Are you ready for SACD II?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by KeithH, Jul 21, 2003.

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  1. KeithH

    KeithH Success With Honor...then and now Thread Starter

    Location:
    Beaver Stadium
    See this link:

    http://www.highfidelityreview.com/news/news.asp?newsnumber=19363192

    "Improved copy-protection measures"? Huh? :confused:

    Backwards compatibility of SACD II discs with "SACD I" players has me concerned. :shake:
     
  2. Claus

    Claus Senior Member

    Location:
    Germany
    I hate all kind of audio-protection... :realmad: :mad: :realmad:
     
  3. KeithH

    KeithH Success With Honor...then and now Thread Starter

    Location:
    Beaver Stadium
    Claus, I think everyone here shares that opinion. I'm just waiting for Sony to release Kind of Blue in SACD II in the fall. Perhaps they can sneak in a hybrid SACD I version first. :rolleyes:
     
  4. Dave D

    Dave D Done!

    Location:
    Milton, Canada
    If this keeps up, I am going to break into my step mothers place and steal the old "combination stereo-liqour cabinet with Dual turntable complete with LP stacker" that I grew up with.......$&^$#* new formats!!
    :realmad:
     
  5. Geoman076

    Geoman076 Sealed vinyl is Fun!!

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    hmmmm....... I think this makes it less likely for me to buy into the whole SACD thing. Having extra movies and pictures doesn't fit into how I listen to music. Can they really add stuff like that and not have it affect the music in a negative way??
     
  6. KeithH

    KeithH Success With Honor...then and now Thread Starter

    Location:
    Beaver Stadium
    Dave, yup. Suddenly my CD/cassette/radio boombox in the kitchen is looking good.
     
  7. cliff barua

    cliff barua New Member

    Location:
    Toronto
    Yes, only if you let it (actually your sign-off message says it all!). DVD-A has "extra pictures and movies" and it doesn't affect the music. Sure, there are questionable mixes (stereo and surround) but that has nothing to do with the visual content.

    As an owner of both hi-rez formats, I can sympathize with those who are put off by having to access a monitor to make set-up selections. I like SACD as it is currently constituted because I can just put the disc in, press play (unless I want to listen to the stereo mix and the disc defaults to multi-channel) and listen.

    But, yes, I would advise all of those who are oppposed to added visual content to just stick to redbook and vinyl. Because the fact is, it is 2003 and we live in a multimedia and multichannel world. Some like it that way, some prefer to remain in 1973 (no visuals, stereo or mono only). To each their own. I for one still love mono and stereo sound. But some visual content and most surround mixes add enjoyment and new fascinations to my listening experience.

    Cliff
     
  8. Dave D

    Dave D Done!

    Location:
    Milton, Canada
    I usually put the disc in the tray and push play, and I don't even need to turn the tv on, it just starts playing. But this stuff about video affected the sound quality is a load of manure.
     
  9. Geoman076

    Geoman076 Sealed vinyl is Fun!!

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    O.K. then, now I'm a little more likely to get into SACD/DVDa. It's only a matter of time before I give in anyway. My curiosity will eventually win. Thanks for the info!
     
  10. cliff barua

    cliff barua New Member

    Location:
    Toronto
    Great, hope you do!! Because as many will testify here, the new revelations about music that we've loved for a long time by far outweigh any of the perceived negatives. And there's still so much stuff to be released.

    Cliff
     
  11. bartels76

    bartels76 Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    CT
    I'm not ready for SACD II
     
  12. Khorn

    Khorn Dynagrunt Obversarian

    NO, I don't think that they can within reason. I know of one High End manufacturer who was set to introduce an SACD/DVD-vid player but is holding back because the vid circuitry increases the S/N ratio to the point they deem unacceptable for a high end audio unit. I had an offer that they build me an SACD only unit without the vid circuits as apparently it sounds really good that way.

    I think that I should be able to get my SCD1 updated to read the 2 channel stereo portion only of future discs if it has to come to that.
     
  13. Parkertown

    Parkertown Tawny Port

    Well, it better still play like a cd, dammit! That's a major advantage of SACD vs DVD-A IMO.
     
  14. MikeT

    MikeT Prior Forum Cretin and Current Impatient Creep

    Location:
    New Jersey, USA
    If some of this comes true this is quite disheartening.

    Take for instance the quote from the link Keith provided to highfidelityreview.com:

    This worries me. I have 3 SACDs players now, one being the XA777ES. I DO NOT - I repeat - DO NOT want to have to spend a couple of thousands of dollars more/again to get a good SACD II player if my XA777ES won't play back the new SACD II format.

