1.12 What about DVD-Audio or Music DVD?
Description
This article is from the DVD Formats FAQ, by jtfrog@usa.net (Jim Taylor) with numerous contributions by others.
1.12 What about DVD-Audio or Music DVD?
When DVD was released in 1996 there was no DVD-Audio format, although the
audio capabilities of DVD-Video far surpassed CD. The DVD Forum sought
additional input from the music industry before defining the DVD-Audio
format. A draft standard was released by the DVD Forum's Working Group 4
(WG4) in January 1998, and version 0.9 was released in July. The final
DVD-Audio 1.0 specification (minus copy protection) was approved in
February 1999 and released in March. DVD-Audio products will show up in mid
2000. The delay is in part caused by the slow process of selecting copy
protection features (encryption and watermarking), with complications
introduced by the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI). Proposals from
Aris, Blue Spike, Cognicity, IBM, and Solana were evaluated by major music
companies in conjunction with the 4C Entity, comprising IBM, Intel,
Matsushita, and Toshiba. Aris and Solana merged to form a new company
called Verance, whose technology was chosen in August (?) 1999. (In
November 1999, Verance watermarking was also selected for SDMI.) The
scheduled October release was delayed until mid 2000, ostensibly because of
concerns caused by the CSS crack (see 1.11), but also because the hardware
wasn't quite ready, production tools aren't up to snuff, and there is
lackluster support from music labels.
Matsushita's Panasonic and Technics universal DVD-Audio/DVD-Video players
will be available in mid 2000 and will cost $700 to $1,200. Yamaha may also
release DVD-Audio players at the same time.
In the meantime, the DVD-Video standard includes surround sound audio and
better-than-CD audio (see 3.6.2).
DVD-Audio is a separate format from DVD-Video. DVD-Audio discs can be
designed to work in DVD-Video players, but it's possible to make a
DVD-Audio disc that won't play at all in a DVD-Video player, since the
DVD-Audio specification includes new formats and features, with content
stored in a separate "DVD-Audio zone" on the disc (the AUDIO_TS directory)
that DVD-Video players never look at. New DVD-Audio players are needed, or
new "universal players" that can play both DVD-Video and DVD-Audio discs.
Plea to producers: Universal players won't be available for some time, but
you can make universal discs today. With a small amount of effort, all
DVD-Audio discs can be made to work on all DVD players by including a Dolby
Digital version of the audio in the DVD-Video zone.
Plea to DVD-Audio authoring system developers: Make your software do this
by default or strongly recommend this option during authoring.
DVD-Audio (and universal) players will work with existing receivers. They
output PCM and Dolby Digital, and some will support the optional DTS and
DSD formats. However, most current receivers can't decode the
high-definition PCM audio (see 3.6.1 for details), and even if they could
it can't be carried on standard digital audio connections. DVD-Audio
players with high-end digital-to-analog converters (DACs) can only be
hooked up to receivers with two-channel or 6-channel analog inputs, but
some quality will be lost if the receiver converts back to digital for
processing. Future receivers with improved digital connections such as IEEE
1394 (FireWire) will be required to use the full digital resolution of
DVD-Audio.
DVD audio is copyright protected by an embedding signalling or digital
watermark feature. This uses signal processing technology to apply a
digital signature and optional encryption keys to the audio in the form of
supposedly inaudible noise so that new equipment will recognize copied
audio and refuse to play it. Audiophiles claim this degrades the audio, but
extensive test performed by the 4C indicate that even golden-eared
listeners can't detect the watermarking noise.
Sony and Philips have developed a competing Super Audio CD format. (See
3.6.1 for details.) SACD provides "legacy" discs that have two layers, one
that plays in existing CD players, plus a high-density layer for DVD-Audio
players. Ironically, initial price for these dual-layer discs will be
higher than for a standard CD plus a standard DVD. Sony released version
0.9 of the SACD spec in April 1998, the final version appeared in April (?)
1999. SACD technology is available to existing Sony/Philips CD licensees at
no additional cost. Pioneer, which released the first DVD-Audio players in
Japan at the end of 1999, included SACD support in their DVD-Audio players.
If other manufacturers follow suit, the entire SACD vs. DVD-Audio standards
debate will be moot, since DVD-Audio players will play both types of discs.
Sony released an SACD player in Japan in May 1999 at the tear-inducing
price of $5,000. The player was released in limited quantities in the U.S.
at the end of 1999. Initial SACD releases are mixed in stereo, not
multichannel. A number of studios have announced that they will release
SACD titles by the end of 1999: Audioquest (2), DMP (5), Mobile Fidelity
Labs, Sony (40), Telarc (12), Water Lily Acoustics (2).
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