Hello again minermbel,
Thank you for your question.
Here are some snippets of the thousands of discussions and articles
available on this format war:
http://www.audiotrends.com.au/topics/topic-dvd-sacd-pt1.htm
As of July 2002, audiotrends noted:
The DVD Audio Vs Super Audio CD Battle
"...To date, there are over 215 DVD-Audio discs, all in surround, and
a few handfuls of SACD titles are also in surround. The argument that
there are no systems that can play the discs is frequently made, but
SACD’s play on conventional CD players and DVD-Audio discs play in
surround (in the default surround mode like DTS or Dolby Digital, as
opposed to the higher resolution MLP surround Mix) on a traditional
DVD-Video player through its digital audio connection on your Receiver
or AV preamp. The real problem is that it is logistically difficult
and politically even harder to make a surround mix that the artist,
management, original engineer and record label will accept for release
to those of us with the gear ready to rock at home..."
The chat room at Chesky (which makes excellent audiphile recordings,
has a discussion:
http://www.chesky.com/forum/viewmessages.cfm?Forum=23&Topic=152
" have wanted to purchase one of these players since the technology
was available. I thought the SACD format would certainly dominate the
market, however, after reading a wonderful, very detailed, and what
appears to be objective article on both formats, I'm still waiting.
The International Audio/Video Review articles on both formats are some
of the most informative I have seen, and I offer this site, where
anyone interested can read these articles. I have nothing to do with
them, someone was kind enough to forward their address to me.
Their site is www.iar-80.com. View the articles on Digital Systems
Wars, well written, and in my opinion well researched..."
Interesting comments follow this posting.
Tower Records Pulse Magazine has an interesting article on the battle,
but does not list figures for titles or players. You might enjoy the
read, however:
http://pulse.towerrecords.com/contentStory.asp?contentId=4350
On Nov 17, 2002, the dailybulletin.com reported:
http://audioworld.com/cgi/FrameIt.cgi?Url=http://www.dailybulletin.com/Stories/0,1413,203%257E21482%257E997260,00.html&ConfigFile=FrameIt.cfg
"CDs may follow vinyl New formats may replace compact disc
By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY - ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK -- First, vinyl records were relegated to the nostalgia pile.
Now, CDs may be headed for the same fate.
Over the last couple of years, manufacturers and record companies have
rolled out two new musical formats DVD-Audio and Super Audio Compact
Discs (SACDs) that they hope will replace the CD.
"It's really getting rolling. The number of titles is increasing
rapidly,' says John Trickett, chairman of the 5.1 Entertainment Group,
which has produced almost 100 DVD-Audio titles. "If you compare it to
the launch of the CD ... It's actually following the same pattern, but
actually a lot faster.'
...So far, there are about 300 albums available in DVD-Audio and about
450 in SACD a minuscule amount of the thousands of CDs released each
year. Sony Music Group and Universal Music Group have backed the SACD
format, while Warner Music Group has backed DVD-Audio..."
So, we have several examples of how little software is available for
these formats.
Surround Professional has an excellent article here:
http://www.surroundpro.com/2002/february/columns_consumer.shtml
"Both Sides Now
Is either side making headway in the DVD-A/SACD war?
By John Sunier
At the time of writing this, my second column for Surround
Professional, the campaigns mounted by the two sides in the high-res
format war continue with each side claiming victory. The Dec.-Jan.
issue of Absolute Sound carried two "think pieces": one titled "SACD
vs. DVD-Audio: Is It Over? "and another titled "...It's Not All
Over!," the latter written by Robert Stuart of Meridian, developer of
the MLP lossless data reduction process for DVD-Audio. Stuart goes on
to state that "even acknowledging a format war is a dangerous
oversimplification." The SACD supporters' stance is that, now that the
largest music label, Universal, has announced it will support SACD -
adding to the already over 400 SACD titles available - the fat lady
has sung..."
As to number of players sold:
http://pub9.ezboard.com/fquadraphonicquadfrm3.showMessage?topicID=160.topic
Over 1 Million SACD Players Sold in Europe
" At the recent Tonmeistertagung 2002 show in Germany for Recording
Studio professionals, Sony & Philips announced that SACD Player sales
in Europe had passed the 1 Million mark."
12/9/02
However, a comment on this post notes:
"i'm one of this million, but i'm also very aware of the fact that
very few of them will be used for SACD playback - they are mainly dvd
players and all-in-one systems. Will like to know the real sale figure
of SACD-only player - i suspect is very thin..."
MSN, in September confirms over 1 million SACD players sold, and notes
650 SACD titles currently available then.
This post:
http://www.digitalaudioguide.com/dareview/wwwboard/main/1025.html
Shows over 1 million DVD-A players sold worldwide as per Dolby, in
2002.
The reality is, that a good deal of these are purchased for DVD video
playback and the new audio formats are no tbeing used by the
pruchaser.
I think the virtues of these formats can be successfully argued in
either direction. Players that can play back both are scarce and
"usually" not of the highest quality. And bass management is lacking
in both formats as they currently output only analog signals for
surround playback or far from optimal stereo digital signals.
Personally, I will wait until they offer multi-channel digital output
so that bass can be properly managed, and have affordable, quality
players that support both formats.
Here are a few good to great links for following discussions on these
formats as well as quality user reviews on both the formats and the
players. In some cases, just search for DVD-A or SACD to find a wealth
of topics being discussed.
http://www.soundreproduction.com/discussion/sacd_forum/forum.html
SACD/DVD-A Discussion Forum
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htforum/index.php
Home Theater Forums
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/index.php
AVS Forums
Search Strategy:
dvd-a vs sacd +titles OR market OR sales
DVD-a vs SACD +"players sold"
I hope this has provided you some food for thought. If a link above
should fail to work or anything require further explanation, please do
post a Request for Clarification and I will be pleased to assist
further.
Regards,
-=clouseau=- |
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