John from Rhino.com here - THANK YOU, QUADRAPHONIC QUAD FORUM!

[Quadwreck]

Rather than argue over what should be released instead of something else, let's get them all scheduled for release now. I'd like for at least one per month to come out.

 

[mool]

Well, interesting comments...but I would agree that unreleased quad mixes would be the easiest (read cheapest) way for Rhino to go and something new for us...but having said that, with RockBand and the splitting of vocal, instruments, etc, I would imagine the raw materials are there for mixing up a DVD Audio release...

Guessing it all comes down to who's going to purchase and at what volume...I would ask John from Rhino if he could give us the sales figures from CTA?...obviously it did well enough to warrent another release...

 

[winopener]

"Let's get it on" was remixed recently and released as a sacd or dvda multichannel. "What's going on" didn't have the same treatment.

 

[clhboa]

BOA being Black Oak Arkansas - not Best Of Aretha! I respectfully disagree with eggplant's logic above. Comparing billboard statistics from 40 years ago on a stereo release is not meaningful in deciding what people would want today in a quad release. Real market research would determine what the target market is - which I think is defined as people who wish to and can play quad on their sound systems and will pay a premium for that over stereo. Those same people likely have a BD player and DVD-Audio and or SACD and want a hi-rez format. Next there would be some attempt to determine what that market wants to buy and listen to. I happened to think the target audience, i.e. people like me!, would prefer Yes over Aretha. However that is my opinion and I could be mistaken.

Yeah, I was talking about Black Oak Arkansas. I do agree with your thoughts on using top 40 charts as a deciding factor on releases. A lot of music that has stood the test of time (and been very influential) sold lousy at the time. Barry Manilow was huge during the Quad heydey but I don't think anybody here would want to see a quad reissue of any of his albums. I look forward to hearing the Aretha disc. I was very happy with the CTA release.

 

[BananaSlug]

How about a Quadio Facebook page?

 

[Old Quad Guy]

"Let's get it on" was remixed recently and released as a sacd or dvda multichannel. "What's going on" didn't have the same treatment.

Yes, that's what I meant to say, do WGO. Although if we could get LGIO the Quad version after "What's Going On" that would be great as well. I mixed up my Marvin Gaye's "On's."

How about a Quadio Facebook page?

That's a great idea. Perhaps they'll start an official one.

 

[skinan]

Thanks John.
I'm writing from Hamburg/Germany. It was a hard way to get the CTA-Album. In Germany you can't get it. So I asked a friend who was travelling the US to buy it for me. He did so and now I'm the happiest Quadro-Listener :banana:

Yesterday as I tried to pre-order the AF-Album I found out, that it works. :sun

I think in the past there were some trouble to order your products from Germany.

Many thanks also for making your products available for me.

 

[uffeolby]

Yesterday as I tried to pre-order the AF-Album I found out, that it works. :sun

Yes, it works ordering from abroad the US - but you still have to fill in the mandatory state/province that is not part of the address in many countries, i.e. Sweden.

 

[skinan]

Thanks for explanation.

 

[Bender]

Ok, so I finally got my CTA - and it sounds really good - I am happy with it. But as I go to file it in my case next to Chicago II and V DVD-a's, I notice they were also made by Rhino. I paid premium for them as they were out of print. Which leads me to an overwhelming question.... If Rhino sold out of the DVD-a's they made, how bad were those sales anyway? Couldn't Rhino Handmade still make some DVD-A titles from time to time? I know I am still jonesin for more.

 

[daved64]

Ok, so I finally got my CTA - and it sounds really good - I am happy with it. But as I go to file it in my case next to Chicago II and V DVD-a's, I notice they were also made by Rhino. I paid premium for them as they were out of print. Which leads me to an overwhelming question.... If Rhino sold out of the DVD-a's they made, how bad were those sales anyway? Couldn't Rhino Handmade still make some DVD-A titles from time to time? I know I am still jonesin for more.

Confusing question.

I don't think Rhino ever sold out of any DVD-A's, they simply stopped making them.

 

[Bender]

Perhaps I clearly do not understand the music manufacturing side of things. I had presumed that titles were printed all at one time. For example, we have been told CTA was a success as there are only 500 left. If Chicago II and V sold all copies printed, wouldn't that also constitute a success? Perhaps Rhino Handmade could consider making some further DVD-A's. A Yes brick would be nice...

 

[Old Quad Guy]

We're talking about different business models and music era's between the Chicago II and V DVD-A with Warner music giving a big push with titles titles and Rhino Handmade trying to make this work for surround all over again from scratch. Surround did not sell in the past because again it's a bit ahead of it's time and the market needs to find itself and grow from the ground up with the permanent market that is there. Just as Turner Classic Movies releases vintage movies with an ever growing market from it's film vaults as more people discover these films, the same thing needs to happen with surround.

