Hybrid DVd-A

http://www.audiorevolution.com/news/1202/20.dvdforum.shtml

 

They have been talking about this for a couple of months now. Seems to be a clear indication DVD-A is not making the kind of sales figures they where hoping for.
Maybe a better way to force DVD-A onto the market would be giving a free DVD-A with some CD they release. Just pick out a few big selling artist, give the consumer a couple of DVD-A titles and sooner than later they will want to get a chance to listen to it. Same would go for SACD basically, curiosity killed the cat, but in this case curiosity could save Highrez.

 

Marc that is a great Idea. If your not already, maybe a job in marketing is in the cards for you!

 

What is the point in giving the average consumer a free disc they can't 'use' because they don't have a hi-rez player? Besides, if it "costs so little" for a major label to add a disc, why not pass that on to the consumer and drop the price of a single CD in half, instead? That's what I would be asking if I was the average joe who could care less about DVD-A.

 

The point is people are curious, if they get it they want to use it. By introducing people to free samples you create an intrest.
Before Philips and Sony introduced the compact disc, did you ever think about having a small silver disc with music on it?
Product placement is a well proven advertising method, it works, people are suckers when it comes to "free" gifts, they will accept them even if they have no use for them, when they have picked up 3 or 4 free DVD-A discs', and after advertising told them how great they are, they are going to want to hear it for themselves. It's creating a need, and it has worked in the past, so why wouldn't it work now? It work with the introduction of the CD. "perfect sound forever"

It's not about the cost of giving a disc for free, it's advertising and that has always cost a lot of money. They will need to invest to get a return on that investment. Think about the money they have already spent in making DVD-A a succes. It's clear they failed so far, so then the choice is easy, cut your loses or try again.
Hey I don't care if DVD-A will make it, I am perfectly happy with SACD. But start giving me free DVD-A discs, and knowing myself, I'm probably stupid enough to give it a try.

 

A great way for Sony to make an impact on the SACD market would be to start issuing as many hybrid discs as possible. This way the consumer will already own this new technology but won't be forced to upgrade their hardware until they feel it necessary. It seems like a soft and gentle way of getting consumers over to a new format where the record companies can, once again, sell us our favorite albums on a new format. I thought that was the whole idea behind including a redbook layer in the SACD specs.

 

Exactly. Then they can gradually lose the CD layer as people will eventually have players that can play their existing CD's and SACD. When they get used to the improvement of SACD, then they can repurchase all their CD's on SACD. The record companies would love that!

 

Great thought! And in my opinion, that is what will be happening soon. I just think there have not been enough hybrid disc lines open to handle the capacity.

Just a guess though

 

Hi all,

Just thought I'd throw this question out for some opinions.
Does anyone know for sure if a single layer SACD should theorectically have better sound than a hybrid SACD?

 

There's only one data rate for SACD. It's not like DVD-A where you get different levels of quality. There's only one standard for DSD and that's 1 bit/ 2,822,400 MHz.

 

Could Gary mean perhaps a single layer SACD sounding better due to not having to shoot through an outer layer. Better reflectivity, thus equaling better sound?

I may be mis-reading it here though....

 

Hi Bill,

You hit it right on the money. That's what I was wondering.

 

I cant see that really being true. In theory, perhaps, but in practice could one REALLY hear any difference?

 

I don't know the real answer to that Mikey,

There are members on this forum who have very keen hearing. Things
that I can't hear others seem to . Like the difference between the CD
and a CDR.

 

There may be something to this. I really don't know. If I put two and two together..

I remember reading something about Steve doing something to assure that the mass produced cd's sound the same as the cd-r's he send off.

Some thing about that. If there are differences in this, then there could be differences in the sound of hybrids and non hybrids. No that my system would reproduce the sonics to tell anyway.

 

You really don't hear much press regarding the Sound Quality of the CD layer on the Dual layer SACD's in comparison to lets say an audiophile
CD Gold of the same title. When folks purchase an SACD their main focus
seems to be the SACD layer.

 

I agree... it is for me. I will say this though, we are a small minority. I don't think Joe Smith next door has the equipment, active listening education, nor desire to grasp the difference. I think the hybrid layer(of any disc) will only be used to migrate folks to the new media. Once it'
s done, perhaps that layer can be used for something else... but by then we'll have new toys we're playing with..

 

Once it's done, they'll move away from hybrid discs and start making dual-layered discs. By that I mean, dual SACD layers, no Redbook. All SACD players are already capable of playing these dual-layered discs, only no one is yet producing them.