BrandHdriver

Hey TL'ers,

I'm in the market for purchasing more DVD-A's for the new car. What are the top few you'd never get rid of?

What do I listen to? Everything, so don't hold back on me!!!

TX TL'er - Silver, ebony, non-NAV, 5AT

casooner90

There are many references to this question here. I'll list my favorites (purchased) so far.

Donald Fagan-Night Fly
Queen-Night of the Opera
Linda Ronstadt - the demo song disk

I heard Fleetwood Mac (Rumor) talked about here as well as the blue men. My next purchase will be the Fleetwood mac.

apwalsh

I just bought the Fleetwood Mac & Metallica black album. I would like to see more Metallica albums.

Steven

Sting
Brand New Day
Awesome!

Skeedatl

Sting - Brand New Day (DTS)
Metallica (DVD-A)
The Police - Every Breath You Take (DTS)

It seems to me that DTS DVD-A sounds better than regular DVD-A but they're way more expensive.

eaRL

Steely Dan - Gaucho (DTS Edition)
Diana Krall - Love Scenes (DTS Edition)
Diana Krall - When I look in your eyes (DVD Audio) ***** 5 stars!
Police - Every Breath you take (DTS Edition)
Peter Frampton - Frampton Comes Alive - (DVD Audio)
Enigma - MCMXC A.D. (DVD AUDIO)
Beach Boys - Pet Sounds (DVD Audio) The best DVD-A I've ever heard. This album is awesome in 5.1!!!


I heard something about plans to release Let it Be on DVD but I'm not sure if that was DVD video (probably) or DVD Audio or DTS CD.

Bartman_RENAMED

Linkin Park - Reanimation
Santana - Shaman
Andrea Bocelli - Verdi

That should just about cover everything.

I also have:
3 doors down
Metallica
Usher
Sting

Novice

I am afraid that the DVD-A format will die even before it take off.

I went to Circuitcity and Barnes &Noble. They had about one rack-full of DVD-As (about 30 of them). Some kids who worked there didin't even know what DVD-A is.

Skeedatl

What would replace it. It won't take off 'till there are more applications (devices) for it. The TL is just one of if not the first car supporting DVD and DTS audio.

Woodstock

Best I've heard for 5.1 listening is "Blue Man Group - Audio".

DJ TAG

Excellent disc!!!

Novice

Skeedatl:

I hope you are right as I have a car with DVD-a player. What bothers me is that they selections of DVD-a discs are pretty bad-mostly remixed stuff from old albums. I thought that this is a bad sign.

Oh, well, I can always listen to XM-I am sure they will come up with a better sound quality, hopefully with the surround stuff.

Kambei

I really like The Flaming Lips' "Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots" DVD-A. I haven't heard it in my car yet, because my car hasn't arrived yet.

By the way, Eliot Scheiner, of ELS fame, is the engineer of the album.

lindros2

REM -- In Time Greatest Hits 2

casooner90

To modify the question (aplogy to Brand for using his post), which is the best DVD-A that was truly recorded in 5.1 format. For example, I think most of the disks are re-format (or remix?) from a CD track. They did a great job in separating the tracks in some songs, but others are bad and can hear the track jump over to different channel in middle of a note. I'd like to hear a song totally recorded in 5.1 format so that no re-engineering was done. Does this make sense?

acuraddict

YES - FRAGILE
STEELY DAN - GAUCHO
EAGLES - HOTEL CALIFORNIA
FLEETWOOD MAC - RUMOURS
DEEP PURPLE - MACHINE HEAD

svtmike

CDs are usually recorded as multiple tracks, which are then mixed together by the engineer either into stereo or into 5.1.

In other words, a CD originally released in stereo does not imply that the engineer mixing the 5.1 version has only two tracks to play with.

Mike

eaRL

The older material definately comes from analog stereo masters. If the grand masters they use for remixing the 5.1 and DTS are the best that can be used, and the album was originally recorded with some detail to quality, the overall fidelity of the 5.1/DTS versions should be an improvement. But, as you mention, not all songs on an album will sound as good in this format.

I'm not sure today's pop and rock artists have 5.1 on the brain. There's really no incentive for Britney Spears to produce a 5.1 album because frankly her music is not deserving of that kind of quality and the kids that buy music like that are not discriminating enough to want the highest quality version of "Oops I did it again" that money can buy. Her music is shrink-wrapped, mass marketed and thoughtless. Britney understands this but 14-16 year olds do not. I use Britney Spears as an obvious example. I'm not knocking her or her music (and especially not her tight little can). But like Joe Dirt says, 'It's not what you want....it's the consumer'. So Britney may want that next album on DVD-A more than anyone else but it would be a waste of money, time and raw materials for her to produce one.

