Primitive Question: Why Isn't Music Put on DVDs?

StarshipTitanic · Post by **StarshipTitanic** » 2006-03-26 05:57pm

Why not simply (?) put music on DVDs instead of making new disc formats?

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2006-03-26 06:02pm

DVD Audio never really took off.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2006-03-26 06:05pm

Partially due to both a format war with SACD and the overall fact that nobody gave a shit.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2006-03-26 06:06pm

Because that involves having DVD players to play your audio. Since we all have CD players for that, you see why it's a bit of a pain to expect everyone to buy new players for questionable increase in audio quality and size of albums.

This is one format war where DVD Audio and SACD mutually killed off one another, rather than have one the victor like Betamax vs. VHS.

Sharpshooter · Post by **Sharpshooter** » 2006-03-26 06:06pm

Methinks it be most likely because of having a comparitively-small market for them as opposed to regular compact discs. CD players have been around long enough for them to become a common feature in entertainment like those found in home stereos, cars, older computers, and portable CD players. They'd have to be phased out with versions capable of supporting DVD before they became viable as a medium for profit.

StarshipTitanic · Post by **StarshipTitanic** » 2006-03-26 06:07pm

phongn wrote:DVD Audio never really took off.

But why? Wouldn't it be cheaper to use all the existing DVD factories to make music DVDs instead of building up the infrastructure to make a whole new format?

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2006-03-26 06:08pm

What the hell do audio DVDs have to do with a video format war?

StarshipTitanic · Post by **StarshipTitanic** » 2006-03-26 06:08pm

Admiral Valdemar wrote:Because that involves having DVD players to play your audio. Since we all have CD players for that, you see why it's a bit of a pain to expect everyone to buy new players for questionable increase in audio quality and size of albums.

This is one format war where DVD Audio and SACD mutually killed off one another, rather than have one the victor like Betamax vs. VHS.

Oh, I thought it was still going on.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2006-03-26 06:09pm

Why would you need a new format? CDs do the job, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Besides, the trend is towards solid state players now rather than yet another damn disc based system. Music is mainly now in the form of digital files in cyberspace as CDs and the like are trumped by downloading and HDD/flash based portbale music players.

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:What the hell do audio DVDs have to do with a video format war?

If you read my post, you'd understand.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2006-03-26 06:12pm

Yeah, my mistake. I'm also puzzled why Tit is talking about a new audio format when one isn't needed, wanted, or really planned.

StarshipTitanic · Post by **StarshipTitanic** » 2006-03-26 06:15pm

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Yeah, my mistake. I'm also puzzled why Tit is talking about a new audio format when one isn't needed, wanted, or really planned.

Because I didn't know the battle between SACD and DVD Audio was over.

aerius · Post by **aerius** » 2006-03-26 08:35pm

StarshipTitanic wrote:But why? Wouldn't it be cheaper to use all the existing DVD factories to make music DVDs instead of building up the infrastructure to make a whole new format?

You could, but then you'd have to convert the entire market over to DVD audio discs, which means new players, new discs, and phasing out the CD. Which costs money. Which means the record companies won't get around to it.

Admiral Valdemar wrote:Why would you need a new format? CDs do the job, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Besides, the trend is towards solid state players now rather than yet another damn disc based system. Music is mainly now in the form of digital files in cyberspace as CDs and the like are trumped by downloading and HDD/flash based portbale music players.

Having heard DVD-A and SACD discs, I have to say that CDs are broke. However, that was on a stereo system that costs as much as a nice car. On an average stereo system it's pretty much impossible to hear any improvements, in which case you are correct, it ain't broke for the vast majority of users. Personally I want all my audio in at least 96kHz/24 bit resolution, but the way things are going I might as well wish for the master tapes cause it just ain't happening.

Nephtys · Post by **Nephtys** » 2006-03-26 08:40pm

There's no money in audio DVDs. Normal CDs are already highly inefficient, when a good bitrate MP3 can do the same audio quality in half or a quarter of the space.

When a record company puts 20 songs on a disc, instead of 100, they sell 4 other discs.

Now, if you had a DVD with 8 times the capacity of a CD... why would you ever want to hurt your own profit margin? If you want to keep the same rate of packing, and put 160 songs on a DVD.. would you sell it for more than a hundred bucks?

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2006-03-26 08:55pm

DVD Audio is hardly dead. I purchased a DVD-Audio version of the Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory Soundtrack, and that was only released last year.

DVD Audio is all about high-quality sound. It's got a 5.1 mix as well as a stereo version, and is playable in normal DVD players as well as DVD Audio players. It also has ZIPs of the songs in a couple lossless formats.

aerius · Post by **aerius** » 2006-03-26 09:05pm

Last time I checked it was SACD which was rumoured to go dead any day now. Granted those rumours have been going on for at least 3 years now, but as far as I can tell DVD-A seems to be winning the hi-res format war.

Exonerate · Post by **Exonerate** » 2006-03-26 09:07pm

DPDarkPrimus wrote:DVD Audio is hardly dead. I purchased a DVD-Audio version of the Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory Soundtrack, and that was only released last year.

DVD Audio is all about high-quality sound. It's got a 5.1 mix as well as a stereo version, and is playable in normal DVD players as well as DVD Audio players. It also has ZIPs of the songs in a couple lossless formats.

Another thing is that many people aren't interested in the quality that DVDs can offer - most people I know can't tell the difference from 320 to 128 bitrate, I hardly think any of them will shell out the extra money when they can't tell the difference.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2006-03-26 09:09pm

DPDarkPrimus wrote:DVD Audio is hardly dead. I purchased a DVD-Audio version of the Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory Soundtrack, and that was only released last year.

And last year Gorillaz released their latest album Demon Days on LP in addition to compact disc, but stuff like that is only considered niche. You don't see most groups and artists on the Top 40 offering material on LPs since the mid 1980s.

DVD Audio is all about high-quality sound. It's got a 5.1 mix as well as a stereo version, and is playable in normal DVD players as well as DVD Audio players. It also has ZIPs of the songs in a couple lossless formats.

Except that nobody really cares in the long run concerning widespread consumer acceptance and adoption. In those regards, both DVD-A and SACD are dead.