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In Reply to: Re: DVD-A vs SACD is a bunch of S**T posted by NotMe on January 03, 2003 at 19:20:36:
Yes hybrid SACD disks play just fine in my computer DVD drive, of course in the 16/44 format. I use a Macintosh, both a desktop and Powerbook. One would imagine that even those who use the Windows O/S should be able to play hybrid SACD disks on their DVD drives as well. Try that with the current DVD-A disks.I think the idea is that when you pull out one of your favorite CD's regardless of format you don't want to have to figure out if it is compatable with the various types ofCD/DVD drives that are common in today's homes/offices/cars. Just insert and listen and enjoy.
There are a lot of people who enjoy playing music on their computers while they work. Why let a format impinge on that desire? Copyright protection and watermarking should not mar the listening experience. If one wants to create an MP3 copy for personal use to space shift to an iPod or other MP3 player, they should have that right to do so. Illegial file shareing is of course wrong.
Thus far I have heard a slect few high quality multi channel surrond disks in both DVD-A & SACD. Yes, these are quite nice and when the recording industry learns how to handle multi-channel it will probably be a success. Early two channel stereo recordings where horrible for the most part. These days it is home theater with its bombastic, loud spcial effects driven films that drive the consumer electronics industry. My preference on my seperate, DVD video system are mostly dialog driven films recorded in mono or at best two channel stereo. Manyy films prior to 1980 are mono.
My ideal would be to have a dedicated home theater set up with all its loud boomy bass and special effects, hopefully someday on HDTV/DVD disks. Yet in another, seperate room a high quality two channel system dedicated to the highest resolution sound possible, either in DVD-A/SACD or vinyl.
I wonder how many people today actually sit down say for two hours just to listen to music? No visuals, just music. I think that a very few audiophiles might still do that. How about regular people, not equipment oriented as we are in this forum. It seems that many people use audio as sonic wall paper, to borrow a cliche. I'm certainly guilty of that. However, since I rarely watch television or DVD's, time that would have been spent in front of the tube is instead time spent in front of the speakers. Usually on average two hours a day. Television is usually restricted to maybe one or two hours a week wether nor not broadcast or DVD.
Follow Ups:
> One would imagine that even those who use the Windows O/S should be able to play hybrid SACD disks on their DVD drives as well. Try that with the current DVD-A disks. <DVD-Audio discs work just fine. They're designed to be played by DVD-Video drives, so software such as CyberLink PowerDVD, which I have on a couple of machines, just pops up and one can play either the Dolby Digital or DTS audio.
As has already been mentioned, software is here (more coming) that'll allow playback of the DVD-A portion too, depending on the resolution of your soundcard. Apparently, there is nothing to prevent any PC DVD drive accessing the DVD-A content - you can see the files in Explorer - it's just a matter of software.
"One would imagine that even those who use the Windows O/S should be able to play hybrid SACD disks on their DVD drives as well. Try that with the current DVD-A disks."I do it all the time. DVD-A disks include DD and/or DTS and/or PCM material in the DVD-V portion. With a DVD-A disc I am able to play music in multichannel surround in my computer room, albeit not hi-res (just like redbook CD is not hi-res on a hybrid). Another thing to keep in mind is that often the DVD-A disc has lyrics or a bonus music video etc..., this plays just fine from the computer as well.
In fact, since I like listening to multichannel while on the computer I usually rip the Dolby Digital tracks from the DVD-A disks and store them on my computer for easier playback. Of course with hybrid SACD its just as easy to rip the CD layer (2 channel, which many here prefer) and store on the computer as well.
... that if interested in hi-res playback from a computer, with Creative's Audigy 2 one can play a DVD-A (the hi-res part, not just the DD/DTS) disc. Another software DVD-A player is supposed to be coming out soon, maybe within the next month or two.Even with the above, it is not possible to rip the hi-res material to the computer (just the DD, pcm ...). But least hi-res playback from the computer with the physical disc is possible. Realize playback from a computer this is irrelevent to most here, but thought someone might be interested.
How can you rip from the DD part of a DVD-A ?
Can you do it with any sound card?Best
> > How can you rip from the DD part of a DVD-A ?
Here's how I do it. Remember that only material that is in the DVD-V portion of a DVD-A disc is rippable. It took me awhile to work this out (especially figuring out which programs to use), but now using the programs mentioned below I can extract and save/split the DD material of a disc in about half an hour - plan it taking longer your first time, especially if you've never ripped a dvd.1. Rip the DVD-V portion into VOB files. I use "smartripper" (go to doom9.org, which also goes into more detail about ripping DVDs). When in smartripper, you can highlight the various files in the DVD-V portion and check the 'stream processing' tab to see its contents (e.g., 2.0ac-3 , 5.1ac-3 etc...). But if your just starting out, I recommend ripping using the 'backup' button so that everything (in the v portion) is ripped into the vob files.
2. Now extract (demux) the DD from the vob files using something like DVD2AVI. This results in a big ac3 (DD) file.
3. If you'd like to split the file into its individual songs, use something like BeSPlit.
4. At this point, you have ac3 files. If you have a creative card, you should be able to play back ac3 files with creative's player. Otherwise, there's probably other ac3 players - maybe something like PDVD or WinDVD might be able to handle it. If not, you could skip the demux part and just play back the vob file(s) with PDVD or WinDVD which have no problem with DD that's in a vob file.
If there's interest and its not considered inappropriate here, next time I do this I can copy all my steps and post them.
> > Can you do it with any sound card?
Sure, the ripping is independent of the soundcard. For playback of multichannel ac3 files you'll want a multichannel soundcard card with a software player that can handle ac3 files. If your soundcard is hooked up to your receiver/processor via the digital (S/PDIF) connection, you'll want to leave the audio in VOB files instead of demuxing them to ac3 files, and play back the vob files with WinDVD or PDVD (and those players should be set for S/PDIF output).
Thank you very much, I'll try that ASAP :)
I believe many people will be interested in your technique, and anybody who has DVD-A content!
If you post a step-by-step how-to guide, it will be great!
Best
Eric
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