[linux-audio-dev] Re: Any interest in DVD-Audio?

[Jens M Andreasen]

On Mon, 2005-03-07 at 22:17 +0100, Fons Adriaensen wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 07, 2005 at 09:32:16PM +0100, Jens M Andreasen wrote:
> 
> > Isn't this reading the spec upside down? As I understand it, it is the
> > disc that must follow the spec in order to be playable in a DVD-A
> > player. A manufacturer can produce a combined CD/RW/DVD+-[A-Z]/credit
> > card/FLAC toaster if there is a market for such a product.
> 
> I'm not so sure about that. Every manufacturer would need a license 
> from the DVD consortium, and there will be conditions attached.
> 

... and we don't know these conditions, so here we have reached a dead
end!

> The perverse thing is that while other industries are being forced
> to split up their activities (e.g. infrastructure and services in
> telecomm) in order to enable competition, the music industry and
> consumer equipment manufacturers are now one and the same. Only a
> few big ones remain, and nobody seems to see any harm in that.
> 

Now it is me being not so sure about this!

While googling around for FLAC, I find this information from, of all
creatures, Metallicas home-site:

  http://www.livemetallica.com/faq.asp#faq3a

  * Extract your FLAC files to WAV; simply drag all your FLAC
    files onto the FLAC front-end software and click the DECODE
    button. 
  * Drag the WAV files onto your favorite CD burning software.
    ...
    

So the artists simply do not depend on the major labels for distribution
anymore. The economi behind can be served by pay-pal, your local bank or
russian maffia (whoever you trust the most), my main point being that
the gap, from a well produced demo to a record receiving airplay and
international recognition, is reduced to being within the realms of a
bedroom-studio enterprise. Talent and/or good marketing considered an
advantage of course ...


> But even that small number of major companies can't always agree.
> For example, the only reason why such an abomination as SACD exists
> is because Sony is boycoting DVD-A, not for any technical merits
> the marketdroids have invented. In fact the future of DVD-A looks
> quite insecure ATM.

Very few people believe DVD-A (and friends) is a 'must' for consumers. I
welcome the higher sample rate, and for an intermediate format 24bit is
most convenient. To take advantage of 24bit dynamics at home, without
annoying the neighbours, is near impossible though. 


We are drifting away here, but Dave Chapmans original considerations
still makes sense in the context of a theater or otherwise acoustically
controlled environment. The most likely outcome is that DVD-A/SACD will
be abondoned completely, and replaced with userfriendly formats.



-- 

   (
    )
  c[]  //  Jens M Andreasen