We started talking about this in a different thread...does anyone know if you can create your own, there is a very limited supply of them and they are very expensive (in comparison). Is the quality that much better, is this something that we will put in our shelves next to beta tapes?

 

The quality is much better than CD and yes they are something to put the shelf next to the Beta, HD DVD, Laserdisc, SACD etc.

 

Yes, you can create your own. Check out Cirlinca DVD-Audio Solo. However, there won't be any quality improvement unless you start with a multi-channel source that is higher quality than a standard CD. You won't gain anything by just re-encoding existing CDs....except maybe space.

Mike

 

So, the question is if the DVD-A can store more songs than a regular CD could MP3 files? I would see the use of the format then...Thanks for commenting on my post.

 

Is there a list available somewhere of what titles are available on DVD-A and where they can be bought from?

 

I've purchased from these places online, had good experience with all:

Acoustic Sounds - http://store.acousticsounds.com
CD Universe - http://www.cduniverse.com
MicksMuse - http://www.micksmuse.com

Micks is a great place to check because he searches for used or out-of-print materials, buys collections, etc.

I would say the MP3 generation would have little use for this format because it's too dang expensive and you can only listen to these discs in your Acura or at home if you have the right player. Of course, a good DVD-A will blow you away with the sound quality, depth, spatial presence and make anything else sound like a 60s transistor radio. Yes, I also own and use 3 MP3 players.

 

It really depends on the MP3 quality settings....not something that could be easily calculated without more information. MP3s can be compressed a variety of ways. In the end, a standard, non-dual layer DVD can store roughtly 4.7G of data, and a standard CD can store 650-700M. You can do the math from there.

Even if your answer above was 'the same number', undoubtedly, the MP3 disc would be lower quality since the DVD-A would be encoded at standard 16b 44.1KHz CD sampling rates.

Mike

 

perhaps I didn't explain very well. If you have an MP3 file, that you want to put into the DVD-A, can you do that? and doing that, would it yield more songs than putting the MP3s files in a regular CD?

I thought that this was as easy as recording or burning MP3 songs into a blank DVD cd and you would be able to play in the car, very wrong I was....

 

Amazon.com has a pretty good selection of DVD-A's.

 

Well your question still isn't totally clear. Let me see if I can explain better.

To play MP3s from a standard CD, all you need to do is burn them to disk as standard data. You don't need to do anything fancy. Unfortunately, for some stupid reason, Acura has chosen not to allow us to do the same with DVDs - at least in the RDX. The MDX can do it, but the RDX can't.

Mike

 

DVD-A is a disk format like CD audio (redbook audio). Burning mp3 files to a DVD creates a data disk, it is not an audio format disk. The unit in the RDX will not read DVD data disks with mp3 files. I tried it.

 

scudzuki,
Did you use DVD+R or DVD-R to burn your mp3 on a DVDs?

 

Please correct me if I am wrong, but aren't these all software program issues? So, in theory all CD and DVD players can be updated to play every format that uses a red laser for decoding.

 

My point exactly. Since the drive can read DVD-A's, it should have no trouble reading data DVDs with the right firmware. My opinion is that Acura has just decided not to let us do it - but allow it on the MDX. I think the RDX and MDX even share the same Nav/ELS hardware. Maybe it's a product differentiation thing. I call it stupid.

Mike

 

DVD-A reads from an iso image, so a 4 minute song takes up 4 minutes of room on the DVD whether it came from a CD, an .mp3 or whatever.

Someone on the TL forums came up with a free program to author DVD-A's if you are so inclined:

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...light=adobeman

The forum has instructions on how to convert your files (including .mp3) into files that can be written to DVD-A.

I've used it (and the Cirlinca for it's trial period). As everyone has mentioned, they will only sound as good as the source file.

The major benefit for me was that I could fit 7 or so albums in CD quality onto a single DVD-A. Kind of neat if you have a favorite band and want to keep the sound fidelity at it's fullest.

In the .mp3 age, most people (me included) don't think it is worth the trouble, as a CD full of .mp3s can contain more songs than a DVD-A. Plus you lose the track info on a DVD-A.

However, if you have the original source CD's, a DVD-A will sound as good as the CD's that you used to burn it.