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DVD-Audio Support in MC 11?

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Mr ChriZ:

--- Quote from: Barrie on October 16, 2005, 02:50:28 pm ---I am sure the reason for this is because it also supports Blu-Ray which is going to use DVD-Audio format on the new HD-DVD's. 
--- End quote ---

Blu-Ray and HD-DVD's are seperate mediums are they not?

Alex B:

--- Quote from: Barrie on October 16, 2005, 02:15:26 pm ---Data-word length

Some background. Here’s what a random 16-bit data word looks like for CD audio:

0011011000101110

There are 65,536 different values represented by the 16 digital bits (2 raised to the 16th power). Each of these values represents a voltage in the analog output signal. If the DAC IC outputs two volts maximum, then each different value for the 16 bits represents .0000305 of a volt (this isn’t a precise analysis, just a general conceptual overview).

0000000000000000 = zero volts
0000000000000001 = .0000305 volts
0000000000000010 = .0000610 volts
0000000000000011 = .0000915 volts
1111111111111111 = 2 volts

If you increase the word length from 16 bits to 24 bits, the number of different voltages you can represent increases from 65,536 to 16,777,216 (2 raised to the 24th power). Each step in a 24-bit word would represent .00000006 volts, still using our 2-volt output model, compared to the .0000305 volts for each step in a 16-bit word (using the same 2-volt output example). You can see that the granularity in voltages representing the musical signal is incredibly fine when the data words are 24 bits long. Take an example where the audio signal wants to be .0000455 volts (still in our 2-volt example). With 16 bits available, software has to decide whether to make this voltage become .0000305 or .0000610 volts. There is no way with 16 bits to make a voltage that is .0000455 volts. But in the 24 bit world, you have an extra 256 different voltages available between .0000305 and .0000610 volts. One of them will be almost exactly .0000455 volts.

Twenty-four bits is really higher in resolution than any consumer analog or digital audio products can achieve due to limitations in current electronic technology. Most digital products with claimed 24-bit performance lose probably three to four bits in the noise floor. But nevertheless, it is advantageous and comforting to have a digital standard that actually exceeds the capabilities of performance in consumer audio components. I’m not sure you would want to listen to music that requires all 24 bits to reproduce anyway; the loudest sounds would be as loud or louder than the loudest noise you ever heard in your life, well beyond the threshold of pain. The quietest sounds would require the total silence of an anechoic chamber to be able to hear them. What 24 bits brings to the table is headroom and footroom, which make digital audio more forgiving and easier to work with and offers an improvement in resolution even if limited to 20 or 21 bits of effective resolution.

The circuitry in the D2D-1 creates a higher resolution digital audio bitstream by analyzing sequential groups of 16-bit data words and generating interpolated (best guess) 24-bit data words to replace the original 16-bit words. The process does have some margin for error, but it is vanishingly low. Keep in mind that in converting 16-bit audio to 24-bit audio does not increase the resolution of the reproduced audio. You can’t have more than 16 bits of resolution when you start with 16 bits of data, but the higher resolution digital bitstream can be more optimally transmitted and processed to make small improvements in sound quality

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The source link: http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/assemblage_d2d1.htm.

Alex B:
In general I would love to see more support for multichannel and other HQ audio formats, but I'm not interested of playing optical audio discs on PC. The main reason I bought Media Jukebox a few years ago was handling of HD media. I'm not going to buy any audio-only discs if the format is not allowed to be transferred to HD.

I have accepted to keep the commercial DVD videos on the original optical media, but I have experimented with ripping DVD video discs also.

Inter Video removed the DVD-Audio support from the latest WinDVD a couple of months ago because someone made a program that can grap the multichannel audio signal using WinDVD's components. Here's a thread at HA where ripping DVD-Audio is discussed: http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?s=124f2a36e8b8b880fc9c883a9c2499dd&showtopic=34368

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