Take Pink Floyd's Dark side of the Moon. It was released in 1973 in 'quad' as well as stereo. Quad was a relatively short-lived technology for recording music using special recording equipment (console, tape machine, microphones etc.) that allowed you to take any input (like a voice, guitar, piano) and maneuver it around a soundspace with a 360 degree, 4 axis joystick. You could place an instrument just about anywhere around you; dead center, above, behind and below your ears.

Now just knowing that little bit of information, you can only imagine what Pink floyd and Alan Parsons (he engineered the album) could do with the grand masters and today's DVD-A technology. It would definately be an improvement. This is not going to be an option for Britney 31 years from now when her album is as old as Dark Side is today.

But DVD-A sounds kinda like quad doesn't it? Yes and no.

Yes because it may seem like DVD-A will probably go the way of quad for the lack of interest and scarcity of newly released material in DVD-A format or the expense of taking an abulm originally recorded very poorly by today's standards and putting it in another format where it doesn't necessarily need to be. So maybe DVD-A will end up like quad; a sonically superior but ignored alternative to stereo. But maybe not.

It probably won't because pretty descent 5.1 components exist for just about any budget and in any form factor. The most obvious example of this is an automobile with a DVD audio system that rivals most of the home and car quad systems of their time (gee, I wonder what make and model car has DVD-A?) and even some 5.1 systems for the home. Yes there were also a few quad systems for automobiles. When quad was trying to make its mark quality audio equipment was rare and most importantly expensive.

Finally, I think DVD has proven to be an improvement over the compact disc in all of the applications that it seeks to surpass the compact disc; usable life (DVD has 100 year shelf life. Compact disc has 10 year shelf life), data storage, home movies and audio fidelity.

Dang, I gotta go to bed. Sorry if this seems like a rant.....

digital_b

perhaps dvd-a selection is better on the net?

svtmike

Casooner,

Can you name a DVD-A that exhibits the bad sound you're talking about in the above quote?

Mike

AcRght

Outkast-Stankonia

rhuffman24

Look for DVDs that have been engineered and mixed by Elliott Scheiner. One that I know of, and have - it sounds great - is the Grover Washington, Jr release of Winelight. released in 2002 by Elektra.

An awesome CD (unfortunately couldn't find it on DVD) is Blue Man Group's "The Complex".

Another excellent jazz DVD is Fourplay.

Forget looking at BestBuy and other local retailers. Their selection is really poor. Try the online sites, except Amazon, who is also really short on selection. Try digitaleyes.net.

casooner90

GO_TL,

Great gathering of history. Thanks. I just hope that I'm not on the Beta side of VHS war (DVD-A vs. SACD). I cofess - I did purchase a beta machine. I do remember the quad vaguely. I think DVD-A is a good gamble and should continue to expand as long as there are people like us (TLers) continue to rave about this new music format. However, it will ultimately succeed on the basis of how deep the consumers pockets are - pretty tough to match when mp3 is free off of the web (albeit at lower quality).

svtmike,
One song in particular that I think was both great and yet weird was Queen's dragon attack. When I heard the song on the demo disk, it sounded GREAT. I ran out and bought it and have listened to the disk several times now. After a while, I started to notice the instruments jump speakers. I guess you have to concentrate (and turn your head sideways to get left ear - right ear distinction). That's when I thought 'wouldn't it be great if someone had recorded with 5.1 in mind?'

Final thought. I know that there are many DVD-A outlet on the net and even at a lower price, but I grew up in an instant gratification society (I'm still amazed by the will power of some of these people on this site ordering TL and waiting patiently). My purchases are mostly done out of impulse - see it, have it (almost like Pavlovian response). So, I urge all of you to purchase at your nearest outlet at large quanties so that there will be abundant quantity and selection for me during my 'urge' rage.

Thanks all.

svtmike

The Game by Queen is one of the most aggressive 5.1 mixes I've heard, and that album was recorded well after the advent of 24-track studio recordings, so my guess is any "jumping" of speakers is entirely the intent of the remix engineer.

In fact, the production notes in the DVD-A booklet for The Game note that the source for the DVD-A is a 24-track master analog recording, transferred at 192kHz/24bit.

So the "culprit" here is almost certainly the remix engineer, not the use of stereo master recordings.

Mike

TZVECL

Huh? 10 year CD shelf life?


Can someone expand on this? I think my oldest CD is about 19 years old.

Will the 0's and 1's evaporate off the disc? Will the metal film rust? Does it just explode?


Help! Please someone explain...

NOX 3.2

Fry's Electronics in Houston expanded their DVD-A /DTS selection to twice as much last month, they now have more than 400 titles.

they removed the SACD disks to another section to make room.

I like the Eagles DTS disk (a white one, forgot the name).

kinggeorge

i took ur advice and bought Linkin Park's Reanimation.....simply amazing. I also bought Metallica's Black album and although the quailty is good there isn't as much cool surround sound effect going on.

eaRL

Actually the 0s and 1s fall off....j/k. The reflective qualities of the compact disc's surface are what determine if it is still playable. Some of the early compact discs developed 'clouds' in the plastic when left in the heat or exposed to direct sunlight. Some of the earliest discs had a thicker than normal plastic binding and could get stuck in the players or rub up against the laser mechanism during play. Some of the other discs had a center hole that was not quite large enough. Obviously, the CD manufacturing process has improved over the past 19 years.

