Universal Music Commits to SACD! (1 Viewer)

[RicP]

Excellent News if it actually comes to fruition
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010825/lasa001a.html
Ric Perrott - My DVD's

 

[Paul.S]

Ric:
Thanks very much for posting this! Very interesting. How did you so quickly find this press release, only some five hours after it was announced?
I think UMG could have made a bigger splash if they had announced their first slate of SACD releases at the same time as this announcement of their support of the format. (Personally, amongst many other things, I'd love to hear SACDs of Shawn Murphy 5.1 remixes of the Apollo 13 and Jurassic Park scores. It will also be interesting to see if MCA Nashville President (and DTS, Inc. director?) Tony Brown [who is responsible for so much mainstream country showing up on DTS CD--he is George Strait's, Vince Gill's and Reba McEntire's producer] now goes back and does higher resolution SACDs of all those DTS CDs he produced.)
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Cheers,
Paul

 

[KeithH]

I read about this on Audio Asylum. Obviously, the announcement means absolutely nothing if UMG doesn't produce software. Anyone can claim commitment to anything. I too could declare that I am committed to SACD. However, it means nothing because I will not release any software. I don't know how much we can hope for from UMG (or Virgin for that matter). Sony Music has slowed down its release rate of SACDs over the past few months. If Sony doesn't show a greater commitment to their own format, how involved can we expect other major labels to be? Now, if UMG puts its best foot forward, maybe that will jump start Sony's software production. Furthermore, if UMG puts out quality software at a good rate and gets it into chain stores, that might benefit the format to the point where Sony will feel compelled to support it adequately. Currently, I am not convinced that Sony is fully committed to the format despite the amount of hardware coming.
O.K., enough ranting.
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My:
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KeithH: Saving the Home Theater World Before Bedtime
[Edited last by KeithH on August 26, 2001 at 06:02 PM]

 

[Robert A. Willis Jr.]

Is it a lack of commitment on Sony's part or the difficulty of producing SACD's or both? After all Sony had a long lead time before the introduction of SACD to prepare the number of titles initially released. I wonder if those titles had already been formatted for DSD or whatever they call their Archival technique.
Just asking so don't flame me.
rw

 

[Paul.S]

Keith, Robert et al.:

Quote:

I, too, have been a little frustrated with Sony's software approach to SACD, but my issue is a little more specific. Given the hybrid/dual layer capabilities of the format, it is curious that Sony has chosen to release so many early titles as single layer discs (that are therefore not backward compatible to current CD players).

It seems to me that inclusion of a Red Book layer on SACD titles (especially discs such as Toto IV and the Titanic score, which already had multiple releases) would be a good way to help grow the format.
I guess I have been too excited by what Telarc and dmp are doing with SACD/DSD to be too broadly indignant about Sony's efforts (or lack thereof).
Additionally, although it has indeed taken Sony too long to offer multichannel SACD players, I do feel it is important to acknowledge that Sony has recently made a noteworthy effort on the hardware front: at $399, the SCD-CE775 SACD changer (reviewed in the July/August Sound & Vision) is a welcome step in the right direction for the format.
Robert, I don't think it is either a lack of commitment to the format on Sony's part or replication difficulties. I think maybe Sony has perhaps gone from thinking two years ago that SACD would be an audiophile, niche format to a direct competitor to the DVD-Audio effort to replace (Sony's) CD format.
But to bring my post back to the thread topic (and to arguably amplify your skepticism, Keith), I also find it head-shakingly curious that UMG is now announcing SACD support when they have barely supported music titles on DVD-V, a format that has of course been around for over four years!
Cheers,
Paul

 

[Robert A. Willis Jr.]

