Editorial for September 2006

The launch of the two new competing hi-def DVD formats has so far been even more problematical than was the launch of the two competing hi-res audio formats.  The players from both the HD-DVD and Blu-ray camps have had problems.  The Toshiba HD-DVD player takes forever to load and play anything. The Samsung Blu-ray player had a chip set improperly which caused most of the hi-res discs to look little better than standard DVDs. Sony and Pioneer have regularly delayed introduction of their Blu-ray players and are currently looking at sometime in October.

The number of films so far released in both new formats is very minimal. Even D-VHS – which was obsolescent when it was launched – has 100% more films issued on tape than both new formats combined so far. Odd that many publications have continually promulgated the view that there have been only a few releases in the audio-only SACD format so they consider it a failure. The fact is that there are many thousands of SACDs available – though many may have to be ordered from Europe or Asia because they are not distributed in North America. And certainly not in brick & mortar stores. In fact, we are currently struggling at Audiophile Audition to get the stacks of recent multichannel SACDs reviewed which have been provided to us!

We are not the first to note that perhaps the technology has made a quantum leap and it is too late to introduce another (let alone two!) physical optical disc.  The downloading of video material on the Internet has mushroomed in the last six months, and with the increasing number of users having broadband access and the development of new video codecs such as Windows Media 9, downloading of hi-def feature films is becoming possible. Then there are the constantly-expanded HD offerings from both satellite and cable video services, with many of the exclusive HD options from the now-defunct Zoom being offered by Dish Systems.  Another approach not involving a computer is MovieBeam, on which we recently reported in Audio News.  Silently beaming feature films, including many in HD, on a subcarrier of local public TV stations, the new service has several advantages over DVD rental – either local or by mail. We will be reviewing it shortly.

The latest development in flat screens is the gradual replacement of 1080i (interlaced) displays with 1080p (progressive), even though little source material is yet available in that form; upsampling being used instead. We will also be shortly reviewing the 1080p DLP display from Samsung. The Hi-Def Multimedia Interface (HDMI) has become the standard industry-supported cable for both digital video and audio hookups and many components are beginning to include it. There have been many versions of the interface, with the latest – v1.3 – supporting not only HD video but Dolby TrueHD 5.1 codec and also up to 8 channels of audio, including the six channels of SACD. Of course the SACD or universal player must have the proper HDMI output. There have been some problems with HDMI but when it settles down it will hopefully remedy the total home theater chaos that greets most new users.

— John Sunier