Same Old, and Brand New, DVD Talk!
 by: Josh Nowell

The war is everywhere. Not the Iraq war, but the heated battle between the HD-DVD and the Blu-Ray formats. The rising interest in that war, though needed to steer the industry in the right direction in the near future, is causing the market to miss out on present opportunities, of less than ideally explored features of DVD products.

Without the war, the industry already boasts a vast pool of products to offer consumers. Thus, ink and space in this review will focus on those under-used functions of the DVD, especially the creative concept of DVD editing and morphing.

The search phrase of “DVD morpher” on Yahoo! returns 201 000 results, with the top 3 all on Avnex’s product of DVD Player – Morpher. DVD morphing is not too new. However, probably not many of us know how to “morph” DVD, though few are unaware of DVD music and pictures. DVD morphing is a concept of creative self-exploration in the high-end world of the visibles and the audibles: users can not only enjoy unmatched picture and sound quality, but also enhance the displayed image as well as modify what they hear with special effects, all to their best imagination. The “morph” tools duly refresh the developed concept of a personal entertainment experience. And with products such as the AV DVD Player-Morpher Gold’s 44 video and audio effects in various combinations, your experience could truly be personal.

Currently, there should be 8 major players in this market, with various levels of products going for as low as $30. The more expensive packages are perhaps the most value-for-money, offering complete tools to define your DVD experience the way you wish to: the above-mentioned 44 cool effects and so much more of the AV Morpher could be yours for $99.95. Such low prices could lead to a boom in the number of “morphers”, when users become more demanding of their players for features such as capturing crystal-clear digital images, converting those pictures into video format and recording and burning their own versions of movies.

Little does an average movie lover know that he can now easily possess such powerful tools to personalize his favourite hits, as the 8 producers are continuously expanding their sales and distribution networks, expecting sales figures to sky-rocket as much as the DVD boom of the past 7 years. Packages are getting more and more complete; users could produce a fully personalized movie disc, from picture enhancement to audio modifications and even to label printing. Yes, these convenient DVD players are increasingly allowing you such level of personalization; you could get rid of the usually bare disc cover and have your family’s pictures in the pack of Home Alone II. At the moment, however, it seems that few producers offer this cover creation feature, with the rare exception of Media Morpher.

In view of the attractive prices and packages, with possibilities to go “even lower and more complete in the future”, according to industry gurus, the market is going to be poised to boom. The question is not when, but how much. This defining edge of the DVD industry could help continue the boom of the fast-growing consumer goods. So, it’s time to get away from the tech-war between the over-mentioned Sony and Toshiba, and bring it on with the evolving products of the under-noticed Media Morpher and ULead Systems.