Stunning sounds from DVD dream machine

Stunning sounds from DVD dream machine

Gatot Tio, Contributor, Jakarta

Many commoners might frown on the amazing price of a DVD audio
player. A Sony player, for instance, at the popular Mangga Dua
electronics shopping area in Jakarta is worth US$1,000 or
approximately Rp 9.8 million, which is somewhat similar to the
price of a large TV set of a top brand.

But for audio buffs, the sound quality of a DVD audio player
is worth the price. Its audio resolution is much better than
those of CD or DVD video players thanks to the use of a
multichannel storing system called MLP, or meridian lossless
packing.

Playing the key role in the player, MLP's compression method
does not discard any audio data during the encoding and decoding
processes. That's why listeners get all the music!

Besides, MLP can store approximately two hours of two-channel
24-bit/192kHz audio, or six channels of 24-bit/96kHz audio - all
on one DVD. Both of these configurations are also higher in
resolution than the 16-bit word length and 44.1kHz sampling
frequency of stereo CDs.

With this capability inside the player, you can imagine how
sweet, smooth and natural any sounds coming from the DVD audio
player will be. For many, it's a dream machine!

Please remember that DVD audio is not DVD video (DVD-V or DVD
film) because it is an audio-only format and is an extension of
the DVD format - similar to what S-VHS is to VHS.

A DVD-A disc may contain still pictures and often include
menus to navigate through the various tracks on the discs. They
may even have limited video footage. However, because of its
high-resolution, the audio tracks take much of the storage
capacity of the disc, so there is little room left to store high-
quality video material.

This is why there are no movies on DVD that have DVD-A
soundtracks.

How about DVD audio compatibility? Of course, a DVD-A disc is
compatible with a DVD-A-capable player. But these discs are not
playable on CD players, laserdisc players or any other optical-
disc player that was not specifically designed to play them. A
DVD-A player will play standard DVDs (DVD video) and CDs. But,
DVD-A discs may or may not playback in a standard DVD-V player,
depending on how it has been recorded. Many DVD-A discs include
optional Dolby Digital and DTS audio tracks that make them
compatible with standard DVD-V players.

For example, a disc called Toy Matinee is a DVD-Audio disc
which features both DTS 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0 audio tracks in
addition to the DVD-A tracks, making it playable on DVD-V
players.

And some DVD-A players can play CD-Rs and CD-RWs and sometimes
even VCDs, and MP3-encoded CDs. The JVC XV-SA75GD for example -
is a similar DVD-A player but plays both DVD-V and DVD-A discs.
The other is XV-S65GD which can only play DVD-V discs. Both types
can play CDs and CD-Rs.

DVD-A players will only output their multichannel DVD-A tracks
via their analog outputs. But, the high-resolution multichannel
digital signal is not output by the DVD-A player. Thus, unlike
Dolby Digital and DTS, you cannot use a single digital cable and
rely on your receiver or processor to decode the DVD-A signal.

Instead, you must rely on the DVD-A player's internal decoding
and use six RCA-type cables to connect the DVD-A player to the
six-channel analog inputs of your receiver or processor. That's
what makes this player very popular nowadays.

Unfortunately, consumers particularly those in Indonesia still
face difficulties in purchasing DVD audio software.

It seems that recording companies are reluctant to enter the
DVD sector.