Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems An Other New Format! NOT good news for M...

everyone should read this: http://www.stereophile.com/news/081604sacs2cd/

Like the Dual Disc, SACD or DVD-A, this one might never happen "en masse" but it seems interesting!

I think this new "format" has almost zero chance of succeeding, especially since Sony is rumored to be working on SACD2 which will expressly add video content to compete with DVD-A. I'm guessing that Sony will not allow licensing using the SACD brand name, thus rendering this new disc a marketing failure.

All of that aside, why is this bad for Meridian exactly? Its position relative to SACD doesn't change, so what effect are you forseeing? If this new disc existed today, *NO* SACD player on the market would be able to play the video content because the menu system and hardware doesn't support it. So, this is not just a Meridian problem.

Damon

Any development on optical based formats is a waste of time , and so for that matter is compression. Already 4 terrabyte capable memory cards are being developed. The future is Audio with no moving parts , like storing whatever format in uncompressed form with the program to play it and then pluging it into cheap readers. Portable , flashable with scads of music from booths in the main road (assuming some protection system) and REAL cheap players and no optical->electrical conversion. Granted , perhaps not soon , but I am pretty sure within 3-5 years the first units might be launched , Just wait till when very large storage memory becomes affordable and internet bandwith increases. Obviously legacy products will still be around , like the zillions of CDS etc.

Interesting concept Rod.

Lee

When I was 15 (1985), I remember calculating how much storage you would need to replace a vinyl single with a silicon chip....and was chastised by a science teacher for being "unrealistic".

Wish I'd have been 30 and had money for patents... So much for my visionary moment!

I fully agree with rodney, 16Gb Compact Flash card are now available, albeit, at a very expensive price, but my guess is you will buy memory chips for albums, the form factor will be tiny.
What I'm saying with this post, I'm aware of SACD2, but that although a threat to DVD-A, I think is less likely to happen then this hybrid disc if sony goes behind it because it will work with SACD and they will want people to buy SACD players and youngsters will happy with DD 5.1 & DTS 5.1 on the otherside with video. The fight between the format for me is about content at a target price of $15, and surely you need to give more than CD for people to switch over, at the age of MP3 people with revert back if the content is much greater, I've got an iPod and I only burn my own CDs @ 256kbps but that's only when I'm the move at home I would like higher res + more content than just the album may be.

I think if people get SACD or DVD-A with additional content, then people will buy it
audiophile will jump on it for the high rez and youngsters will jump on it for the video+ additional value offered.

not dual disc because it has the effect of shortening some album! the length of the music is constrained on DVD-A side because I don't think they found a way yet to have dual layer as well as CD on the otherside of the Disc and be compliant in thickness.

fbourgoin,

You still haven't answered the question. How will this disc be playable on ANY of the SACD only players on the market? Those players will not have the firmware or perhaps circuitry path to do it.

Plus, I'm still not sure that this will even be playable on a combo SACD/DVD-A player. Logically speaking, it would have to register both as either a hybrid SACD/VCD (for video) disc or a hybrid SACD/quasi CD/DVD-V disc. But it would have to function as a true CD disc (I believe) for an SACD player to be happy with it. That is a tall order.

This was just a marketing announcement more than a product announcement anyway, so it remains to be how well things go. Let's not hype (or spell doom for others) a product that you can't buy today or at date certain in the future.

Lastly, again, why would Sony back this venture and forgot the licensing revenue from their own SACD2 format? Remember, this is an exercise in licensing as well as selling discs. Sony is unlikely to pass that up. Expiring Redbook CD licensing is what spurred the development of SACD in the first place.

Damon

I just think it will be hybrid-SACD on 1 side and DVD-V on the other you'll have it all.

my point also is that the more format there is hypothetically or in real life, the more it damages very format because people will hold off buying any of them also.

That's risk aversion.

The ratio of potential customers to those who read Stereophile AND have read that particular article is quite large.

Most people don't know about Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD, and that issue has been in the technology press for quite a while now.

Damon