Blu-Ray Music

[dobyblue]

It took SACD three years to get to 1,000 titles.
This is a great article though.
http://www.electronichouse.com/artic..._has_come/C155

[Gremal]

No, there were about 1000 titles during the first year I adopted in 1999-2000. Of course, I'm including Japanese and Euro titles. If you're talking domestic only, maybe the 3-year figure is accurate.

Holding it against a new format (be it blu-ray or SACD) for having not as many titles as an older format is like criticizing a baby for not being able to walk. If you like the format, you adopt it, support it, ask the labels or studios for more titles. I hope that happens with blu-ray and I wish it had happened with SACD, which I saw as a rare opportunity that was ultimately misunderstood and squandered.

I'm a firm believer that DSD is superior to PCM for audio. I've listened to SACD in many different systems and came to that conclusion. That's why I'd prefer SACD to blu-ray as a next-generation CD format. As it is, I just snatched up two out of print SACDs for $10 a pop and probably will go back to collecting vinyl now. Some good stuff on ebay. Both vinyl and SACD are alive and well in the gremal house.

[dobyblue]

I believe that only 24/192 PCM is superior to SACD and DVD-Audio can only do that into stereo.
Blu-ray can do 24/192 PCM into 7.1

The numbers you have are innacurate.

Brothers in Arms was the 3,000th SACD - http://www.highfidelityreview.com/ne...umber=17927789

Super Audio CD Exceeds 3,000 Albums With 'Brothers in Arms'
The Super Audio CD Project Team in Europe has announced the release later this month of the 3000th album on the format. With poignancy and significance, this landmark Super Audio CD album is scheduled to be ‘Brothers in Arms’ by Dire Straits. Released by Mercury Records, the album will be launched simultaneously as a CD and Super Audio CD on 23 May 2005.

In the summer of 1985 Dire Straits took the music industry by storm. With CD still in its infancy, the band made the decision to release their new studio album ‘Brothers in Arms’ on the format. The rest is legend – the album has clocked up over 20 million sales and recorded #1 status in 22 countries. It is credited above all other albums with establishing the CD format and moving it into music’s mainstream.

Now, 20 years later, Dire Straits are celebrating the anniversary of the album’s launch with the release of a new re-mixed and re-mastered hybrid surround sound version of the album on Super Audio CD. Capable of being played on any CD or DVD-Video player at stereo CD quality, it is when the album is played in all its 5.1 multi-channel splendour on a Super Audio CD player that the true extent of the band’s artistry becomes evident.

Having released his latest solo album, ‘Shangri-La, on the Super Audio CD format last September, Dire Straits’ lead vocalist and guitarist, Mark Knopfler, is experienced in the format and has personally supervised the Super Audio CD release project. Much of the remixing and re-mastering work was carried out at his studio facility in the UK.

Retailing at the same price as the CD version, the Super Audio CD contains a number of different mixes including a re-mastered stereo CD, stereo Super Audio CD and a fully featured 5.1 surround Super Audio CD mix. In order to create the two Super Audio CD mixes, Knopfler went back to the original studio master tapes and converted them to DSD (Direct Stream Digital) recordings. DSD is a revolutionary super high-resolution recording and mastering medium that lies at the heart of the Super Audio CD format. The result, according to the record label, is an entirely new listening and sensory experience: a version of this classic 1980’s album that breathes new life into tracks such as ‘Money For Nothing’, ‘Walk Of Life’ and ‘Brothers in Arms’.

Chesky had the honour of the 4,000th - http://www.highfidelityreview.com/ne...umber=15587172

Super Audio CD Format Tops 4,000 Titles With Chesky SACD Release
Sony's Super Audio CD Project has announced that the SACD format has now passed the 4,000 mark when it comes to albums released. According to Sony SACD Project officials, the Super Audio CD that hit the 4,000 title mark was the album Structures by John Abercrombie and Eddie Gomez with Gene Jackson (Chesky SACD 317), one of the initial titles in the New York Sessions series of Jazz Super Audio CD releases.

The news comes just over a year after last summer's announcement that the number of Super Audio CDs had topped 3,000. In that case, the 3,000 SACD mark was reached with the release of the 5.1 Surround Sound edition of Brothers in Arms by the Dire Straits in the European market (Vertigo/Mercury Records 971498). That SACD release proved popular enough that it was not only available in Europe but it also appeared in a variety of U.S. web sites and music stores as well.

