Björk "Surrounded" DualDisc set - DVD-Audio? (1 Viewer)

[DavidS]

Hi...

I just heard about the "Surrounded" box set this was just released by Rhino. It mentions Dolby Digital and DTS on the discs, but nothing about MLP or lossless audio? Does anyone own this yet, and if so, does it have MLP?

http://www.rhino.com/store/ProductDe...o?Number=73212

 

[Manus]

Fraid not, it doesn't have mlp so Im not opening my wallet for it. Apparently, the european and U.S. rights are split with one camp in favour of Dvd-A and the other Sacd so they stopped short of either format

So the 24/96 version is probably lying on a hardrive doing nothing and earning nothing as we type .

Dummies !

~M~

 

[Ruz-El]

I did pick it up. Lossless or not, the DTS sounds great. Not gimmiky at all, very natural and ambiant, with a strong .1 track (Army of me can rattle the walls!). I did get it for a steal of a deal, basically for the price of the 3 discs I was missing.

 

[DavidS]

sad... now i have to decide whether this is worth the money (lack of MLP is a HUGE mistake in my book)...

 

[Chris Gerhard]

I wish these were DVD-Audio as well, but I couldn't conclude it is a big mistake not to release it that way. I would be surprised if there has been even been one example where the record companies and artists made more money by releasing a title in DVD-A? I think the conclusion has been made that the format is the kiss of the death for a release and releasing in DVD-V means greater profits if not greater sales outright. The additional licensing and manufacturing costs to add DVD-A probably can't be recouped. Maybe somebody in the business can provide sales figures and marketing studies summaries for us someday. I don't have any inside information but I would conclude (guess!) the following to be the case:

1. The majority of DVD-A disc sales are to users of the DVD-V options.
2. A significant percentage of consumers have avoided DVD-A either from confusion or a prior bad experience with DVD-A.
3. Over 50 percent of DVD-A titles released were from 5.1 Entertainment Group (Silverline/Immergent/Myutopia/?) and no single title from 5.1 ever sold more than 10,000 prior to hitting cutout status (I must again emphasize this is a guess). The format has suffered from the abysmal performance by its biggest participant. There is a lawsuit between 5.1 and Sanctuary, one of the record companies contractually providing music for 5.1 to release and it will be interesting to read court filings and claims in this suit.

I think tiny independent labels like AIX do DVD-A the only way that makes sense, sell at expensive prices and make limited quantities with no mainstream artists and don't spend large sums advertising. I would like to see popular artists sign up with AIX, but I don't know enough about the business to know if that makes any sense.

I haven't ever heard a Bjork album (can somebody tell me how to get the .. over the o on Bjork?) and really know nothing about the music. I am very interested in this music because I like the 29 second snippets I have listened to online. I am hopeful the 96kHz/24-bid DTS is excellent but I have never knowingly heard 96kHz/24-bit DTS and I am not yet sure what my DTS decoders do with it.

Chris

 

[Rich Malloy]

Well, they lost my purchase.

I've got the last two on SACD (and Vespertine on both SACD and DVD-A). I can live with the really quite well-mastered CDs for the rest.

 

[Chris Gerhard]

Have you heard these DTS discs and know they aren't worth owning? If you are just refusing to buy out of principle, that is pretty much a waste since DVD-A is one of the biggest market bombs ever and the few that boycott because of no DVD-A will mean nothing. I would think supporting an artist and record company that supports surround is to be advised. Maybe future high resolution formats can see the light of day if some releases are successful now. DVD-A is a lost cause as a mainstream music delivery format.

Chris

 

[Ruz-El]

I have them, and have listened to Debut, Post and er, the 3rd one whose name escapes me (All Is Full Of Love is on it)

They sound great to me. Very natural 5.1 mixes, as opposed to gimmiky for the sake of filling the channels with ping pong effects. I haven't compared the dd5.1 to the DTS 5.1, just listened to the DTS. Debut and Post are more subtle than the 3rd (whose title still escapes me.) , whil;e the 3rd again still sounds very natural.

 

[LanceJ]

(unfortunately) I agree with this. Because for non-audio hobbyists, IMO both hi-res surrround formats are just too much of a hassle as far as equipment/set-up is concerned. And if those people don't get involved in surround music, there won't be enough money to keep the labels interested & then we will very probably no longer get ANY surround music in any form.

To me DTS can sound nearly like dvd-audio on my $1400 separates system, so I'm really not that upset about this boxset.

 

[kamyiu]

Homogenic. Her best album, for me.

 

[Chris Gerhard]

I have read many opinions on this set now and the surround sound is being highly praised. Whatever the reasons for no DVD-Audio, bravo to Rhino for this effort.

Chris

 

[Ruz-El]

That's it! Thanks Kamyiu. I have to agree with you, she seemed top have peeked with that one, although all of her stuff is still pretty entertaining to me.

Selmasongs also gets a thumbs up from me. The DTS mix sounds fuller than i remember the movie mix on this one, I haven't done a side by side comparison.

 

[Rich Malloy]

 

[Manus]

Rich,
Im with you. With the proliferation of formats available today its very easy to get bogged down with the 'most readily available'.The brief age of settling for a format that actively throws away some of the sound deliberately and feeling grateful for it are gone. We should be encouraging music companies to provide the highest quality , lossless recordings possible and voting accordingly with our wallets. Ive always been very curious about Bjorks sound and would have been happy to buy this but will not bother now.

I wonder what Bjork herself would prefer ??

~M~

 

[LanceJ]

Manus, did you read those emails? I usually try to be an optimist, but let's face it, wallet-voting just doesn't work as far as keeping hi-res around.

Whatever someone wants to list as the reasons (of which there are many) hi-res flopped - end of story.

As far as Blu-Ray/HD-DVD surround music: I will not be adopting either of them. The music companies and hardware people for sacd/dvd-audio have given me absolutely no reason to think they will do a better job with those formats than with the two hi-res formats that have been already available for nearly eight years.

 

[LanceJ]

And as a reminder, regular ol' dvd can still handle hi-res in stereo form: up to 96kHz/24bit PCM. So unless such a disc is played on one of those 3lb/100% plastic no-name players, we still have the possibility of hearing very high quality sonics.

 

[Ruz-El]

This is what the DTS is encoded in, if I'm not mistaken.

 

[kamyiu]

I think a comprehensive/complete b-sides collection would be more fun. If you're a Bjork completist, some of that stuff is really difficult to track down. There are some b-side boxes that I've seen (there are a few different sets from the Homogenic singles), but (and I could be wrong) not an all-in-one set. I already have all the albums and most, if not all, of the videos. I'm not really an audiophile like most of the people around here (sorry), I don't have a use for the 5.1 mixes.

 

[Manus]

" wallet-voting just doesn't work as far as keeping hi-res around."

Lance, it sure works for me Im sure you've heard the 'iPod won the Battle between Dvd-A and Sacd ' quote and we all know Hi-Rez is diminishing, but the fact is that they already have created a 'Lossless' version and I believe ( and think Bjork would agree) that throwing away some of the authors creation is ALWAYS bad.

You may also be aware that some aspects of the disc are incorrectly authored ( no dts for the videos apparently) so even without Hi-Rez they couldn't be bothered to make a proper product. Definitely no sale to me but I dont begrudge anyone who feels differently. Enjoy!

~M~

 

[Ruz-El]

I'll have to double check, but the Post, Debut and Homonigenic all played and had the option for DTS on the videos.