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DVD-Audio on PC's?
DarkEdgeX asks: "I've been looking, admittedly for a brief period, for a player that will work with DVD-ROM drives to play DVD-Audio discs through a PC (any platform, Win32, Linux, etc). Does such a thing exist, free or otherwise? I know that DVD-Video players can play the audio tracks encoded for Dolby 5.1, but it doesn't get to the better quality sound that's embedded in the AUDIO-TS subdirectory on DVD-Audio, it just reads the VIDEO-TS files. (In fact, from what I've read, DVD-Audio discs often do this for compatibilities sake, otherwise the only directory on a DVD-Audio disc that's really needed is AUDIO-TS.) Finally, are there any *technical* differences between DVD-Audio players and DVD-ROM's in so far as hardware is concerned? (A home DVD-Audio player from Pioneer, retail anyways, goes for $2000-3000!)"
1) CSS2: Remember the DVD Group/Consortium/Circlejerk popping off about CSS being cracked and having to develop a new algorithm? In this case, it might be just a matter of the accompanying software implementing CSS2, though a circuit change might be necessary within the DVD-ROM itself. I'm not entirely sure on this; there's a specific circuit in DVD-ROM drives to carry CSS info, but it might be just for key exchange data transmission.
2) Bandwidth: I wish I knew where my DVD drive manual was right now, because I don't feel like slogging through Creative's site. DVD-Audio has a higher bandwidth limit than DVD-Video; 9.6 Mb/s as opposed to 6.144 Mb/s. A slightly better laser is necessary (I think; I'm extrapolating from what I know of the format), and the data path coming out of the drive needs to be able to handle 9.6 Mb/s of data coming down the pipe. IDE and SCSI might handle this without sneezing; I'm not going to take completely wild guesses without studying the docs.
3) MLP and SMART: Meridian Lossless Packing is a wunderbar compression scheme that allows for more music to be packed on the disc and through the data stream. A decoder for this is necessary. As well, there's a downmixing scheme called SMART (again, don't ask when I don't have the docs in front of me) that attempts to mix multiple channels into a stereo mix. I'm not sure of anyone actually using this - who wants to trust the computer with your high-end audio mixes? - but it's necessary in DVD-Audio players.
CSS2, MLP and SMART decoding might be possible within software, but it would take a nice high-end chip, or, a dedicated DVD-Audio card with the firmware to handle that decoding. The "normal" DVD-Audio streams are Linear PCM, the same stuff on CDs, only at much higher bitrates, sampling rates, and with multiple channels. As you said, the Dolby 5.1/DTS tracks are there for compatibility. I've heard little to nothing about DVD-Audio-capable DVD-ROMs, simply because it's seen as an audiophile format at this point. Most people get off on two channel stereo CDs.
I find it unfortunate most people my age (around 21) think Mp3 and CD are as good as it gets, and having "theater-quality" sound is left to the theaters and a few insane audiophiles. I'm working with a group on a DVD-Audio project composed of all original music by a series of Canadian groups, and we're all in our early twenties. I've heard DVD-Audio in all its glory, and it's worth the investment in equipment if you're even a borderline audiophile. The competing format SACD is also a worthy option, especially if you want to have discs you can let your non-audiophile friends borrow, although they won't get the superior SACD sound.
Someday, you're going to die. Get over it.
I worked last year for a small company doing high-end whole house ausio/video/network integration, and I had the opportunity to mess around with a few DVD-A players. The reason your scheme won't work is the following:
The RIAA got really antsy after the whole MP3/Napster incident, and decided that they were going to attempt to subvert any of those problems this time around. As such, DVD-A players will not output DVD-A in a Digital format (at least not any of the DVD-A players I've seen or read about). The setup goes something like this: Look on the back of any old DVD-A player in the high-end stereo shop. They will have 6 analog outputs, and (if they're a DVD Video player as well) a TOSLink (fiber) or Coax-Digital output. The Digital out will only function with the audio for video (the movie's sound), the audio (from an audio DVD) will not be output from the digital out. The Audio is instead separately decoded inside of the DVD-A player, and output in analog format to the recevier, which then treats it as if it were any old analog source. This whole setup was devised to keep the consumer from having easy access to the pure digital stream in order to record it.
What this translates into is simply that there will probably not be a commercially available solution anytime in the near future to play DVD-A in a computer. The simple fact that there isn't a feasible way to get the audio to a decoder card that would be able to interpret it and output the 6 analog channels. What would then logically be required would be some sort of hack, a way to decode the signal using software, and then output it using a sound card capable of 5.1 output.
This is, of course, very frustrating to everyone involved with these products. One of the favorite products for our company to sell was Bose sound equipment (not for the quality, but because the markup is so outrageous, and it's an easy sale to uninformed yuppies), and complete Bose systems (their lifestyle series) do not have 6 channel analog input for externally decoded 5.1. Thus, DVD-A would not function at all on a Bose system.
On a completely alternate note, JVC sells a DVD-Audio/Progressive Scan DVD-Video player for around US$400, and it's easily located. Any Best Buy or Circuit City carries the unit. I haven't listened to it at all (since neither store carries DVD-A discs to demo the product), but I can tell you that a world of difference can be made with these products depending upon the patch cables you use for hookup. Invest in 3 good pairs of high-end stereo patch cable, or ask your local audiophile shop for a 6 channel analog patch cable setup.
-Chris Canter
Where did you get your numbers from? My player (Toshiba 4109x) will do Dvd audio, and it was $300. You certainly don't have to pay thousands to get DVD audio.