DVD audio upgrade?

Posted by Philip Brandes [IP: 24.8.188.112] on October 26, 1999 at 18:40:47
Using Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.5; Mac_PowerPC):

In Reply to: DVD audio upgrade? posted by Jake Wang on October 26, 1999 at 17:29:41:

: I have a DC-2 and am trying to decide if I should spend the 100$ right now to get Surround Ex and Version 4 software or wait till the DVD audio upgrade comes out.

You'll be waiting a LONG time for DVD Audio. At this point, there are not even specifications for DVD-A digital formats, owing to the recording industry's insistence on some sort of watermarking for copyright protection.

Therefore the first generation DVD-A players will be analog-only. This is of no use with a digital preamp with mandatory A/D and D/A conversions--even if it could accept 6-channel analog inputs (which none of the high end surround processors do).

Lexicon won't even have an upgrade path defined until the digital output formats are agreed on, and then the solution will apparently be an outboard decoder which will pass digital signals to the MC-1/DC-2 direct-to-DAC expansion ports (DC-2s will require a rear-panel hardware upgrade).

Bottom line: DVD-A isn't happening anytime soon, and some (myself included) feel that regardless of the sonic benefits the format will never reach critical mass in the consumer market, because Joe Sixpack just doesn't care enough about sound quality to replace the DVD player and receiver he just bought.

V4 and Surround Ex are here now--get them if they interest you or not, but I wouldn't let considerations of DVD-A be a factor one way or the other.

Cheers,
Philip Brandes

Follow Ups:

• DVD audio upgrade? - Sanjay Durani 20:02:45 10/26/99 (2)
  • DVD audio upgrade? - Philip Brandes 01:53:08 10/27/99 (1)
    • DVD audio upgrade? - Sanjay Durani 18:10:24 10/27/99 (0)

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