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.
