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Clarification, Follow Up Question

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In Reply to: Predicting the Future: DVD? posted by D on October 23, 1999 at 07:51:54:

Thanks for the prompt response, RichardH.
As you suspect, the TV will, indeed, be dropped during the upgrade (it'll go to a roommate, in favor of a very good direct view, such as the Sony XBR series).
As to audio, I already own a jukebox-type CD player, the Sony CX-555ES. Interestingly, this makes the audio capabilities of the DVD player both more and less important. Realistically, the convenience of my current 300-disc player means that the bulk of my listening will route through it. That said, I assume that a good quality single-disk player can handily beat the quality of my jukebox (as I don't own one right now, I can't say for sure). So, when I *really* want to listen to a disk (or, as you suggest, want to play a disk utilizing any of the upcoming higher fidelity formats), it would be nice to have a better option, in the form of the DVD player.
So, this prompts two follow-up questions:
-Do current DVD players (and the Sony 7700 in particular) play DVD-audio format?
-Will HDTV bring about any changes in the DVD player market? Are new video players necessary for this format? How a far away are any such changes?

thanks again.

Follow Ups:

clarification RichardH 11:36:50 10/23/99 (1)
hello,
okay, i think i have a handle on your situation now. btw, what is the other associated equipment? (amps, speakers, etc.)
to answer your new questions:
no, current dvd players (like the sony) cannot play the new dvd-audio standard. there are a few new players (panasonic, i think) that can play dvd-audio as well as the standard dvd movies, but they come at a premium.
as far as i know, hdtv will not change the dvd standards. the nice thing is that if you get an hdtv or hdtv-ready tv, it will be the 16 X 9 ratio, so you won't get black bars when watching widescreen dvds.
in your situation, and to some extent, my situation too, i would not bother waiting for dvd-audio/sacd to pan out. if you want dvd now, just get it now. i just recently bought the 525 that i mentioned in the previous post and i am extremely pleased with its performance. i think the promises of higher fidelity in sacd and dvd-audio are promising, but again, it'll be a while before either format reaches critical mass, not to mention if one standard wins out.
i also have a sony jukebox that i'm using as a transport and it suits me fine, especially the convenience of having so many cds available. if i were in the market for a dvd player now and it was only marginally more to get one with dvd-audio, i might do it. but, they're pretty expensive right now, and it's not even clear that dvd-audio will win.
maybe the best route is to get a dvd player now (7700 if that's the one you like), and when dvd-audio/sacd is all sorted out and there are actually some discs you want to get, get a replacement juke box for music. there's already a sony 200 disc jukebox that will play dvd movies, so i figure it won't be long before we see those extended to dvd-audio and/or sacd capabilities.
ok, i think that covers everything.
richard h
- Re: clarification greg 09:11:51 10/31/99 (0)
  What no one here is telling you is that widespread use of HDTV will absolutely require changes in DVD--both hardware and software. DVD players will eventually output true progressive scanned video at the resolution of HDTV. Currently this is not possible with the DVDs and DVD players on the market. If you want to sit on your wallet until this development is brought to market, you will be waiting several years and then some for prices to come down and titles to come out. But at least you will not have a dinosaur connected to your TV.
  What I recommend, and the approach I plan to take when the time is right (i.e., when I've paid off my speakers and there are some good second or third generation audio DVD players out there) is to find separate machines for video and audio DVD. Truly, electronics manufacturers cannot build a perfect machine that does DVD audio and video perfect justice. In the design of such machines, audio or video must take a back seat. In other words, no engineer can optimize a DVD-player for both media equally without compromising quality on both no matter what chip has been developed (and Cirrus has one for DVD-A and SACD by the way).
  So it makes sense to me for you to hold off on your DVD purchase for a year or two. At that point there will be a good option for an audio player that will be able to play video, although not designed for that. I recommend something capable of upsampling to 24/192. A good option right now is the Melos DVT, which I've been assured is fully upgradeable and should be a beautiful DVD-A player. But I'm a skeptic and would probably wait. Hope this helps.
  Greg

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