Remember the sacd confusion?

QuadraphonicQuad

Help Support QuadraphonicQuad:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

leevitalone1

2K Club - QQ Super Nova
Joined
Sep 20, 2006
Messages
3,989
Location
The navel of NY state
I was cleaning out my book case and found old copies of Acoustic Sounds magazine, and had forgotten the mess Sony made of sacd
first it was a dedicated equipment media-then came two copies of the same albums, one MC one stereo. A copy of a 2007 summer catalog showed 7 (seven different forms of sacd) sacd- hybrid mono-single layer-single layer stereo-single layer MC- Hybrid MC- I at one time had two dvd players until my ultra thick skull trusted you guys and I bought my 1st Oppo (that sucker is still going)
but it just made me remember the effing confusion associated with MC format, like the quad days, that still confuses the shit out of people.
Small wonder it made it this far, the dedicated audiophiles made it last, along with our group. (but we are better) :smokin
You see people when you try to tell them about it, they are thinking you are from a mental institution
 
I was cleaning out my book case and found old copies of Acoustic Sounds magazine, and had forgotten the mess Sony made of sacd
first it was a dedicated equipment media-then came two copies of the same albums, one MC one stereo. A copy of a 2007 summer catalog showed 7 (seven different forms of sacd) sacd- hybrid mono-single layer-single layer stereo-single layer MC- Hybrid MC- I at one time had two dvd players until my ultra thick skull trusted you guys and I bought my 1st Oppo (that sucker is still going)
but it just made me remember the effing confusion associated with MC format, like the quad days, that still confuses the shit out of people.
Small wonder it made it this far, the dedicated audiophiles made it last, along with our group. (but we are better) :smokin
You see people when you try to tell them about it, they are thinking you are from a mental institution

When SONY first introduced SACD with its VERY expensive Flagship model [ the SCD~1]* it only played STEREO and was single layered.....SACD discs were only to be played on an SACD player. To compete with DVD~A, a multichannel layer was added and was still single layered. Then they finally added a RBCD layer, thus introducing the hybrid disc. If you notice, ALL single layered discs are aluminum colored whereas all the hybrids are gold colored and I'm sure you all know [or should] that a DVD is utilized to manufacture an SACD [because of its multiple layers]. The single disc SACDs were priced at $19.95....same as the DTS discs at the time. They came in fancy plastic slip cases, as well. At one point, SONY even toyed with adding a video component to SACDs [again to compete with DVD~Audio] but apparently nixed the idea.

Combined with the paucity and ho hum nature of its releases [as well as DVD~A's lackluster title launch] is it any wonder that both formats failed to compete with DVD which, according to statistics, WAS THE SINGLE MOST SUCCESSFUL LAUNCH in the digital age.....far surpassing even the RBCD launch.

And what I find even more ironic: 480p DVDs are still surpassing sales of SACD and UHD 4K, combined ......... and there are still far more titles available on DVD which have never been replicated on even BluRay!

And while some of us wish that BD~A would supplant SACD and MOST especially the LOSSY DVD~V, it's that HYBRID component of the SACD which has endured over time. One size fits ALL...minus, of course, the VIDEO!

*http://img.canuckaudiomart.com/uploads/47/113263_large_75e6592554dc26fe741f45ad05e73e03.jpg
 
Last edited:
And while some of us wish that BD~A would supplant SACD

Not me, brother! I prefer SACD to any other format just because I can plop it in and play it without having to navigate a menu.

I heard on the news a few days ago that only 40% of people in the U.S. have any streaming capability of either movies or music. Since probably half don't have BD capability either, or nice big displays to watch them on, that may explain why DVDs are still the king.
 
Not me, brother! I prefer SACD to any other format just because I can plop it in and play it without having to navigate a menu.

I heard on the news a few days ago that only 40% of people in the U.S. have any streaming capability of either movies or music. Since probably half don't have BD capability either, or nice big displays to watch them on, that may explain why DVDs are still the king.

I'm guilty of not streaming music or movies but you're correct that a lot of folks don't have BD capability in their homes and a lot that do aren't even aware they play [and upsample] DVD.

And we wonder why Hi Res Surround Music has failed to make even a tiny ripple.

I have NO problem with DVD~A, SACD nor BD~A........I just think it has added to the confusion which persists today among the non tech savvy generation....probably including NON DOWNLOADING/STREAMING little ole ME!

What I do find rather ironic, though......sometimes NEW DVD movies/concerts cost MORE than their BD~V counterparts....a nickel is BIGGER than a dime and therefore is worth MORE:eek: as in DVD cases are larger than BD~V cases.
 
Last edited:
At one point, SONY even toyed with adding a video component to SACDs [again to compete with DVD~Audio] but apparently nixed the idea.

A video component did exist for hybrid SACDs with "Enhanced CD" features. When played back with a CD-ROM drive, the CD layer with the Enhanced CD features can have full-motion video. No one purchased Brother Ray's final recording? See bottom line of sticker....Enhanced CD includes exclusive, never-before-seen footage of Ray!

4133773819_e7b718a975_z.jpg
 
A video component did exist for hybrid SACDs with "Enhanced CD" features. When played back with a CD-ROM drive, the CD layer with the Enhanced CD features can have full-motion video. No one purchased Brother Ray's final recording? See bottom line of sticker....Enhanced CD includes exclusive, never-before-seen footage of Ray!

4133773819_e7b718a975_z.jpg
Interesting, soundboy, but I was referring to actual 480p video 'conceivably' being generated by the SACD layers......not via CD~ROM. But thanks for the heads~up on the Ray Charles footage.

BTW, soundboy, what happened to that wonderful trickle of SACD Stereo Discs from Hong Kong?
 
Interesting, soundboy, but I was referring to actual 480p video 'conceivably' being generated by the SACD layers......not via CD~ROM. But thanks for the heads~up on the Ray Charles footage.

BTW, soundboy, what happened to that wonderful trickle of SACD Stereo Discs from Hong Kong?

Only local titles are being released this year (so far), but July and August should bring some activity due to the annual Hong Kong High-End Audio Visual Show.
 
You are thinking of SACD II. The SACD format with a video component. There are some threads in the forum about this feature, but it never materialized. I for one am glad it did not. I like SACD just the way it is. It's the perfect DualDisc and still, IMHO, the stupidest decision ever made by Sony (and they've had their share of stupid mistakes) was to support DualDisc to the detriment of their own perfect SACD. What was the point?

Anyway, here's a link to some info on SACD II. Not sure if Stuart or maybe even Brian wrote the piece. It's not credited.

http://www.highfidelityreview.com/sacd-ii-to-be-announced-in-september.html
 
IMO, the dual disc WAS a MORONIC move and that SONY, of all companies, embraced it when they had a perfectly functioning hybrid invention of their own BAFFLES the mind, to this day. And to think of all those LOSSY SONY DD 5.1 dual discs which could've been LOSSLESS multichannel SACDs.....sort of enraged me.:ROFLMAO:Grrrrrrrrr!

Of course the lesson to take away: Format Wars are detrimental to everyone and the reason we have SO many competing audio formats to this very day. BTW, even 2L which has encoded their SACD/BD~A combo sets with every conceivable BD~A codec known to man* has recently encoded the RBCD portion of their hybrid SACDs with ........ MQA!:sleep:

*DTS MA HD 5.1/Auro 3D/ATMOS/Stereo LPCM
 
Last edited:
Back
Top