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In Reply to: SACD vs. DVD-A title availability... posted by Wellfed on April 30, 2003 at 21:20:35:
to date the only major label issuing DVD-As is Warner (plus a smattering of EMI), whereas SACD has Sony, Universal, EMI plus strong support from a number of smaller labels like Telarc, Chesky, Chandos etc.Warner hasn't released a lot of titles recently - i suspect because they were experimenting with a hybrid DVD-A/CD format which turned out to be impractical.
I suspect we will start to see more titles once Warner starts releasing them again and Universal joins into the format. Well, one can only hope!
In terms of the different formats, DVD-A is different from DVD-V, but i suspect you knew that. the early titles tend to be multi-channel only (MLP 5.1 on DVD-A section and Dolby Digital 5.1 on DVD-V section of disc). Lately the number of formats on titles have improved to the extent that you should be expecting both MLP 5.1 and 2.0, as well as DD 5.1, dts 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 on new titles. However, there is no "standard" in terms of what formats to include on each disc, nor resolution (a few titles for example are only 48/24 and 192/24 is rare). But that is the price you pay for flexibility!
Follow Ups:
I asked to speak to the department head. I mentioned that Warners had lowered the prices on their titles and walked him over to their new display next to the SACD section, which is at the front of the store. They had a nice selection, but not as nice as SACD. I showed him prices of $17.99, $19.99 and $22.99 for three WB titles. He basically said that Corporate sets the prices and then scanned it for me and it did come up at $22.99, so I passed.Meanwhile, I had four Peter Gabriel titles in hand and marked at $14.99, but since they're single layers and since the Sony player is broken, I ended up with three CDs instead.
Still, it's nice to see Best Buy making a second attempt at the HiRez game.
And EMI didn't lower it's prices. (yet)
$23 it is then, but that's too much for something I already have on LP and CD.
from Dick Smith Powerhouse - most of their DVD-A titles were at that price although for some strange reason some titles were A$35.99 so I passed on those.
nt
I am new to this so all help is appreciated. I am a two-channel guy, and don't expect to ever be anything else. Is there some identification on each title that a stereo mix is provided?
the early titles are hopeless. they all as something like "playable as Advanced Resolution Multi-Channel and Advanced Resolution Stereo" but all they have is an MLP 5.1 track and if you are listening in stereo the player is down-mixing 5.1 into 2.0 (yuck!) The down-mixing coefficients are stored with the audio track so it's not simply a case of the player collapsing all the tracks but still i would prefer a dedicated stereo mix.The newer titles all have a box on the top part of the back cover that clearly states what formats (DVD-A and DVD-V) are available on the disc.
Very occasionally, this box is *wrong* (i.e. says MLP 2.0 192/24 is available whereas only the MLP 2.0 tracks is only 96/24) but that's rare.
If you are a stereo listener you should be looking out for a dedicated MLP 2.0 track. The site where I submit DVD-A reviews to (www.michaeldvd.com.au) always state exactly what formats and resolution are on each disc reviewed so that should be useful particularly for the early titles. To search for DVD-A reviews, enter "DVD-Audio" as the search string (the hyphen is important).
I notice www.highfidelityreviews.com also state what formats are available on the disc in their reviews.
There should be DVD-A primer available on the internet - i don't have one handy.
nt
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