Japanese SACD or DVDA - Do they exist??

During the rise (and sadly fall) of quadraphonic, the Japanese record and hardware companies were heavily involved, one way or another. OK too much involvement and competing caused it's demise, but nevertheless they were involved. Now with the SACD and DVD-A market the hardware is again being produced by Japanese electronic companies, but what about the software? I had a good look at HMV.co.jp and almost all of their stock of SACD and DVD-A is imported from the US or Europe.

I was wondering whether there may be some gems produced only in Japan, such as was the case in the 70's. Several Motown albums, and also Moody Blues were available in CD-4, and only ever from Japan. These are clearly very rare today. But why is there so little Japanese produced high resolution software? Does anyone know, or at lease put me right they are producing SACD's like they are going out of fashion!

Great question! I think that there are quite a few jazz/classical Japanese SACDs, but DVD-A's are far and few between.

I seem to remember Cai getting a Japanese Tomita DVD-A, but it turned out to be basically a needle drop!

Yeah, here is the link to the discussion of the Tomiata DVD-A:

https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/showthread.php?t=717

I have a few classical Japanese DVD-A titles. They're good but not the classic rock/soul stuff that would get me excited. I agree that it is odd that not a lot of DVD-A titles were released in Japan.

SACD is another story. There were quite a few Japan-only SACD titles produced. Mostly they were of Japanese artists, but there were a few exceptions (such as Santana - Caravanserai, which sadly was released only as a stereo title).

I know that there are also several stereo Miles Davis titles available only as JSACDs (as they're called). I think they sell for about $40 - $50 new as imports, so it'd have to be something you really wanted. There are other artists as well, but not generally in the rock category. Music Direct has begun importing them if you want to get an idea of what's out there. It may be cheaper to order them from amazon Japan, I just don't know.

This label is the only one i know, and the product is superb. Jazz label.
http://www.village-records.com/88/e/executive/index.html

I have this title and she is wonderful;
http://www.village-records.com/88/e/discogra/Marlena_Shaw.html.
Spendy discs, about 25 bucks.

Cai Campbell said:

SACD is another story. There were quite a few Japan-only SACD titles produced. Mostly they were of Japanese artists, but there were a few exceptions (such as Santana - Caravanserai, which sadly was released only as a stereo title).

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I have the Japanese Caravanserai, next to a Herbie Hancock title Future Shock (...or something like this...). Those Japanese titles were from Sony, and have an unusual cardboard packaging, with the plastic holder for the disc being very thick. Found them cheap here in Germany for 7,99 Euro in a video rental store, where they also sell DVDs, CDs, and sometimes VHS from insolvencies of other shops. They even had some CDs with a HMV sticker on 'em.

There are a number of Miles Davis JSACD released. I personally have the JSACD of Santana's "Caravanserai", Wham!'s "Make It Big", SRV's "Couldn't Stand The Weather" and Herbie Hancock's "Future Shock". HMV's Japanese site is the only website where the "Couldn't Stand The Weather" SACD is readily available. Of course, the titles mentioned are all Sony titles. Here's the list of Japanese SME (Sony Music Entertainment) SACD titles at sa-cd.net. Sony also release other SACD titles in Japan under other labels. Japanese artist Momoe Yamaguchi's SACD output rivals that of Miles Davis or Bob Dylan.

There are also other Japanese labels issuing SACDs as well, most prominently Avex Classics.

I've seen many Japanese SACDs when visiting Japan.

Anyway, there are many to be found here: http://www.sa-cd.net/

Jens

EDIT: Oops, I hadn't noticed soundboy's post yet. Sorry.

I asked this question back in 2006 and in general I think we all felt that there were very few DVDA discs exclusive to Japan. Well I have found one which may be of interest on DVD4Music. A soundtrack for a Japanese Godzilla film from 2004 I think, with several tracks written by Keith Emerson. I do not have it yet but will be able to listen to it soon. I will post findings!

Meanwhile the link to DVD4Music is below:-

http://www.dvd4music.com/onlineshop/details/via60003-5.html

Beware of DVD4Music... They are swindlers.

ferret-e said:

Beware of DVD4Music... They are swindlers.

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I second that! Ordered the Richard Thompson dvd-a because they said they had it. They charged my card and, of course, they didn't really have one. I sent them a nasty note after a few weeks and they canceled the order, but it took another email to get them to credit my card back. I wouldn't recommend doing business with them. Not sure they really have any stock.

K

Did anyone ever pick up that Keith Emerson Godzilla Soundtrack DVD-A?

