Why no Blu-ray Music-only Format
Robert Harley -- Thu, 07/10/2008 - 13:18
After reading your article, "Mainstream Multichannel", in issue 182, I began to feel that at last a true breakthrough in audio high fidelity is being delivered (perhaps ironically) via the video camp. Yet, you stated in the sidebar that, so far, the music industry has shown no interest in pursuing the use of this technology to distribute audio content. I and maybe other readers would be interested in understanding why not. I suppose these types of decisions are driven ultimately by economic/profitability factors, but I would appreciate hearing from a few of those decision-makers why they would chose to ignore such a potentially huge improvement in the quality of their product. Do they assume consumers wouldn't care or wouldn't perceive the value? Or, could it be that delivery of these formats via the internet is presently problematic? I'd like to understand this better because this consumer will be disappointed if the music industry remains disinterested.
On a separate note, is it too early to hear from the vinyl camp on how the Dolby True HD or DTS-HD Master Audio formats subjectively fare against the best of their analogue experiences?
Thanks for a very interesting article.
Carl Espy
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The music industry doesn't believe that the mass market will care about a higher-quality audio carrier. They don't want to sink a lot of money into establishing a new format (and all that it entails, from manufacturing to marketing to retailing) that they think will occupy only a niche at best, and would perhaps be irrelevant in the age of downloads.
I'd be happy if I never have to buy another disc-based media player again.
It would be much cheaper for me to just to buy storage and purchase lossless audio data files that can be decoded using whatever software is considered state of the art at the time.
This whole physical media thing seems archaic.
I think that day is just around the corner, DPD. Incidentally, the President of EMI recently said that he though most CDs sold today are played just once---when ripped into a server.
To return to the subject line at the start of this thread, the answer is that music-only Blu-ray material is now beginning to appear.
Preview: Playback Issue 11 features a classical music review of an album called Divertimenti (featuring compositions by Britten, Bacewicz, Bjorklund, and Bartok), which is a new Blu-ray music-only release from the Norwegian label 2L. Watch for Playback Issue 11 to appear in early August.
Interestingly, the album comes as a two-disc set featuring a music-only Blu-ray disc, plus a hybrid multichannel SACD disc that is apparently provided for purposes of comparison. The Blu-ray disc presents the musical selections in four formats: DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby TrueHD, Linear PCM 5.1, and PCM stereo--all at 24-bit/192 kHz resolution.
Chris Martens
Editor, Avguide.com/Playback/The Perfect Vision
Response to DPD
Your joking about wanting to download everything, Right?
1. Let me explain why that is not a good idea for you.
First off, digital storage is, and will never be, 100% secure. There are technical glitches, viruses, and simply malicious hackers who just get a kick out of messing with online storage files. Do you think it can't happen?
Secondly, if you store it on your PC you are at greater risk of loosing it unless you have a backup ON DISC.
2. Let me explain why the public at large will not go for it.
First off, There is something to be said about physical ownership. People like to be able to touch, look at, and show off their possessions. That is why people with large video libraries display them. Its a collection. It is a source of pride for some.
Second, Its the packaging and reference material. When you have a large collection It can be hard to remember which titles you own or who is in a particular movie. Who wants to go log on and review their downloads? Its easy to walk over to the Entertainment Center and just look.
And finally,
Third, Is resale value. Its pretty hard to sell a download to your neighbor or even a pawn shop for that matter. Point being that it has a cash value as a tangible asset no matter how little. Not to mention collectibility. Good bye any hope of a rare release with increase value potential.
However, you are not alone in your whim. A lot of folks that I talk to think like you, and don't really care much about the issues I mentioned above. Those folks are only interested in the convenience of no storage, no scratch or smudge interference and a top quality viewing from the first viewing to the last.
I applaud you for having a quality based mind. It is in fact consumers like you who have driven technology to the level and quality that we have today.
SO WHATS THE ANSWER?
For now we have Movie Downloads, Pay Per View =( Streaming Video), Blu-ray, & HD-DVD for quality video viewing. All are either disc based or non physical in nature.
The answer may only be a few years away. Believe it or not the biggest competitor thus far is a new Flash Player of sorts. You will take a memory card, no bigger than the memory card for a game system, to a kiosk in your local retailer and download the movie direct to your card. Or You will be able to download from your computer. Rumor has it that one card will hold up to five High Def Movies.
This is already in real world testing in California somewhere. Sorry I don't have that info with me.
This will solve some of the issues for both schools of thought but not all, however it is a step in the next direction for home entertainment.
Sorry for the lengthy response but I enjoy a debate on the Download vs. Disc issue.
Bob Gendron mentioned in issue 184 that Neil Young has selected Blu-ray disc as his technology of choice to release his Archives complilations. While not a groundswell, maybe NY's decision will help point the way.
I want to upgrade to Blu, and Mr Harley's hearty recommendation of the Sony BDP-S350 is a reason for me to perhaps upgrade from my Denon DVD-2900 DVD/SACD.
I am interested in the new audio formats, and being a "vinylguy" for 58 years, now, am excited to see/hear what the new audio formats have to offer.
I will most likely look at the Sony BDP-S550 this fall, as it decodes all the new audio formats internally.
I do not wish to upgrade my older Classe' SSP-25 Controller, so I want a player that will do internal decoding, maybe not as well as a high-end controller will, but will allow me to enjoy the new formats till I invest in a new controller.
At the reported price reduction of thew 350 to $299 and the 550 to $399, it seems like a no brainer.
Maybe I should wait till CES...we'll see.
Still, as always, I will spin by wonderful vinyl on my Linn/Sumiko/Project Tube Box/Jolida/B&W vinyl system.
Mike C.
VinylGuy
I think we'll see more artists follow Neil Young's lead in releasing their back catalogs in Blu-ray. The format and technology infrastructure are there to deliver high-res music titles on Blu-ray. In addition to offering better sound quality, Blu-ray has the advantage (from the artist's viewpoint) of not being easily transmitted through file-sharing.
As to part two of my original question "On a separate note, is it too early to hear from the vinyl camp on how the Dolby True HD or DTS-HD Master Audio formats subjectively fare against the best of their analogue experiences?"
It may be too soon, but I'd like to hear from some "golden ears" if they've made such a comparison.
We plan to make such comparisons as soon as more source material becomes available.
Is the upcoming shipment of the Sony 550 player in miod-October, with Dolby True HD and multichannel D/A, a milestone for assessing Blu-Ray as a music carrier?
Frankly, I don't understand why the supporters of SACD aren't starting to work on Blu-Ray. Blu-Ray has the same potential as SACD (yeah they're different, but Blu-Ray is the only game in town).
The forthcoming Sony BDP-S550 is certainly a breakthrough product that will provide a hardware platform that might spur the release of Blu-ray music titles from specialty labels.
I agree that the professional SACD community (record companies releasing SACD) should turn their attention to Blu-ray. Blu-ray holds more long-term promise, and has the potential for mass-market acceptance.
Blu-ray64 makes some good points about the shortcomings of downloads, and I agree with them. I would prefer to own physical media. In fact, I've never bought downloaded music except as an experiment so that I would understand the user experience and to evaluate the quality (I've also never downloaded bootlegged music).
Nonetheless, if the choice is between high-res downloads with no physical media and sitting around waiting for the record companies and hardware companies to agree on a format, I'll take the high-res downloads.