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April 18th 2002. "What exactly is DVD-A?"

Ever since the initial concept formed there has been seemingly endless confusion
surrounding (sorry!) the DVD-Audio format. How many channels? What is MLP?
What sampling/bit rates, What speakers and where? etc etc...
There are already some excellent articles on many aspects of DVD-A to be found both on
the 'net and in the HI-FI press. None however covers all the bases at once. That would be a
rather serious undertaking. There is in truth a lot to cover.

One notable piece that covers a hell of a lot come from those wonderful folks at
"Secrets of Home Theater & High Fidelity".
Part 6 of their "DVD Benchmark" is solely focused on DVD-A. It is still work in progress
according to Stacey Spears of S.H.T.H.F. She says she considers it a .9 article!
In that case I can't wait to see the final version! It is a truely excellent piece of work!
Along with a thorough explaination of the basics there is also a very good "sub-article" on
MLP as well as the most comprehensive coverage (sorry again!) of the various Speaker
configurations preferred by several of the independant labels.

The entire article is very well presented with excellent graphics. Do check it out especially if
you feel like posting your feelings about DVD-A on "that" message board.
Denis Powell : April 18th 2002.

April 3rd 2002. "Pioneers"

There is a group of brave people out there in a small number of independent labels doing
truly pioneering work with DVD-A.
They do not have major label budgets or back catalogues.
They are however releasing high quality original and remastered recordings at a healthy
rate that seems disproportionate to their size.

HODIE have nine genuine 192/24/2 + 96/24/6 DVD-A titles.

AIX have four genuine 96/24/5.1 discs, a fifth next month, five more in the coming two or
three months as well as their excellent DVD-A /DVD-V Hi-Res audio sampler.

TACET who release their eighth DVD-A title this month, have been receiving excellent
reaction to their discs.

Newcomers HI-RES MUSIC have released seven 96/24/2 discs (remastered from
analogue) with three more discs later this month

NISHIMURA, MDG, EWE, AMERICAN GRAMAPHONE and SURROUNDED BY
between them contribute about twenty two DVD-A titles.

There are also a number of labels with a single DVD-A release, Bad Dog Records,
Hollywood Records, Enja, Peregrina, Mode, Starkland, and Audionet.

Established specialist labels Chesky, Telarc and Naxos have seven titles between them.

On a somewhat larger scale are DTS and the 5.1 Entertainment Group.
Both have already released significant numbers of DVD-A titles.
DTS are rapidly approaching twenty while 5.1 are promising over one hundred titles in the
coming year on top of the fifty three titles they have already released.

If you added the resources of all the labels mentioned above together you still wouldn't have
an operation the equivalent of any one of the four "MAJOR LABELS".

Between them however these "PIONEERS" have released more DVD-A discs than the four
major labels combined. This is another very poor showing from the majors especially when
you consider the fiscal and musical resources they have at their disposal!

Then there is the fact that most of their releases to date have been remastered titles that we
have already purchased several times on other formats. Its not as if they are trying to recoup
the recording costs of "Rumours" or "Hotel California"!

For the reasons outlined above (and more) these enterprising independents deserve a
hearty round of applause. They have actually bitten the bullet and gotten on with recording,
mixing, mastering and releasing DVD-Audio discs instead of engaging in what looks like
"Trial Marketing" or should I say "Trial by Marketing" by the Majors.

More than applause these independent labels need support! My next Disc purchase is not
going to a reissue of something I already own. No sir! I am going to buy something recorded
and mixed specifically for DVD-A from someone who actually cares about it!

Denis Powell : April 3rd 2002.

April 3rd 2002. "Other News".

It is not easy trying to keep a DVD-Audio news page interesting!
Release numbers are growing but they still aren't regular enough to require more than an
occasional relatively brief update to stay current.
Hardware news is even less frequent. Most often you have to search pretty hard to find any
news at all.

The lack of software is a bit of a running before walking situation. The DVD-A format was
launched on a pretty much unsuspecting recording industry.
Twenty months after the DVD-A format launch there are still far more remasters than original
recordings in the 180 - 200 titles on release worldwide.
The primary reason for this is that equipment capable of recording high resolution PCM is
still relatively uncommon.

The past year has seen a significant increase in the number of 192/24 and 96/24
recording, mixing and authoring solutions available at increasingly affordable cost.
These products are now appearing in pro, semi pro and home recording setups.
Hence more music is being recorded, mixed etc. at these higher sample / bit rates.

This is essential for all who have a hungry DVD-A player, starved of those choice silver slices of musical and sonic nirvana that it so richly deserves!

For this reason in the coming weeks I am going to post a few pieces on some of the more interesting pro audio products encountered while scouring the web for DVD-A tidbits.

Denis Powell : April 3rd 2002.

March 16 2002 : Delays.
Delays seem to be the norm when it comes to DVD-Audio releases.
Irritating though they are, a delay is preferable to a lesser product.
AIX delayed the release of all their announced titles in order that they could include Stereo
Mixes on all their releases. Good Move!
Night at the Opera has also been delayed for what seem very good reasons.
If the finished product is better for it, then I don't mind.

I do wish someone had paid more attention to the end of the DVD-A 96/24 surround
version of "Life in the Fast Lane" on Hotel California.
Something is definitely wrong, and I am not alone in thinking this.
There is some form of clipping/overload going on in the closing moments of the song.
I have read various explainations for it. Whatever the reason, It is unacceptable if it could
have been avoided. I would have preferred a perfect disc a month or two later.
Instead what I have is a generally excellent sounding disc that is badly let down by 30 or 40
seconds of possibly easily avoidable "bad sound".

As to what has become of delayed titles such as "Moondance", "Tutu" and "Harvest"?
I wish I knew but I don't.
Maybe the next newsletter from DVD-AUDIOPREVIEW will shed some light on the situation.
I wouldn't hold my breath though, either for the next newsletter or news of the three titles
mentioned above.

Denis Powell : March 16th 2002.

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