Mark_H wrote:
Quote
Meridian will wait and see what happens like they always do
Is that what Meridian did with DVD-A? I hadn't realised.

This will probably seem complacent but I've read a lot recently in magazines like Stereophile and on sites like this about how the industry is not managing the interests of audiophiles and "videophiles" adequately, which seems implicit in this thread. Anyone with M kit, even Joe Six Pack, has moved beyond the "man in the street" position. The process of making such an investment develops skills of appreciation and discernment that allow one to focus on details that the man in the street is unaware of, not uncaring of. Mark, I don't doubt that the appreciation of music and video is what drives you, but your level of investment and your undertsanding of what you've got marks you out as a highly discerning consumer. Unfortunately, the higher our powers of discernment, the more specific our points of interest and the higher the cost of products that can satisfy. LOL, as people say. People on this forum wil always be at the leading edge of consumer appreciation, even if their investment is a couple of years behind.

I don't know if the currently evolving technology is worth supporting but I definitely don't believe it will be lost if we don't buy it. CD and DVD were step changes forward from vinyl and VHS - albeit for the CD/Vinyl debate you have to allow that convenience and utility is a big part of the step, as vinyl is still aurally competitive. The step change was such that technology absolutely led the market and the marketing people. It was irrefutable. At present, the marketing people are forcing the market and I'm left hoping for the next step change, which I'm unconviced is offered by Bluray or HD-DVD. Given the DVD-A experience, I won't invest until the benefits are clearly offered - irrefutable performance increase, substantial software library, undeniable incremental development potential without the need to wholly reinvest in hardware. Maybe we need to make the industry work harder at providing the step change by decrying and denying the current incremental offering. I'd be happy to see DVD hold sway for now whilst the industry sorts out standard interfaces, encryption and other things that matter. I'd hate to see DVD fail to be sustained at this time because then we'll be left with unconvincing replacements of a format that has not truly reached it's sell-by date yet.

Regards,
Steve

Steve