Warner DVD-A Price Cuts, Cd Parity Pricing And More....

[MCunningham]

Two days ago, a message was posted in another forum alluding to the fact that important news concerning a price drop on dvd-a's from Warner would be forthcoming. Yesterday AudioRevolution.com picked up the story and confirmed that Warner had announced a price cut of upwards of 25-30 percent off the current $24.98 suggested retail. No word as to when this would happen was given, only that to expect this shortly. Today, High Fidelity Review has a much more detailed report and has also added that in addition to price cuts, Warner announced dvd-a/cd parity pricing and a comprehensive day/date release policy for all future titles. Announced day for this is Jun 17th. It's expected that some retailers will continue with current pricing structures while deleting current inventories while others will drop prices immediately. Bottom line is that soon all Warner titles will be issued in both cd and dvd-a formats at the same time and at the same price. With the advent of in-car dvd-a players, consumers with a dvd player will no longer have a need to purchase their favorite titles on cd (other than for use on a boombox or other portable player). Other labels are expected to follow Warner's lead. Check out the link for more info on this welcome announcement.

High Fidelity Review

 

[AllAroundSurround]

Are Mobile DVD-A Players out yet, and by Whom!

 

[JonUrban]

Ya-freaking-whoooo!!!!

:-jon

 

[MCunningham]

"Are Mobile DVD-A Players out yet, and by Whom!"

The first commercially available in-car dvd audio player is from Panasonic, model CQ-DVR909U. This unit was first shown at the Digital Car Conference and Exhibition in March. As this is the first available deck it's a bit on the expensive side as one would expect, however, prices are expected to drop as other manufacturers enter the market. Panasonic also has a portable dvd audio player available, the PalmTheater DVD-LA95

Panasonic Mobile DVD-A Deck

 

[BiggerzBetter]

I'm pleased as punch about the pending announcement, just like everyone. Of course, we've got to wait until the actual announcement is made. We've also got to wait to see how well the goal will be realized.

Two things immediately come to mind:

1. Will multi-channel mixes be a part of all future releases? Boy, this sure seems unlikely. I understand that the folks behind DVD-A see this format as needing to offer something beyond (i.e., m/c mixes) standard CDs. It even seems as if Sony has come to realize this, given that they're now going back and offering m/c versions of their original two-channel SACD titles. Just how will Warner Bros. accomplish m/c mixes to such an extent that they can offer day-and-date releases? I'm not sure they'll be able to, but we'll have to wait and see. Mind you, I'm not against hi-rez two-channel offerings. I love multi-channel mixes when they're done well, but they're just not practical for everything. The two-channel SACD release of the Stones' catalog would seem to a prime example (and what if an artist doesn't want m/c mixes on their product?).

2. How many new titles will actually reach the market? Warner Bros. was riding high in the 70s, but a quick look at the Billboard Top 100 pop album chart shows that there are only about 16 titles out there right now (including distributed labels like Reprise and Sire -- I wasn't sure about Hollywood Records, though). And not all of those are exactly "must-have" titles. I want to see a broader range of newer titles available (even if I won't be picking up the latest Linkin Park release!). But it strikes me that the current strength of Warner Bros. is their catalog -- and we all know what kind of a track record WB has had getting their catalog released on DVD-A! There's also been an apparent lack of interest from WB to release other types of music on DVD-A. A well-done release of Enya's latest album or even some of the label's country & western titles would help to expand the DVD-A market.

I don't want to sound like a downer, especially since I love the format. I'm excited by the prospect of more titles and would love to be able to buy the DVD-A edition day-and-date with the CD release.