Death of DVD-Audio and SACD?

shaddai · January 2005

Did anyone else read this editorial?

http://www.hometheatersound.com/features/editorial/20041201.htm

I was thinking of buying a universal player and starting a hi-def music collection but this article is dissuading me. I think a lot of people do prefer buying DVD's of concerts/music videos instead of the DVD-A and SACD versions. What do you all think? Should we wait for HD-DVD and Blu-Ray?

PolkThug · January 2005

Originally posted by shaddai
Should we wait for HD-DVD and Blu-Ray?

They've been talking about the blue laser for about as long as there has been the red laser. I wouldn't hold your breath.

Danny Tse · January 2005

I don't agree with the article at all.

SACD and DVD-A are for people who are looking for something that's better than CD. And both of those formats succeed in delivering on that promise, with multi-channel capabilities to boot. However, the marketing of those formats has been very poor, particularly with DVD-A. Despite that, SACD alone has over 2,700 titles released thus far, and Universal Music is promising 150 titles alone this year (I am assuming this in a worldwide basis). Last year alone saw almost 1,000 new SACD titles released. I am not sure about the total numbers of DVD-A releases, but I am speculating that DVD-A will morph into DualDisc.

On the hardware front, more and more manufacturers are building universal players, with prices coming down lower and lower. 2004 saw Toshiba and Samsung introduce inexpensive universal players, with Onkyo and Yamaha lowering their offerings' price. At the recent CES, Sherwood introduced 2 new universal players, while new universal players were shown by Denon, Pioneer, Toshiba, Samsung, etc.... Cambridge Audio is also rumored to be readying an universal player for release later this year.

For me, watching a concert DVD is completely different from listening to a studio album. I avoid concert recordings because, in those cases, I want the visuals as well. But I don't want that when I listen to, say, Steely Dan's "Gaucho" on SACD/DVD-A. Besides, Dolby Digital and/or dts are lossy compression formats whereas SACD/DVD-A are much better sounding.

OK, I will get the Roy Orbison "Black and White Night" DVD w/ either SACD or DVD-A next month.

Toxis · January 2005

Up to now, Denon has embraced the universal audio/video player -- a subset of DVD machine that includes both SACD and DVD-Audio playback. But with the recent introduction of their DVD-1910 DVD player, Denon announced that it has eschewed both formats in the new machine. Their reasoning, apparently, was that the money was better spent on other portions of the player -- areas that the general consumer and buyer of the DVD-1910 might actually use. I predict that other companies will soon follow suit.

Gee, I wonder if that's because it's only $230? For that price range, it should just be a very high quality DVD player. If Denon was really giving up on the formats, what would you say about the 2910 and the beloved 3910?? Don't get me wrong, I'm excited about HDDVD/Blu Ray but they haven't said anything about there being primarily audio disks in that format. If they do, it'll be like DVD concerts and personally, I am not one for live recordings. They're usually recorded like ****, you get to much crowd noise and then they try and put different instruments out of different speakers in a surround sound setup. Why would you do that seeing all musicians are up in front of you? I'm still holding onto the hope that SACD/DVDaudio will not go the way of Beta...

AsSiMiLaTeD · January 2005

SACD isn't going anywhere...grab a good player and enjoy some good music...

Danny Tse · January 2005

This year may be a good year for SACD....Moody Blues, Genesis, and more Pink Floyd coming.

dorokusai · January 2005

SACD doesn't guide me in audio, so if they die they die.....music will always be available in some way shape or form.

begbie · January 2005

gave up on multi-channel music long time ago.... stickin with really good production on 2 channel music

F1nut · January 2005

That's one guys opinion and I don't agree with it. I'm another person who does not, no make that, refuses to watch music videos. Pffft!

For those that may not realize it, every SACD disc has a hi-rez 2 channel layer. In fact that's all I listen to and it's glorious!

Frank Z · January 2005

I don't buy to many Redbook CD's anymore. I'm content to wait for the SACD or DVD/A to hit the street.

AsSiMiLaTeD · January 2005

Originally posted by F1nut
For those that may not realize it, every SACD disc has a hi-rez 2 channel layer. In fact that's all I listen to and it's glorious!

same here...I listened to the multichannel stuff when I get my first few discs just becuase it was neat, but after a couple of sessions, I went back to 2 channel...

