http://www.highfidelityreview.com/news/news.asp?newsnumber=12004614 The DVD Forum has at long last officially approved DualDisc for use. This is almost certainly the reason that Philips have become DVD-A/MLP licensees. Now they can really do themselves some good.
Okay, the DualDisc is a cool idea, combining CD and DVD audio, but they are trying to rival SACD. This makes me laugh. DVD Audio samples at 192,000 times per second. SACD samples at 1.44 million times per second. The quality is SO close to a 2" analog studio recording that you can't get a digital output of it - only analog. So SACD FAR exceeds DualDisc, but hey, beta was better quality than VHS, and look who won.
Be serious! DVD-A is at 24 bit, SACD is at 1 bit. The reason it has to sample so high is to hide all the noise created. Also, you cannot output DVD-A multichannel in digital at 24/96 either. Both of them are streets ahead of Analogue 2" tape, with it's 60dB noisefloor. Go back & learn the basics.
I've been studying to get my audio enginnering degree, so i AM learning the basics. but I've listened to SACD and DVD audio, and SACD sounds so much better. And don't be so quick to ridicule analog, because ALL the DVD's you listen to were recorded on and ANALOG nagra 5 reel to reel, which is still the standard recorder to tv and movies, even with HD. And the majority of studio recordings transferred to digital came from analog as well.
How long have you been in the field then? What I cannot expect you to have me take seriously is the comment - well - all of it really. You started to picj a fight, and get upset when you get one. Why I am telling you to learn your basics is that you need to if you can make statements like your post, and expect it to be taken seriously. Done properly, redbook CD far exceeds 2" tape. In Signal to noise, dynamic range etc. SOME SACD/DVD-A are originally from 2" tape, some are not. SACD is a one bit system, and uses such high Samplerates to hide all the noise that it's system causes. Go find a noise plot for the ultrasonic range. Whilst you are there, you may want to grab hold of an SACD and REALLY listen to it. Then listen again through a 20KHz linear Phase Low Pass Filter. It will sound even better. Because you can no longer hear the noise. Sony/Philips will not tell you this, of course, as they have spent a fortune trying to convince people like you there is something up that high that is needed. THere is NOT. the 96KHz of Multichannel DVD-A uis too much as well. You can get everything with a samplerate of 65=70KHz max. Go ask the AES. Go back to your teacher, and tell him to give you some extra studies on digital Audio theory. You have not been paying attention in your classes.
whoa whoa, take off the boxing gloves, man. I'm not looking for a fight. I was just voicing my opinion. It is clear that you know more about DVD audio and SACD, so I give you credit for that, okay? I HAVE been paying attention in my classes, we just haven't really learned about any hi quality audio yet...I'm more focused on multi track editing (Pro Tools LE). Happy?
Fine & Dandy. Please don't make those sort of comments when you cannot back them up. One of the weays I ended up learning was to believe nothing unless I can hear it for myself. The best approach is to always A/B as extensively as possible, and when comparing different formats try to keep as much of the gear as possible the same. Beg, steal & buy time in your school's studio. Sell body parts if you have to. No matter how much theoretical you do, the only thing that counts is experience. Good luck in your studies.
Very well said. I will stick to talking about what I know, not what I think. I hope in the future I can refer to you for audio questions I might have. Are you familiar with pro tools?
Ask away any time you like. There is nothing wrong with thinking what you like, either. The only way to learn is experience, and trial & error. If you don't err, you just don't learn! As for PT - Not really for me. I took a good long look at it about 5 years ago, didn't like it very much. No stereo tracks, very clumsy, also only ran on Macs then, and I never could get my head around a mac. First machine I ever ran cubase on, and didn't get on with it at all. Ended up going the route below: Nuendo 1.6 & 2.2 Nuendo Surround Edition Nuendo Dolby Digital Encoder Nuendo DTS Encoder RME HDSP 9652 Audio RME 8 I/O 96K ADC/DAC (* channels I/O at up to 96K) 2 Universal Audio UAD-1 fully loaded WaveLab 5 Minnetonka Audio discWelder Chrome 2 SurCode MLP SurCode DTS-DVD SCSI System HDD 7200rpm, 4.5ms seek SCSI Audio HDD 10000 rpm 3.5ms seek EIDE Sample HDD 7200 EIDE DVD Cache HDD 7200 FireWire External 7200 storage Pioneer DVR-107 XP Pro 5 Yamaha BiAmped Active monitors Yamaha Sub Matrox P750 Graphics, 3 19" CRT monitors Adobe EncoreDVD 1.5 Various VSTi/FX. All running on a dual Xeon 3.06 rig with 2 Gb DDR RAM. I am much more into Surround, and find that Nuendo just outperforms ProTools in every respect. By the time you get all the right hardware, It's not a cheaper option either. check out our websites www.opusproductions.com _ _ _X_X_X_X_X_[small]www.opusproductions.com Digital Audio Specialists[/small]
wow you have a nice setup. There actually are stereo and mono tracks in pro tools. The LE version allows up to 32 mono tracks, so stereo ones count as two. The older versions were for macs only (I'm and anti-mac person as well) but their new version 6 works on XP Pro, which is tolerable. I personally don't like XP much either though. I think 2000 is still the best Windows OS there is. But now that premiere pro is XP only as well, I find myself using it more and more. What scsi audio drive do you use that has a 3.5 ms seek time? thats damn impressive! I've been wanting to get some bi-amped speakers for a while, but for now I still rely on my good old JBL L86 studio monitors. Nuendo probably outperforms for what you're using it for, and Pro Tools isn't really designed for surround sound mixing. But using all the plugins on it makes for a damn impressive setup. I just completed my final project, which was re-creating the audio for a 3 minute clip from the show Futurama. I would love to send it to you and see what you think.
I also do a lot of Surround mixing, which makes the power essential. 55 tracks at 32/96 requires a bit of grunt! Also Nuendo has OMF/AES31, all sorts of nice input/import options too, including Premiere Generic EDL - which I am happy to see is back in PremPro 1.5 after being dropped in V1. We use Adobe on the Video edit machines too. I guess I don't use half of what Nuendo can do yet, but what I do use is flawless in use for me. The big thing with any audio software is not so much what app you use, but as always what you do with it. I am not saying my Nuendo is any better than PT/Logic/everything else, just that it suits me better. I got in on version 1.01 and have been there ever since. Version 1.01 did not even support VSTi. The whole thing with Nuendo was that it was always designed with Audio in mind, and the MIDI was an "okay, we'll put some in" kind of thing. That is what I like about it, the Audio always gets priority. I also use a few plugs - essentials mainly, such as Voxengo Curve/GlissEQ, PristineSpace, Voxformer(Waves RChannel at a tenth of the price), Antares TubeVST & some EQ. But the UA stuff is always my first choice. If DSP were a drug, I'd overdose - to borrow someone else's sig. from another forum. VSTi are EWQLSO Gold, Kontakt, All Steinberg VSTi, and a few other NI/EastWest tools. Try to keep it as slimmed down as possible. How large is that file? would it MPEG down enough to email, as I have an unlimited mailbox with unlimiited attachment size. This is all getting a bit off topic, so email at neilwilkes@opusproductions.com - unless we want to get back into High Res discussions again?
Thanks guys. I like threads like this, there was no blood and I learned a ton about each formats. I still haven't heard DVD-A, but my SACD does sound ok. Thank you for the contiuneing information.