Fleetwood Mac Rumors on DVD-audio (1 Viewer)

[John Titan]

Hey

I was listening to some of my concert dvd's (at least DD5.1, some DTS)the other day and I decided to put in my F-mac Rumors DVD-A disc. All I can say is WOW! dvd-a is amazing. The sound was just incredible. There was such a noticeable difference between even regular dvd's with DD or DTS never mind cd's. I know this has alot to do with how and/or who mixes the disc's

This is nothing that most people on this forum don't already know but I had to write this because I was playing this disc in a regular dvd player. Not a dvd-a player. I was listening to the dvd-video compatible dolby digital mix. Not the advanced resolution Multi-channel nor the advanced resolution stereo mix. I can only imagine what the actual dvd-a tracks sound like!

That being said..I can't wait to hear the better mixes. I already knew my next dvd player would be dvd-a & sacd compatible but this makes me want to go out and buy one this instant.

Why this format hasn't really caught on is beyond me!

 

[LanceJ]

While on better systems the differences between Dolby/DTS and the hi-res tracks can be heard, those formats can still sound quite good to me and I don't feel there is anything missing from the artist's emotional intentions. On my $1,400 (minus the TV, VCR and turntable) system, the hi-res tracks provide better reproduction of the really delicate details, and it's these subtle details that change the music from sounding just "quite good" to "nearly real". But what if your system only cost $700? Why bother with a dedicated hi-res player then?

Unfortunately there are surround snobs that have decreed that DTS and especially Dolby are horrible ways to listen to music :rolleyes. And I've seen them tell others just that & to not waste their time on dvd-audio unless they buy a proper player for them. Whatever. I listened to my discs via my dvd-video player for two years and always enjoyed them. And right now, at friends' homes I-and many of them-still enjoy listening to those "horrible" DD tracks.

Though I'm sure seeing all these discussions about effed up bass management for hi-res signals keeps a lot of music fans from buying a hi-res player....but everyone with a Dolby Digital-capable receiver has b.m. for that format (and nowadays 99.9% of receivers have DTS decoders....with b.m.).

But as usual most of the labels have no clue how to market their own products, and never seem to bring up this important capatibility feature. And these days when mid-fi audio gear (Pioneer, Yamaha, etc) in general just sits gathering dust on retailers' shelves, this is a big mistake.

Oh yea, the severe lack of modern music titles may also just be a teensy part of dvd-audio's lack of popularity.

 

[MikeH1]

I feel the same way about Fleetwood Mac's The Dance DVD. I know some audio purists would have me strung up by my neck but I have to admit I'm thoroughly happy with the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. I mean really - it sounds pretty damn good.

When friends come over I always get a better reaction with The Dance (because of the video content) than any DVD - A. Who needs Hi Rez (except us here) when DD/DTS can be this good?

 

[LanceJ]

This is why I like using the "visual mix" option w/Dolby on Beck's* Guero dvd-audio (part of the deluxe edition package) to show surround music to people who have never heard 5.1 music. This way they have something to look at-even if they don't "get" the abstract CG art-while trying to figure out what's going on all around them becuase otherwise we would just end up uncomfortably staring at each other. But I always remind them that the visuals are just a bonus feature & not the main intent of this format.

Same deal with my Linkin Park disc when I let younger people listen because all three (good) music videos have 5.1 tracks.

* Beck's homepage is totally reworked....again! Make sure to check out the "links" page: besides some links I can't mention here because of forum rules, there is an MP3 track entitled "e-pro vs. scream vs. tnt" by team9 vs. beck vs. ac/dc vs. micheal. I think this is one of those mash-up songs & it's pretty good.

 

[JeremyErwin]

I wonder if anyone's tried to sell dvd-audio to the headphone wearing crowd? This would probably either involve using either explicitly binaural mixes (which sound rather strange on a stereo) or developing a mlp equivalent to dolby headphone.
Come to think of it, you could probably develop a flash based mp3 player, with the ability to play dolby digital files through dolby headphone. After all, a multi-gigabyte portable music player can only store so many minutes of MLP audio.

 

[LanceJ]

Speaking of binaural.......

This self-titled dvd-a* by electronica musicians Studio Voodoo includes a binaural mix.

I actually owned this disc back in 2001 (mostly to see what surround music was about) and while the music seemed to be well done, I really didn't like the style (the mix is very aggressive though) and ended up giving it to a buddy's friend who is a DJ. IIRC the binaural mix is the PCM stereo track (it plays on any dvd player), but at the time I didn't own any good 'phones so didn't listen to it.

btw: while poking around the Net, I realized a lot of electronica musicians seem to really like 5.1 music. Here's one of them by Richie Hawtin (too electronic-ey for me personally) and another called Behind The Decks (not too bad)-both of these are CD+dvd-video releases (the 2nd album listed includes DTS; the Hawtin dvd contains MP3 versions of all the tracks-nice!). Because of these searches, I found that there are actually more surround music discs out there-sacd, dvd-a & dvd-video-than I thought because most of the big review sites don't seem to review any discs except the ones that contain classic or "accepted" music, especially when it doesn't use one of the hi-res formats.

* that's the wrong cover-here's the correct version

 

[Grant B]

I finally updated my sound card for DVD-A since my Sony does not support it.
I picked up Rumors and a Live Pogues Disc to check out the sound. So far I hace not been able to get any sound from Rumors besides the DD track. Pogues seems to work fine. Curious if anyonr else incounter a problem.
I just downloaded an upgrade to the player that I hope fixes the problem but it seems disc related.
Grant

 

[JeremyErwin]

can't really provide specific help, except that you might need to put your dvd player in "DVD-Audio" rather than "DVD-Video" mode. The former will give you access to the Advanced Resolution/MLP stuff and the latter mode is intended for older players and will only give you access to dolby digital/dts.
What player are you using?