Neil Young on Blu-ray

May 21, 2008 by David Kay
Filed under: Home Audio



Neil Young recently announced that he will be releasing his entire catalog on the Blu-ray format. I've always thought that one of the great missed opportunities in audio was the record industry's decision to ignore the DVD-Video format in favor of the battling DVD-A and SACD formats. DVD has a massive, nearly universal install base, and is capable of high-res stereo audio playback. Unlike DVD-A and SACD, which were doomed to be niche products from the start, DVD had the chance to finally retire the rapidly aging CD for good. A few audio-only DVDs were produced, but they are extremely rare. (I actually own one, Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" on DVD, DD 5.1 and high-res PCM stereo). Releasing music on Blu-ray though just doesn't make a lot of sense.

If PS3s are removed from the equation, Blu-ray's install base is microscopic, and the noisy PS3 would make for a lousy transport in a high end system. Like DVD-A and SACD, the players are expensive, the discs are useless in cars, and the music cannot be converted or transferred to a portable player. Oppressive DRM may make industry executives happy, but consumers want control over their music. Blu-ray definitely isn't going to be the savior of the local record store. The era of going to a store to buy music on a physical disc is simply over. In the future, audiophiles are going to be downloading music directly from their favorite artists in DRM-free, 24bit/88kHz+ lossless formats onto their music servers. HD live concerts will be fantastic on Blu-ray, but as a replacement for the CD, Blu-ray is a dead end, not a new beginning.

Source: AVrev.com
Comments (10)
ngsm13 4 months and 3 weeks ago

Yeah...

So will his entire catalog be on one BD?
lukas 4 months and 3 weeks ago

I was wondering the same thing. I highly doubt it though, they would make a lot more money if they broke them up. That would be one expensive ass Blu-ray if they put it all on one as well. Maybe a couple albums per disc.
The Seventh Taylor 4 months and 3 weeks ago

DVD-A and SACD players expensive? That depends on your point of view but they've come down to under $200 which I think is not expensive at all, really.

The discs are useless in cars? DVD-Audio discs perhaps, but virtually all SACDs are of the hybrid type, which means you can use them in any CD player. Of course you don't get the same high-quality sound in a regular CD player but at least they're far from useless there.
The Seventh Taylor 4 months and 3 weeks ago

Oh, and if you've got a high-end system (for which the PS3 is supposedly too noisy) then how is the price of a DVD-A or SACD player an issue?

Also, downloading is not the only alternative to going to a store to buy a physical disc: you can buy them online. This isn't going to save the local record store but it's damn handy.
Dave Kay 4 months and 3 weeks ago

When referring to DVD-A and SACD players being "expensive", I meant at their introduction rather than necessarily where the market is now. Today's multi-format players have gotten pretty cheap, but who cares? SACD and DVD-A are essentially dead formats.

The point I was trying to make is that Blu-ray as a music disc solves none of the pitfalls that plagued the earlier formats. Consumers have proven many times over that they will only upgrade when a new format offers increased practicality. They will be willing to pay for it, as early CD and DVD players were also very expensive. Increased fidelity is basically irrelevant. Consumers will be happy to accept decreased fidelity for increased practicality (see iTunes), but a new format that forces decreased practicality (SACD, DVD-A, Blu-ray) has a snowball's chance in hell in the mass market. If a new format can't survive there, the best hope it has is to be on perennial life support by a few indie audiophile labels, which is where SACD is now. The music industry and the Blu consortium have shown zero interest in promoting Blu-ray as a music format. I am quite sure that like my Miles Davis DVD, these Neil Young discs will be little more than oddities bought by very few.
The Seventh Taylor 4 months and 3 weeks ago

Ok, agreed.

I believe however (and I think you may agree here) that any audiophile format is doomed to remain a niche, no matter how practical, simply because only a small minority of consumer really cares about sound quality.
Dave Kay 4 months and 3 weeks ago

Absolutely. This is why I think the way "The Slip" was released is definitely the way of the future. You pick the format you want. MP3 for the regular folks, FLAC and Apple Lossless for the enthusiasts, and 24/96 WAVE for the audiophiles with megabuck systems. With no physical distribution or format to deal with, its easy for artists to offer this kind of choice. Not that artists necessarily have to give their music away. A $5 for MP3, $10 for FLAC, and $15 for WAVE system would probably work very well. Most audiophiles would be happy to pay $15 for ultra high-res tracks (preferably bit-for-bit copies of the master tapes like Reference Recordings is doing), and that would be $15 going to the artist, rather than the RIAA.
havok2022 4 months and 3 weeks ago

In reply to the first post the answer is no.

The first release will be a 1-2 disc set from 1963-1972. His entire cataloge is estimated to take 8-10 Bluray discs. He wanted the ability for his fans to listen to high rez music (192kHz 24bit) while being able to browse photos and video clips. DVD simply didn't offer this functionality.

CNET has an article and video with a demo on it here.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13953_3-9937142-80.html
havok2022 4 months and 3 weeks ago

PS - After watching the vid I personally think it will be awesome. If properly cooled or stored elsewhere the PS3 is quiet.
Dave Kay 4 months and 3 weeks ago

A few serious NY fans with home theaters that already have PS3s or BR players might buy these discs. I think that will be it. Nobody is going to buy the hardware just to listen to one artist, and audiophiles with two channel systems that are either still listening to vinyl or using high-end CD/SACD players or music servers wouldn't be caught dead with a PS3 in their system. There simply is no high-end Blu-ray player, so I don't see these going anywhere in that market.
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