Warner.....still playing footsie with DVD-A (1 Viewer)

[ReggieW]

I have read Lee's interesting threads on the big DVD-A relaunch, and have just visited high fidelity review to get the low-down. Still, I have come away with the feeling that Warner is still doing little to get their software out. DVD-A hardware sales may be encouraging, but I find it hard to believe that this many players have been sold with DVD-A capability to INFORMED consumers regarding the formats existence, and most important of all, that the average consumer is even aware that THEY have the capability to play hi-res music.....or even cares. Once I begin to see rollouts from the likes of Prince, Madonna, Peter Gabriel, The Talking Heads, and other high-profile artists, I will then begin to be swayed. Talk is cheap. Other smaller labels supporting DVD-A are releasing a flood of titles, but we are mostly getting obscure acts and titles like The 'Best of Atomic Rooster' and other artists few of us have ever heard of - no offense to Rooster fans. Nonetheless, 5.1 entertainment has been doing more than the much larger Warner consortium. How hard is it for Warner to do date and date releases with their major acts and sell them in stores right next to the CD'S for the same price with nice displays detailing the advantages of DVD-A over redbook CD? This would be a slam dunk, so why hasn't this been done yet? If we are to take their statements made at the Burbank conference regarding their hopes of DVD-A replacing the CD seriously, then Warner must start making their discs hybrid. Consumers simply won't be buying the same title twice. Period. It would be foolish to think otherwise in this age of the MP3 and free music. Regardless, I will probably be taking the plunge on the Denon DVD 3800 next week mostly for its outstanding DVD-A/CD performance, but sincerely hope this purchase won't be in vain.

Reg

 

[KeithH]

Reggie, my take on the "relaunch" is enough talk, let's see some music. It's as if Warner has forgotten about DVD-Audio in 2002.

 

[Mike Broadman]

Reggie, what do you mean by making them hybrid? AFAIK, you can't have a DVD-A disc that plays in CDs as well, or are you talking about something else, like having a DD or DTS track for DVD-V?

DVD-A's one big drawback is that it cannot be ripped, copied, or taken around with you. While they are considering making DVD-A players for the car, this isn't around yet. The fact is, if you want to enjoy a DVD-A title fully (in the car, at work, while jogging, etc), you have to buy both the DVD-A to enjoy the high-res and surround tracks at home and the CD for other everyday use.

NP: Miles Davis, Complete Plugged Nickel, disc 7

 

[ReggieW]

Mike,

I think I may've read here in the past from John, Lee, or someone else, that DVD-A has the capability to be backward capatable with cd players. Needless to say, if this is possible, it hasn't yet been implemented. I personally always believed that it wouldn't be hard to add a 2.0 PCM layer for cd playback. However, hybrid discs would not be a concern to me personally if there was a flood of high profile material out there.

Reg