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Hi Strongarm
Not sure about the "enchanced pcm" thing,but regarding the compatibility issue,i believe this is due to the disc's thickness to accomodate both formats.video on one side and audio on the other.
I think dual disc doesn't conform to the Philips CD specs? I remeber something about Philips not allowing the CD logo to be used on some discs cus' it wasn't in conformity to it's patents? www.licensing.philips.com The CD patents have expired a lot, I'm sure that is why SACD was introduced, as it's replacment....One article had Philips taking in like $750 MILLION a year on all things CD related, from their licenses to makers of the discs,players even the jewel box was Philips patents. Thus the new SACD jewelbox of a new improved design, with it's rounded corner etc. Plus when they use th eround corner, it allows for easier ID in a shelf full of CD....those cardboard digipacs etc suck, the original or half widths are fine, the cardboard ones suck. Mfgs probably came up with them to bypass patents, etc. www.jewelbox.org
Setting the standards so stuff works http://www.licensing.philips.com/senl/news/documents1257.html
That is correct, AFAIK. In fact, when DD was first released, most of the big vendors (including Sony) issued statements to the affect that DD's were not guaranteed to play in their players. Most, if not all, eventually issued clarifying statements.
"Enhanced Stereo" is marketing bull crap, meaning you get 16/48 stereo insted of 16/48 stereo. If you can hear the difference, then I have a bridge leading to JA's current residence, and I'll let it go cheap.
Another issue was that most DD's had nothing but Dolby Digital on the DVD side, rather than true MLP DVD-A.
I have very few DD's. The CD side on some will not play on some of my machines. I don't even recall which are which at this point.
The problem is, it was a bastard format right from the start. The smart move would have been for DVD-A labels to put a CD of the same content in the same package, and call it a toofer.
One of the few DD's I have that I can recommned is Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms. Its a true MC DVD-A (at 24/96, I think).
As for the Aersosmith disc, the stereo tracks don't sound half bad, but that's because they were well mastered, rather than anything special about the format. I just wish the song selection was stronger.
One more thing, the audio for the music video's appears to be mono. What were they thinking?
Brian
Yiangos, Brian, DUP,
Thanks for your responses. The warnings on the label are quite cryptic, and I thought perhaps the CD side was using some different format, but from what you've described it's actually 16/44 PCM but the thickness of the disc causes problems for some players.
Brian, it's disappointing what you note about the so-called "enhanced" PCM. Over the weekend I had listened to both layers trying to detect a difference in quality, but couldn't do so - now I know why?
What on earth is Sony thinking when it describes this as "enhanced"?
Thanks again,
Strongarm
I note a typo in my post, and it seems I am passed the editing window.
What I meant to say was:
"Enhanced Stereo" is marketing bull crap, meaning you get 16/48 stereo instead of 16/44 stereo.
I think you got my meaning though.
Brian