Stuart Howlette wrote:
> Your post has raised some very significant points BUT what your thinking is
> what if, not what has, and I'm sorry but MD didn't come out before CD's,
> same as thinking what you would do with the money if you won the lottery,
> yeah, its fun for a couple of minutes, but it aint ever gonna happen for
> most of us, so instead, enjoy how you want it, and dont let the popularity
> of a product fool you, popularity does not equal quality, ie *N'Sync are
> popular, need I say more?
I actually broke my own rule with this post and reverted back to an old bad
habit. I have come to the realization that the statements "If only, and "What
if" are a total waste of time.
As for your statements about lack of software for newer formats, only time will
tell. At one point I was going to start a CD mail order company (before the net
and very early in the course of the CD).
I contacted one of the largest record distributors and was told that if I
ordered 10 CDs titles I could expect that maybe I'd actually be able to get 3 of
them. There was a total lack of software of titles that were already
"released".
But one of the reasons for that was because there was only one or 2 CD
factories in the world at the time. As CD players prices dropped, others saw
the need for more CD factories and eventually there was a glut.
But in the case of say HDCDs, they are going to use the existing master digital
tapes (they had to transfer analog to digital for early CDs and releases of
older material). There must be a lack of interest on the part of the consumer
for HDCDs or they could easily and (compared to starting a complete CD factory
from scratch) a relatively small investment in new equipment for the record
companies.
Maybe the HDCDs lack the "WOW!" factor. Many years ago I read an article about
why quadraphonic sound failed, There were many technical reasons, but the
writer felt that the main reason was the absence of the "WOW" factor.
He stated when people heard a stereo recording next to the same recording in
mono people said, "Wow!" Quad just did not have the same affect on people.
Of course who could have guessed back then that you would be able to purchase
copies of entire movies on a tape. That not only would they start making movies
in stereo, but use surround sound and it would be available in many theaters (I
saw the movie of the "rock opera" "Tommy" in NYC in a theater that was
specifically set up with 5 discrete channels-unheard of at the time.
But people were really impressed with surround sound so more and more theaters
started to have Dolby Surround. Again, who could have guessed that they would
be able to improve the sound of the home video tapes I spoke of before with "HI
Fi" quality by taking advantage of the rapid speed of the video head, rather
than using just he linear speed of the tape? Making it worth connecting to your
stereo system.
Then to discover that since Dolby Surround was a matrixed scheme, it would
automatically and I guess you could say "accidentally" be transferred to the
tape. All the home viewer had to do now was invest in a decoder and more amps
or a new receiver if they were in the market for one.
Even if you didn't have the money for that, all you had to do was take 2
speakers, place them in the rear and "hot wire" them (connect the rt front + to
the rt rear-left front to left rear and then connect the - terminal of each rear
speaker together-I actually used this scheme for a long time and while you could
not control the volume of the rear speakers this way, you did get a very
enjoyable improvement in the sound if the rear speakers were loud enough
relative to the front).
People really love watching movies at home. People who never owned a stereo
system will go out and buy a "home theater" package because they enjoy the
movies and the surround feeling so much.
And to think that the whole home video movie thing came out as an off shoot of
so called "stag films". The first prerecorded tapes that sold and rented well
were X rated movies. People filmed performing real sex acts.
Another example of how (if you are conservative enough to find such movies
offensive) from "bad" comes good.
Larry
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