Blu-ray Negative Buzz According to Report – A firm named Cymfony measures market influence and in its latest report claims that their survey showed more positive buzz for HD DVD than Blu-ray. They looked at over 17,000 postings in 323 blogs and discussion boards, consisting of both videophiles and gamers who were evenly divided between support of both new formats. They found 46% more “positive discussions” on HD DVD than about Blu-ray. Dislike for the format was based on Sony’s history of failed formats (MiniDisc, Beta, ATRAC, Elcaset) and perception of arrogance on the company’s part. Another complaint was Sony’s decision to include a Blu-ray player with the new Play Station 3, thereby forcing gamers who are uninterested in the new format to pay a higher price for the product. But it was still a close fight between the two formats, and most of the enthusiasts surveyed still haven’t made up their minds about the new technologies.
SACD Software Production Enhanced – Good news for Sony is that a major new cutting master format has simplified and sped up the production of SACDs around the world, while significantly decreasing costs in the mastering process. Sony and Philips engineers have developed the new Unified Cutting Master Format (UCMF) as a file-based cutting master format which is similar to DDP used for CDs. Previously, SACD production has been a tape-based process, but the new system is not media-dependent, so cutting masters can be created, stored and transported as digital files over a network and archived to optical disc.
Sony disc replication factories in Austria, Japan, and Terra Haute, Indiana are now UCMF-ready, as well as production studios in New York and Hong Kong. Sony has worked with a number of specialist SACD production studios in the development of UCMF, including BK Audio in the Netherlands. Its owner Bastiaan Kuijt explained: “Burning a SACD cutting master to a DVD is much quicker and more convenient than with tape. With UCMF, managing and archiving the master becomes simple and cheap.” The introduction of UCMF indicates that Sony still has an ongoing commitment to Super Audio CD, even though it has not recently been releasing many SACDs on its own labels, except for the Living Stereo 3-channel series. Several recent Sony SACD players have been introduced at a wide range of price levels, targeting the large CD player market.