With the increasing demand, hybrid discs, and relative cost of production, SACD is going to be around for a long time.

bknauss · January 2005

Originally posted by PolkThug
They've been talking about the blue laser for about as long as there has been the red laser. I wouldn't hold your breath.

I would, but I wouldn't be holding my breath too long:
http://www.audioholics.com/ces/CEStechnology/PhilipsAllinOneOPU81BlurayDisc.php

shaddai · January 2005

It seems reports of the deaths of DVD-A and SACD have been greatly exaggerated!

I've been shopping around for a good universal player. Does anyone have any experience with the Onkyo DV-CP802? Onecall has a sale for less than $400. Any other recommendations? My budget would be $400 US or less.

danger boy · January 2005

i think i'm going to give up on DVD-audio finally. after a couple years waiting and hoping for some decent releases on DVD-a. it just never happend.

I'll still keep a DVD-a player in da house.. but i'm not going to spend anymore $ on discs. I've found over the years.. that only truely a handfull of DVD-a discs are mixed well and sound good. Most are poor or mediocre at best. I can't vouch for SACD though.

I think i'd be happy now if the multichannel technology would instead move towards 2 channel only. Hi rez stereo only discs I mgiht be interested in.. as long as the releases were worthy.

anyone else feel that they may bag DVD-a altogether as well?

I'd be interested in anyones thoughts who is thinking of giving up on DVD-a or moving to SACD or neither.

Danny Tse · January 2005

When I first started, I had a Panasonic RA-60 DVD-A player. But I waited....and waited....for the software to come. I eventually gave up on DVD-A and switched to SACD. Although I would like to get some DVD-A titles like Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" or Blue Man Group.

There are just so much more SACD titles available. Anyone interested in SACD should visit sa-cd.net to see what titles are available; this site is easily the most comprehensive website for all available SACD titles in the world. I don't have a surround sound setup, so all my hi-rez listening is in 2 channel stereo. And even with just 2 channel stereo, a well-mastered SACD, like Steely Dan's "Gaucho", is very enjoyable. Plus I can play the CD layer in my car, on my portable CD player, or in my computer (actually, I rip the CD layer onto a CD-R for those purposes).

Anyone purchased The Carpenters SACD released yesterday?

F1nut · January 2005

Danny.......the Carpenter's??? Say it ain't so.

danger boy · January 2005

Jesse, don't you be dissing the Carpenters my friend.

Danny Tse · January 2005

Yes, Carpenters: The Singles 1969 - 1981

tonyv1 · January 2005

Ordered mine from Amazon for $13.99 yesterday. It shipped today. Ahhh, Karen's lovely voice.

spwuinmk67 · January 2005

This was a few days old, but thought I should comment anyway...

Originally posted by Danny Tse
I don't have a surround sound setup, so all my hi-rez listening is in 2 channel stereo. And even with just 2 channel stereo, a well-mastered SACD, like Steely Dan's "Gaucho", is very enjoyable. Plus I can play the CD layer in my car, on my portable CD player, or in my computer (actually, I rip the CD layer onto a CD-R for those purposes).

That's the way music should be listened to, in 2-channel, the way it's recorded.

If they do, it'll be like DVD concerts and personally, I am not one for live recordings. They're usually recorded like ****, you get to much crowd noise and then they try and put different instruments out of different speakers in a surround sound setup. Why would you do that seeing all musicians are up in front of you?

I'll relate it to CA, cause that's my main interest. In probably all SQ set-ups for CA, you will not see rear speakers, except subs of course, but they don't count as such. No rears for two reasons, A) music is two channel, and it should come from in front of you;

as I'm sure you know, sound coming from different speakers at different distances, will hit you at different times, therefore smearing the quality. Also the reason why I think all of us on the CA-side, don't use rear speakers, no matter what gear we have, anywhere from cody's(exalted) new, still in progress set up, to the new guys, and mine as well. The idea, similar I would think to HT somewhat, is to be able to tell where each sound is coming from. Such as the singer in the middle, guitar to the right, drums to the left, or something like that. That's the idea...

Death of DVD-Audio and SACD?

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