered. The DVD+R/RW vs. DVD-R/RW battle, born, all in all, still in the entertainment area, generated a lot of confusion and lead to a much lower than expected PC technology implementation ratio. Combining both technologies in combo devices was a last resort solution, unable to generate much enthusiasm either.
The future of DVD is still unclear, but what is certain is that a replacement is already needed and looked upon. And the favorite candidates seem to be Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. But things are far from being settled yet, as far as these two formats are concerned.