Universal music announces DVD-Audio plans (1 Viewer)

Reports that Universal Music was supporting SACD as their Hi-Res format exclusively are greatly exaggerated just as Mark Twain once said "reports of my death are greatly exaggerated".

But, don't take my word for it... take Universal's

So from the big five we have the following with releases, or targeting releases for DVD-Audio:

• Warner Bros
• Universal Music
• BMG
• EMI

For SACD we have the following big five:

• Sony Music
• Universal Music
• EMI
• BMG

edit
It was brought to my attention that Deutsch Harmonia Mundi (a BMG label) has released SACDs. Info above has been updated to reflect this.

The point to this post? It looks like the "non-combatants", ie the labels without vested interests in either format's success are backing both.

Regards,

I have 2 SACDs from Hong Kong BMG, and according to SACDinfo.com there're at least 6 other RCA/BMG SACD releases from HK BMG. Just stating the facts, not starting any SACD vs. DVD-A arguments.

Danny,

You sat on the "Submit" button too long This was corrected, likely as you were typing!

Regards,

Wow, it is finally official. I can't wait to see the title list they will be putting out. Maybe so many of their SACD are stereo only because they are working on multichannel DVD-A version of some albums to reach a larger 5.1 audience. I wonder if as rumored earlier if some of the Gabriel catalog will make it to DVD-A.

J

Smart move for Universal; I'd hedge my bets as well.

Hopefully we see some hybrids as well. My preference is for flippers with 100% compatibility.

It was indeed rumored many months ago that the Gabriel discs would come out in both formats.

I'm not going to take the bait.

Lee,

It's not bait. Several of us in the various online forums have experienced very real incompatibility problems. Have you read the disclaimer on the back of the DSotM disc?

Some of us would obviously prefer less-compatible single-sided hybrids. There is room for more than one opinion here, and expressing an opinion is, believe it or not, often not 'bait'.

For those who finds flippers a hassle: you might want to get out of the DVD game. Flippers are the future, and the studios are making it quite clear. Better than losing OAR.

Thanks John!!

I would expect, except for Sony and Warner, that no other label would be exclusively linked to one format or the other. Johm, I don't know which reports you were referring to? While BMG has done both, it would appear that they are more linked to DVD-A and will only release a very insignificant amt. of mat'l on hi-res. Universal wants to try both but previously announce the intent to have something like 400-500 titles on SACD by the end of this year. EMI appears to be doing a drop more than BMG, but also with ltd. nos. with the release of titles and also leaning more towards DVD-A. Personally, except for Sony and Warner I think the other cos. are looking for something financial from (Sony or Warner) to lessen their financial risk to invest in hi-res. Should be interesting to see what happens.

The more the merrier!

This is exciting news and can't wait to see the what titles are released!

Phil,

Let's be realistic here. Do you really think that Universal will have 500 titles on SACD by year's end 2003 when they have less than 50 titles available now? Given there are ~39 weeks left in 2003, that means about 12 titles / week (on average) to meet the numbers.

As far as which big 5 label is releasing which formats, I'm merely showing who's released what.

Regards,

John, just going by what Universal said in a prior press release. I'll believe it when I see it as well as the number of DVD-As. DSOTM was announced as a DVD-A for how long? The DVD-A consortium indicated that there would be something like 1,500-2,000 DVD-As by years end. All these cos. give press releases that are overly optimistic to say the least. Universal from what I remember said a bit ago that they would be doing DVD-A too which is not surpising since perhaps they feel a particular format may have more fans of a paricular type of music.

John, what a teaser from you and Universal! I want to know what titles Universal is pondering for DVD-Audio! Seriously though, I'm glad I just upgraded to the Denon DVD-3800.

I hope Universal follows through with this announced commitment to DVD-Audio. Given Universal's involvement in SACD, I see them coming through on the DVD-Audio side as well. The only problem is that I have gotten used to Universal doing SACD, and there are a number of Universal titles I've been hoping to see on SACD. One is Steely Dan Aja. Now I have to wonder if it will come out on DVD-Audio instead. Oh well. As long as it comes out in some hi-rez form.

Keith, that is the advantage to having both formats. None of us can control what will be released on what format (or what claims on nos. of releases are made). While I have preferences like everyone else, I'll just sit back and enjoy what is released. I too upgraded my DVD-A to a Samsung DVD-HD1000. I still have the Elite DV47A connected to the main system as well. Congrats on the upgrade.

Keith,

Unfortunately that's all the information I could coax out of the press contact for the time being.

What was in the announcement is what they're willing to give up. No one but Universal knows which titles they are targeting, but if you have quality playback for both formats, that's not too big of an issue IMO.

Hmmm. Steely Dan Two Against Nature was DVD-A, their upcoming Everything Must Go is DVD-A maybe??? But that's purely speculation on my part.

Those of us that have playback for both simply pick up the titles we want.

Will I am preferential to DVD-Audio, I'm not averse to picking SACDs when the title is to my liking.

Regards,