If you can still play a compact disc you bought almost 20 years ago then you must take care of your discs and that's great. I have had plenty of discs that I had to throw out.

I do have a few older discs that actually state the life of the disc is ten years in the liner notes.

hoyahenry

I picked up the Sting DVD and the 3 Doors Down Album, which is just awesome!

daviddww

Here is a website that reviews DVDa's. A lot of these DVDa's don't sound much better than the original CD

http://www.highfidelityreview.com/index.asp

eaRL

I'm not sure if you are making this statement based on the DVD-A reviews at highfidelity review or if this is your personal opinion but the guy from this site who reviewed Pet Sounds must have had a cold that day or maybe his ears were full of crap.

I'll be the first to say that the stereo re-issue of Pet Sounds that came out a few years ago was flawless and had clearly obtained the limits of quality for that album but the DVD-A version of Pet Sounds is certainly better than their review would have you think.

These hi-fi guys should not be confused with the professional audio crowd. The hi-fi scene is all about $300/foot speaker wire and $5000 turntables that are filled with some exotic sand and a platter that is mathematically flat. Or, I love this one, a $12,000 pair of speakers that have 6-8 midranges and the cabinets are made with some exotic wood. Or a tube monoblock amplifier that is water cooled for the low, low price of $5500 dollars a side. (It's MONO so be sure and get TWO. One for the left and one for the right).

You may be right that some of the DVD issues don't sound any better than a standard CD partially for the reason that a majority of the releases are from older masters. But these hi-fi reviews want you to think that the reviewer would have done all sorts of things to make the mix better. Believe me, anyone who gets the nod from the artist and the record company to remix an album like Dark Side or Pet Sounds is up to the task.

Double Duo

I can appreciate what you are saying, but can you elaborate? As far as the TL goes, what titles do you think takes the best advantage of the format?

dstackle

I've gotten about 10-12 DVD-A's since I got my car, and I think the best I've heard is the Eric Clapton/BB King, Riding with the King. If you close your eyes you'd almost think you were sitting in the front row at some blues club.

TL_Daemon

I find the three doors down album to be of bad 5.1 quality. I faded to rear because it sounded loud up front only. 1-10 i would give it a 4 for 5.1 an 8 for musical content.

One of my favs is Foreigner the debut nice job on the 5.1 mix.

Queen night at the opera again nice mix.
I noticed queen the game on the demo disc but havnt seen it in store.

I have to say playing these dvd audio disc on my home stereo is 100% better than in car,
but we are dealing with limited space.

Steven

If you like jazz you must get Big Phat Band XXL.
This is some of the best music I've ever heard.
Incredible arrangements and the sound quality will blow you away.

eaRL

Well, obviously I like the Pet Sounds album. Diana Krall's The Look of Love. Diana Krall's Love Scenes (The track 'My Love Is' on this album is excellent). Shostakovich: Jazz Suites Nos. 1 and 2.

I'm thinking of skipping the CD release of Elvis: 30 #1 Hits and getting the DVD-A instead. I'm sure I already have all of these songs individually but I want to see what these cuts sound like on DVD-A.

Also the Clapton / B.B. King album sounds like an almost sure bet.

marquis

Linkin Park - Reanimation
Toy Matinee - Toy Matinee (it's available in both DTS and DVD-A. I only have the DTS version so far)

tl-lvr

FWIW, for the first time in over twelve years, I bought an audio disc today (Eagles Hotel Cali), so maybe that will peak the mfg's and record industry's ears.

OMG, did I just put $ into the devil's (RIAA) pocket!!!

Double Duo

Just picked up The Band - The Last Waltz. Haven't opened it yet. This concert DVD is about the best there is for you old timers. Has Muddy Waters, Neil Young, Clapton and Dylan. Right up there with Springsteen & E Street Live In NYC. Is the DVD-A mix worth the price of admission?

mlewbart

I have been using the Highfideltyreview site as a loose guide because the human ear can't distinguish the differences that these talk about when you are driving at highway speeds. the car is insulated pretty well but it still has background noise. another good way to get the discs is Half.com the wholesalers list them on there. I have seen about 500 titles that way. much less of a hassle than Ebay for something that I can run to bestbuy and get. I just got Vivaldi's Four Seasons and it has a nice crisp sound, very enjoyable. I gotta agree that Brand New Day is a good DTS disc. I did my CD to DVD-A comparision with REM's Document. Much clearer due to the higher sample rate. It's too bad some artists are SACD because of their recording contract. I rally hate Sony and their proprietary crap (freakin memory sticks) they are like the AOL of electronics!