8 Mar
2005
8 Mar
'05
9:54 a.m.
Jens M Andreasen wrote:
On Tue, 2005-03-08 at 11:22 +0000, Dave Chapman wrote:
The problem with DVD-Audio is not so much the total playing time (dual
layer disks may be able to help there) but it is the 9.6Mbit/s maximum
bandwidth. 6 channels of 24-bit/96KHz uncompressed PCM is 13.842Mbit/s
which is why MLP is compulsory in that case.
I don't think that FLAC-on-DVD-Audio is any more or less likely to be
supported by hardware manufacturers than a completely new format.
Existing DVD-Audio players already support "unofficial" formats such as
MP3/JPEG CDs, DivX etc. So unless there is a contractual clause
specifically for "high resolution audio", the precedent has already been
set.
I'm not sure what you mean by userfriendly.
If you remove MLP and the
encryption, then I would consider DVD-Audio as havng the potential to be
very user-friendly. There is no need to create a new format - just
"open" an existing one.
The need for a new format is the obvious advantage of FLAC compression.
On the other hand, iff the data fits on a single CD (oh wait, DVD) then
there is no need. Excuse me my ignorance, but:
Is the spec open enough to create n-channel masters?
If you mean do I understand the spec enough to author such disks, then
the answer is almost a yes. The only DVD-Audio player I own at the
moment is stereo-only, so I haven't investigated 6-channel authoring
very much. But I have looked at it briefly, and I don't think 6
channels will be any harder than 2 channels.
Are there consumer
players in existence with more than two channels out? (and here I do not
mean the 5:1 audio from DVD movies.)
Yes, most DVD-Audio capable players have 6 analogue outputs. It's only
the very low-end ones which only support stereo output.
Unsurprisingly, DVD-Audio players also have crippled digital outputs to
prevent copying (and to prevent the use of external DACs - unless your
DAC has the required encrypted digital connections).
Dave.