DualDisc may not be "all that" according to this (1 Viewer)

[Chris Gerhard]

I don't think lower prices would have solved the problem for either format. I think the only companies making any money are the low volume high price labels and their profits are likely not great. I suspect Sony has lost a fortune on SACD and is no longer in a position to take such huge hits. It is a shame only one format, SACD wasn't available. I don't blame Sony this time. CD and DVD are a success because the consumer understands and good value is offered. Who but the small group that frequents these forums understands what the heck all of these goofy things are? I waited until a couple of months ago to get started and I have spent a lot of time reading about it for years and finally decided to try. I am not sure it is worth it with limited availability and not so bright future.

Chris

 

[Kevin C Brown]

I would have liked to have seen a video *option* for SACDs. The format that's used for video CDs would have been enough. And then video-capable SACD players could "see" that info for playback.

 

[LanceJ]

Despite my reservations about the DSD format, I also think hybrid sacd could have been decently successful if: it was the ONLY hi-res/multichannel format offered; aggressive marketing done at all price points, and not just to audiophiles; aggressive marketing of the surround aspect, something anybody can hear; and acceptable title selection in *all* music genres.

 

[LanceJ]

BTW and off-topic: I'm going to look like a major shill posting this but what the hell.

DTS surround sound *apparel*

 

[Rachael B]

Well Lance, I can top that. I have a DTS ballcap.

 

[Citizen87645]

Me too. Thank you HTF Meet and DTS!

 

[Chris Gerhard]

Although I don't understand the technical limitations of DSD, I have read many state their concern. All I know is my DVD-Audio discs when done poorly are not very good. Every Hybrid SACD I have sounds comparable to my good DVD-Audio discs and every one plays in every player I have, as CD quality in the car CD player and as SACD in my SACD player. Now that is something everybody can understand simply enough. The CD side of my DualDiscs are hit or miss in my home players and I am afraid to play them in my car. The DVD side of my DualDiscs if I can even tell what it is by the package play fine in all DVD players I have so they do have value to me. When I try to explain this stuff to my friends, they just scratch their head and try to pretend as if they are interested.

Chris

 

[Philip Morello]

I only have 2 dualldiscs, and they play without any problem on my 2 home players[one is 10 year old cd player].
The cd layer can also be ripped to burn a CD-r, and to be played back in the car.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

The problem with DualDisc I think stated earlier in this thread, is that due to the nonstandard thickness, the CD layer can cause a player's error correction to go into overdrive. And what *that* means, is that there can be errors that are being passed along to you in terms of not quite up to par "perfect" sound quality. But you probably won't know it unless you're A-B'ing it with a proper CD. But for me, that's no good.

I did an experiment once. The best CD ripper on the planet is EAC. (Exact Audio Copy.) It rereads data at least twice to make sure it's getting a bit for bit perfect copy of the original. (Most rippers use burst mode, which is extremely fast, but not that accurate.)

I think I used the Nine Inch Nails DualDisc. I tried to rip the CD layer on my PC with EAC. The usual speed I get with EAC on a good CD is about 7-8x, sometimes up to 11x realtime. With the Nine Inch Nails discs, I got 1.1x. Basically, it was having lots of problems reading the disc cleanly.

My view was, give me SACD or give me death. Well, some discs came out on DVD-A that never made it to SACD, so OK, I decided to "live with" DVD-A too. So after it became apparent that neither SACD or DVD-A were going to survive as mainstream formats, DualDisc comes along. HATED IT ! But again, a few discs came out where I didn't have a choice. So I gritted my teeth (Nine Inch Nails- With Teeth!), and bought a few of those.

But now that DualDisc is going away, I say:

RIP you freaking stupid format !

I'll even tell y'all too. To get my displeasure about DualDisc across to someone other than y'all here, I actually bought two of the Nine Inch Nails discs. Then, I returned one of them to Best Buy and I told them it wouldn't play in my CD player. They tried to argue that they aren't *guarenteed* to play in all players, but then I showed them that the disclaimer for this disc wasn't on the outside, but on the inside.

So in the end, I wonder how many DualDiscs did get returned because of playability, and if that played a role at all in the format's demise?

 

[LanceJ]

I would LOVE to see the sales report on that!

 

[Will_B]

Why would an audiophile be listening to the CD side?

By that I mean, if someone is the kind of person who can hear the error correction provided by their CD player's chips, wouldn't that kind of person be playing the higher resolution side?

I know that personally, I don't play the CD side of my DualDiscs if the album is also available in higher resolution on the DVD side.

It is nice that there is a CD side, but that's for people who don't care.

 

[Will_B]

That's perverse. You should get the award for the best "Crying Wolf" routine of the year for that charade. Goes to show we wouldn't be able to trust the "returns" figures even if they were released.

 

[LanceJ]

Not to defend the DualDisc, but the CD side is for people with: kitchen CD players (where I do a fair amount of casual listening); a car system; for a boombox while camping at the river; at buddies' homes when they want to share their new music, etc.

And a CD side makes it much easier (compared to using the hi-res analog output) to transfer the music to other devices like media servers, MP3 players, personal CD-Rs, etc.

Usability-wise, this is also where a hybrid sacd has a big advantage over dvd-audio.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

I wanted to see if I could "see" the effect of the poor quality CD layer. I proved to myself that concerns about the quality of the CD side are warranted.

 

[Steve Y]

Dual-Discs are "frankensteinian" creations. Is having a separate disc for DVD and CD content really that much of a hassle for people? This wrong-headed format reminds me of that McDonalds "McDLT" which separated the burger into separate hot and cold compartments (and which, I should add, some people actually liked).

The end of Dual-Disc would not mean the end of multi-channel formats, just as the end of the McDLT did not mean the end of the hamburger.

 

[LanceJ]

Mmmmm.....burger (DualDisc.....bleh).

 

[Paul McElligott]

There's a new Springsteen album coming out in April ("We Shall Overcome", a collection of Pete Seeger covers).

The DualDisc edition contains two bonus tracks not on the regular CD. What's a totally OCD Springsteen completist to do?

 

[Paul.S]

Devils & Dust was a DD exclusive . . . until so many complaints compelled a CD release. I'd give it a short while.

 

[Paul McElligott]

I've never seen a non-DD copy of Devils & Dust. The only CD-only copies I've seen on Amazon have been imports.

 

[Paul.S]

Hmmmm. I know I read of (what I thought to be a domestic) CD re-release of the album and had a copy of the CD in my hands at I think Costco, but I just checked the CDUniverse, Wherehouse and TowerRecords sites and only found the Dual . . .