Consumer confusion, marketing mistakes, and a dearth of authoring tools accessible to mid-size producers have hindered the growth of DVD-A and SACD, but the studios behind the audiophile formats have big plans for 2003.

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March 2003|Which of the new audio formats is superior—Super Audio CD (SACD) or DVD-Audio (DVD-A)?

It's all a matter of opinion. For record labels, the choice may be based on technical superiority or political alliances. For the audiophile consumer who actually understands what a DVD-A or SACD is, it really doesn't matter which they prefer because it's all about which titles are available, and that number's still quite small. At year's end, there were about 300 DVD-A titles on the market and around 100 SACD titles. By March 2003, it is expected that total U.S. third-party SACD titles will be 146, plus 113 hybrid multichannel discs. Both formats started to make a little noise at the end of 2002. On the one hand, Warner, EMI, and BMG all announced or affirmed their support of DVD-A with a range of new and catalog titles; BMG's DVD-A version of Elvis 30 #1 Hits on RCA was expected to be a hot seller during the holiday season. Sony and Universal, on the other hand, support SACD. EMI's Virgin released the 22-title "Rolling Stones Remastered" catalog series in the fall, the first release to create a real stir in that format.

Still, the labels and their distributors are having a hard time figuring out how to market either format. "Retail accounts are grappling with how they retail these new formats. They finally figured out that DVD-Video is big enough to have its own music section. But high-end audio stuff is lumped together," says Leslie Cohen, vice president of business development for Sony Music Entertainment. Cohen recounts one trip to a retailer who "had DVD-A and SACD all mixed together. It's okay to be side by side, but not mixed together. The poor consumer sees this huge section, but has no idea how to attack it." Then there are the big names like Circuit City and Best Buy that support hardware, but don't know what to do with the titles, so they shelve them with the players rather than in the music section. That's not the best way to sell discs, but Cohen admits that the formats need to be proven sellers before they command their own section in the battle for shelf space.

Both formats have a long way to go with regard to marketing and acceptance. And how many engineers really are savvy enough to put out a good product? Is DVD-Audio or SACD really being produced at the project studio level—like CD-Audio, DVD-Video, and DVD-ROM—or do both formats remain, production-wise, the province of the major music studios and their minions? And when, if ever, will the ascendancy of either format justify more small outfits throwing their hats in the ring? Then there's the nagging little question of how the heck DTS fits in. EMedia will attempt to put this all in perspective.

DVD-A
The official DVD-A Web site gives this as the format's definition: DVD-A "can provide a major advance in audio performance by providing the listener with advanced resolution stereo (two channels) and/or multichannel surround sound (up to six channels) music." DVD-A can provide dramatically higher-quality stereo sound than CD with a sampling rate of up to 192kHz compared to 44.1kHz for CD. DVD-A digital sound can be delivered with up to 24 bits of data, compared to 16 bits for the uncompressed pulse code modulation (PCM) CD standard. DVD-Audio discs cannot be played on a conventional CD player, though virtually every label releasing DVD-Audio discs includes tracks in the video zones of those discs that are compatible with all existing DVD-Video players. Audio CDs will play on DVD-Audio players just as they do on DVD-V players.

DVD-A titles are trickling in from some of the majors, including Warner, EMI, and BMG. As of December, Warner had about 75 titles on the market. But independent labels have perhaps been the most aggressive in pushing the format. For example, 5.1 Entertainment's goal was to have more than 100 discs, many of them new titles, by the end of 2002. Company president John Trickett has been very vocal in the press about DVD-A's benefits and, as a result, has perhaps been more instrumental than the majors in helping to launch the format. But, like virtually all the audiophile formats from gold masters to DAT, DVD-A hasn't captured the attention of the music-buying public.

Perhaps the biggest consumer awareness problem for DVD-A comes from the "DVD" in its name. When consumers hear DVD, they immediately think video; the popular press often makes the misconception worse by continuing to refer to DVD as Digital Video Disc. Instead of fighting the misconception, DVD-A creators are starting to use it to their benefit and promoting the idea that DVD-A can offer not only an audio-experience but, like DVD-V, can offer extras. In the case of an audio disc, video can be part of the extra content.