A check of the www.sa-cd.net web site that catalogs Super Audio CD releases shows that the number of SACD titles continues to grow, with the current number of titles reaching 4,048 at last look. In the last year, the format has been buoyed by Super Audio CD releases in the Classical, Jazz and Audiophile categories and by independent record labels such as Channel Classics, PentaTone, Telarc, Membran, Octavia, Delta and BIS. This is in addition to releases from SonyBMG which claims to be the largest producer of SACD albums to date - with 699 titles in their catalog according to Sony officials.

I would be quite happy for SACD to continue and I believe that the PS3 incorporating SACD shows that the format will continue to grow - if there's ever a time for it it's the next two years with more and more receivers accepting audio through HDMI.

SACD is currently the best format for multi-channel that I've heard and I'll choose the SACD everytime because I know what I'm getting. However if you do the math and see how much information you're getting you'll see where I'm coming from.

24/192 = 4,608,000 bits per second
DSD = 2,822,400 bits per second
24/96 = 2,304,000 bits per second

Personally I think DSD handles abrupt changes better and dead quiet. Most people have probably never heard DSD without being converted to PCM. Anyway I don't know if there's actually any advantage to going up to 24/192 PCM over 5.1 DSD. I will say that 6.1 and 7.1 recordings/soundtracks sound more full and if they could bring 7.1 DSD to Blu-ray, that would be great. If it's not in the specs of players already though, it's highly unlikely that this will happen.

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by Gremal

SACD is alive and well in the gremal house.

As it is in mine. 14 Genesis studio albums coming up and MFSL releasing The Pixies Surfer Rosa? I'll buy.

What they need to do is re-release the entire back catalogue of Dave Matthews Band and Pearl Jam in SACD/DVD-V packs like the Genesis and Depeche Mode discs will be doing. Then people without SACD can still listen to DTS 24/96 or Dolby Digital.

I think those two bands, with the rabid fanbases they have, would really make a mark on the world of hi rez audio.

[AlexKx]

Ug to jam bands. Hooray for Ted Nugent! Anyway...so does S.A.C.D. allow 5.1 and 20 hours of film on it AND be able to keep up with the increase in size of Blu-Ray discs?? Will it be able to have the protective covering on it? If the answer is no to the first mere less both then I want nothing to do with it and look forward to the music industry following Universal Music in making Blu-Ray the next music format...

[dobyblue]

I didn't know Universal Music Group had released an audio disc on Blu-ray.
I can also guarantee that any album released on either Blu-ray or SACD by DMB or Pearl Jam would garner far more interest in the format than anything by TN.

[AlexKx]

True about sales comparisions with recording artists BUT Britney Spears and The Backstreet Boys outsell all of them so they are the only real musicians (I love how Britney slides her hand up and down her bass guitar...oh yeah)...ahem...nevermind...moving along!

I did NOT say that Universal Music have released anything on Blu-Ray discs for audio releases. I said that they intend to. I have also given a fair speculation as to why we have not seen one music/audio release on Blu-Ray yet because the music industry for one wants to make sure that it is the next format and so they can protect their music as much as possible from downloads if that is even possible.

[dobyblue]

I haven't even seen them announce that they intend to.

DMB has been more profitable that either BB or BS. In fact they're often right up there with Rolling Stones in profitability thanks to their touring numbers from their annual summer tour of the US.

Universal Music Group have a lot of DVD concerts under their belt just like SonyBMG and I expect this is what we'll see first.

SACD is still the least pirated format as they've never released SACD drives for PC's.

[Gremal]

I was hoping the hybrid SACD releases of significant portions of the Rolling Stones and Dylan catalogs, including all the Stones' ABKCO titles and 15 of Dylan's Columbia titles, would really push SACD into the mass-market. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way, and now the Stones SACDs are out of print. Get 'em while you can.

I'm addicted to jazz, so what I REALLY wanted to see was the complete Blue Note catalog released on SACD. Instead, only one classic Blue Note title was released--Blue Trane--and the engineer did a mediocre job with it.

I should have learned my lesson, but if anything I want appears on SACD or blu-ray audio (if such a standard is adopted), I'll buy.

