DVD-A / SACD ????

[roberts]

DVD-A & SACD seem to be 2 popular formats. Why no Digidesign solutions.

[bassbuddy]

SACD was developed by Sony, and is presently only being used with Sony products. Unless this has changed within the last four months...... kenny

[The Chinese]

It has....
Genex has a 48 track DSD recorder. Tascam has a DSD DA-98. DSD is the underlying technology of SACD. Sonic Studio just released a verssion of Sonic solutions which supports DSD.


A for DVD-A, This is a 6 track PCM audio format, so PT is already capable of working with this format.

Will be interesting to see if Digidesign will support DSD, although I would imagine that this would be a major Hardware revision/Upgrade.
-Todd A.

[clockface]

Maybe they'd want to see which one is going to last the longest. Isn't SACD proprietary to Sony and DVD-A an open technology? Would this have an impact on Digi's decision to support one or both of these formats?

[froyo]

Hello. Clockface while Sony developed DSD, and they hold the license, you can buy a license to develop for it. Genex, Tascam, Sadie, Sonci and Merging Technology all have. Also, DVD, whther -Video or -Audio is not free, or open code. You also have to buy a license.

Roberts, when you ask for solutions, do you mean encoding or authoring or both. Here's the dope on that.

DVD-Audio is confined to PC's at the moment for authoring, with two options (or two and a half if you want look at it that way). Minnetonka offers software and Sonic Studio (or is it still Sonic Solutions, I forget) offers DVD-Audio Creator, which is a workstation. Minnetonka offers Steel and Chrome. Steel is sort of the 'LE' version of Chrome. You can't do MLP on Steel; for that you need Chrome and the Surcode MLP encoder. But for quick, easy, simple authoring, Steel will do the trick. Drag and drop PCM .wav and aiff, 5.1 @ 48Khz, stereo @ up to 192Khz, under $500. If you want to encode to DTS, Dolby Digital, etc. with Steel you have to buy the encoders. However, anything related to DVD authoring you have to buy encoders anyway, so that's that. The Sonic stuff is top of the line both in features and price.

SACD also has precious little for authoring. I believe Sadie has an offering, Sonic Studio just came out with a card, and SONY was the first out with an authoring/workstation, which I forget the name but I think it's Sonoma. All very pricey and of course as you know, SACD is DSD, not PCM like Pro Tools. The only way to go to DSD, is to record analog into a DSD capable device (Genex, Tascam, Sony, Merging, etc) from either a workstation or record live. Then you can author a Scarlet disc in one of the authoring options above. Everything about DSD is quite different and more expensive than PCM. It has been my experience that it does sound quite good however.

While Super Audio Compact Disc (SACD) has CD in it's name, it is not PCM, as Compact Discs are. However, hybrid SACD discs can contain a Red Book layer, which is of course PCM, and can be read by any CD player. However, that's a PCM layer, not DSD. If you want SACD, you need DSD and the appropriate recording and authoring devices, software, etc.

DVD's, both the -Video and -Audio varieties, can do PCM, AC3, MPEG-2, DTS, SDDS, etc. However, ironically and to muddle things more, while a DVD disc can use PCM to author a disc, it can NOT do a 'hybrid' disc, a la SACD. In other words, it can use PCM, but it can't do Red Book so that CD players can read it. Got all that? Good! Can you explain it to me now?

So to wrap up, if all you are looking for is 'encoding' software so to speak, then Minnetonka Steel is your ticket. Otherwise, you need to invest in some hardware/software combo or shell out more money for the Chrome @ $2500 or so.

[draven]

To clarify for Froyo, Sonic Solutions (the company, and product relating to Mastering) are both now known as Sonic Studio. Sonic Solutions offers a variety of DVD Authoring utilities, where as Sonic Studio offers professional Mastering systems. Sonic Studio does have a new DSD/SACD system in the works. This is an extension of their current mastering software, and will (to my understanding) be offered as a DSD only system (PCM will still be a separate product).