Will you stick with hirez audio? (1 Viewer)

[Lee Scoggins]

I am not so sure that you can assume the traditional SACD and DVDA divisions will remain in the BluRay/HD-DVD era. I could easily see either format having both audio formats when all is said and done. There is much economic incentive for one unifying format to be released.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Nah, MD is, and was, far better promoted.

 

[anthony_b]

I'm about to give up on the format. I sold my DVD-A player in January and I haven't missed it at all. Soon you'll see a sale for me sony 222es in the hardware section :frowning:

 

[Paul.S]

Lee et al.:

I said:
But are these really "traditional SACD and DVDA divisions"? It seems to me the divisions are broader than that (not restricted to hi rez audio) and have to do with the politics of who is and is not a member of the DVD Forum. For instance, I seem to recall Sony's breaking away from the Forum's hi def DVD spec codification discussions to make a point about their BluRay support . . .

Also, I'm not sure I understand how a greater purported "economic incentive" for one unifying [hi def DVD] format to be released has anything to do with the inclusion of both hi rez audio formats thereon. It sounds like you're presuming hi def DVD does indeed become the carrier of choice for hi rez music, which is one of the two significant caveats I hypothetically posited in my post above was not going to happen for the sake of my hypothetical comments/conjecture.

But wait, "there's a sign post up ahead . . .": Monday Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment officially announced that they are supporting BluRay.

-p

 

[Shawn C]

I've got a bunch of DVD-A and SACD titles, so I'm not leaving. I use the Denon 2900 for movies and hi-rez audio. I've got too much invested in discs to just give up on it all.

As far as sound quality goes, the difference to my ears is VERY apparent. SACD and DVD-A sound "better" on almost everything, but the gains are greater on quality equipment, just my opinion.

A local home theater installer and equipment dealer here in Vegas says that he has A LOT of people asking about SACD when they come in. He sells some high end stuff like Anthem, Martin Logan and Velodyne.

 

[John Kotches]

Paul,

Do you suppose the fact that Sony owns Columbia/Tristar is at all related to their announcement of support for BluRay? On 2nd thought, no, that has absolutely nothing to do with it

Seriously though, it looks like more of the same, with WB apparently backing HD-DVD. The more things change, the more they stay the same :frowning:

Cheers,

 

[Michael St. Clair]

It looks like Disney, in addition to Warner, will back HD-DVD. I think if HD-DVD can get Fox, it is game over for Blu-Ray.

Will Sony get their checkbook out to buy support from Fox?

 

[John Kotches]

Michael,

For the moment WB has very hot "franchises" in:

Lord of the Rings trilogy (New Line/WB)
Harry Potter (3rd in theaters this June)(WB)
The Matrix trilogy (WB)
Terminator trilogy (WB)

Does any other studio have something comparable?

Cheers,

 

[Marc Colella]

Yep, Warner's got some major titles that'll push HD-DVD.

If what I've been hearing about hopping on the HD-DVD bandwagon is true, consider it game over for Blu-Ray.
Disney's got the Pixar flicks, those Oscar-bait Miramax films as well as their animation library.

That's alot of ammunition for HD-DVD.

 

[Paul.S]

John:

Michael, where'd you read/hear about which way the hi def DVD wind might be blowing at Di$ney?

Incidentally, here's an interesting quote from Col/Tri home entertainment president Benjamin Feingold (from today's Hollywood Reporter): "As was the case when we [excuse me, "we"? -p] first launched the DVD format, no studio would commit until it became clear that DVD was not only accepted by the public but was the wave of the future in home entertainment. ['Round these HTF parts, we all know this is bullshit: Dreamworks was on board from day one and Di$ney and Fox held out way longer than was obviously necessary. -p] The same will be true with the launch of Blu-ray. One by one, all of the studios will eventually embrace Blu-ray because it is simply a superior product. I have no doubts." [bold mine]

In the words of Vincent Vega, "That's a bold statement." Beta was a "superior product," too.

But pulling it more back to topic, what do you guys (esp. Michael and John) think about the hardware prospects of hi def DVD players being able to playback SACD and DVD-A?

-p

 

[Michael St. Clair]

I think it would be great. But I don't see them making it part of the spec due to the added expense. So I don't see every player including the capability.

Because of the politics of Sony versus Warner and also Blu-Ray versus AoD/HD-DVD, I don't see universal players on the horizon for either format. Sony won't want to pay royalties to Warner, and Toshiba won't want to pay royalties to Sony.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Disney and Microsoft's presence may improve support for Toshiba and NEC's HD DVD standard, said Takutoshi Fujiwara of Fujiwara-Rothchild, a storage-technology consultancy in Tokyo that advises both Sony and Toshiba.

"With Disney and Microsoft joining, maybe the balance of voting power will be improved," Fujiwara said, referring to Toshiba's HD DVD format. "Then it will become much easier for the HD DVD specification to be admitted by the forum." Home DVD and VHS movies produced sales and rental revenue of $ 22.2 billion in the United States last year, more than double the total of box office receipts, Sony has said. Next-generation DVDs, with better quality and more capacity, are expected to help increase sales as fewer VHS tapes are transferred to DVD after 2007.

...

A Toshiba spokesman, said that "from an engineer's point of view, the Blu-ray is a masterpiece, but movie studios want lower costs."

http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/9187

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Warner/NL had five of the top ten last year in box office.

Sony's best showing was Bad Boys II in tenth place.

 

[John Kotches]

paul --

My bad on the assumption that all of T was in the WB stable.

But, the others I listed are all solid franchises in WBs control.


MLP is an approved codec for HD-DVD audio, so that one is covered already.

At this point, there is no provision for DSD on Blu-ray, but given it's under Sony's control it won't exactly be difficult to add it

Cheers,

 

[ScottCHI]

well, i just got my player a few weeks ago and started buying hirez. i had better be in it for the long haul, because i just got a $500 order of hirez music from cduniverse.

 

[Ben LG]

I gave up after 3 SACDs and 1 DVDA already. I spent some time setting up my system properly and a considerable amount of money yet there were no titles worth buying IMO. I also gave the two formats a waiting period for more releases that interest me to come out but it never happened. I figured the $500+ I spent on the hi-rez hardware would buy a considerable amount of CDs over a lengthy period for me and I would actually enjoy the music instead of nitpicking over the audio quality. There was a very noticeable improvement with SACDs though, enough to consider the higher price of the software to be reasonable IMO but it just didnt work out for me even though I gave it alot of patience.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

It's far too early to say "game over" when the announcer is still introducing the players on each team.

Does Disney still control the Pixar rights to hidef DVD release?

Doesn't Fox have some great animation? Think about all those blockbusters like the Die Hard films, etc...

 

[Christopher_Ham]

I think that the format is being marketed more to the manufacture's than to the consumer. Alot of new low end receivers now have hi rez capabilities and I think soon the consumer push may become stronger. Hi rez audio is the new thing, and I have not seen any new or up and coming surround sound formats. Hi rez and HDDVD is the push.

 

[Marc Colella]

It's still not known where Fox will throw their support, but the Die Hard series (although it sold well) isn't a near as big as Matrix, Harry Potter and LOTR. Fox's strength though is the Star Wars titles - but you can guarrantee that Lucas won't release these on Hi-Def for at least a few years.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

If you are predicting that PC adoptance will determine movie format success, I disagree strongly.

In fact, if PC goes Blu-Ray, the studios should flock to HD-DVD. Less piracy issues if PCs don't use the same format as home theater.

Of course, due to a lack of initial PC Mt. Ranier support, many people predicted DVD-R would be dying by now (in lieu of DVD+R). Crow, anyone? It has been well marinated.