Queen "The Game" - DVD-A at Best Buy (1 Viewer)

[Rich Malloy]

Most discs encoded at 24/96 do not have PCM tracks passable through the digital output on your player (copy protection issues). Warner released a few this way, and I believe AIX does this on their releases, but it is the exception, not the norm. So yes you still do need a DVD-A player to gain access to the Hi-res tracks.

Ahhhhh.... the rub! :frowning:

But does it not strike one as odd that 24/96 data would be copyprotected in this way? Don't the discs commonly referred to as "DADs" pass an un-copyprotected PCM signal in 24/96?

 

[John Kotches]

Rich,

You're asking about the behaviour of a major record label and asking about it being odd

The copy protection is optional, and I suspect that the WB titles that allow digital 24/96K out are mistakes in authoring, although I am not certain of this.

Smaller record labels, such as AIX and Chesky would rather you be able to optimize playback for your system, and the allowance of 24/96K out helps accomplish that goal.

That's my thoughts/opinion so don't hold me to this

Regards,

 

[Rich Malloy]

Forgive me... I don't usually impute rationality to the studios!

Does anyone happen to know which titles will pass a 24/96 signal without a DVD-A player? Perhaps the Grateful Dead, Bjork, the Band, Neil Young...?

 

[Javier_Huerta]

There has been one release with the shiny, silver-like cover besides from the original LP: the japanese remaster. It looks *very* cool.

That said, I can't believe I didn't know about this release. I must get it. NOW!

BTW, I am surprised Queen's ANATO wasn't the DVD-A blockbuster it was supposed to be... just like DSOTM is supposed to be the "killer release" for SACD, supposedly ANATO was to be for DVD-A. I don't really think it made that much of an impression, though.

 

[Michael Allred]

I believe "..Opera" won an award for best DVD-Audio of the year in 2002. It was very well received by critics.

As for Mr. Markworthy's question, if you can listen to DTS, I think you're set.

 

[Rich Malloy]

BTW, I am surprised Queen's ANATO wasn't the DVD-A blockbuster it was supposed to be... just like DSOTM is supposed to be the "killer release" for SACD, supposedly ANATO was to be for DVD-A. I don't really think it made that much of an impression, though.

It did, in fact, garner quite a bit of praise as I recall. It's one of those titles that really appeals to me, but I wonder if my thinking is similar to others... the DCC gold CD is just so damn good, that one wonders if the DVD-A would be much of an improvement, at least enough of an improvement to encourage me to buy more hardware.

Likewise, the upcoming Joni Mitchell "BLUE" DVD-A (if it's every actually released). IMO, one of the great albums of the 70s, but again, will the DVD-A improve upon the DCC gold disc? The HDCD, as good as it is, is nonetheless a step back.

I think alot of folks are simply very wary of contemporary mastering techniques. And while a surround mix for ANATO is an exciting prospect, the same is not quite true for "BLUE".

At least, this is my thought process....

 

[Zack Scott]

Since that I have All the frickin formats (DVD-A, SACD, Vinyl, and Redbook CD) I have to go through a thought process when I purchase music. (Especially if the music is in more than one format) I have to think where will I listen to this the most In the car or at home. when It comes to a surround title I have to think whether or not the title would be "Fun" in Surround. Titles like ANOTO, the Game, DSOTM, FZ'S Halloween really fun in surround. Harvest, MFTBP, Hotel Califonia won't be played in the car but also won't have my undivided attention either. As for BLue...I love the Album but will probably get it on Vinyl.

 

[Lewis Besze]

Just got my Game DVD-A today,the price was $16.99 at the register,so was the sticker.
So some best buys sell'em before the due date and cheaper too. Did I get "screwed",or some you've got lucky?

 

[Shawn C]

I spotted the new Queen DVD-A at Best Buy today. They also had the new Fleetwood Mac an the Insane Clown Posse DVD-A's.

 

[Mark All]

For those who don't have "The Game", here's what the Production Notes section says:

"Considerable care has been taken to ensure the audio on this disc is of the highest quality. The original 1980 24-track analogue master recordings were transferred to a Pro Tools HD digital audio workstation at 192kHz 24 bit. For each song, the 24-track elements were meticulously compared with the stereo mix to ensure all the correct parts were selected for the multi-channel mix. It should be noted that some of the vocal performances on the 5.1 mix of Coming Soon are different from those on the stereo mix because the exact multi-track tape used for the original mix was not available.
The multi-channel version was created with a Neve 72 channel 88R analogue mixing console. Additional analogue outboard processing included vintage equipment by Pultec, Fairchild and EMT. The self-powered monitoring system was comprised of five matched Genelec 1031A speakers and a Genelec 1094A subwoofer. The 5.1 mixes were recorded on an analogue Studer A827 machine with an 8-track headblock and 2 inch EMTEC Studio Master 900 tape.
Mastering for 5.1 was done from the 2 inch tapes and the resultant 96kHz 24 bit files were used to generate the DTS 96/24 and DVD-Audio versions. A PCM 96/24 stereo version was mastered from the 1/4 inch original analogue mix master and is compatible with all DVD players."

I thought this was interesting technical reading. It's the only note section from a DVD-A I have that goes into this level of detail about the production process. It caused me to look through the 20 or so DVD-A discs I have to see what "Advanced Resolution Stereo" really means for DVD-A. The only other disc I have that says what the sampling rate is on the label is REM's "Automatic for the People" which was produced on the disc at 48kHz/24-bit.

My system has a DTS 96/24 decoder. I haven't had a chance to compare the multi-channel DVD-A and DTS 96/24 tracks yet. The lack of a set of DVD-A stereo tracks is puzzling, but I guess they ran out of room since they did two multi-channel mixes on the disc. The disc does have stereo PCM tracks at 96kHz 240bit. Anyway, the production company is DTS Entertainment and they have an interest in concentrating on putting out material in their own DTS 96/24 format even if they have to leave something off the disc to do so.

 

[ReggieW]

Mark,

There is no lack of a DVD-A stereo track. The 24/96 PCM track IS the DVD-A track that you're speaking of - and it sounds better than ANATO's 24/96 stereo track imho. It is uncompressed just as multi-channel DVD-A tracks are but because it is two-channel only it doesn't require the aid of MLP.

Hope this helps,

Reg

 

[Mark All]

Thanks Reg. I was confused by the different terminology used on "The Game" than on other DVD-A discs. Most others say "Advanced Resolution Stereo" playable only on a DVD-Audio player or something like that. What you say makes sense to me now.

I compared the DTS 96/24 and DVD-A multichannel tracks on "The Game" and they sound equally good to me. The difference between the two is that the DTS 96/24 inherently has effective bass management and distance compensation easily accessible from a DTS 96/24 capable receiver while those features are hard to get right now with DVD-A played into most receivers.