In an effort to clear things up for the consumer, record companies have come up with yet another cousin to DVD-A, which may in fact confuse the market more. The DVD Forum has set out to create a hybrid dual-layer CD/DVD-A disc that will play in all CD and DVD-A players. A good idea, perhaps, because right now DVD-A discs won't play in CD machines. But creating a CD/DVD-A format isn't as easy as it sounds. A hybrid disc requires changes to the Red Book CD specification. Warner, however, announced its support for this format at the end of last year. Another interesting way to push the consumer slowly into the DVD-A arena is to package a CD and DVD together, as done recently by RCA with releases from the Dave Matthews Band and the Foo Fighters, although admittedly these "bonus discs" are DVD-Video, not DVD-Audio. But RCA may see this as an intermediary step toward adapting listeners to receiving music content (with or without video component) on DVD discs. At presstime, BMG could not comment on the success of these projects. While practice makes perfect, it's true that authoring DVD-A is complex, and might be another reason the format has been slow to grow. There are navigation issues associated with it, for example. Authoring tools are becoming available, however, for manufacturers of these products, and it's relatively easy to make the trans- ition from authoring CD to authoring DVD-A.

SACD
It's not so easy to go from CD to SACD, since it requires special code and hardware. "It's a little like rocket science to get started," says David Smith, vice president of engineering for Sony Music Studios. While DVD-A seems to be the format of the common man, and just about any studio can do it, average consumers are just beginning to hear about the format. Audiophiles, however, have embraced SACD. (A Hybrid SACD also exists with one layer of SACD info and one CD layer, and can be played on CD players and SACD players.) What makes SACD sound so good is that it is based on Direct Stream Digital technology, which offers a frequency response almost five times greater than that of a traditional CD. Its dynamic range is 120dB compared to 96dB on a CD. Although incorporating video content can be a plus, Sony has marketed its product as a new music format only. There is a video area of the disc included in the SACD spec, but the company has chosen not to move forward on it just now. Video is not built into SACD authoring tools yet, either, which limits what you can do with the disc, but also reduces the potential authoring challenges attendant to creating an SACD title.

So far, authoring tools have only gone out to major mastering houses, and are for the most part at a prototypical stage. They're hand-written, customized for each operation. Smith has authored both SACD and DVD-A, and he walked EMedia through the SACD process. "While authoring tools can sequence, they cannot edit. Thus, the engineer has to generate an EM (edited master) that is the ‘food' for the authoring system. The EM is loaded, the start and stop points are put in, much like when the engineer adds a PQ encoding set up for CD," Smith says. Text is also entered at this stage. "Once everything is in the appropriate position, it multiplexes the content and generates an AIT master, which is called a CM (cutting master). That is then sent to the pressing plant."

Authoring is straightforward and Sony has been upgrading and making improvements every six months or so. The biggest problem Smith sees with SACD authoring is that there just aren't enough tools available. "It's a chicken-and-egg thing. There is not a lot of support for the format just yet, so it doesn't pay to write all of the fancy code to author SACDs. More authoring systems will become available when there's more demand," he says. In the meantime, both SACD and DVD-A are being engineered by a select knowledgeable few. Sony has kept very strict control over SACD, much the way they have in the game market with Playstation 2 discs. In the U.S., initially only Sony had an SACD manufacturing plant (in Terre Haute, Indiana). In California, Crest National was expected to start up production of hybrid discs by the end of last year. Sony announced in January that it would add hybrid production in May. Sonopress in Germany has made over 1 million SACDs, and Sony in Japan is also running discs. Sony's control is most likely the reason that it is easier to get more information about the format. DVD-A information is a bit more difficult to gather.

What DVD-A and SACD Share
The claim to fame for both DVD-A and SACD is that their sound is more "faithful" to the original source material than a CD's ever could be. Ted Jensen, a chief engineer at Sterling Sound mastering house in New York, has been working with Surround Sound for several years, and has engineered both DVD-A and SACD, although lately he says he has been working more with SACD, including Bon Jovi's Bounce and the upcoming album from Macy Gray. He says both formats offer good-quality sound. "I think the choice is mainly a marketing one. There are some differences in sound, but compared to what people are used to from CDs and MP3s, they're both amazing," Jensen says. "Every time I think one format is better than the other, I get something in on the other format and I'm saying ‘wow'!'"

In addition to superior sound quality, both formats share something that's perhaps even more important to the labels: copy protection. Currently, these formats cannot be copied, nor can their audio files be sent over the Internet.

