#1003446 - 08/04/06 04:31 AM
HD DVD or Blu Ray for M/C Audio?
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Neil Wilkes
Gold Member
Registered: 07/06/02
Posts: 514
Loc: London, UK
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I'm going to do something I have always wanted to avoid here, and open up a discussion on the relative merits of the new Blue Laser formats for our little niche - multichannel audio.
With the array of different codecs & standards available, what one of these 2 formats - if either - will our readership be either diving headlong into or investigating?
Are any of us even slightly bothered?
What do you all think of the formats that have been chosen for Audio in each one - listed below (But doubtless subject to change)
So let’s have a look at both specs:
HD DVD mandatory decoders
1) Dolby Digital
2) Dolby Digital Plus
3) Dolby TrueHD - 2-channel
(The restriction on 2-channel is on lossless, not just TrueHD. So if a player does not support multi-channel lossless that means any codec, no TrueHD multi-channel lossless decoding and no DTS HD multi-channel lossless decoding. The 2-channel limit is intended to be for small portable players or really cheap players. Most if not all future HD DVD players will have multi-channel lossless.)
4) DTS (which would include their standard DTS ES or 96/24 & DTS-HD, although not DTS-HD Lossless)
5) MPEG audio
6) multi-channel PCM
HD DVD optional decoders
1) DTS HD lossless
Note: When they say that DTS HD is mandatory on HD DVD, it only means that a DTS HD stream can be put on the disc and any player can extract the standard DTS core. There is no mandatory requirement that DTS HD Lossless be decoded (2-channel or multi-channel). DTS HD lossless decoding is optional. However, if a player can decode Dolby True HD Lossless, it will certainly be DTS-HD Lossless capable as well.
Blu-ray Disc mandatory decoders
1) Dolby Digital (up to 640kbps)
2) DTS-HD (which would include their standard DTS ES or 96/24 & DTS-HD, although not DTS-HD Lossless)
Blu-ray Disc optional decoders
1) Dolby Digital Plus
2) Dolby TrueHD
3) DTS HD lossless
4) PCM up to 8-channels
Note: When they say that DTS HD / Dolby TrueHD / Dolby Digital Plus are mandatory on Blu-ray Disc it means that these streams can be put on the disc and any player can extract the standard DTS or Dolby Digital cores for decoding. There is no mandatory requirement that DTS HD Lossless, Dolby TrueHD or Dolby Digital Plus be decoded.
An interesting list, where it would appear that the DTS-HD is the better way forward, as one stream does all formats & all quality.
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#1003447 - 10/21/06 08:11 AM
Re: HD DVD or Blu Ray for M/C Audio?
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Keyplayer
Senior Member
Registered: 11/19/01
Posts: 410
Loc: Maryland, USA
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Wow, it's like a "Ghost Town" around here! 5 years ago this BB was thriving. Where did everybody go?
I'd say that, based on the ridiculously diminished number of posts on this page, the list of pros and cons between the two technologies is pretty much irrelevant. For all the hype and even all the default home theater systems flooding the market (have you actually tried to purchase a really good stereo system lately? You can't. they don't make them anymore.), the end market appears to be totally apethetic to surround sound.
I've been working a lot more on surround projects in my area of late, not because I'm getting a lot of orders, but because I'm trying to drum up more work. So I've been putting together a sort of "sampler" of old stereo projects to pitch to former clients to see if they'll go for it. Subsequently, I'm now doing a lot more research on the tools of our trade, techniques, marketing reports and this very thread that you've started here.
Results? I'm having dificulty finding out the most basic information on the most basic gear! I'm starting to feel like an archeologist, looking for some lost art instead of studying a cutting edge technolgy. Surround Professional magazine kept getting smaller and smaller and then it was gone. Everybody's going ITB, so getting answers on 5.1 mixing desks is a straight up monologue. I see all the articles on the massive PTHD-60 studios in Mix magazine. But there's seldom more than one or two lines saying that they do 5.1 projects (as opposed to the millions of how to get the best results out of your stereo mixes).
What happened? Where is everybody?
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#1003448 - 10/21/06 10:06 AM
Re: HD DVD or Blu Ray for M/C Audio?
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Neil Wilkes
Gold Member
Registered: 07/06/02
Posts: 514
Loc: London, UK
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I honestly don't know!
I am certain it is not as dead as a lot of folks will try to make out, as we have been flat out all year, with not a single stereo project done apart from a couple of high budget demos.
Everything else has been 5.1 and DVD-Audio here.
As far as this subject goes, it looks more & more likely as if neither of these formats (Blu Ray & HD DVD) will ever bother catering to our market.
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