SACD & DVDa (can you hear me now?)

danger boy

this isn't going to be a SACD vs DVDa post.

I was in Circuit City here over the weekend. Just browsing really.... maybe if there was a open box special that caught my eye on some nice bookshelf Polks.. i would have given it serious though. but no. i actually left without buying anything.


But while walking around the store.. i did notice that they now have a display for DVD audio as well as one for SACD. Here's the clencher.. BOTH displays were silent. There were no discs playing or loaded in the trays, so that consumers could marvel at the sweet surround sounds coming from the set up.

I was especially interested in the DVDa set up. It was hooked up to a nice Polk RM7200 set up. It looked impressive as hell. I'd never really payed much attention to the sub/sat home theater systems before. But this set up really caught my eye right away.

Dang it I wanted to listen to it. the store was to busy and i was short on time (and patience) to hang around and have someone show it to me. I wonder if the sales associates are even trained on multichannel audio yet or not?

The same thing was happening to the SACD set up. No disc was in the player and no one seemed interested in having a listen. Only difference was that the SACD set up was hooked up to a Sony sub/sat system.

Depressing really isn't it? I guess if you want someone to buy your product.. you have to wow them with it, right?

Whats wrong with these two formats? Are we not ready for something like this afterall? I bet if a multichannel set up was geared towards MP3's and downloading music.. all hell would break loose and there were be throngs of people hoovered and clamering to buy it. But that's not the case now is it?

The past two months or so I have noticed a slow down in the release of DVDa discs hitting the market. I check about every other week at my local BB what's new.. not much sad to say.

Could these formats be going the way of Divx already? I hope not.. i figure we're only getting started here.

Maybe when it (fully) hits the mobile audio world.. those folks will keep multichannel audio alive. because home audio folks sure as hell aren't doing it.

thanks for letting me rant and rave for a while. I need a hug now. Any takers?

later guys, Al

shepx2

Whats wrong with these two formats? Are we not ready for something like this afterall? I bet if a multichannel set up was geared towards MP3's and downloading music.. all hell would break loose and there were be throngs of people hoovered and clamering to buy it. But that's not the case now is it?

No, I don't think we are ready yet. Not only does the average person not know ANYTHING about DVD-A, or SACD, but a good portion of the under 30 crowd doesn't either. And the under 30 crowd is very tech savy; it goes to show how poorly both formats have been marketed.
Also, I have found that a lot of people who HAVE heard of either or both formats, think that:

1. DVD-audio discs are the music videos they see everyone selling on DVD.
2. That CD's are digital, so how can anything (SACD) be better than something that is already digital?

I had spent 2.5 years in retail; now, I firmly believe NEITHER format will make it in the long run. It's sad, but I can't see any way to turn it around. Hell, if people are downloading all their music, because they can't hear a difference in quality, they definately don't/won't care about high-res audio, even if it does get marketed well.

Steve@3dai

Actually, I think they might get more popular, because record companies see that they cannot be "ripped" to a PC right now

rs159

Originally posted by Steve@3dai
Actually, I think they might get more popular, because record companies see that they cannot be "ripped" to a PC right now

MP5.1, and 5.1 inputs on soundcards. Analog fa shizzle, but sheat it would work

Originally posted by shepx2
...Hell, if people are downloading all their music, because they can't hear a difference in quality, they definately don't/won't care about high-res audio, even if it does get marketed well.

Part of the problem might be the source material anyway. Fiddy Cent....load it into Cool Edit. Note the complete lack of dynamic range and the hundreds of clipped peaks and then go into spectral analizer mode and note how there is nothing up in the extended trebble, air...WTH is that?. No "hi res" format will fix that (although Cool Edit does have some handy tools for cleaning it up, expanders, clip restorers, stuff like that) Unless it was recorded from the radio, a Fiddy Cent mp3 will not sound much worse than a CD. Now play a classical mp3......hmmmmm......kind of sucks hard, doesn't it? You would have to be deaf to not know it sounds like crap.

128kbps mp3........OUCH, harsher highs than the harshest of harsh early 80's CD's. The only reason I download stuff is to preview it before I buy it so I don't end up making a decision based on CC's "play now" button that will give you a 30 second clip of the worst part of the song at 28kbps in mono.

*Begin rant*

Now this is part of the problem with the RIAA....they want to stop file sharing becuase they are afraid that people will only buy what they like. Of course if people know something sucks they won't buy it, so what do they do....get better (real) artists? HELL NO!!! They're going to keep you from previewing it and hold your eyelids open while you watch MTV. It's all about money, some old farts that never touched an instrument yet sit on their thrones and rake in the money.

Before I even heard of napster I had very little interest in music, why would I sit and listen to the radio when I could watch the TV, it has PICTURE, too :eek: Then I started downloading music. At first it was pretty much the same thing you could hear on the radio.....then, something weird happened....I started downloading real music. I started to realize that my computer speakers suck, and I started to get learned about hi-fi (weeee, I didn't buy computer speakers or a mini system). Since then music has been more fun to listen to (although I still have a hard time making myself sit down in the mighty listening throne and sitting still ) I know of artists that most radio DJ's have no idea exist, the way I see it file sharing made me a music fan, and thats a good thing. Thank you Napster, LimeWire, Morpheous, and KaZaA.......and RIAA, you suck....hard.

*End rant*

VR3

Gotta get my Rant on corresponding to your rant Ryan.

The Music Industry only signs mainstream artist with NO talent. Then when you get the ones with just a weeeee bit of talent, they are ignored by the general public. If the world would open their eyes and listen they might gain the knowlage of what music is.
When you turn on hip hop/rap/pop, that is not music. Those are idiots that sit down, and tell their best friends on fruity loops what buttons to push to get a certain sound. This is not music, this is box making an artificial sound that sucks! Then you put this box music with a dude singing out his golden teeth riding in his 30 inch rims, what do you get? You get crap, and what do people do? They buy into it, and listen to it. Then what happens? IT GETS OLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No one wants to hear it anymore! So what happens? Music sales PLUMIT! Pop, Hip Hop, Rap, I believe are all dieing music genres. I have never listened to them, maybe except a few songs. The few that are good have the suckiest recording quality I have heard (Eminem). They do not even deserved to be played on my computer speakers.
Country, as much as I hate it - is real music. It involves someone writing the music, picking up an instrument, playing it, and singing. Not talking real fast! Or doing fancy dance moves on a stage. Its musice, I don't like it, but its music.
Rock, is another *real* music, now only if we could move past this everyone sounding alike and get on with the music and LIVE! Rock is coming back finally, everytime I turn on the radio I hear rock, and i know it is good! I know some dude sat down with his fellow band members and actually thought up what they are playing.

I am glad to say that I do not hear much Pop or those **** boy bands on the radio anymore, they were a polution to the air waves. I am glad to be able to turn on the radio and not hear them anymore.

RIAA or whatever needs to wake up and realize they need to sign bands with talent and not these POS 1 hit wonders. They would sell way more CD's than what they are now! Ahh, we can only dream cant we!!?? Could you imagine a world with only talented artist/bands with perfect recording quality?? I honestly can't but it'd be swell!! If bands want to sell music, they outta make music worth listening to. I download music to see if I wish to buy it or skip it. Because now they have 1 good song, the rest suck or sound alike. Its not worth the cover that is printed for it.

The above is IMO! Nothing more, nothing less. You may enjoy listening to the music I don't and have appreciation for the music I don't. However my side of the fence has no holes, and I do not wish to burrow.

*rant off*