To pull the same stunt that Sony and Toshiba are currently doing. Studio's A,B, & C support the Apple Ipod while studio's X,Y,& Z support the Microsoft Zune. What do you think the public reaction would be? Would it be drastically different than what is happening with the current next gen video formats? Afterall when was the last time you cared about what record company distributed your favorite albums? What if you were forced to look at your record collection in such a way and then decide which format contained enough record studio support for your favorite titles. I'm just amazed they managed to pull it off with the video format.

Please move this thread if this is not the appropriate forum for this discussion. I wanted to find a neutral forum that both Blu Ray and HD DVD supporters would read and offer their input.

SACD vs. DVD-Audio

An original idea for a thread, what a nice change of pace for AVS! :cool:

Afterall when was the last time you cared about what record company distributed your favorite albums? What if you were forced to look at your record collection in such a way and then decide which format contained enough record studio support for your favorite titles.

You bring up a great point here. I never look at distributor of a CD I'm considering buying and I buy a lot of them. OTOH, anytime I see a new TV spot or trailer for an upcoming movie that interests me, I find myself waiting for the credit screen to see which company is distributing it so I know if it's chances of being on BD are good or not. ;) If the record industry did what the movie studios are doing it would no doubt be a complete failure. This is why so many involved in the industry had repeatedly pushed for both the BDA and HD DVD promotion group (?) to work together to form a single format. Retailers are still demanding this and have every right to. IMO, if there were only one high def disc format it'd be selling quite a bit better than the two current ones are combined. Then again the prices would be higher for hardware and likely software as well so maybe not. ;)

SACD vs. DVD-Audio


You beat me to the punch :D

When studios bifurcate along two platform lines, it appeas that both formats stand a more likely chance of dying.

Note that these studio imbalances have seem to be borne of cupidity and control (DRM)

I'm not sure we'll ever have a new format introduction without these shenanigans.

SACD vs. DVD-Audio


With Apple iPod and iTunes waiting in the shadows to steal the crown from both while they aren't looking.

Microsoft is doing the same with Xbox Live, waiting while selectively fueling the high def disc format war with support for the technically weaker format that will be easier to argue they can match in a few years with downloads.

Microsoft only waits for when the time is right to strike...

SACD vs. DVD-Audio

That is incorrect. In reality it was hi-rez audio vs. Ipod (more importantly, portable audio). Ipod won and with an 80% market share, comparing it to Zune would be completely unfair to Zune. Now, if they had released at the same time, that might be a more accurate contest, but no way with the market penetration Ipod has at the moment.

While the software (itunes vs zune marketplace) is incompatible, the (non drmed) songs are not, and the software is a means to an end, not the end in and of itself.

The DAP market had a format war- mp3 vs WMA vs AAC. MP3 was pretty much never going to be "dethroned" but AAC survived due to itunes and the popularity of the ipod. AAC is also an open format (more open than mp3 believe it or not) but it supports DRM that older versions of mp3 do not.