Another sign SACD is dying

"Only companies as big as Sony and their ilk can design and produce a gamble like SACD or DVD-A."

SACD was never meant to be a long term consumer product, they have not gambled anything as DSD technology will be used for its original purpose, archiving. This is very much like Beta versus VHS. Everyone thinks Sony took a beating but infact they preserved their margins by selling BETA products to the pro-side (TV Stations) for three decades with much less competition. Plus they stole BETA from Ampex so they didn't even have to do R&D. Sony is a four letter word for a reason, buy their formats at your own risk.

From the very first day I attended the East Coast Debut of Sony SACD I knew it was a stop gap till DVD could get itself organized...ie High Resolution Audio DVD-A. It was was a way for Sony to make money on people. I have never seen an indication that SACD was here to stay except as a Consumer Product by overly optimistic small specialized producers of audiophile recordings. I think Sony may very well be shocked at how long DVD-A has dragged out this process and the ratification of a true HD Audio HDMI interface. HDMI now cannot pass 24/96 multi-channel

DVD-A is no gamble either, it is in committee, it takes a while to divide up the pie. Oh lets not forget the real obstacle to this progress. Copy protection.

PS: hope I'm not repeating what somebody already said.

"Sinner matic, Sony did not build SACD to use it for a little while and then to pull it."

Nrchy, when are you going to learn to think about what I write before you respond with glib comments? First of all archiving would not be done in the redbook format it would be done in the PCM 24/96 format, but DSD is more robust than PCM should there be slight deterioration to the masters. Thus it is a much better solution, Sony only owns a third of the worlds music, I think preservation of that investment is more important than launching a new incompatible High performance format. Sony is not that stupid.

Funny as SACD is dispearring you would argue with me about its longevity, especially when you see all the Sony artist are qued up on DVD-A. Which will transfer to bluray just fine. Bluray improves the video, the audio is still 24/96-192

The pro recording world is 24/96 or better right now and what is holding up the train is Copy Protection, whether its blu ray or DVD-A they are going nowhere until this issue is settled. The fact that the DSD datastream was incompatible with all the PCM recorders made the SACD copy proof for awhile.

Finally Compatibility, the format is incompatible with everything, so only a select group of people could be counted on to pursue this red herring.....audiophiles.

Sony thanks you for your support,