Went to Best Buy today to pick up a few discs. Not only did i buy a couple of discs, but also picked up a Samsung DVD-HD841 that was on close-out. These are "universal" machines that play SACD, DVD-A, DVD's, CD's, etc.. This is basically the same machine as the Toshiba SD-4960 with the addition of DVI outputs. As many of you know, these machines have gotten pretty decent reviews in stock form and are said to be a phenomenal bang for the buck with some basic mods performed to them. These are going for $99 in sealed box form. The store that i was at didn't have any "brand new" models, so i ended up picking up an open box model for $69 with full warranty and return privileges. Refurbs are available on Ebay for about $85 plus shipping on "Buy It Now".
After picking this unit up, i wandered over to the SACD / DVD-A section. That is, i went where the SACD / DVD-A section WAS located at. After recently expanding this section and adding many newer titles, they've now condensed both formats into one very small section and cut the amount of titles available drastically down. There were more SACD's than DVD-A's here, but that was always the case in the past too.
My guess is that they've received a tip neither format is doing well and as such, are cutting potential losses by reducing stock on both formats. With the introduction of the dual disc and yet another format i.e. "blue ray" technology around the corner, both SACD and DVD-A formats could pretty much become a format of the past overnight. Blue ray uses blue lasers, which enable one to DRASTICALLY increase the amount of information and / or resolution that a single CD / DVD sized disc could handle. In effect, there would be no need for "dual discs" ( as they are now ), because one could literally fit both sides of the disc onto one side of a "blue ray" disc AND have gobs of room to spare for even more "data".
As such, if one is a "fan" of SACD / DVD-A and wanted to buy specific discs on either of these formats, you might want to grab them while you can. This isn't to say that they won't be available on a newer format in the near future, and possibly even better quality, but that i don't see production going much further when there is no source to market these products within the mainstream. We all know that "audiophiles" are pretty much the only ones supporting these formats and even they aren't buying discs in the quantity expected. As such, continuing to produce discs for an ever shrinking market would seem to be a losing proposition for any company. On the other hand, vinyl is in much the same boat, but the small but growing market seems to be gaining some strength, making it a more viable marketing option. While 5% of the music market ( as sold on vinyl ) isn't much, it is still more than the sales of SACD and DVD-A combined. Sean
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John Mayall & friends: Along For The Ride on SACD
