Well, I was out on DVD Empire for the first time in awhile and noticed the bestsellers and new releases from last time I was on were virtually the same...so it got me to thinking, what is the future of this format. Is it just a newer format that is going to catch like wildfire like CDs, or is it going to go the way of things like DAT and Beta???

 

I think in Audiophile circles, this will survive better than the SACD. It seems more of the "common users" would buy the DVD-A over SACD, because they can play them in their existing home theater system. I think Sony will have to give in eventually to the DVD-A segment, as they have to realise with all the car manufactures putting in DVD-A systems, and no one putting in SACD systems, that they are doomed..... I listened to the Bose DVD-A system in the Infiniti M45, and was really impressed. The M has individual rear channels in the driver and passenger seats in the front!!!! WAY COOL!!! In fact, listening to that system, convinced me to take a serious look at the TL, and it sold itself. With acura putting DVD-A systems in almost all it's cars now, Infiniti joining in, and Lexus putting it in the new GS, the demand will grow further, and push the record companies to choose this format over SACD......thoughts, arguments?

 

Good argument..but I think its still a long way to go before DVD-A becomes main stream. Currently there are only about 300 albums released in DVD-A and half of them from unknown artists or classical music..I agree that the DVD-A audio quality is nice..but you could hardly tell the difference between a CD and DVD-A quality unless you listen to them back to back, or sitting in the back seat and listening to the music

 

I think it will come down to how much it costs for artists to produce DVD-A disks. With some considering the CD-format dead already, DVD-A might stay around for a niche market who wants good quality as opposed to the ease of just downloaded the album.

In my home system, the DVD-A disks blow away their standard CD counterparts, but in my TL, I don't hear the difference as much due to road noises and the fact that I'm sitting in the driver's seat and not in the optimum location for hearing the 5.1 mix.

 

I had this same issue. If you have not already done so, change your settings to more balance towards the right front and right rear. Since they're further away they should be set higher for optimum performance...

 

I'll try that. Thanks..

 

When the CD came out in the early '80s, it represented a couple of huge advances over the dominant technologies - LP and Cassette. It combined excellent sound with random access, a small size, and portability. It essentially combined and improved upon both the LP and cassette, and thus replaced both in the market. This was a huge success because it served a very broad base of users.

Computer technology advanced and it became very easy for users to roll their own mix CDs - the progenitor of today's MP3 collections.

Fast forward to now and the DVD Audio. Who does it serve? A small minority of audiophile users who also enjoy surround sound music, and (in theory) the music companies because duplication is much more difficult and in some cases impossible.

Meanwhile the market has shown emphatically that it values portability of a large personalized music collection over sound quality (thus the success of MP3 players and especially the iPod), and that it values the ability to very precisely select the music available on a device.

DVD-Audio is and will remain a niche format because it serves a niche market. I am hopeful that that niche becomes more sizable as more vehicles offer DVD-Audio systems, but that is far from certain.

The death knell will be an open (unlike DTS and MLP) audiophile quality multichannel digital encoding scheme that can be served up by consumer devices, just like MP3 is now.

Mike

 

Dual Disc will keep DVD-A at the forefront. I just bought The Wallflowers new album.

 

PS3 will push DVD-A.

 

A lot of dual discs seem to have DVD video on one side instead of DVD audio, it doesnt help us too much...

 

True, but many are DVD-A. Every little bit helps.

 

Very little in the way of new DVD-A's appeared through DualDisc - many of them were already available as dedicated DVD-Audios. There's been a more significant number of introductions (bunch of REM, some Mark Knopfler) of new DVD-A's packaged with separate CDs than new DVD-A's packaged as DualDiscs.

The new Porcupine Tree DVD-A, Deadwing, is out too BTW.

Mike

 

I voted for music to enjoy, because I really do like the only DVD-A disc that I do have....Linkin Park...only it was released over 2 years ago.

Look at all these great recent DVD-A releases listed on buy.com!!

1. Tallis:spem In Alium (DVD-A) coming soon!
DVD-Audio Artist: Oxford Camerata Release Date: 6/21/2005

2. Surround Yourself With Paco Pena (DVD-A) coming soon!
DVD-Audio Artist: Pena,Paco Release Date: 6/14/2005

3. Surround Yourself With Hindustani Rag (DVD-A) coming soon!
DVD-Audio Artist: Various Release Date: 6/14/2005

4. Surround Yourself With Enrico Caruso (DVD-A) coming soon!
DVD-Audio Artist: Enrico Caruso Release Date: 6/14/2005

5. Surround Yourself With A Midsummer Ni (DVD-A) coming soon!
DVD-Audio Artist: Scottish Chamber Orc Release Date: 6/14/2005

6. Ruminations In New York (DVD-A) coming soon!
DVD-Audio Artist: Ellis Marsalis Release Date: 6/14/2005

7. Falla:combrero De Tres Picos (DVD-A) new!
DVD-Audio Artist: Alicia Nafe Release Date: 5/17/2005

8. Deadwing (DVD-A) new!
DVD-Audio Artist: Porcupine Tree Release Date: 5/10/2005

9. Sailing To Philadelphia (w/ Bonus DVD-A) (w/ Bonus DVD)
DVD-Audio Artist: Mark Knopfler Release Date: 4/19/2005


Seriously what is all this shit? I could really go for a nice Star Wars Soundtrack DVD-A...

 

I have 8 and 9. The rest is undesirable to me.

Mike

 

The problem with DVD-A is its designed for 5.1+ channels(although its also higher fidelity audio). So until people have more 5.1+Channel systems at home....

 

Bingo. DVD-A cannot win in the current market when a disk will hold ~15 songs and the country is becoming accustomed to devices that hold thousands...

Until there is a way to get DVD-A onto a mass storage device, it's not going to last.

 

That's not going to happen, because of the nature of the beast. DVD-A is high resolution, MP3s are compressed to get more music in the same amount of storage. These are at opposite ends of the spectrum.

DVD-A was never meant to replace the CD, or the MP3. It is a totally different animal. You cannot compare DVD-A to MP3, and you cannot blame the fact that the TL plays DVD-A as the reason it does not do MP3. It's a stupid argument.

If you do not like DVD-A, don't use it! You have a CD player like everyone else, and you can't play MP3's, like many other cars. What's the big deal.

There are about 800+ DVD-A discs out there, of which maybe 120 are "popular" titles, from the 70's to 2005. Find some titles you like and enjoy them.

Hopefully, more will surface in the future. It's too bad that Sony now owns BMG, and Sony is totally against DVD-A.

It's a nightmare!

PS - I just received the SACD of Dire Straits Brothers in Arms. It's totally killer in 5.1. Of course, it won't play in the TL, but a DVD-A is scheduled for release later this year. This, IMHO, will be the definate demo disc for surround music and the TL, when it comes out.

:-jon
www.quadraphonicquad.com