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Viewing report
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Home Audio: The Future
Generator Research Limited, April 2006, Pages: 16
Goodbye SACD & DVD-A, Hello Digital Music
The home audio industry is in freefall. The reason? Although consumers are listening to more music in the home than ever before, they are mostly using PC speakers or plugging their digital music player directly into their home audio set-up.
Meanwhile, the home cinema market is booming and consumers are falling over themselves to buy large-format TV sets, recordable DVD players and surround sound systems. Soon, high-definition TV will arrive, whipping the market into a frenzy.
Once seen as the future of home audio, Hi-Fi music formats like SACD and DVD-A now seem almost irrelevant. Understandably, the home audio industry is spooked and has been asking some pretty fundamental questions: does anyone care about high fidelity music anymore? Where is the new music format that will return the industry to growth?
Because the home cinema and digital music markets have gained such momentum, home audio might have seen its best days. On the other hand, the possibilities enabled by the digitisation of music could be used by the industry to take their game to a new level entirely - assuming the industry can be bothered.
Accordingly, this report is a call to action for the home audio industry which now has an opportunity to introduce a range of compelling digital music services. For example, it is now possible to deliver master-quality music to the home, while adjusting the music to compensate for room acoustics - so it sounds the same as it did in the studio. What's more, this can be done today, without waiting for Sony and Philips to roll out a new format.
Perhaps more importantly, a range of new music services are being developed by internet companies who are seeking ways to extend their offerings into the living room. The home audio industry could help.
To illustrate the opportunity, this report describes a new, all-digital audio format which would offer music lovers true master quality.
By reviewing the success criteria for a new music format, the report looks at how this might be brought to market.
Topics Include:
- SACD and DVD-A
- Blu-ray and HD-DVD
- New Digital Audio Format
- Success Criteria
- Market Positioning
- Commercialisation
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