Sony pulling out of SA-CD? (1 Viewer)

[Justin Lane]

Found this quote interesting regarding Sony's position on SACD from the follwing HFR article:

http://www.highfidelityreview.com/ne...umber=17205662



Looks like the higher ups at Sony may be questioning the viability of the format as well. In tough financial times it is understandable that a company may be looking to ax those outfits which are not making money.

J

 

[Marc Colella]

From the quote, I don't think there's any reason to be alarmed.

I'm sure Sony has always questioned the "viability of the format". With any "new" format (or product) companies have to make a decision based on consumer reaction towards the product and it's chances of growing and being profitable enough to make it all worthwhile.

SACD has been around for about 5 years now, and I think that's enough time to base a decision on. So perhaps Sony thinks it's time for their next move (whatever that may be).

It doesn't necessarily mean they will kill off SACD, but perhaps Sony will gear their efforts towards the niche market and forgoe the efforts for mainstream acceptance.

I guess we'll have to wait and see if anything changes.

Perhaps it's time that Warner also makes a decision, since they don't seem to be doing much with DVD-A.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

And since they are under new ownership. I wonder what Bronfman's team is thinking about hirez. They may be re-examining the whole deal. It should would be nice to have one format with everyone behind it.

 

[ElevSkyMovie]

Since the number of dvd players sold versus sacd/dvd players sold is probably 100 to 1, let's go with dvd-audio. Let's end this arguement once and for all.

 

[Danny Tse]

On the other hand, Channel Classics goes SACD only. From their website....



See the quote here.

 

[Justin Lane]

Press announcements have nothing to do with what is going on behind the scenes. The most intriguing part is the fact that David Midgal, a higher up in Sony openly stated that he has heard whispers that Sony may be moving away from the format.

When you look at SACD from Sony's perspective, it is quite obvious that they have yet to turn any kind of profit since the format's inception. Between subsidies to artists and labels, start-up of new plants/pressing lines, lower margains on hardware sales, and advertising SACD from their standpoint has been nothing but a loser.

J

 

[Jeff Adams]

Just my opinion but I think that both SACD and DVD-audio will only be around for a couple of more years. I hope that I am wrong but as someone has stated, SACD has been around for about 4-5 years and other than more titles available, it really has not done too much.

 

[Brian-W]

The suits in Japan would never allow that to happen. Unless Sony Electronics was going to abandon a format, they'd never let any of their divisions abandon.

The whole point of Sony buying both Columbia music and Columbia TriStar was so that they'd have software for whatever formats they introduce (and for easy in film product placement).

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

...but then again, since the installed base of CD players outsrips the number of DVD players, let's go with hybrid SACD.

Regards,

 

[Lee Scoggins]

There are billions of CD players and hundreds of millions of DVD players. So it's 10 to 1 in favor of Super Audio.

 

[Rachael B]

It's obvious Sony has put SA-CD on the backburner. They've never been this financially stressed out ever before either. A measure of their desperation is the aggreement they signed with Samsung for joint LCD research and production. In the past Sony never would of stooped to signing an aggreement with a "lesser" company in their hemisphear like Samsung. Note, that most of their big aggreements were with Europe's titan, Philips, on the far side of the world from them. Japan, in general, is in a tough spot. Anything they can make, Chinese companies can make for half as much. Sony will have a hard time ever regaining their former status, me thinks.

 

[Brian-W]

Not quite true. While it's a shock for a Japanese company to sign with a Korean company (a whole 'nother issue), it's far from a shock to do joint ventures which Sony (and other companies) engaged in.

These days it's just not economically viable to set up production lines for newer technology as a solo company. The expense is too great, the risks too high, and with cheap labor (to a degree) in China and Korea, doesn't make sense to shoulder all the burden.

Look back in history, Sony has done plenty of joint ventures.

Samsung and LG are bigger forces than all the Japanese companies (Sony included). They have large growing markets, cheaper labor, and a growing economy. Plus their products aren't perceived to be "cheap" crap (if you will) like they were 10 years ago (or even 5 years ago). They are also pouring in large amounts of their revenue into R&D.

Times have changed quite a bit since 10 years ago, and they'll be even more different in less than another 5 years.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

But it also lets them avoid all the current costs of the format; marketing, production subsidies, manufacturing subsidies, and who knows what else. Revenue is lacking context without the associated costs.

Am I prediction Sony will drop the format? No, I think both high-res formats will countinue floundering around a bit for a couple of more years before either side contemplates such a decision.

 

[Rachael B]

Brian, I did put lesser in "xxx". Personally, I'm not too sold on Samsung quality. There's a Samsung plasma at the local Busted Buy with about 100 pixels stuck on red. I know many of their products are better than in the past but paint me curiously skeptical yellow! Best wishes D-VHS-Muse dude!

P.S. - I got D-VHS now too.

 

[Brian-W]

D-VHS you bad girl! I'm working on a way to convert MUSE discs to D-VHS or WM9 HD. We'll see...

 

[Michael St. Clair]

What about W-VHS, at least as an interim format for conversions?

 

[Rachael B]

Brian, when I'm bad, uuuuuh, I'm very bad! I have over 20 titles already.

 

[Brian-W]

Old, dated, and really doesn't have the bandwidth for full 1035i (close, but no dice). Yes, it will record 1035/1080i, but doesn't have the full bandwidth.

I want optical preferably. To go to D-VHS, it will have to go through my PC first, so that's an archival tool.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

I don't totally disagree, but I'm wondering how the footage will be digitized.

Are you going to build your own unique interface with high-bandwidth DACs just to capture Hi-Vision to MPEG2 (or WM9)?

 

[Will_B]

The whispers were probably that Sony will release hybrid players rather than stay exclusive with SACD. Even if SACD wins the format war and remains their ambition, it makes sense for Sony to make their equipment more appealing by being multiformat.