Thread: Sony stops releasing new SACDs in Germany

Posts: 10

Post by Daland August 27, 2005 (1 of 10)
Here is a news item from the Swiss DVD Forum website, which I have translated into English.

www.dvd-forum.ch

August 24,2005

According to a company spokesman SonyBMG has no plans to release any new SACDs in Germany in the foreseeable future. Instead the company will focus on the DualDisc, due to be introduced in Europe in October. While SonyBMG might use the disc to release material in the rival DVD-Audio format, it will dispense with "ultra high fidelity", at least for the time being, in favour of Dolby Digital content on the DVD side.

Sony will market the DualDisc as a "premium audio product with enhanced content".

Post by Claude August 27, 2005 (2 of 10)
Hmm, does that mean no more Living Stereo SACDs?

Post by mknappe August 27, 2005 (3 of 10)
What's of primary concern is how long equipment manufacturers (and even more importantly at the lowest level the transport and integrated circuit manufacturers) will continue to support SACD. As the vinyl market has shown, the ongoing availability of great hardware makes it easy for small niche audiophile labels to continue releasing small runs of high quality remasters.

A sad day indeed if the audio industry continues it's devolution after a brief moment in nirvana. I'm definitely going to pick up a second SACD player as insurance for my significant investment in SA software.

Post by vonwegen August 27, 2005 (4 of 10)
Daland said:

Here is a news item from the Swiss DVD Forum website, which I have translated into English.

www.dvd-forum.ch

August 24,2005

According to a company spokesman SonyBMG has no plans to release any new SACDs in Germany in the foreseeable future. Instead the company will focus on the DualDisc, due to be introduced in Europe in October.

Well, from my own personal experiences with teaching Germans in classrooms, expect a s***storm to erupt when said DualD*cks fail to play in most CD players.

Post by racerguy August 27, 2005 (5 of 10)
This would be big news if Sony was actually producing SACDs in volume, and decided to stop suddenly.

Sony's output of SACDs slowed to almost a complete stop in 2004, and never really started up again. How many SACDs has Sony released in Europe this year? Five? Ten?

The sad part is not that they are halting SACD production (they pretty much did that already), it's that they appear to be completely abandoning hi-rez digital for new releases.

Post by prometheus August 27, 2005 (6 of 10)
And it was only earlier today that I was accused of polluting this site by "doom-laden" views. And defending myself as merely reflecting reality.

zeus, your silence in response to all these "doomsayers" is deafening. Or do I get an apology on the basis of the above? The hardware argument is vital. My next Delphic oration is to predict the complete disappearance of any SACD-compatible hardware under, say, $2000

Post by zeus August 27, 2005 (7 of 10)
prometheus said:

zeus, your silence in response to all these "doomsayers" is deafening.

As I said elsewhere, I've heard all this before.

Sony, Philips and Universal had an alliance to kick start the format (I even played a smart part in this) and apparently it didn't work out for Universal's bottom line. That doesn't mean that it won't/isn't for others.

Post by Johnno August 27, 2005 (8 of 10)
zeus said:

What silence? As I said elsewhere, I've heard all this before.

Sony, Philips and Universal had an alliance to kick start the format (I even played a smart part in this) and apparently it didn't work out for Universal's bottom line. That doesn't mean that it won't/isn't for others.

The problem with a lot of businesses these days, it seems, is that they want "instant" success. Surely those large conglomerates must have realised that they weren't going to see the sort of SACD sales thay they have seen with RBCD. In the latter case, it was an entirely new format that promised "perfect sound forever" (ugh!), and I know quite a few people who couldn't wait to get rid of their "noisy" LPs in favour of the (then) new, quieter format. The conversion from CD to SACD is, of course, an entirely different matter and I believe all those companies have not been prepared to weather the initial storm sufficiently so that more people might come to believe that SACD was a format worth look into. I believe that many of those who waited will have been turned off it now as many of my friends don't seem to be interested in buying releases from the smaller independents anyway, with some exceptions from one or two UK based companies that aren't exactly rolling SACDs out the door.

I sincerely hope that the "Living Stereo" SACD sales (and Mercury Living Presence) have been sufficient to keep the series going. My brother and I have certainly done our bit to support both, by buying all the "LS" and most of the MLP's released so far.

Post by zeus August 27, 2005 (9 of 10)
prometheus said:

My next Delphic oration is to predict the complete disappearance of any SACD-compatible hardware under, say, $2000

PS3.

Post by Polly Nomial August 28, 2005 (10 of 10)
prometheus said:

My next Delphic oration is to predict the complete disappearance of any SACD-compatible hardware under, say, $2000

Upcoming/new hardware releases at sub £1000 prices:

Denon DVD-1920
Philips HTS3500S/05, HTS3500S/12, HTS8000S/05

Closed