D
DevillEars
Guest
Am I alone in thinking that "technological wizards" are constantly dreaming up "better mousetraps" of one type or another based on how "technologically cool" the concept may be and NOT really based on what some segment of the market both needs and wants?
Smart Card is an excellent example from outside the audio environment that exhibits a lot in common with some of the AV media/format clashes:
Any of that sound vaguely familiar?
Now we have Blu-Ray Disk (aka BD)...
The name says it all - shorter wavelength laser diodes = higher recording density = more capacity on same form-factor (>50GB)!
Hooray!!!
Now, in the AV space, this might just have application in being able to provide:
When used in a purist 2-channel audio-only application, the target market size plummets to probably around 5% of the total (and shrinking). Also, in this application, 50GB is serious overkill in capacity terms for just the 2-channel soundtrack elements - no artist want to have to release an album containing ~12 hours of music (and I certainly would not want any either).
So, do we really need BD as a HiDef audio medium? I don't think so!
I mean, after >20 years CD playback equipment is finally beginning to sound reasonable and SACD/DVD-A playback devices will probably require only 10 years to reach their audio sound quality potential - by which time all optical disk media will have become casualties (just like Compact Cassettes, Elcasettes and 8-track tapes).
"The operation was a success, but the patient died!" Sound familiar?
The biggest problem with optical media is the playback process and the bulky and motion-sensitive mechanisms needed to extract the data without dataloss and without timing errors.
Solid state media? Probably!
:
: : :
Smart Card is an excellent example from outside the audio environment that exhibits a lot in common with some of the AV media/format clashes:
- Multiple competing "standards"
- Issues around storage capacity
- Massive capital investment in read/write equipment needed before deployment
- Competition for card surface "real estate" for advertising in multi-brand applications
- The "Where the hell can we use this effectively and build a viable business case?" Syndrome
Any of that sound vaguely familiar?
Now we have Blu-Ray Disk (aka BD)...
The name says it all - shorter wavelength laser diodes = higher recording density = more capacity on same form-factor (>50GB)!
Hooray!!!
Now, in the AV space, this might just have application in being able to provide:
- 4:3 and 16:9 video datastreams?
- 2-channel, 5.1-channel, 39.7-channel audio datastreams
- Full HD (1920x1080P) video encoding at high frame refresh rates
- 24-bit/384KHz high-definition audio encoding (aka Purple Book?)
- Spare capacity for 15 hours of mandatory trailers before main feature starts
When used in a purist 2-channel audio-only application, the target market size plummets to probably around 5% of the total (and shrinking). Also, in this application, 50GB is serious overkill in capacity terms for just the 2-channel soundtrack elements - no artist want to have to release an album containing ~12 hours of music (and I certainly would not want any either).
So, do we really need BD as a HiDef audio medium? I don't think so!
I mean, after >20 years CD playback equipment is finally beginning to sound reasonable and SACD/DVD-A playback devices will probably require only 10 years to reach their audio sound quality potential - by which time all optical disk media will have become casualties (just like Compact Cassettes, Elcasettes and 8-track tapes).
"The operation was a success, but the patient died!" Sound familiar?
The biggest problem with optical media is the playback process and the bulky and motion-sensitive mechanisms needed to extract the data without dataloss and without timing errors.
Solid state media? Probably!
:
: : :
