Dual Disc Pushing Out DVD-A and SACD?

If you go by my local Best Buy it is: What used to be the SACD section has been retitled "Dual Disc," even though there are still some SACDs in it, and it hasn't been restocked in months; the number of titles in the DVD-A section next to it has dropped by at least half--again, no restocking. I know that what Best Buy does isn't necessarily the best predictor of what all consumers want, but it is still depressing to see the total collapse of support of DVD-A and SACD at the only store where I could buy them.

John K.

 

Look at it this way -- if the majors abandon hi-rez as a potential revenue source, the titles may become available for licensing to companies like Audio Fidelity.

 

I rarely shop the numerous local stores for Hi-Rez and I live in New York. I find the web retailers and eBay to be cheaper and better stocked alternatives.

 

That's sad. Best Buy had some good prices at one stage. When they started selling Telarc SACDs for $15.99, Michael Bishop (Telarc) could not believe it. Those days have gone, and I think they will drop SACD.

 

This really sucks. We 'had" two great formats and will be left with a crappy one.

 

Again, I'm not in panic mode yet, least of all because of last Tuesday's windfall of goodies....

All the same, the big problem for hi-rez is getting this stuff into stores at a reasonable price, and educating consumers that, yes, many of these WILL play redbook, so you can buy with confidence even if you don't have hi-rez. This is where dual-disc MIGHT work, but so far, the results are not in on how compatible this format will be with our existing equipment.

A definite time of uncertainty!

 

Not in my house it's not.

Best Buy is probably the main B&M where I've picked up most of my hi-rez discs, but it looks like that's over now. I went there today to pick up the Clapton SACDs only to find out they didn't have any. No Elton Johns either, for that matter. None in stock and none on order. Looks like they're dropping out. No problem though, because Media Play was happy to take my money.

 

Yep, I bought 3 SACDs and 1 DVD-Audio disk over at Media Play today. It was a triple points event here in Utah. The rest of the country gets the event tomorrow, Sunday. Apparently sales on Sundays are off-limits in Utah. Kinks Misfits, EC Slowhand, and the other one Ocean Blvd. or whatever, and Neil Young Stars and Bars are the ones.

 

I guess when the majors give up on DualDisc, then Best Buy will have no hi-rez.

On the plus side, I am in San Antonio on business this week, and a local high-end A/V retailer called Bjorn's is advertising a big Elton John event for next Saturday (12/20). They will be demoing Elton John in surround sound and will be giving away the Elton John SACD sampler. The ad talked about hi-rez, hybrid SACDs, etc. It was way cool. I'm only sorry that I won't be in town that long. Hopefully a store back home will do something like it.

 

They are giving away the EJ sampler at Good Guys in Concord - that's about a 60 minute drive from where I live in San Jose. I almost went there today, but inertia kept me in the local area.

 

I'll check local stores for the sampler when I get back from my trip. As I understand it, the sampler is supposed to be distributed as part of an "event," like the one going on next Saturday at the store in San Antonio. The one really good dealer in my area had Robert Harley in the store last weekend (without the Elton John sampler), so I don't know how quickly they will have another event.

 

Exactly - the "event" is going on at that Good Guys store.

 

My local Best Buy has also retitled its SACD section with the DualDisc moniker....but there's no DualDisc to be found. Of all the SACD released this week, only 2 copies of Layla were available. No Elton at all....I had to dig through every single Elton disc in the regular CD section to even find 2 copies of the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road SACD. The only DualDisc I saw was from Simple Plan, and the section it was in was mislabeled for another artist.

 

I do not feel that dual disc will amount to much. As much as I appreciate the format, the idea I guess, I see problems with this format. My BBC here still has the Dvd-A and Sacd sections and they did have 2 or 3 of each Elton this tuesday, and Derek, and all of the Claptons in stock. I was impressed. Dual Disc feels like a rushed idea to capitalize on the almighty $. I see I-Pod style devices and satellite radio as being the "big deal" this holiday season. Can't wait for Keane's Sacd "Hopes and Fears" disc on the 23rd though.

BBC is now having to deal with the Wal-Mart influence on the consumer electronics industry so I do not expect any $ spent on any of the hi-rez music formats available now.

Support your local independent cd/record store!

Evan

 

My local independent cd/record store didn't get in the Claptons. Only the Johns.

 

Local stores (even the big store chains) have always been clueless about new formats, so I wouldn't pay too much attention in what they are doing.

If a big label abandonned SACD in favor of DualDisc, that would be a much more significant event.

 

As much as big label support matters, if the big retailers won't support DVD-A or SACD then it will never be anything more than a niche format, which makes long-term support/survival questionable. E-tailing is nice for the access to titles it affords, but again, that currently is not the path to high volume success. I love SACDs, but I despair of ever getting a regular flow of a wide variety of new titles. I've already got high rez versions of Elton John and Eric Clapton on vinyl, and I'm not going to play the game of rebuying everything just because a new format is coming out.

John K.

 

I noticed this at my local BBY yesterday. They have four feet of shelf space for DVD-A and eight feet of SACD titled DualDisc.
I chalked it up as they don't know what any of the Hi-Rez formats actually are so they put the DD sign up where they thought it should go.

 

I sure hope Sony isn't thinking about this. One wouldn't think so since DSD and SACD are their babies. However, the suits at Sony might not be able to resist the marketing appeal of DualDisc. Then one has to remember that Sony developed DSD initially for archival purposes, not for a consumer playback format. On the other hand, DSD gives Sony a new revenue stream since the CD patents have expired. So, based on all these considerations, which way will Sony go? Hopefully Sony will stick with SACD, but unfortunately, Sony began pulling back with SACD long before the advent of the DualDisc. That worries me.

 

It´s coming on SACD?!! Hybrid?!

Great news, I like Keane a lot!

 

Yes, it's due out on a Hybrid Surround Sound SACD on November 23rd. See http://www.highfidelityreview.com/news/news.asp?newsnumber=18337599

 

At my local BB, yes, about eight feet of shelf space is titled "DualDisc"....with 4 of those being SACDs and another 4 feet for "value-priced" CDs.

 

Hmm, the Best Buys around here still have the separate SACD and DVD-A labeled racks.

 

Sad to say but what sells well at Best Buy is probably a pretty fair indicator of what the average American consumer is into and wants more of. Just the opposite for what doesn't sell well at Best Buy, Circuit City and the like. But I guess that's a "duh" statement/observation and if Dual Disc should somehow catch on, then that's a positive sign.

 

If Dual Disc catches on, albeit the increasing hardware manufacturer's statements mentioning the incompatibility of their players with the discs as they are now, maybe the next step will be having to buy new hardware for the software much like in the computer business.

I yet cannot understand why a semi-hardware-incompatible format has made it to the street. Where were all the people who are now putting out statement mentioning its lack of compatibility with hardware and the CD spec before this happened?

Finally, I can't help it but think that the shelf space the Dual Disc is getting now (all the aforementioned problems and their consequences notwithstanding) show the power the record companies have when they really do want to put some money behind a format. In other words: has HiRes (SA-CD and DVD-A) since its launch ever garnered so much shelf space in such a short time?