Enjoying Elvis in 5.1 (1 Viewer)

Happy Hollidays all!

there has been a lot of talk on this board about the lp out selling the dvda and sacd elvis releases, but the fact of the matter is for 13.99 I have one of the most amazing discs I have ever heard. I have not been an elvis fan at any time throughout my life(I'm 28 and listened to rock and punk all my life), but i picked this up on DVDa to check it out after reading the interview with the producer which grabbed my interest. This disc is just great i am using paradigm reference speaker and anthem pre and brystom amp. Listening to burning love or suspicious minds is just a captivating experience, you just have to dance or sing along. The vocals are so clear, with just complete blackness after each phrase is uttered. This has quickly become one of my favorite pieces of music and reference dvda for recordings upto 45 years old. I just wanted to share my experience with this disc and see if anybody else out there is enjoying it as much as me.

Jeff

Yes, Jeff it is a very nice DVD-A - and I can see you singing along since I live very close to Denville, NJ!
Have a great holiday - and keep dry (right now it is thundering and lightning while heavy freezing rain is pelting the road in front of my home).

I'm planning on picking this up before year end (gotta have a talk with Santa about leaving it out).
I take the Midtown Direct Dover line into work every day - isn't Denville the second to last stop just before Dover? Now there's 3 of us within a small stone's throw of each other in this thread - do we win a free DVD-A?
Like Michael_T said - Have a Great Holiday and don't shovel too much snow this afternoon.
Lin

I have to get the Elv1s DVD-Audio disc. Many people on Steve Hoffman's forum have been critical of the poor mixes prepared for the CD, but they have said that the mixes are better on the stereo DVD-Audio track. That has me intrigued.
Jeff,
Where did you find the DVD-Audio disc for $13.99?
All,
On another subject, we've had all kinds of weather in Delaware, though no thunder and lightning. At about 9 p.m. last night, it started snowing, and we had a light accumulation. We had enough accumulation by midnight to say that we had a "White Christmas". The snow then turned to hard rain by morning. We then had some pellet-sized hail about an hour ago. I wonder what's next.

Mine came from Tower and I listened to it last night for the 2nd time... The 5.1 is great stuff.

I bought it at cdworld in east Hanover, they usually have a decent selection of sacd/dvda at good prices. I just bought a love supreme for 15$. Yes indeed,lovely weather we're having, but unfortunately I'm trapped in the pediatric ICU(working) all night.

The people who were critical of the mixes, have they heard the disc on a good 5.1 setup. On my equipment, I really can't imagine 40 year old recordings sounding better(and if they do I want to hear it!!) Also what discs did they recommend, I seem to be becoming an Elvis fanatic.

Jeff

Jeff, thanks. I might have to get to a CD World. The store in Cherry Hill is not too far from me. Many people on Steve Hoffman's forum have been critical of the mixes used for the Elv1s CD, not the surround-sound DVD-Audio track. Some have said that the mixes used for the stereo DVD-Audio tracks are superior to those used for the CD. As far as Elvis on CD is concerned, the consensus on Steve Hoffman's forum is that Mr. Hoffman's DCC gold CDs are by far the best-sounding. I don't have any of them, so I wouldn't know.

I have the DCC gold CD of "Elvis 24 Karat Hits" (Limited Edition No. 5983) and I have to say that sound quality of the regular CD of "Elv1s - 30 #1 Hits " is miles ahead. I hate to use the words "as if a veil has been lifted", but that's what I hear. OK, a thin veil. It's shocking what RCA has done with those Elvis' recordings....the bass is tight, the midrange is just right, and the high aren't tinny at all. When you compare "Elv1s" to RCA's own "The Top Ten Hits" from 1988, the improvements are night and day. I paid about $10.00 for my "Elv1s" CD (from Walmart) and it's probably my best buy of the year. Despite just selling my DVD-A player in favor of my SACD player, I will buy the DVD-A of "Elv1s"; I am hoping for that universal player underneath the X'mas tree next year.

On a somewhat related note, anyone heard of the soundtrack to "Honeymoon In Vegas"? Besides the irony that the movie starred Elvis' now-ex-son-in-law Nicolas Cage, the soundtrack contains all Elvis covers....