As other industry insiders have mentioned here at QQ, the surround market is not there yet for another big push from the big major labels unfortunately. Or it's that the major label's financing is much different than a small label. Rhino Handmade has to work with it's own business model, I'm guessing, and we need to support them in order for this to work. We build from the floor up and try to get new converts to enjoy and get into the surround format. Hearing is believing if given the opportunity. Surround music is of the future as there's no where else to go with music once you've exploited Mono and Stereo absolutely.

The only reason one can speculate right now for no DVD-A is that it must be for legal reasons. Either the license for MLP developed by Meridian Audio, Ltd with the Major labels has expired with and/or it was a tax write off and therefor cannot be used again or until or if another deal is made. Blu-Ray is too expensive right now, so we're in this "in between world" for the next surround revolution. But again the surround market needs to build "legs" over time so that when surround comes back again the permanent market for it is larger and ever growing over time in a sustainable manor.

This is why we need to do all we can to support Rhino Handmade NOW and not later if we expect more surround titles of any type in the future.

 

[Jeffrey Michael]

This is why we need to do all we can to support Rhino Handmade NOW and not later if we expect more surround titles of any type in the future.

+1

 

[dr8track]

John from Rhino has not really addressed the question about dts vs dvd-a since folks have been inquiring, but I'm wondering if, given the lack of general interest in surround, if Rhino decided to go with dts because dts decoders are common in home theater systems and capability of playing back dvd-audio is pretty rare? Maybe they were hoping that non-surround fans might be willing to invest in the releases if they could play them back on their home theater system w/o any further investment in hardware.

 

[jsrstereo]

John from Rhino has not really addressed the question about dts vs dvd-a since folks have been inquiring, but I'm wondering if, given the lack of general interest in surround, if Rhino decided to go with dts because dts decoders are common in home theater systems and capability of playing back dvd-audio is pretty rare? Maybe they were hoping that non-surround fans might be willing to invest in the releases if they could play them back on their home theater system w/o any further investment in hardware.

You nailed it.

 

[Bill Sherbon]

John from Rhino has not really addressed the question about dts vs dvd-a since folks have been inquiring, but I'm wondering if, given the lack of general interest in surround, if Rhino decided to go with dts because dts decoders are common in home theater systems and capability of playing back dvd-audio is pretty rare? Maybe they were hoping that non-surround fans might be willing to invest in the releases if they could play them back on their home theater system w/o any further investment in hardware.

Dts and dvd-a are not mutually exclusive. A dvd-a is the same as any other dvd except that instead of just having content in the VIDEO_TS folder there is also content (hi-res) in the AUDIO_TS folder. A normal DVD player can play the DTS (from the VIDEO_TS) folder while a dvd-a player can also access and play the hi-res content in the AUDIO_TS folder.

The manufacturing costs should be the same either way - the only difference would be in authoring (for the dvd-a content), which IMO has been shown by others (i.e., King Crimson, Porcupine Tree) can be done for specialty market. If the thinking is that labelling them as DVD-Audio could hurt sales due to customer confusion then just make them 'stealth' dvd-a, word will still get out to dvd-a enthusisasts.

 

[filper]

John,

I would like to personally thank all the gang at Rhino for the exemplary contributions to the surround roster I have enjoyed for years... 'Homecoming', 'Billion Dollar Babies', Welcome To My Hightmare', 'Machine Head', 'The Captain And Me', 'Brain Salad Surgery', 'Foreigner', 'No Secrets'....... and on and on. Brilliant work and effort.

I know we will all be on high alert for Rhino's future releases in any format.

The music listeners (even the people with only two ears ) appreciate an innovative company like yours.


Cheers.

 

[dr8track]

Dts and dvd-a are not mutually exclusive. A dvd-a is the same as any other dvd except that instead of just having content in the VIDEO_TS folder there is also content (hi-res) in the AUDIO_TS folder. A normal DVD player can play the DTS (from the VIDEO_TS) folder while a dvd-a player can also access and play the hi-res content in the AUDIO_TS folder.

Ah, good point. Since I have a dvd-audio player I've never attempted to play the dts track on a regular dvd player, but true, it would be possible. I guess John from Rhino is the only one who will be able to shed some light on the thinking behind the decision. I'm happy with the dts versions, but it would be great if they were dvd-audio.

 

[Eggplant]

John from Rhino has not really addressed the question about dts vs dvd-a since folks have been inquiring, but I'm wondering if, given the lack of general interest in surround, if Rhino decided to go with dts because dts decoders are common in home theater systems and capability of playing back dvd-audio is pretty rare? Maybe they were hoping that non-surround fans might be willing to invest in the releases if they could play them back on their home theater system w/o any further investment in hardware.

Um, yeah.

"John from Rhino, what do you think of DVD Audio?"
"But I don't think of it."