Japanese DVD-A include the following:
1 - King Crimson 40th Anniversary series. WHD - package includes HQCD and DVD-A/V
2 - Porcupine Tree "In Absentia", "Deadwing", "Stupid Dream", "Lightbulb Sun" and "Fear Of A Blank Planet" (WHD, as above)
3 - Emerson, Lake & Palmer - ELP & Tarkus (JVC - includes CD & DVD-A/V editions)

With the sole exception of the 2 ELP titles they are the same as the EU/US editions as far as content goes.
All the Japanese editions are gatefold "vinyl replica" style.
The ELP also contain access to the AC3 streams that are hidden away on the EU/US versions as well as removing the Sony Music splash screen.
"The Vicar - Songbook #1" and "XTC - Nonsuch" will also be getting Japanese releases on WHD.

In case anybody is wondering why JVC have alternate versions of the ELP, this is because they were testing internally and were using a VERY old DVD-V player that could not access the DTS streams, and one of their DVD-A players could likewise not access the DTS streams (no provision even in passthrough mode) so they were adamant that AC3 streams were exposed for selection.

I've not seen the JVC editions of the ELP titles, but am fortunate enough to own all the KC & PT editions, and the packaging & attention to detail in said packaging is simply outstanding - they are well worth owning as items of beauty & rarity.

The only Japanese sourced DVDAs I bought were manufactured in Germany !!! but unaviable in the EU when i was looking go figure Warner brothers

Hey- I must mention the Porcupine Tree Japanese sets- whilst each included an Japanese manufactured SHM CD, the DVD-A's were not Japanese maunufactured. The discs offered in the PT Japan sets were comparable to the ones in the sets I bought from KScope/Burning Shed. That was a bummer, because they weren't cheap. I was so looking forward to the huge sound quality bump. I did get the Dark Side Of The Moon Japanese SACD, and that sounds waaaaay better than the USA Capitol version. I also saw the Japanese Elton GYBR at CDJapan, but the price was out of reach considering I already had the SACD and the DVD-A.

I have 2 Pioneer DVD/A,s

Forever Tango 5 ch

Tokachino 5ch

1patrick said:

Hey- I must mention the Porcupine Tree Japanese sets- whilst each included an Japanese manufactured SHM CD, the DVD-A's were not Japanese maunufactured. The discs offered in the PT Japan sets were comparable to the ones in the sets I bought from KScope/Burning Shed. That was a bummer, because they weren't cheap. I was so looking forward to the huge sound quality bump. I did get the Dark Side Of The Moon Japanese SACD, and that sounds waaaaay better than the USA Capitol version. I also saw the Japanese Elton GYBR at CDJapan, but the price was out of reach considering I already had the SACD and the DVD-A.

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Actually, they are Japanese manufactured, but from the same masters as the UK/EU & DTS Ents versions.

Thanks Neil, for the clarification. My comment was surmised because I didn't see anything in regards to Japan on the discs. I put them side by side with the "other" discs, and they looked identical. It's unfortunate they weren't mastered, etc. in Japan. Thanks again.

1patrick said:

Thanks Neil, for the clarification. My comment was surmised because I didn't see anything in regards to Japan on the discs. I put them side by side with the "other" discs, and they looked identical. It's unfortunate they weren't mastered, etc. in Japan. Thanks again.

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You're welcome - although I fail to understand what difference Japanese mastering would bring to the table...........the Japanese mastering engineers can make every bit (pun unintentional) a big a mess as EU/US ones can and to my mind it is their strict adherence to specs for manufacture that make their editions special, along with the much nicer packaging. The way I understand it is that if anything is even slightly off spec, they throw it back and even better they run their pressing plants to decent standards, not as long as possible as quickly as possible - sometimes the length of time a disc is pressed together for when blending the substrates with the actual data layers makes a big difference too & a lot of the cheaper plants (no names, no pack drill) run the discs as fast as the machines will go with little or no preventative maintenance - they run them until they break, by which time several batches have gone out not as well made as they should perhaps have been.

As I said earlier, the only titles I have are the WHD PT/KC ones - I must get some of the JVC ELP's from them too.

I've some Japanese-mastered "Western" stuff that's been boosted to unbearably bright levels.. others that are noticeably bass-shy compared to other masterings.. others that are touted as "first CD masterings" or "unique CD masterings" which often have cheaper identical Western clones/counterparts (and worse still some with uniquely crappy genuine "1st CD masterings" from poor tapes!).. and others that just replicate awful modern brickwalled remasters that you can get cheap over here/in the States (e.g. Steely Dan, Elton, Doobies, Isleys, etc).. and of course there are many others that are wonderful!

So, in my experience a Japanese mastering is no cast iron guarantee of sound quality, though there are plenty of folks who love them, for me they represent most of all amazing quality control, lovely packaging and great physical reproduction, as Neil says.