|
Hi-Rez Highway New high resolution SACD releases, players and technology. |
|
|
|
Hi-Rez Highway New high resolution SACD releases, players and technology. |
|
In Reply to: No posted by racerguy on January 3, 2005 at 06:09:05:
What prompted my original response was your quote:It took about 10 years to get 16-bit recording technology into the hands of amateurs, and it was tape-based. It's only been a few years since the big-time pros got DSD recording technology.
When I read this, I thought to myself, "Hmmm, this doesn't sound right". The reason I thought this is that I remember an issue of Audio mag from the mid '80s, shortly after I bought my first CD player, that featured a 16-bit PCM processor from Sony on the cover. I didn't remember its model number since that was so long ago, but I remember it because I was thinking of buying one at the time to make assortment tapes from my CDs. Since I don't have my old Audio mags from back then anymore, I had to resort to a web search to get the info on the player. After mistakenly finding a reference to an earlier processor, I found the following:
Sony's 1978 PCM-1600 recording processor stored 2-channel digital audio on rotary head, 3/4-inch video tape. The system (which eventually became the PCM-1610/PCM-1630 format used in CD production) allowed digital editing by using modified video-editing controllers. Four years later, Sony's PCM-F1 (and later PCM-701/501/601 units) and Nakamichi's DMP-100 processors offered a consumer method to tape CDs digitally, with selectable 14- or 16-bit operation. Connecting a PCM processor to a VCR (Beta, VHS or U-matic) proved unpopular with consumers, but at $1,900, Sony's PCM-F1 was a hit with studios.
So I suspect it was the PCM-F1 that appeared on the cover of the mid-'80s Audio. At any rate, this shows that 16-bit digital audio recording equipment was available to the consumer in 1984 at the price of $1900, for recording digital audio onto VCR tapes.
Then in your reply, you stated,
It was about how long it took from the time the "pros" started doing 16-bit to when "semi-pro" DAT decks at reasonable prices became available to the masses, i.e. the "amateurs" Max was referring to.
But your original quote up top did not refer to DAT specifically, but rather "16-bit recording technology". The point I'm trying to make here is that the "16-bit recording technology" was available to the consumer long before DAT, in the form of PCM processors for recording digital audio onto VCRs. The delays in introducing DAT were to a large extent due to the RIAA requiring copy protection to prevent digital copying of CDs, rather than technical issues.
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
Follow Ups
- Okay, let's try to clear this up... - andy_c 10:55:58 01/03/05 (1)
- That's all very nice, but... - racerguy 14:04:07 01/03/05 (0)
Top of Page ]
[ Contact Us ]
[ Support/Wish List ]
[ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
