Unfortunately

the realm of video and the high res audio will be dominated by the mass market companies. That is a fact I've observed for the past decade or so.

The reason is simple: money. Most high end companies are rather small and and have limited resources and manpower. People like Sony and Panasonic have access to hundreds of engineers and multi millions of dollars. High end companies can not even dream of matching salaries paid to top engineers of Cisco, Microsoft, Atari and others in the compute design and software field. A great engineer employed by those companies probably earns more than the heads of most 'high end' companies. Just where do you suppose the brightest and most talented designers from universities and colleges are going to seek work, you suppose?

A high end company can not afford to commission proprietary specialty chips: the return on the investment is simply too small to justify the cost. While high end audio likes to see itself as catering to the elite and being a leader in technology, the sheer size of the high end market is too small and consumers are probably more worried about appearance and prestige than true performance.

The digital/video field simply moves far too quickly for the typical high end company to probably even keep abreast. The last really high end attempts in the venue were the development of the Ultra analog chip, now basically extinct, and the development of the HDCD by Keith Johnson and Reference Recordings, now a foot note in the history of digital. At the time of introduction both were quite an improvement, I thought, but their failure simply points out the limited scope of the penetration of the high end into a mass market commodity.

The sweeping success of MP-3 and the ipod further demonstrates that the masses are not so concerned with extreme fidelity as they are with convenience and cost. The proliferation of the Chinese audio invasion further demonstrates the public's preoccupation with low cost.

Dvds may be very popular in China, but at $1 per disc, jewel box extra, most studios are not profiting from its proliferation. The public may also will put up with the video taped versions of movies, but as the Chinese economy develops a middle class they too will want a better disc.

Remember, high res video is the provenance of an owner of a larger TV set. I believe in the US 50 inch screens are now rapidly becoming the norm. If the prevailing set size in China is 20 inch, high res is not really viable, simply because of the size of the set. High res video simply does not make much of a difference.

Surround sound similarly was not important in Europe and Japan, again because homes were smaller and thus the typical consumer had no need of a sound system that was larger in presentation than what the TV set can provide. Now that Plasma and LCD's are common place and significantly more affordable, surround sound is making significant inroads into those foreign markets.

Blue ray penetration into the market is highly dependent on the size of the screen you watch. The size of the screen is determined by the general economic status of the individual. Prices are dropping rapidly, however, so you will see a proliferation of larger and larger sets. Prices are also dropping significantly for Blu ray machines, and I see machines in the under $400 price category already, and I am not consciously trying to keep up with the technology.

This places further strain on the resources of the high end. While Ed Meitner has been able to do it, it was only with the cooperation of Sony. Sony considers itself to be high end. Their excellent high end ES CD transports have never really been released to the general high end manufacturers. As one Sony administrator I spoke to commented: "why bother with the flies around a cow when you can get the whole cow itself?"

Stu

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - it's officially over - Joe Murphy Jr 00:13:27 02/19/08 (37)

Quick, somebody put a mirror under Cackle's nose ... - Quadzilla 11:12:11 02/19/08 (7)

My hi-def player still plays better than your SAC pom pom Blu ray fan boys!!! - Cackle 17:12:44 02/19/08 (6)

Stop it. I am drowning in my ocean of tears. nt - Quadzilla 17:26:33 02/19/08 (5)

You dare to mock the KOOKL??? - SF tech 19:31:00 02/19/08 (4)

RE: You dare to mock the KOOKL??? - Quadzilla 05:26:25 02/20/08 (3)

Re : " Who is LOLing now ? ". Me . SACD is still dead , and DSD is not in the specs for Blu-ray . LOL ( nt ) - ZS KEKL 17:47:19 02/21/08 (2)

By the way, what format are you backing now? - Quadzilla 19:45:16 02/21/08 (0)

I guess you have to take your little "victories" where you can. - Quadzilla 19:40:08 02/21/08 (0)

No. Charles Hansen predicted dire consequences for Blu-ray. Time will prove him right - Ray98@Walmart 04:44:03 02/19/08 (5)

Unfortunately - unclestu52 11:33:59 02/20/08 (0)

Rarely have I read such a confused, misinformed rant NT - Jazz Inmate 12:04:55 02/19/08 (3)

he tends to know his shit, but he is way off on this - Joe Murphy Jr 21:22:09 02/19/08 (2)

I respect Hansen, but I doubt his views are being fairly expressed in the post NT - Jazz Inmate 10:42:04 02/20/08 (0)

Charles Hansen make good products, and he will sooner or later - Ole Lund Christensen 07:23:30 02/20/08 (0)

feel a bit sorry for those here who went the other route. Hopefully, the Sony supporters won't rub lt in - jaiva 02:02:28 02/19/08 (21)

Nice sentiment, but it's already happening - TK421 12:54:11 02/19/08 (17)

To be fair, the HD DVD camp deserves it - Jazz Inmate 14:08:50 02/19/08 (15)

(nt) - Jack G 15:06:14 02/19/08 (14)

If you have something to say, say it NT - Jazz Inmate 15:17:27 02/19/08 (13)

Just saving the post so it can't be deleted - Jack G 15:19:58 02/19/08 (12)

then save this one as well - Joe Murphy Jr 22:28:01 02/19/08 (1)

I support that, Microsoft was convicted for crime in Europe - Ole Lund Christensen 04:24:21 02/20/08 (0)

the funny part his, he REALLY does not see the irony in his - Duilawyer 17:16:20 02/19/08 (4)

That's what's so sad. (nt) - Jack G 10:11:55 02/20/08 (3)

To the victor belongs the spoils - Jazz Inmate 11:11:56 02/20/08 (2)

Uh huh - Jack G 11:25:01 02/20/08 (1)

Essentially, you're saying the HD DVD adopters outsmarted themselves - Jazz Inmate 13:37:18 02/20/08 (0)

you OWN Jizz Inmate. nt - Duilawyer 17:15:02 02/19/08 (3)

If he did, I'd have adopted HD DVD nt - Jazz Inmate 17:24:50 02/19/08 (2)

getting the last word does not mean you won... nt - Duilawyer 17:26:25 02/19/08 (1)

and agreeing doesn't mean you're right (nt) - Joe Murphy Jr 22:29:43 02/19/08 (0)

And I would want to delete it because __??? - Jazz Inmate 15:30:00 02/19/08 (0)

Ya noticed huh? (nt) - Jack G 13:32:28 02/19/08 (0)

I went "the other route." - jsm 12:14:15 02/19/08 (2)

Lots Of Folks Jumped On Tosh $99 Player at Walmart - Robertc88 05:49:17 02/20/08 (0)

nice post - Joe Murphy Jr 22:48:38 02/19/08 (0)

Here is the link to the official Toshiba statement - Ole Lund Christensen 01:58:17 02/19/08 (0)

Follow Ups

Unfortunately - unclestu52 11:33:59 02/20/08 (0)

Unfortunately

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