Blu-Ray Audio

[Jerrin]

I can't believe no one has posted about this topic yet. Maybe I just missed it... :his:


Anyway, what are everyone's thoughts on the new Blu-ray audio discs? It looks like we could possibly have a great successor to DVD-A and SACD. It doesn't require a specialized unit and it works fine with one cable (HDMI). In addition, we can get master tape quality.

Both Tom Petty and Trent Reznor are releasing audio only albums on Blu-ray. TP is re-releasing Damn the Torpedoes. TP has already released Mojo on Blu-ray audio, but personally I'm more interested in older pop and the like.

I've got some pretty high hopes for this, but unfortunately it's tempered with bad past experiences (DVD-A and SACD).

Any thoughts?

[dvenardos]

I have been hoping for this, but haven't been following. I really like the DVD-A / SACD discs that I have but the industry totally blew it with their fear of hi-res copies and forcing the average joe to use 5.1 analog out. I really hope this catches on. :yes:

[madpoet]

Well... never knew it was coming. I figured anyone doing this would be doing actual video with it. Otherwise... why bother :)

[Jerrin]

Well... never knew it was coming. I figured anyone doing this would be doing actual video with it. Otherwise... why bother :)

WHY BOTHER??? :saywhat:


*laughs* It's all about the sound quality for me, but I would really like it if the studios would add the pertinent videos to each "album." That would make for a sweet package.

By the way, does anyone know yet if the complete Michael Jackson Videos (that they just finished) are going to be released on Blu-ray?

[Mep]

The nice thing about SACDs is they hybridize with standard red book CDs. I am not sure if bluray will do that. It would be hard to buy a disk that can't be played on the truck's CD player as well.

[Mike_TX]

The nice thing about SACDs is they hybridize with standard red book CDs. I am not sure if bluray will do that. It would be hard to buy a disk that can't be played on the truck's CD player as well.

My truck uses a USB -- albeit with MP3 files (not lossless or BR quality).

Mike

[Jerrin]

The nice thing about SACDs is they hybridize with standard red book CDs. I am not sure if bluray will do that. It would be hard to buy a disk that can't be played on the truck's CD player as well.

You are absolutely correct. However, I'm thinking that this could lead the way to Blu-ray players in vehicles. That way you can have movies, games, and music all at once using the player in your dash. That's kind of the direction I hope we see. I'd like for BR to replace the CD and DVD, primarily because I'd really like to have acess to high quality music everywhere.

The future likely will belong to d/l one day, but I don't think that future is anytime soon, as the majority of folks don't have decent broadband speeds yet.

[Skiman]

The nice thing about SACDs is they hybridize with standard red book CDs. I am not sure if bluray will do that. It would be hard to buy a disk that can't be played on the truck's CD player as well.

Not all SACDs will play in a CD player. It seems some early SACDs did not contain the redbook layer, plus, you can't get surround sound from the redbook layer. Increasingly, bluerays are coming with a second DVD disc included for similar reasons that have been noted, such as the need to be playable in a laptop, PC, car, etc. At any rate, I dearly hope that some form of multichannel, high rez music format takes off.

[madpoet]

WHY BOTHER??? :saywhat:


*laughs* It's all about the sound quality for me, but I would really like it if the studios would add the pertinent videos to each "album." That would make for a sweet package.

By the way, does anyone know yet if the complete Michael Jackson Videos (that they just finished) are going to be released on Blu-ray?

I'll be blunt... I seriously doubt anyone is going to be able to hear the difference between say an SACD or DVD-A and a BD-A. Just because you have 6x as much storage available doesn't mean you can use it for anything that matters :)

[Jerrin]

I'll be blunt... I seriously doubt anyone is going to be able to hear the difference between say an SACD or DVD-A and a BD-A. Just because you have 6x as much storage available doesn't mean you can use it for anything that matters :)

I agree that it is very unlikely Joe 6 pak will notice the difference between the three, but he also likely has never experienced SACD or DVD-A. So to him, he will hear a difference between BR audio and CD (or tape). Those with very revealing systems will likely be able to tell a difference between the three. In the car, perhaps less so (due to an increase in background noise), but I would think it would still be a significant increase in quality.

