Conference cookie::notes$archive:cd_v1

    First of all, there is a possibility of two different tape formats
    (as originally in VCR's). These formats are R-DAT (rotary) and S-DAT
    (stationary) head systems. The rotary systems are quite similar
    to the current VCR's on the market and the stationary systems are
    similar to the current cassette deck. THE MAJOR DIFFERENCE BEING
    THAT THESE HEADS ARE NOT ANALOG.
    
    I personally don't see the CD market being overly impacted. I see
    more of the standard cassette deck on it's way to obsolescence.
    The reason for my conclusion is that since CD is plyback only, I
    see it impacting the vinyl market. The new digital tape will impact
    the cassette tape market because it can be used for either playback
    or record.
    
    Granted the tapes might be cheaper. The sonic quality will probably
    be as good as CD's. BUT, tape is tape, and for the majority of the
    tape-car users, it will still succumb (sp?) to heat and other stress
    factors inherent in today's audio tape. So if the manufacturers
    of theses tapes decide to use tape that is too thin, or whatever,
    you again might be better off recording your own.
    
    For the person that will be using the new digital tape for home
    or car recording, the question will be what format do I use. Editting
    is the key feature and can be discussed elsewhere.
    
    In regard to CD manufacturers being worried about recording CD's,
    I'll bet you that SONY and Phillips are both going to jump into
    this new digital tape. But, all the manufacturers have agreed that
    this new digital tape shall not be able to record CD's digitally.
    The music on the CD shall first be converted to the analog and then
    encoded to a digital form.
    
    Hope this helps.
    
    Grahame

    And just when I bought a new cassette deck!
    
    _stew- ;-)

    Speaking of which...
    
    What ever happened to the Technics digital tape recorder?
    This was the one that used VHS tapes and 16-bit encoding.
    As I understand it, the new digital decks you folks are
    referring to use a different size / format / technology
    tape and will (supposedly) have better quality everything.
    
    Any info/clues?
    
    David.

    I'm surprised to see the prediction that DAT prices will be less
    than CD prices.  CDs, like LPs, can be stamped out in one quick
    operation.  Tapes, on the other hand, must be recorded from beginning
    to end, which takes time regardless of how much faster the duplicating
    recorders run.
    
    -- Ward

    I believe it has to do with the cost of the technology involved
    to make the duplicates.  For tapes you just buy a large number of
    recorders, do a little wiring, load them up, and copy.  Need more
    per hour, buy more recorders.  (Most large tape places now are actually
    warehouses loaded with tape machines and people changing tapes.)
    
    I'm not sure what it costs for the equipment to make CDs but it
    has to be expensive.  This keeps competition down by limiting entry
    to the market.  It also makes incremental jumps in volume more
    difficult because a larger investment is needed to make more CDs.
    Competition is therefore relatively small.  This means that they can
    keep margins high.  I can't believe that it actually costs more than 
    $1.50 to make a CD,but this is still expensive when compared to
    tape.
    
    So as more companies start making tapes the competition will force
    the price down.  And the cost of a cassette should be lower than
    the cost of the CD.
        
    

    Is there a high reject rate for CDs � la ic's?
    
    Burns
    

    Note that digital tape is no better than analog tape in the respect
    of not lasting forever.  CD's don't wear out (as far as we know,
    anyone care to guess how many times the non-pit area can be lased
    before it wears out?  Photon erosion! :-) so the manufacturers
    will always be able to sell CD's higher than digital tape.  Note
    that the S/N ratio is much higher on digital tape, so it will take
    more wear to degrade the signal than it does for analog tape.
    
    The transport can still eat tapes as well.  Rarely will a tranport
    of a CD player destroy a disc (I did have a laser videodisc wiped
    out by a tranport that malfunctioned by not releasing properly after
    the transport screw was removed).
    
    Am I hyped on CD's?  Unequivocally YES!  However, I will probably
    still want a digital audio tape recorder for original material someday
    (probably a portable model).  I would be more interested in an
    all digital VCR.

    						-Dave    

    You'll have to wait a while for digital VCRs.  Admittedly you only
    need 8 bits, one channel, (rather than 16 bits, two channels) but
    your sample rate is 9 MHz, not 41 KHz....
    	
    That's 200+ times faster....(Note to the enlightened: I'm assuming
    we save color information at reduced bandwidth, like NTSC composite
    color does, rather than having separate 8-bit channels for red,
    green, and blue, as in RS170).
    	
    I'd love a digital VCR too; I just don't see a 10x increase in data
    storage capability in the works very soon,  Also, 10 MHz 8-bit DAC's 
    are expensive... you practically have to work for the DoD to get
    (or afford) 10 MHz 8-bit ADC's.  Let's ignore error correction circuits
    working at 200x speed...
    	
    It would be *nice* though- no tape deterioration.  Can you think
    of a way to increase the data density on a VCR by a factor of ten?
    

    There's a note on this in the DSSDEV::AUDIO conference, by the way.

    As to the fact that all manufacturers have agreed not to allow
    cross-taping of CD's, that will come to a screetching halt just
    as soon as one manufacturer realizes that he can gain market-share
    and/or greater profits by selling a machine which can cross-record
    from a CD..  
    
    Also, I doubt that such an agreement is legal in this country what
    with semi-effective anti-trust laws.  (Europe and Japan don't have
    'em.)         
    
    Dirk