Dark Side of the Moon SACD

I don't have SACD capability either just DVD-A which has nowhere near the great artists that SACD is getting which sucks. The remaster sounds better than ever though on a regular CD player. It's killing me to not hear this in 5.1.

Thanks to the Technology Nazis at the RIAA, it is currently impossible to play an SACD or audio DVD on a computer even though a standard DVD-ROM drive is more than capable of reading them (my computer has 5.1 capability, but I don't have another stand-alone 5.1 system).

The DSOTM disc is dual layered. On one layer is the regular Cd-Audio mix, wich sounds amazing. I believe it's new, but I don't have any older versions to compare it to. On the other layer is SACD 5.1 and 2.0.

<a href="http://www.highfidelityreview.com/reviews/review.asp?reviewnumber=19939611" target="_blank">http://www.highfidelityreview.com/reviews/review.asp?reviewnumber=19939611</a>

<a href="http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htforum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=131666&highlight=dsotm+ sacd" target="_blank">http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htforum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=131666&highlight=dsotm+ sacd</a>

First off, I love Pink Floyd and certainly DSOTM, but I am sure that I won't be able to afford one of these SACD players for a long time.

Are SACD and DVD-A both being marketed aggressively right now? If I am not mistaken, both are higher quality sound than CDs and both sometimes include video clips as sort of a bonus. [I think that I remember seeing a Frank Zappa SACD named "Halloween" at Media Play - which also contained video clips - real cool because it was packed with more goodies than the CD version.]

Does anyone have any feeling as to whether one of these formats will be phased out by the other? I certainly hope so because the 2 versions could cause problems for consumers. They'll probably release things exclusively to 1 format or the other and expect everyone to buy every type of player out there. I hope that regular CDs win the rat-race so that the prices will go down after other companies follow Universal's lead to bring the standard price for a new release to $9.99. The record companies could use these new more expensive formats to compete with their their own regular CDs.

So help me out here - Can regular CDs be played on SACD and DVD-A players? What can DVD-A be payed on other than DVD players? How often can SACDs also be played on non-SACD ready audio systems?

Okay, I don't own a SACD or DVD-Audio player, but as far as I know they are both prominent right now, with SACD maybe having a slight edge.

Regular audio CDs can be played on pretty much anything that has a CD-drive in it.

DVD-Audio CAN NOT be played on just any DVD player (I'm 99% sure on this, but <a href="http://www.hometheaterforum.com" target="_blank">www.hometheaterforum.com</a> will be able to answer everything in detail). It has to specifically say it is DVD-Audio capable.

As stated above, there are hybrid regular cd-audio/SACD discs wich are dual layered. These will be found in the regular audio cd section of the store. If it is SACD only, it will be in the SACD section. Once again, SACDs can only be played on devices wich specifically state they are SACD capable.

Thnaks Kyle. I guess one of my reactions to this is: DVD-A sounds like a frickin' scam. SACD is too unless it is the hybid variety that you mentioned.

Neither are scams. DVD-Audio is backed by Toshiba and SACD is backed by Sony. A bunch of other companies fall in behind each one. The reason there are two is because they did not reach an agreement on high-end audio like they did with video and just went DVD. The thing is whoever wins the rights to the high-def format gets royalties from any other company that uses the technology in their systems. So this time neither side is backing down easily because it means big money for whichever one comes out in the end.

DVD-Audio and SACD can only be played in DVD players with a 5.1 setup. Sure the SACD's are also hybrids and can be played in regular 2.0 format which gives it a slight edge but not much really.

High definition audio is mixed in discreet 5.1 channels. You need the capability on your reciever as well as your DVD player so you can hook up the 6 seperate cables for each of the 5.1 channels. DVD-Audio discs will play in a non-DVD-A setup but it will be artificially mixed into 5.1 by the players or recievers decoder. DVD-Audio and SACD have specific chips that must do the decoding to hear it properly.

Thanks to poor marketing there are too many confused people out there who would rather leave it alone even though it will be the future of recorded music. The artists and engineers love mixing in 5.1 because it recreates the studio sound that they really want us to hear.

It sounds absolutely brilliant that much I can tell you. When it's mixed properly of course. The engineers and artists are really nailing it lately though and everything that has come out this year has been amazing. The Beach Boys Pet Sounds DVD-A is too good to even explain.

Do you you have any specific questions about anything?