PS3SACD.com Home
 
 HomeHome   Forum FAQForum FAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

New Blu-ray High Resolution Audio Format

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    PS3SACD.com Forum Index -> Music
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
korowa



Joined: 11 Oct 2012
Posts: 1
Location: Australia

PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 10:11 am    Post subject: New Blu-ray High Resolution Audio Format Reply with quote

I noticed the developers demonstrating this new BD audio format on a PS3 and thought about this forum.



Japanese companies Memory-Tech, krypton, Q-tec and Camerata Tokyo are promoting a new "format" for high-quality audio stored on Blu-ray discs.
The new format offers 96/24 and 192/24 linear PCM resolution and the discs are playable on all BD players. With stereo, the format offers both 5.1 and 7.1 surround formats.



It appears the new format will utilise CD jewel case packaging.

http://www.memory-tech.co.jp/new/news/2012/0925.html
http://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20120925_562098.html
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
PS3SACD
Site Admin


Joined: 17 Aug 2007
Posts: 316

PostPosted: Sun Oct 14, 2012 12:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Interesting! Thanks for posting that. Somehow missed it, despite following AV Watch on a daily basis.

The strange thing about this announcement of 'NextCD' or 'BD Music': It's not a new format at all, is it? It's simply Blu-ray Disc as is, with audio formats that are part and parcel of the standard, and have been so from the beginning. Even Memory-Tech's HQCD material technology appears to be optional. Case in point: The Naxos BD-Audio discs we reported about a week earlier (but available since months) are also shown as examples.

The only thing that's new then is there is a concerted effort -- no pun intended -- by a group of (Japanese) companies to promote the use of this format to release music.

So far no impressive plans yet to issue large numbers of titles -- about 10 by one label, compared to 111 in Sony's Blu-Spec CD2 program announced this month.

One more detail: Pricing apparently will be "similar to SACD": in the mid-3,000 yen".

Let's see how this develops. More high-resolution/multi-channel music is very welcome, especially if it's in a format that can be played on a huge installed base of devices.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
hardlok



Joined: 02 Aug 2011
Posts: 17

PostPosted: Wed Oct 31, 2012 5:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Some unsolicited random thoughts about this marketing ploy:

It's not a new format but a new gimmick for recording companies to monetize existing music masters via remastering to bd disks.

It's an attempt to replace the dead/abandoned sacd format which is seeing a diminishing installed hardware base (by attrition and elimination from new disc player products).

It's a vessel that can contain more than the previous 5.1 matrix by two extra channels, but few audio-only recordings exist in 7.1 for music companies to justify venturing into this, and the heavy investment for engineering brand new 7.1 channel audio-only recordings is just too risky and overkill when 5.1 remasters have hardly been heralded unanimously as perfect or indispensable. Remixing 7.1 movie soundtracks to audio-only bd disks is redundant since this was already achievable on standard bd disks (albeit spread over 2 or more disks if needed) with or without video content.

It's a weak attempt at flogging a dead horse in the face of highdef digital music delivery and playback. Even then, to win buy-in from a sizeable group of big recording companies is a herculean political and economic exercise that even Steve Jobs had problems pulling off for itunes.

It's a possible medium for compiling more than a thousand hours of compressed stereo content (compared to DVD-DL) or hundreds of hours of mch content for music collectors but this would be too niche to make economic sense for recording companies to risk trying. Even in the area of ultra-longplay flexibility, digital music delivery and storage already offers even greater flexibility by default.

It's still PCM-based music content, which may not satisfy the demand for DSD content that SACD has in appealing to certain customer bases.

Its adoption, if it includes any kind of royalty or licensing charges, is going to kill it before it kicks off; yet if it doesn't, that just means the idea itself is a moot point since the bd specs have always given content companies the option of making audio-only content/audio+video content/video-heavy content and any shade in-between.

It doesn't require technical proof-of-concept since the bd specs clearly allow universal compatibility with such audio-only discs, but it will require very convincing proof-of-viability and proof-of-marketsize before it gathers heavy momentum outside of the few adventurous content firms that have nothing to lose in trying it out.

It is a solution that is looking for a problem.

Please add more here if I've missed out any elephants in the thread Razz
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
PS3SACD
Site Admin


Joined: 17 Aug 2007
Posts: 316

PostPosted: Fri Nov 02, 2012 11:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Why so negative?

Our view here: http://www.ps3sacd.com/news.html#_20121022
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
hardlok



Joined: 02 Aug 2011
Posts: 17

PostPosted: Sat Nov 03, 2012 2:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi ps3sacd!
Sorry if my analysis comes across as negative. But it is just my random initial reactions to such clear and present fluff after >20 of being conned by market hype and gimmickry. How many of us have been jaded by false promises of "high quality" and proposed standards that died even before they kicked off? Good ideas that never saw the light of day, replaced by bad/dishonest/mercenary ideas that won because of industry brute force or politics? How many thousands of dollars have we lost "investing" in reprint after remaster after remixes of favourite albums, only to be disappointed by brickwalling, upconverted "hirez" remasters, buggy tech and overpriced junk?

I now approach everything in this industry with caution, circumspection and a healthy dose of cynicism until overwhelming, irrefutable anecdotal evidence points to undisputed benefits to sound quality and consumer interests!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    PS3SACD.com Forum Index -> Music All times are GMT
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum





Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group