The extra storage can be effectively used to provide 24bit 192Khz master quality sound in both 5.1 and stereo. My recollection (though I could be wrong, it could have been the receivers/pre-pros) is that neither SACD or DVD-A had the ability to play a 5.1 or 7.1 mix at 24bit 192Khz. Even a 25GB BR should be enough space to put your average album on. I realize that the quality argument usually applies more to those enthusiasts than the general public. However, if the BD audio is appropriately priced (maybe $15 or so), and dash systems are released, I can see many people buying.

It would seem to me that the safest thing (other than nothing) for each of the music companies to do would be to remaster a BD audio recording of their top 10 sellers of all time and see how they do. I can't imagine that Thriller, Hotel California, or DSOTM wouldn't sell really well with appropriate pricing and 24bit 192Khz tracks. If these recordings were just stereo, then I can see how many would ignore them, but in surround? Don't forget that these should play in most, if not all, players today. Thus solving one of the biggest problems with SACD or DVD-A.

[Mike_TX]

I agree that it is very unlikely Joe 6 pak will notice the difference between the three, but he also likely has never experienced SACD or DVD-A. So to him, he will hear a difference between BR audio and CD (or tape). Those with very revealing systems will likely be able to tell a difference between the three. In the car, perhaps less so (due to an increase in background noise), but I would think it would still be a significant increase in quality.

The extra storage can be effectively used to provide 24bit 192Khz master quality sound in both 5.1 and stereo. My recollection (though I could be wrong, it could have been the receivers/pre-pros) is that neither SACD or DVD-A had the ability to play a 5.1 or 7.1 mix at 24bit 192Khz. Even a 25GB BR should be enough space to put your average album on. I realize that the quality argument usually applies more to those enthusiasts than the general public. However, if the BD audio is appropriately priced (maybe $15 or so), and dash systems are released, I can see many people buying.

It would seem to me that the safest thing (other than nothing) for each of the music companies to do would be to remaster a BD audio recording of their top 10 sellers of all time and see how they do. I can't imagine that Thriller, Hotel California, or DSOTM wouldn't sell really well with appropriate pricing and 24bit 192Khz tracks. If these recordings were just stereo, then I can see how many would ignore them, but in surround? Don't forget that these should play in most, if not all, players today. Thus solving one of the biggest problems with SACD or DVD-A.

Good points.

Mike

[dvenardos]

No, but the point is the industry screwed up their chance to market SACD/DVD-A and it never caught on. Regular people have to buy them as there aren't enough of us to support the market. If they can properly market Blue Ray audio they we can have a hi-res format that we can actually buy albums recorded in the format.

I'll be blunt... I seriously doubt anyone is going to be able to hear the difference between say an SACD or DVD-A and a BD-A. Just because you have 6x as much storage available doesn't mean you can use it for anything that matters :)

[madpoet]

Yeah, that I can definately agree with.

[ben9732]

Popularity will be (as always) the cost of the items. A percentage of us are willing pay more, but the masses won't.

[Jerrin]

No, but the point is the industry screwed up their chance to market SACD/DVD-A and it never caught on. Regular people have to buy them as there aren't enough of us to support the market. If they can properly market Blue Ray audio they we can have a hi-res format that we can actually buy albums recorded in the format.

This is exactly what I am hoping for. I also agree with toomanytoys that the selling point to the masses will literally be, the selling point ($$). I personally have no love for BR in the abstract, as it is just a storage medium. However, I do love movies and music, and so far it has really increased my enjoyment of both. I personally see a lot of potential in BR audio and I would hate for the music studios to mess up things again.