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I'll start out by admitting that frustration exposes immaturity in me faster than anything else I know of.I made the decision to start purchasing some DVD-A titles in anticipation of receiving a transport capable of decoding them. I am very frustrated trying to figure out how to determine if a given DVD disc has a conventional stereo mix or not. Out of the 3 discs I have now purchased I don't know if one of them has pure stereo information. The 3 discs I have purchased are
Aaron Neville: Devotion
Aaron Neville: Believe
Ken Boothe: Crying Over YouAll 3 of these are from Silverline Records and that appears (from searching the archives) to be at least part of the problem. On the packaging they list these as having the following special features
24 bit/96 kHz DVD-A and 24 bit/48 kHz Dolby Digital 5.1 options
Stunning 5.1 surround sound
Liner notes
Artist photos
Plays on ALL DVD playersMy question is does this tell me ANYTHING useful? Do I have a stereo version? If not, would I be better off purchasing the Redbook version of these titles?
I find equipping a 2 channel system to be all the challenge I care to tackle considering my perfectionist tendencies. Searching the archives here at AA I can not believe what an absolutely confusing mess the DVD-A people have made of this format.
To provide some constructive criticism, I would like to suggest a new format to be called DVD-Music that would contain a stereo only mix. OK, perhaps this is a bit selfish. Maybe it could have multi-channel information as well. The DVD-A standard (just joking of course) could stay and be recycled to stand for DVD-Advanced and record companies could be allowed to do anything they want with these (this appears to be what they are currently doing anyway). The current DVD-A titles would become collectors items and sell on eBay for thousands 10 or 20 years down the road.
I am at least more than half serious about the issues I have mentioned, so please, don't make any accusations about trolling.
P.S. I really like my DVD-M idea, can I get some kind of trademark or copyright protection for the term and idea?
Follow Ups:
That's precisely what DVD-Audio is supposed to be: DVD for audio, without the need for video content required in the DVD specs. Perhaps they could rename it DVD-M, but I doubt it.The stereo tracks are not an obligation in the DVD-A specs, and it is left to the author to decide what should be included on a DVD-A disc. The specs specify the need for stereo downmixing compatibility for the MCH tracks.
Having said that, Silverline is the only company currently not releasing titles with a stereo track. All other publishers include a "true" stereo version in their titles: in the DVD-A section (PCM 24/96) and on the DVD-V section (DD 2.0). A number of publishers are using the PCM 24/96 for both the DVD-A and the DVD-V section.
I do not have the Aaron Neville titles, so I don't know if they include a stereo section. They should.
As I'm sure you know, stereo tracks authored in a DVD-A can include much higher resolution (24/192), although there are still very few titles available. When you try one of those, you will notice the difference. This is the highest resolution for audio available today.
You should definitely investigate other labels in addition to Silverline.
There's a good list of reference recordings on www.dvd-a.dkBest
Eric
if a given DVD-A title outputs downmix stereo instead of dedicated track? Again, I have no plans for multi-channel system.
.
Eric, you mentioned: "A number of publishers are using the PCM 24/96 for both the DVD-A and the DVD-V section."Do you know of a list of these publishers? I would love these discs since I can now send DVD-V to my external DAC, and it sounds fantastic at 24/96...
Is there a way to tell from the DVD-A jacket which ones have PCM 24/96 on the DVD-V section?
Yes, there are several sources of good 24/96, and AIX is the first to come to mind. You also have the option to check the 24/96 DADs from Chesky, which are in essence music DVD-Vs. The difference between a 24/96 DAD and a DVD-A with a 24/96 PCM track is only a technical one.If you plan to use your DAC, I think your problem will be finding a player that will not downconvert the 96k to 48k through the digital output. I think such a player exists, but I can't find any reference.
Best
My cheapie Sony NS400D will 24/96 (if I tell it to via the menu), and so will my Pioneer DV-37. Did I just get lucky with those two players, or is it really difficult to find players that do this?I do have some Classic 24/96 DAD's... Wonderful! I wish they would keep making them :(
Most players have a downconvert option on/off, but when you really check the incoming signal through other equipment (eg DAC), the digital output is at 48k.I hope yours are 96k digital out, that would be a good starting point.
(also, it would be quite ironic that a Sony DVD player outputs PCM out in higher resolution than some DVD-A players :)Best
The Delius locks at 24/96 when I feed through 24/96 material from the Sony DVD... 24/48 when I feed 24/48. So this shows it works as intended :)Guess I'm lucky!
Most Denons will output 24/96, and the Pioneer Elite models as well. This is of course only on non-copy protected material.. If it's copy protected I only get 16/48.
"If you plan to use your DAC, I think your problem will be finding a player that will not downconvert the 96k to 48k through the digital output. I think such a player exists, but I can't find any reference."Right. You need a player that'll pass 96/24 on its S/P-DIF output, but even then there's a problem. The 96/24 on DVD-Video isn't usually flagged as copy protected, but 96/24 on DVD-Audio, even if it's in the DVD-Video zone often is.
For example, my Meridian DVD-Video player can pass 96/24 from Chesky and Classic's DAD discs (essentially DVD-Video) but can't pass the 96/24 from any of EMI's DVD-Audio discs, even though it's in the DVD-Video zone.
I do have 2 DVD-V players that will pass a 24/96 signal, but I haven't tried any DVD-A discs yet. That's a HUGE bummer that they are copy protected even on their DVD-V section :(
Check this site by clicking on the record label names: http://www.greatgig.com/quad/dvd-a-list.html
nt
"Having said that, Silverline is the only company currently not releasing titles with a stereo track."It depends; if they own the rights to the artists their DVD-A discs have a two-channel track (Silverline release CDs too). Otherwise another label owns the two-channel. This is covered at the link below.
Other labels don't always include stereo versions either, there are some Warner Bros. disc that rely on a downmix.
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