What is the main purpose of DVD-Audio format?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by DEG, May 9, 2013.

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  1. Danglerb

    Danglerb Forum Resident

    Location:
    Orange, CA, USA
    When a clown shows up at your door you may assume you will be entertained, but the clown expects to get paid. DVDA and SACD fought to see which proprietary format and its parent companies host of related patents would be valuable enough to license to other companies. Both formats generally have failed commercially, but they pushed through HDMI and forced the replacement of millions of otherwise fine AV systems. DVI was working fine on computers, so we had no real need for any new format. A few more years and little will work without HDMI and DRM end to end.
     
  2. cdash99

    cdash99 Senior Member

    Location:
    Mass

    Apple won though, in fairness, any 'winner' will still have only a small piece of the market. From a convenience/usage standpoint, I was hoping that DVD-A would have prevailed due to greater availability for auto use. Few if any SACD players for cars.
     
  3. Danglerb

    Danglerb Forum Resident

    Location:
    Orange, CA, USA
    Nothing fancy in any of my cars right now, stereo, mp3, usb, but seems like it would be easy with DVDA at least to rip to DTS for the car.
     
  4. Jim N.

    Jim N. Just another day in what was once Paradise...

    Location:
    So Cal
    It's what I use to burn hi rez tracks to disk. I've used Wavelab for many years.

    I have found a subtle improvement when ripping and upconverting 16/44 to 24/88.2 and then burning to DVD-A. You can get over 2 hours of 24/88 on a DVD and about 72 minutes of 24/176.

    A useful format for those of us still spinning discs.
     
  5. DVD players normally output at 48 khz sample rate. MD optical in requires a 44 khz sample rate (which CD players output) . You can record from the DVD player using the analog outputs.
     
  6. Chris_G

    Chris_G Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Okay thanks for explaining that to me. Does the analog output automatically get downmixed to 44.1khz?
     
  7. Robin L

    Robin L Musical Omnivore

    Location:
    Fresno, California
    What is the main purpose of DVD-Audio format?



    Undermining the already established SACD format.
     
  8. Spek

    Spek Well-Known Member

    Location:
    DFW, TX
    Aren't DVD-A (and SACD) targeting a completely different audience than those purchasing MP3 (or more likely purchasing AAC)?
     
  9. Spek

    Spek Well-Known Member

    Location:
    DFW, TX
    No, it's analog. It is a continuous waveform with no samples.

    The MD player will convert the analog to 44.1 kHz digital automatically in the ADC, so nothing to worry about there.
     
  10. More like "converted via analog," but it is automatic, going thru 2 digital/analog converters:
    48 khz > converted to > analog > converted to > 44.1 khz.

    (more clearly explained above by Spek, while I was playing with >'s ) :)
     
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  11. Chris_G

    Chris_G Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    I'm assuming they'll be some loss in sound quality, but I use standard Sony earphones with my MiniDisc player I'm sure it won't be too noticeable..
     
  12. Spek

    Spek Well-Known Member

    Location:
    DFW, TX
    There will be some loss, maybe some added noise, but I would be quite surprised if it were audible, especially on the equipment you're using.

    I've done listening tests before and it was surprisingly hard to A/B/X a file that went through a few A/D/A loops.
     
  13. PNeski@aol.com

    [email protected] Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    more people have HDMI than have audiophile DAC 's that can't handle HDMI
     
  14. Metralla

    Metralla Joined Jan 13, 2002

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    I'm still thinking about what you are saying,
     
  15. Dan C

    Dan C Forum Fotographer

    Location:
    The West
    IMHO they were both never destined to succeed because they didn't offer any real value to mainstream consumers.

    Subtle (debatable) improvement in overall SQ and surround mixes. Plus they were copy protected. This as music delivery was just evolving from physical media and into the computer and portable devices. As for surround, most people can barely be bothered to properly set up and sit between two speakers much less five. Outside the audiophile and enthusiast bubble it all looked like complete nonsense.

    There were some neat DVD-A releases though and I bought several. The Flaming Lips released a mind-blowing package at one point. There's a band that knows how to take advantage of all the groovy multimedia features of DVD-A. Overall though, pointless.

    dan c
     
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  16. BrokenByAudio

    BrokenByAudio Forum Resident

    Subtle? Debatable...? Methinks the gentleman either needs new ears or new gear. I suppose it is possible the only SACDs and DVD-As he's heard were of recordings that did not have good masters to begin with. That'll neuter any recording, regardless of format.
     
  17. Spek

    Spek Well-Known Member

    Location:
    DFW, TX
    I agree completely. Whether or not they improved SQ, there was next to no value proposition for the consumer. It came across as a ploy to get you to re-purchase your music.
     
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  18. Dan C

    Dan C Forum Fotographer

    Location:
    The West
    Meh. My ears are fine thanks for your concern. :rolleyes: I'll play nice and agree that there are 'differences', but even most believers agree that they're subtle.

    You expect the average consumer to walk into a Best Buy and be blown away at the differences between a CD and a DVD-A? Think the average consumer in Best Buy cares to hear a surround remix of 'The Stranger' or a boutique audiophile-approved recording of a chamber piece? No. There's no added value and not enough of an improvement to warrant new gear and repurchasing old music. There was no market for it and it failed, and it would've happened with or without a 'format war'.

    dan c
     
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  19. Spek

    Spek Well-Known Member

    Location:
    DFW, TX
    No need to be insulting … perhaps he has perfectly adequate ears and gear but just doesn't hear much of a difference.
     
    Dan C likes this.
  20. Spek

    Spek Well-Known Member

    Location:
    DFW, TX
    I think you've made a really good point here. There really was very little market for DVD-A or SACD. Consumers were going in the opposite direction toward downloads. Unless someone really wanted a surround mix, why would they bother with DVD-A? I think you're right that it would have died without a format war. I think the same could be said for SACD too.
     
  21. Chris_G

    Chris_G Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    For most people, they don't really care what the sound quality is like, they just want to be able to hear their favorite songs wherever they go, so low MP3 bitrates is "good enough" for the majority, and the audio industry will target this audience.
     
  22. Spek

    Spek Well-Known Member

    Location:
    DFW, TX
    Yep. The fact is, when listening tests have been conducted, there's very little discernible difference between high-bitrate MP3s and CD, and little difference between CD and DVD-A. I'm sure it would be very difficult to convince the average person to invest in a whole new system of physical discs and players.
     
  23. simon-wagstaff

    simon-wagstaff Forum Resident

    All good points. I would have been perfectly happy with stereo 24/96 on dvd. No muss, no fuss. Stereo is how the vast majority of the music I listen to was envisioned by the artist. I listen to very little surround but I can certainly hear the difference between 16/44.1 and 24/96.
     
  24. DreadPikathulhu

    DreadPikathulhu Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    I was a SACD guy back in the day, but the benefit of DVD-A now is that I can easily burn my own discs from high-rez files available on the Internet.
     
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  25. PhilBiker

    PhilBiker sh.tv member number 666

    Location:
    Northern VA, USA
    It's also great for hobbyists who like to play and share old 70's Quadraphonic mixes that would otherwise be impossible to distribute.
     
    DreadPikathulhu likes this.
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