    And what about the line that this is "the slow demise of the SACD format as we know it today". The format is just starting to get the kick in the pants it needs, with catalog releases by Peter Gabriel, The Police, Bob Dylan... as well as a lot of labels coming on board that weren't on board months ago. Talk about pulling the rug out from under the early adopters.

    I guess it is still too early to tell what the outcome of this will truly be, but backward compatibility should be a MUST.
     
  15. GoldenBoy

    GoldenBoy Purple People Eater

    Location:
    US
    I think everyone should remember that SACD as it stands is already capable of carrying visual content, it is part of the specification. Any 'SACD II' is most likely to be an SACD with visual content added to it. In all likelihood, the added visual content would simply be ignored by stand alone players, similar to how multichannel mixes are ignored by stereo-only players. Perhaps SACD/DVD players are already capable of displaying SACD visual content, I don't know. I don't see them making you have to access on-screen menus to access the audio content; the format just isn't designed that way. It would probably be a matter of watching the content or not. In any case, I wouldn't worry too much. It is highly unlikely that Sony would change the format in such a way, at this point in the game, to make it incompatible with what is currently on the market. It would be the death of the format, IMO. Perhaps they have made a strategic decision to begin to support the visual capabilities of the format in an effort to further fight off DVD-A, and that is all. Hence, Sony's denial that there is an 'SACD II', for it would simply be an SACD with bonus video content. Sleep easy friends.:)
     
  16. GoldenBoy

    GoldenBoy Purple People Eater

    Location:
    US
    Now that I think about it, the only other thing I can see happening in addition to added visual content is that they add some sort of copy protection to the CD layer on hybrid SACD's.
     
  17. Richard Feirstein

    Richard Feirstein New Member

    Location:
    Albany, NY
    Exactly; this as been part of the SACD format from the get-go. Even my lowly Sony 900V will support album jacket art, etc., now we may see disks with that added data.

    Richard.
     
  18. sgb

    sgb Senior Member

    Location:
    Baton Rouge
    Sony to MikeT: "Gotcha!"

    Don't relent from buying your SACDs now, guys, or like DCC and MoFi gold CDs, you'll be forced into bidding high prices for them on ebay in the years to come.
     
  19. Khorn

    Khorn Dynagrunt Obversarian

    It's time we got rid of this whole electro/mechanical spinning disc thing already. There has got to be a better way of storing and reproducing music.
    Maybe somekind of "solid" memory.......
     
  20. MikeT

    MikeT Prior Forum Cretin and Current Impatient Creep

    Location:
    New Jersey, USA
    They have it already... and my 9 year old daughter has a whole slew of them.

    They are called "Hit Clips". Not only do you only get about 2 minutes of the song on each chip, it sounds terrible. :rolleyes:

    Anyway - you are right. "Solid" memory will most likely be in our future, as long as they can provide us "audiophiles" with the sound quality we are looking for. Right now all "solid" memory music on the market, like "Hit Clips" is worse than listening to AM radio.
     
  21. Cliff

    Cliff Magic Carpet Man

    Location:
    Northern CA
    I'm ready for SACD II, and welcome it. It will be a real setback if they aren't able to utilize the video in DVD/SACD combo players though.
     
  22. pdenny

    pdenny 22-Year SHTV Participation Trophy Recipient

    Location:
    Hawthorne CA
    My Toshiba 9200 DVD-A player has an "Audio Only" button on the remote that disables video circuitry during playback; this doen't seem like anything that couldn't be added inexpensively to any SACD II player.

    DAD has had video output for years...although it's just a static track title/artist text block on a colored background.
     
  23. Michael St. Clair

    Michael St. Clair Forum Resident

    Location:
    Funkytown
    Anybody familiar with how the movie studios can force HDTV 'downrezzing' on anybody with older component inputs that don't do DVI/HDCP?

    I'll wager that when/if SACD I encryption is cracked, that new releases are only for SACD II and will no longer play on our current expensive players.
     
  24. John

    John Senior Member

    Location:
    Northeast
    Im with you. Just another reason why Im vinyl only. I refuse to deal with this sort of non-sense. When the format choice is clear and the maximizing, compression, over EQ-ing fad goes away, maybe I will take another look. Until then...
     
  25. GoldenBoy

    GoldenBoy Purple People Eater

    Location:
    US
    Of course, 'maximizing, compression, over EQ-ing' are not foreign to vinyl either, not to mention warped vinyl, noisy pressings, off-center pressings, off-speed pressings....

    And don't forget that when 45 RPM and 33 1/3 RPM records were first introduced, they were not backwards compatibly with anything either - new turntables had to be purchased which were capable of playing them, and a lot of turntables today don't even play 78's anymore.
     
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