I too have been very puzzled by the lack of dual layered discs from Sony. I have purchased about 5 dual layered discs from Telarc and DMP. I am playing the CD layer now. I wonder whether Universal will emulate Sony or the small companies.
I have been very happy with the many DAD's that I have purchased and for the first time in many years am anticipating with gusto a high-end Universal disc and more product.
rw

 

[KeithH]

I believe one reason that Sony has not produced hybrid discs is that there is not enough capital equipment available to handle the production volume required. Note that the vast majority of hybrid discs are from smaller, audiophile labels such as Telarc, DMP, Chesky, etc. Virgin, a major label, has the Mike Oldfield Tubular Bells hybrid disc, but that is their only current SACD.
Also, hybrid disc technology is rather new, and Sony could be concerned about reliability issues that could arise with high-volume production. There have been some quality-control issues associated with hybrid discs produced thus far. I don't think production of single-layer SACDs it too different from production of CDs.
From the standpoint of promoting its new format, I absolutely believe that it behooves Sony to produce hybrid discs and reissue major CD titles as SACD/CD hybrids. However, it could be that the technology of hybrid disc production is not quite developed to the point to make that a reality.
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My:
HT Pics ; Equipment List ; DVD Collection ; LD Collection
KeithH: Saving the Home Theater World Before Bedtime
[Edited last by KeithH on August 27, 2001 at 10:09 PM]

 

[Paul.S]

Keith et al.
quote: I believe one reason that Sony has not produced hybrid discs is that there is not enough capital [sic?] equipment available to handle the volume required. Note that all hybrid discs are from smaller, audiophile labels such as Telarc, DMP, Chesky, etc. Virgin, a major label, has the Mike Oldfield Tubular Bells hybrid disc, but that is their only current SACD.[/quote]
Hmmm. But conversely, it could be argued that smaller, audiophile labels like Telarc and dmp don't have as much clout with replicating facilities to get their discs produced (even in smaller production runs/quantities) as one of the 'Big 5' distribbers like Sony does.
quote: Also, hybrid disc technology is rather new, and Sony could be concerned about reliability issues that could arise with high-volume production. There have been some quality-control issues associated with hybrid discs produced thus far.[/quote]
Hmmm. I'm reminded of Robert's comment (in post number 4) about Sony having had "a long lead time before the introduction of SACD to prepare the number of titles initially released." Aren't you referring to the problems that some DVD-V players had playing hybrid (combined DVD-ROM and DVD-Video content) DVD-V discs (like some [luckily not including me and my Tosh SD-2108] for whom Alien would "tile up" during playback)? One would think that these problems either don't exist for SACD, or at least had become less of an issue in recent times. Clearly, Sony has not released enough dual layer discs for replication facilities to be overburdened (which is the reason, one year ago this week, some people [including myself] received T2 on two DVD-9s instead of one DVD-18). Finally, one would think that any player/disc (in)compatibility issues would be lessened by the fact that SACD is Sony's technology and they are also manufacturing the lion's share (at this time) of the hardware for playing it back.
So could it be that no small measure of Sony's approach (marketing strategy?) is to appeal to audiophile "snobbery," and therefore release an early slate of discs that are not backwards compatible with plain ol' 16-bit, 44.1k? Did you see the pull-out SACD advertisement booklet in the June 2001 Stereophile Guide To Home Theater featuring the nicely-clad couple on the cover? It opens first to a picture of them seated on a couch (elegant floral arrangements to either side) in front of a miked orchestra, and then folds opens again to reveal a miked concert hall behind them.

Cheers,
Paul
[Edited last by PaulSuarez on August 28, 2001 at 01:10 AM]

 

[KeithH]

Paul, I am not sure if this is still true, but earlier in the year, it was reported on various web sites that there was only hybrid disc pressing facility in the world. The production capacity there was not large. I don't know if production capabilities have expanded since them. One production facility could better accommodate the volume required by Chesky Records (e.g., Rebecca Pidgeon, McCoy Tyner) than by Sony Music (e.g., Miles Davis, Michael Jackson).
There have been reports of TOC errors on the Mike Oldfield Tubular Bells and FIM Audiophile Reference IV hybrid discs on the Sony DVP-S9000ES and SCD-C333ES. These TOC errors are probably not widespread, but they do exist. I believe there were other manufacturing issues early on as well. These issues may have concerned Sony. Before these quality-control issues came to light, however, there was the matter of low production capacity. The decision for Sony not to produce hybrid discs may have been made for that reason alone.
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My:
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KeithH: Saving the Home Theater World Before Bedtime

 

[Marc Colella]

Not much of a commitment though...
Universal only plans on releasing 1 SACD in 2001.
At the very least, this 1 title better be a good one.