All Shook Up - Billy Joel
Wear My Ring Around Your Neck - Ricky Van Shelton
Love Me Tender - Amy Grant
Burning Love - Travis Tritt
Heartbreak Hotel - Billy Joel
Are You Lonesome Tonight? - Bryan Ferry
Suspicious Minds - Dwight Yoakam
(You're The) Devil In Disguise - Trisha Yearwood
Hound Dog - Jeff Beck
That's All Right - Vince Gill
Jailhouse Rock - John Mellencamp
Blue Hawaii - Willie Nelson
Can't Help Falling in Love - Bono (of U2)

Despite a group of very capable singers and modern recording technology, Elvis' original performance pretty much blows them all away. Maybe it's time for Elvis to get his first Grammy for pop performance this year for "A Little Less Conversation"?

Danny, thanks for the comments. Your opinion certainly wouldn't be too popular on Steve Hoffman's forum. That's O.K. Opinions vary.
I have been very impressed with the mix and overall sound quality on the Elv1s, but again, I have no DCC gold CDs of Elvis for comparison. The only other Elvis CD I have is the RCA restored-to-mono version of Elvis' Golden Records, which sounds like total garbage.
By the way, would you be willing to sell your Elvis DCC gold disc?

This dvd-a is great !!!..I'm not sure if this has been mentioned before but, I'm able to get a true 96/24 PCM stereo track on this album. It sounds great !!...

Anthony, Michael_T mentioned the inclusion of a 24/96 stereo track here when the disc came out. That's a pleasant surprise for sure.

Keith,

I wish more manufacturers would deliver titles where a stereo PCM + a surround mix of some type (DD and/or DTS) are available for DVD-V players. This would give an approximation of the DVD-A experience.

Regards,

John,
I am not positive, but I believe they use MLP for the 2 channel hirez track as well as the MC. So if they included an uncompressed(ie. no MLP) 2ch pcm it might take up too much memory. Thus by keeping it on the DVDA area they can use mlp and do a 2:1 compression.

Jeff

Jeff: if you have a Panasonic dvd-audio player, if you push the "audio" button it will tell you if it's MLP by displaying on-screen the letters PPCM (p=packed). If it's a non-MLP track ("regular" PCM) it will display the letters LPCM (L=linear).
LJ

I was able to get a 96/24 stereo signal through my optical output...

John,

I agree with you. The more backwards-compatible they can make the format, the better.


All,

I went to a local Best Buy today looking for the Elv1s DVD-Audio disc and could not find it. They had a few copies a couple of weeks ago. It's good to see that this disc is selling. That's great for the format. They also did not have the Donald Fagen Nightfly DVD-Audio disc or the John Coltrane A Love Supreme SACD. I don't know if they ever had these titles, but perhaps they sold out of them too.

Keith, I was back at Tower picking up something for my brother and thought I'd see if any Elv1s DVD-Audio discs were still around. Not a one, just the Redbook.

While on the line to pay for my brothers item, I stumbled upon Steve Earle's Guitar Town (SACD) in the Redbook section which I picked up for $15.29.

I find Tower's hi-rez section a complete mish-mash (messy) affair and have recently found several important SACD/DVD-A discs in the Redbook section. Shouldn't complain though as my only recent purchase at Best Buy was Fragile.

John, it is good to see that the Elv1s DVD-Audio disc is selling. When I couldn't find it at Best Buy the other day, I walked out with the Diana Krall When I look in your eyes SACD for $14.99. It's a keeper.
As a sidenote, I am finding the CD of Elv1s everywhere. Even my local Hallmark stores have it...and for a whopping $20.95! Glad I bought my copy with the bonus interview disc at Wal-Mart for $9.88.
I have recently found the SACD section at the Tower store in Cherry Hill, New Jersey to be a bit messy. About a month ago, I found the CCR Willy and the Poorboys SACD in the understock. They had no copies in the racks. I found the same thing with a few other titles.

Larry said:

1-DVD-A 5.1 96-24 PPCM; 2-DVD-A stereo 96-24 PPCM; 3-Dolby Digital 5.1; 4-PCM stereo; 5-bonus tracks in PCM stereo

Are parts 4 and 5 encoded in 24/96 PCM for playback on a DVD-Video player like a DAD or are they 16/44.1 PCM (still only played on a DVD-Video player)?

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