[THE STUD]

See that's the problem, I think SACD is dying, if not dead. I can't hardly even find them anymore in stores, I think I know of 1 store out of dozens of electronics only stores that has a few left in stock, but their just left overs from shipments from like a year ago.

Although SACD is clear I"m sure, I want something that can hold more than a traditional CD and I want menus and backgrounds with it. Maybe SACD has menus like DVD-AUDIO, but I theink Blu-ray with it's mass memory capabilities should be the future, cause SACD is dead, sorry to say. Maybe it'll come back, but right now it's in intensive care on life support. The future is 4 cd's worth of songs on 1 disc with 24/192 or whatever with menus and backgrounds to tracks, not just a glorified CD.

[GoldenRedux]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

I believe that only 24/192 PCM is superior to SACD and DVD-Audio can only do that into stereo.
Blu-ray can do 24/192 PCM into 7.1

The numbers you have are innacurate.

Brothers in Arms was the 3,000th SACD - http://www.highfidelityreview.com/ne...umber=17927789


Chesky had the honour of the 4,000th - http://www.highfidelityreview.com/ne...umber=15587172


I would be quite happy for SACD to continue and I believe that the PS3 incorporating SACD shows that the format will continue to grow - if there's ever a time for it it's the next two years with more and more receivers accepting audio through HDMI.

SACD is currently the best format for multi-channel that I've heard and I'll choose the SACD everytime because I know what I'm getting. However if you do the math and see how much information you're getting you'll see where I'm coming from.

24/192 = 4,608,000 bits per second
DSD = 2,822,400 bits per second
24/96 = 2,304,000 bits per second

Personally I think DSD handles abrupt changes better and dead quiet. Most people have probably never heard DSD without being converted to PCM. Anyway I don't know if there's actually any advantage to going up to 24/192 PCM over 5.1 DSD. I will say that 6.1 and 7.1 recordings/soundtracks sound more full and if they could bring 7.1 DSD to Blu-ray, that would be great. If it's not in the specs of players already though, it's highly unlikely that this will happen.

Your numbers are off there. First of all, those DSD numbers are 'samples per second' not 'bits per second', and secondly it is almost impossible to make a direct comparison between DSD and PCM using strictly numbers, as they do not take into account the quantisation errors and loss of data that occur on the PCM side. IMHO, not even 192/24 PCM compares to DSD, only with 384/24 do you begin to approach the sound quality of DSD, and when speaking of recording and mixing, 24-bit isn't enough either. 32-, 48- or 64- bit are essential.

Personally, I always hoped that DSD would be added to the Blu-ray spec, possibly even bumped up to its original archival sampling rate of ~5.6mHz finally, but it wasn't to be.

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by GoldenRedux

Your numbers are off there. First of all, those DSD numbers are 'samples per second' not 'bits per second'

Yes but the sample is one bit, so the samples per second is also equivalent to the bits per second.

I would be thrilled if they added DSD to the Blu-ray specs, but it seems like that ship has sailed.

Including SACD support for the PS3 shows me that Sony is committed to continue supporting the format for years to come. SACD is growing, if anything, even if it's not the music most of us want.

[AlexKx]

So ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-check it ooouuuutttt! Third paragraph down!

http://www.musictap.net/

[THE STUD]

yesssssssssssssssssssssssss
exactly what I was saying I wanted. come on and release those suckers.

[AlexKx]

I have waited YEARS for these! Well, the last few anyway! Do you all have any idea as to how many hours of film will be able to be put on these discs? If it does not allow the same amount of hours (10 or twenty or what have you) then I will not be a happy camper as that was one of the main points in my opinion.

[dannyjl]

I'm expecting the first set of the Genesis remastered 2 disk set (per album) to arrive today. This will be my first exploration into sound beyond 2 channel stereo as far as music is concerned. I'll be playing these on my dts capable dvd player into a 5 speaker system. I'm curious though - will there be any difference between the sound from the SACD version compared with the DTS 5.1 sound from the dvd disk? I don't have a SACD player and am considering getting a PS3 for this, and of course for future Blu-ray disks. ANy comments on how to be enjoy this new format (for me at least) will be appreciated.

[HDJK]

I guess your answer is here:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...1981#post71981

imho asking the same question once is enough on this forum

[Filterlab]

Originally Posted by Deciazulado

25 GB is about 3 times 9 HB, so, uh, 3?

LOL!