How we gonna play our discs in the next future?!

[zdjh22]

I’m a bit surprised at the specific ire towards SACD, given that every format we’ve used for music and video since video tape (Macrovision) has included copy protection. SACD’s was particularly robust, but unlike DVD-A with the Verance watermark in the audio that prevented even a low quality analog copy from playing in certified hardware, at least you could use the analog hole for SACD. I’ve never minded DMCA efforts to protect against perfect copies, but a scheme that sought to prevent lower-quality audio copies seemed excessive.

I’m very happy to have all of the multichannel formats still available, either new (BluRay/SACD/DVD-V) or the secondary market (DVD-A). I have a greater number of disc players that can read SACD (PS3, a Sony BDP that can also rip, an Oppo) than can read DVD-A (only the Oppo). Of course data drives on a computer can read it all except SACD, with the various difficulties getting software that works and doesn’t get pulled (RedFox and its predecessor).

As much as I love the Rhino Quadios, on my hardware the DTS-MA encoding creates more minor hoops to jump through to get just 4 channels playing on the specific speakers that I want than the Sony Japan and DV SACDs.

 

[par4ken]

I can burn Blu-rays at my desk. Yes, the media is costly, but I have no way to burn an SACD.

But you can burn SACD isos and thus burn SACD-R's from the iso.! I don't myself but people here do and play them on jail broke Oppo's! Mandix has promoted it for a long time! SACD-R

If I were trying to be a home-based disc producer, I would never consider SACD.

Are you (a home-based disc producer)?

 

[jimfisheye]

I guess I'm surprised the stand alone disc player method has survived the transition to HTPC with this much demand. That's one of the big reveals from this forum. I thought the idea at the end of the 20th century was to go HTPC and never look back? Keep and manage a digital archive yada yada. Maybe this was more a Jobs era Mac thing? Surprised at all the Windows use around here as well for an audio focused forum. (Post-Jobs products aside. Don't recommend today!)

From the view of HTPC, this is all pcm audio and all the same format. Just a few different channel counts. And then a few rogue encoded formats of pcm audio. SACD with its DSD is the one outlier. (But it's possible to "liberate" with PC tools.) Atmos is an intentional restricted access to the decoder but it's just more pcm audio. Dolby apparently prefers getting pirated to selling their media player at present.

I thought digital audio on disc was a little fragile and fleeting initially. Damage a vinyl album in a spot and that sucks but it's only that one little spot. Damage a disc in the right spot and suddenly the entire thing is a coaster. The computer with backup strategies and checksums for file handling was instantly liberating when that happened. At this point you could grab a computer and only use it for a digital tape deck and call it your new "AVR" if you wanted to be simple like that and probably have more flexibility than the stand alone components.

This era of software spoofing and subscription scams is hitting pretty hard. So that's a new twist. The Atmos decoder is part of that. It's a pointed attack on HTPC users. I don't think this is going to succeed and I think HTPC is still the way to go. Strong defense of the stand alones around here though, wow!

20 somethings are listening to stereo streaming with earbuds with their phones. They have no personal music collection at all themselves. "Playlists" for online streaming now. Just blown by the wind! Show them stuff like different mastered versions of an album they like and they're just floored! "Wait, this is a bootleg on Spotify?!" This is how some of the streaming and rattier novelty mastered editions can fly nowadays.

 

[barfle]

Are you (a home-based disc producer)?

I have converted a bunch of VHS tapes to DVD, as well as a few LaserDiscs. I'm also the only one here who seems to make "Music DVDs," which can pack over 40 hours of AC3 on a two-layer DVD. I also save my HD Indy 500 broadcasts to Blu-ray. Nothing professional, but it's part of my AV hobby.

 

[zdjh22]

I guess I'm surprised the stand alone disc player method has survived the transition to HTPC with this much demand. That's one of the big reveals from this forum. I thought the idea at the end of the 20th century was to go HTPC and never look back? Keep and manage a digital archive yada yada. Maybe this was more a Jobs era Mac thing? Surprised at all the Windows use around here as well for an audio focused forum. (Post-Jobs products aside. Don't recommend today!)

From the view of HTPC, this is all pcm audio and all the same format. Just a few different channel counts. And then a few rogue encoded formats of pcm audio. SACD with its DSD is the one outlier. (But it's possible to "liberate" with PC tools.) Atmos is an intentional restricted access to the decoder but it's just more pcm audio. Dolby apparently prefers getting pirated to selling their media player at present.

I thought digital audio on disc was a little fragile and fleeting initially. Damage a vinyl album in a spot and that sucks but it's only that one little spot. Damage a disc in the right spot and suddenly the entire thing is a coaster. The computer with backup strategies and checksums for file handling was instantly liberating when that happened. At this point you could grab a computer and only use it for a digital tape deck and call it your new "AVR" if you wanted to be simple like that and probably have more flexibility than the stand alone components.

This era of software spoofing and subscription scams is hitting pretty hard. So that's a new twist. The Atmos decoder is part of that. It's a pointed attack on HTPC users. I don't think this is going to succeed and I think HTPC is still the way to go. Strong defense of the stand alones around here though, wow!

20 somethings are listening to stereo streaming with earbuds with their phones. They have no personal music collection at all themselves. "Playlists" for online streaming now. Just blown by the wind! Show them stuff like different mastered versions of an album they like and they're just floored! "Wait, this is a bootleg on Spotify?!" This is how some of the streaming and rattier novelty mastered editions can fly nowadays.

Unfortunately any of the formats that render onto overhead speakers (Atmos, DTS:x, Auro-3D) as a practical matter need a proprietary hardware decoder. Fortunately AVRs with such decoders are quite an amazing bargain. Whether you choose to feed the AVR (or AVP) from an HTPC or a universal disk player is a matter of personal preference. A competent computer and storage system is far preferable to me than handling individual optical discs. I definitely understand the appeal of software like JRiver or Plex - I use Plex for my video and stereo CD collection - but my personal preference for accessing ripped audio discs is my jailbroken Oppo via NFS mounts. I’m still old fashioned in that LPs back in the day were meant to be experienced a full side at a time, and that’s how I still generally consume a work of music.

 

[jimfisheye]

Unfortunately any of the formats that render onto overhead speakers (Atmos, DTS:x, Auro-3D) as a practical matter need a proprietary hardware decoder.

An opinion I strongly disagree with as a HTPC listener!

This is the gap that's hard to bridge when you are already setup with a modular surround system with a computer, interfaces, amps, and speakers. It turns into a penalty and you are told to replace your entire system instead of adding 4 or 6 new channels. And this does not fly in any universe!

Anyway, I hope these discussions help someone to navigate the equipment choices! You can choose to stay with 21st century style HTPC and the Dolby reference player exists. I would be nice if they started selling it instead of encouraging piracy like this but that's not my circus or monkeys!