#1003477 - 11/16/06 06:25 AM
Banner Month for High Rez Surround!
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Neil Wilkes
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Registered: 07/06/02
Posts: 514
Loc: London, UK
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What a difference a month can make!
November 2006 is seeing the long-awaited release of no less than 3 major titles, all in glorious 24/96 5.1 DVD-Audio format.
We have the following:
1 - The Beatles "Love" album.
2 - The Doors 6 album Boxed Set, and I suspect individual releases as well.
3 - David Crosby "IICORMN" (If I Could Only Remember My Name)
(Not forgetting a few on SACD/DTS 96/24 as well, with the next 3 in the remaster & remix series by Depeche Mode. Now, I'm not an SACD fan but the mixes here are really quite superbly executed. The DVD with the pack uses 24/96 DTS, 5.1 Dolby Digital and PCM stereo as well, and there are bonus tracks & features all over the place. Great Value)
Lets hope that the Beatles disc really sells well - it's already at #37 in Amazon, and that is on a pre-order only until next week. Maybe if it does sell, we will see more high profile 5.1 DVD-A/V releases start to happen.
DVD-A/V is the universal format we have all been waiting for.....
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#1003478 - 11/17/06 09:48 AM
Re: Banner Month for High Rez Surround!
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KMO
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Registered: 11/17/06
Posts: 5
Loc: Cambridge, England
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I hope so. I've only just started looking into DVD-Audio and SACD in the last month or two, and I'm looking to upgrade my player and receiver.
It was actually prompted by me stumbling across Pink's I'm Not Dead on DualDisc this summer (DVD-V with 384kbps Dolby Digital - plugh). I'd not been paying attention to new audio formats, and had never heard of DualDisc. I was impressed enough with that surround mix to go and see what was up with DVD-Audio and SACD these days.
When I purchased my first and current DVD player (Sony DVP-S725) in 1999, they hadn't quite arrived yet - I was aware they were coming but affordable and/or universal players weren't around yet, and I was waiting for them to sort out a proper interconnect - it seemed obvious to me that they wouldn't take off until they'd sorted out a simple digital connection.
Looking now, we have HDMI 1.2 or i.Link to send DVD-Audio and SACD digitally, plus the propietary alternatives. And universal players are affordable, and surround sound kits in a box are increasingly ubiquitous. So it seemed obvious to me that the equipment was now ready for surround music to hit the big time.
But I was flabbergasted to see that as far as the record companies are concerned DVD-Audio and SACD have apparently come and (almost) gone since my last player purchase. I hadn't been paying attention, so assumed they were still bubbling along. Just as the hardware is ready, and people are beginning to install HDMI and start mucking around with multichannel interconnects for HD DVD players, the supply of discs has almost dried up!!! Even DualDisc may be vanishing. 
Madness. 
The surround catalogue is pretty dire as far as I'm concerned, but there have been some releases in the last couple of years I'd fancy, like Goldfrapp, Beyoncé and Keane. But looking at the trends it seems likely their next albums might be back in stereo only. Shudder.
Hopefully the new Beatles disc may kick things off again.
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#1003479 - 11/18/06 05:23 AM
Re: Banner Month for High Rez Surround!
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Neil Wilkes
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Registered: 07/06/02
Posts: 514
Loc: London, UK
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Hopefully the new Beatles disc may kick things off again.
You may also wish to check out Porcupine Tree - see
http://www.swhq.co.uk
for details on what is available. They currently have 3 DVD-A discs available, with another 2 planned already for early next year. In addition, Steven Wilson also has various other projects, including the Dark Ambient "Bass Communion" and yet another forthcoming re-issue on CD/DVD-A of "No-Man". All very good.
DVD-A should have been properly marketed - but this just never happened for reasons too bizarre for words - at least one of the major record store chains did not even put titles out in the racks because "They did not know where to put them" (If it had been yet another games console they would have found room) and one of the worst things I ever heard of - and it happened to me, so this is not hearsay - was when I was out looking for my first DVD-A player. I was specifically looking for the 6 analogue outputs, as at the time there was no way to output 6 channels of MLP through a digital connection. I was told by the man in the shop that - and I quote - "You don't want to buy that one. This one is much better as it has Dolby Digital built in". Horrified, I tried to explain why Dobly Dirgital wasa not as good as High Resolution, but he would not have it, insisting that DD was better "Because it was digital".
Such appalling ignorance is unbelievable!
DVD-A/V is the ideal "universal" format we have all been looking for, as a dual layer (possibly even a double sided DVD18 disc) will play - if correctly authored - on every DVD player sold. All you need to do is include not only High Resolution in 5.1 and 2.0, but also a Video_TS with LPCM, DD and DTS - bingo, and everyone is happy.
Red Book compatibility? Simple - release the thing as a CD/DVD double pack.
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#1003480 - 11/21/06 05:00 PM
Re: Banner Month for High Rez Surround!
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Sunbreak Music
Senior Member
Registered: 03/15/06
Posts: 138
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Yep--Borders (one of our big retailers in the states) has them "mixed in" with the rest of the discs.
That's helpful :rolleyes:
_________________________
Cass Anawaty, Chief Engineer Sunbreak Music, LLC High Resolution Stereo and Surround Mastering http://www.sunbreakmusic.com
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