Lafayette SQ-W and CBS

[kfbkfb]

Since the SQ-W decoder seems to do a very good job
of decoding SQ sources, anyone know why CBS didn't
try to influence other manufacturers (the major Japanese
brands, for example) to use the Lafayette implementation
of an SQ decoder?

IMHO, if consumer SQ decoders had been standardized
(on the SQ-W, for example) early on, (including mixing
down through a consumer SQ decoder), it would have
been much easier to work around the limitations of SQ
encoding/decoding.

Kirk Bayne

 

[oxforddickie]

Well, i can probably give two reasons:

It was probably released too late in the day

Cost

 

[kfbkfb]

CBS SQ was introduced in mid-1971 and the
Lafayette SQ-W appeared in early 1973 and
cost <$100 (1973).

I think CBS should have made using the SQ-W
circuitry part of the SQ license so as to increase
the availability of Full Logic SQ decoders.

Kirk Bayne