Home DVD-Audiobahn

New DVD-Audio music releases and talk about the latest players.

Re: Some more points . . .

>> *** That was indeed the case a couple of years ago when DVD-A playback equipment was (a) still very rare, (b) expensive, and (c) lacked a one-cable digital hirez link. ***
as far as i can tell that is still the case. <<

Re (a) and (b): I can now even find DVD-Audio compatible cheapo music systems (Technics, Panasonic, Pioneer etc.) in "Dixons" — here in the UK. (Now that’s saying something!) I also saw them in an Atlanta shopping mall, when I went there recently for an aviation conference.


>> i am confident that more non-dvd-a players are sold every day compared to dvd-a players (just check out the "supermarket specials"). and most consumers do not upgrade their players every year. there is a large installed base of non-dvd-a players.<<

Agreed, but those very cheapest ones are often for folks who have no real interest in audio, and just want a simple DVD machine for their small bedroom TV, and/or to keep their kids occupied with Disney DVD movies etc.. But as I said above, I have seen some very cheap DVD-A/V players. (I have one in my bedroom, for example -- a Panny.)


>> last time i checked, the dvd-a players still command a price premium over non-dvd-a players. for every dvd-a player you care to name, i can point to a non-dvd-a player at a cheaper price from the same manufacturer.<<

Agreed, but the premium is not that great (see above).


>> finally, show me the "one-cable digital hirez link." firewire? nope, too many incompatibility issues between brands. hdmi? show me a single working hdmi player today that passes full 96/24 5.1. the spec only just got finalised a few weeks ago.<<

Points taken, but the industry is undeniably moving in this direction. Denon have had their perfectly satisfactory Denon-Link for some time now (between their receivers and upper-end DVD players), while Pioneer have pitched their i-link hardware at a more mass-market level. Arcam’s new DV-79 player already features HDMI (probably updatable to the latest spec via firmware), and the rest will inevitably converge in this standard (along with AV amps, receivers, pre-pros and video displays etc.). In short, Firewire, DVI and i-link are neccessary, logical, and evolutionary steps in this 'one-cable' AV solution.

>> you seem to be confused between a format (DVD-Audio) and an encoding scheme (MLP). <<

I’m not confused at all.


>> I struggle to understand your comment about backward compatibility. <<

No need to struggle. ;- ) i.e. Just stick a DVD-A in them, and they should play the DVD-A content.


>> and copy protection is not a feature of the encoding scheme (MLP) — it's a feature of the format (DVD-Audio). <<

Actually, DVD-A’s MLP makes it quite difficult to copy the audio. This is something which many observers generally overlook. Meridian have not published the fine details of the decoding algorithm.

Couple with this techniques like "muxing" — separating out different elements of the program into separate files; CPPM encryption, and Watermarking etc., makes copying DVD-A content more trouble than it’s worth. These measures will surely be carried through (and enhanced) to future audio/video hardware and software, whilst every effort will be made to drop Dolby Digital and raw LPCM in their current forms. Moreover, I don’t think it takes a genius to see that DualDisc is a "gateway" product and part of the strategy which will help make this all happen. :)


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