DVD-Audio: while producing DVD-A is no longer a problem, acceptance hasn't happened yet

Post, Oct, 2002 by Mark R. Smith

The buzz surrounding DVD-Audio (DVD-A) is easy to comprehend: it offers high resolution sound. So, while normal CD uses Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) audio at 16-bit, 44.1 KHz resolution, DVD-A supports 24-bit, 192 KHz stereo and 962, 24-bit surround sound using MLP (Meridian Lossless Packing) encoding. For an audiophile, hearing the format in a professionally equipped room sounds like an aural dream realized.

Still, the fledgling format is at a crossroads. It's so new that the Arlington, VA-based Consumer Electronics Association, or CEA (www.ce.org), just started tracking sales of player units, but isn't releasing them yet

Accordingly not only are the offerings from the record companies a relative few popular titles (about 500 to date), the industry has consumers sitting on a fence, wondering whether to plunk their dollars down on a player (which also play Philips Red Book audio CDs). They retail in the $180 to $1,000 range.

That's not to mention competition from other formats, notably Super Audio CD (SACD), Dolby Digital or DTS. But do consumers really want or need superior quality to jam to their fave tunes? Before anyone starts to wonder if DVD-A will become the next Quadraphonic, read on.

OUT OF THE GATE

Not only is the biggest problem with DVD-A the lack of consumers who own players, explains Jim Taylor, president and GM of Sonic's Advanced Technology Group (www.sonic.com) as well as president of the DVD Association (www.dvda.org), but a pure DVD-A won't play in a standard DVD-Video player.

For now, Taylor recommends that interested consumers buy DVD-Audio discs with a DVDVideo component 'Those discs will play the audio from their DVD-Video player today Then, when they upgrade to a DVD-A player, they can play the high-fidelity DVD-Audio tracks."

Encouraging early sales of DVD-Video players are part of the reason for his optimism. "When you realize the number of DVD-Video players already sold as set-top players (CEA reports that 35.4 million set-top units were sold by manufacturers to domestic dealers as of July 2002), then PCs and game consoles like XBox and PlayStation2, it piques your interest. The numbers add up to a market that manufacturers of DVD-A players and discs can't ignore."

Jeff Stabenau, managing director of Blink Digital (www.blinkdigital.com) in NewYork City, seconds that emotion. "Record labels are seeing the importance of DVD-A and are starting to create new bonus DVDs to accompany regular CDs."

He points to the Dave Matthews Band's recent release, via RCA, as proof; Busted Stuff includes an enhanced CD and a bonus DYD. "It provides a way for the record labels to enhance the purchase of CDs while differentiating the packaged CDs from downloadables," he says.

Other groups are also getting into the act. The Rolling Stones new ABKCO Remastered Series was recently released in hybrid form, meaning an SACD layer was on top of a PCM layer and the CDs can be played on Red Book CD as well as SACD players. It was mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering in Maine using the Sony Sonoma.

"The record industry is proceeding down a path that will lead to the acceptance and mass market of DVD-A," he says, noting that Blink Digital also authored a DVD for The Strokes recently. "If you take a product like Busted Stuff and have music on one disc and DVD on another, there's value in that, plus the high resolution audio and built-in copy protection that isn't offered by existing music CD technology. "As soon as the public and record companies realize that this is a good idea," Stabenau concludes, "the logical next step will be to inevitably move toward DVD-A as the medium of choice."

THE COMPETITION

But Randolph Hudson, CEO at Broadness (www.broadness.com) in NewYork City and board member with the DVD Association/NY, took another tack. "No one is talking about MP3s anymore." Hudson states, "but [they are talking about] surround and how good the sound quality is with DVD-A and DTS."

While noting the reasons to put an ear on DVD-Audio and SACD, Hudson thinks DTS is leading the race, since it provides for media "that can be enjoyed as near audiophile experiences on 5.1 consumer systems."

Hudson explains that his company was recently engaged by NYC's Whitney Museum of American Art to specify a DVD system for their biennial. A specially designed 5.1 room was part of the exhibit, which featured composers and artists like Meredith Monk and Marianne Amacher, who worked with John Cage and Stockhausen. Also included were ambient DJs Gregor Asch and Marina Rosenfeld, as well as a 5.1 recording captured from the 92nd floor of the World Trade Center during Hurricane Floyd in '99.

This use was new, Hudson says. "When people look at surround for DVD-Video, you have Dolby and DTS as competing formats. But DTS sounds very close to MLP, and the consensus is growing that DTS may be the format that allows high quality, audiophile surround assets to be available to DVD-Audio systems, as well as DVD-Video players that can play DTS. And do note that the MLP, DVD-A and SACD formats do not support bass management among other features."