Hi Def: The Format War Heats Up

Many of you already know that there are two High Definition DVD-like formats. One is called Blu-Ray and the other is called HD DVD.

Now for the interesting part: When Sony came out with their PlayStation 3 (PS3), they built into it the capability to play Blu-Ray Disc and SACD formats. But now, not to be undone, Microsoft has weighed in on this competition with their own player which is an Xbox 360 add-on. The new Xbox 360 HD DVD player must be used with an existing Xbox 360 game console, so if you don’t have one, you will need to purchase both. There may also be a combination package available.

There’s no clear word on support of other formats (DVD-A, for example), but given the price tag and the fact that Microsoft is notoriously obtuse when it comes to including features people will want, my guess is that it’s only HD DVD compatible, not DVD-A compatible.

So, recapping, the two players are Sony PS3 (Blu-Ray) and Xbox 360 HD DVD player (requires Xbox 360 Console). Neither player supports both formats, so you will need them both.

Dual Disc: a Second Look.

It has been over a year since I last posted. But here’s an update on the Dual Disc format. What I said earlier is only half the story. True, Dual Disc has two sides, but it’s a lot closer to a dual-layer disc than a double-sided disc.

Here’s why: the two disc formats are placed back to back, but about as close as two layers of a DVD. This differs physically from the double-sided DVD, which is thicker because it is two discs, essentially, glued to each other, whereas Dual Disc is no thicker than an ordinary CD. So now I know what took them so long to come out with it in the first place!

There’s also a reason why the CD data must be on an opposite side. Unlike SACD, which was designed with the capability to support a hybrid format, DVD technology has been ever changing and updating. Nearest I can figure, if CD and DVD were put on different layers of the same side, most existing players would only be able to play the CD layer, and would ignore the DVD data entirely. To avoid this, Dual Disc was designed as a flip-side, rather than dual-layer, format. So yes, we still have to put the correct side in the player; and yes, there are no labels on Dual Discs. But this is the price you pay for backward compatibility.

Binaural with 4 Speakers

Many people haven’t tried this, but if you play a binaural recording on an ordinary stereo, you can split the output for each side and send each extra signal to another speaker. What this does is simulate the effect of headphones, so that the sound envelops you. Left rear speaker is left; right rear speaker is right. The acoustics take care of the rest.

Two competing formats.

As you all know, there’s two competing formats poised to hit the market for HD recordings. One is endoursed by the HD Forum (formerly DVD Forum) and is called—Dadut Dada!—HD-DVD. No surprise there. The other is an independent format that has contributions from 9 companies, including Sony and Philips, and is called Blu Ray. Though some may say two formats cause confusion, I’d like to point out that the two competing audio formats, DVD-A and SACD, are taking off, both of them, much faster than anticipated, fueled by—what else?—competition!

If it’s stereo, why do I hear it behind me?

It’s actually a psychoacoustic phenomenon. Some of the acoustics, though not all of them, from the original recording session, made their way onto the disc, into the player, out the speaker, and into your ears. These are cues like difference (L-R), frequency spread, delay, and echo. In some cases, you may even be able to hear sound as if it’s bouncing off an imaginary ceiling. “But it’s only coming from two speakers!” Well? You only have two ears, not 5.1 ears!☺

Why not use DSD for Blu Ray movies?

While Blu-ray is trying to settle on audio codecs, why don’t they consider DSD or DST as an alternative, at least? It’s far superior to Dolby Digital.

How About a “Universal Disc”?

We have universal players; why not have a universal disc format? Here’s how it would work. There could be a double-sided disc with SACD Hybrid content on side A, and DVD-Audio/Video format on side B. That way, if you didn’t have a universal player or couldn’t afford one (like me), you would be able to play that one disc in any player to the best possible sonic advantage.

All that is required is a double-sided, dual-layer-per-side physical format. After that, the sky is the limit, people!