DVD Recorders with SACD/DVD-Audio?

Archived from groups: rec.audio.high-end (More info?)

"SHamre" <sigurd.hamre@nrk.no> wrote in message
news:cbhr190jv1@news2.newsguy.com...
> I'm looking for a combination of a DVD Recorder with hard disk
> capability that can also play multichannel SACD and DVD/Audio discs. I
> haven't found any so far. Can anybody help ?
> SHamre, Norway.

Panasonic has just bought out one that plays DVD-A as well as records.
Model E55 I believe in the USA. However, I know of no SACD only or
universal player that also records. Like you, I wonder "why not"?

Archived from groups: rec.audio.high-end (More info?)

"Harry Lavo" <harry.lavo@rcn.com> wrote:

>"SHamre" <sigurd.hamre@nrk.no> wrote in message
>news:cbhr190jv1@news2.newsguy.com...
>> I'm looking for a combination of a DVD Recorder with hard disk
>> capability that can also play multichannel SACD and DVD/Audio discs. I
>> haven't found any so far. Can anybody help ?
>> SHamre, Norway.
>
>Panasonic has just bought out one that plays DVD-A as well as records.
>Model E55 I believe in the USA. However, I know of no SACD only or
>universal player that also records. Like you, I wonder "why not"?

I suspect that this probably reflects consumer demand. The reason I
mention this is that I have recently been searching reviews for a new
DVD player that will play SACD, DVD-A, etc. Naturally, I wanted to see
what software was available locally. I found that most stores only
had DVD music titles if any. The one store that had a fair selection
was Best Buy but the collection was extremely limited. I.E., there
were several isles of CD's but only a single isle that by eye was
composed of approximately 70% DVD music titles, 18% DVD-A titles, and
12% SACD titles. Again, this is a rough visual approximation based on
the area dedicated to each format and NOT an exact count! It is
important to note here that I live in a metropolitan area with a
population of about 500,000.
Needless to say, I have decided that ability to play SACD has become
much less compelling since local availability is so limited. I am
also extremely disappointed that the darned things cost as much or
more than a DVD video.
To digress a bit, I find the very few DVD videos I have very enjoyable
although the recording quality is variable from superb to gimmicky.
For example, I really dislike hearing an instrument coming from a
surround speaker. I have only been to a handful of performances where
musicians or singers were placed behind the audience so I really do
not understand why recording engineers feel the need to create musical
ping-pong effects.