DTS
Just when consumers think they've got all these formats and acronyms straight, it's time to remind them about DTS. Based on the popular Digital Theater Systems theater sound format, DTS Entertainment's format is actually a scalable codec designed to deliver the highest-quality multichannel sound possible within the data capacity of various digital formats and systems, explains DTS Entertainment vice president of marketing David Del Grosso. This includes packaged goods (discs), Internet streams, and other broadcast delivery systems. "The primary ‘mission' of the DTS Consumer Group," Del Grosso says, "is to deliver superb surround soundtracks on all formats of movies, music, and videogames for all home, car, and computer applications."

Currently, DTS always provides a DVD-V-compatible track. At the same time, DTS Entertainment provides dedicated DTS 5.1 (and 6.1 ES) music discs, including titles from Sting and Queen, as well as classical titles. Del Grosso predicts there will soon be 30 million DTS surround enthusiasts. "That format, in effect, will compete with DVD-A and SACD," he says. DTS has been staging surround music demos in recording studios all over the world to improve industry awareness for how great music sounds in 5.1 surround. "We are also working closely with Best Buy, Virgin, Tower, and other retail chains to co-create effective training programs, plus in-store signage and displays," Del Grosso says. This year, the company expects to launch several new promotions in Europe and Asia, reportedly to lure a global audience to its own exclusive DVD-Audio and 5.1 Music Discs. Interestingly, Graham Nash released Songs for Survivors, his first solo album in more than 15 years, in the new surround sound format prior to its traditional CD release. Nash was named Surround Music Artist of the Year by the first annual Surround Music Awards for the DTS Entertainment disc.

Where Do We Go From Here?
While other smaller record labels, like Chesky and Telarc, have been releasing product in the last few years, label executives like Cohen, Trickett, and Universal's Paul Bishow say that 2003 is the year major labels will seriously get behind their formats of choice. New titles will be joining the many catalog titles that have been hitting the market in the last couple of years. It's anyone's guess as to whether the consumer really wants to hear music all around the room, but in any case, stereo versions of SACD and/or DVD-A also will be available. Can these formats replace the CD? Maybe over time, much in the way stereo replaced mono, but no one expects CD to go away any time soon.

[continue to pages 3 & 4 for sidebars]

SIDEBAR: Authoring DVD-A and SACD
When it comes to DVD-A and SACD authoring tools, the choices are fairly simple because there aren't many choices. But there's more to getting into DVD-A authoring than simply picking an audio tool. Most DVD-A titles have video content on them as well, and will require investing in video authoring tools as well. SACD, on the other hand, is an audio-only format. Here's a quick rundown of what's available.

Sonic Solutions of Novato, California offers the most widely used workstation commercially available for authoring DVD-Audio. DVD-Audio Creator LE includes the ability to author all nine DVD-Audio title groups with 99 tracks per group, sequential and browsable slideshows, CPPM copy protection, menus for accessing either High-Definition Audio in Meridian Loss Packing (MLP) or LPCM formats, DTS or Dolby Digital audio streams, and MPEG-2 video. DVD-Audio Creator LE can be used in conjunction with Scenarist, DVD Creator, or DVD Fusion. DVD-Audio Creator LE costs $5999. All is not lost, however, if a studio isn't hooked up to the Big Five record labels and not ready to make such a large capital investment.

Minnetonka Audio of Minneapolis makes some very affordable tools. The main authoring solution is called discWelder, which is available in two version, STEEL ($495) and the higher-end CHROME ($2495). Minnetonka also offers a DVD-Audio encoder called SurCode MLP ($2495). "We view the DVD market in two ways," says director of marketing John Calder. "The CHROME product is really for those already doing DVD. Although our product is not as complete as Creator, you get a surprising feature set for the money, and we're upgrading it all the time. Our product can accompany the $35,000 systems so that a studio can have two systems up and running," Calder continues. "The professionals we're after are those that are not going to be doing DVD-A full-time, all of the time."

The other market Minnetonka targets with its STEEL product includes musicians, small studios, and amateurs—people who want to do some high-resolution work, but aren't equipped for or interested in a big, elaborate production. All discWelder products use the same user interface, so if a studio wants to upgrade from STEEL to CHROME, its engineers don't have to learn a new program. Both products support audio at resolutions of 16 to 24 bits, and sample rates from 44.1 up to 192kHz.

Newest to market is Cube DVD-A from Cube-Tec. Designed for use with Cube-Tec AudioCube 5 digital audio workstations, the module supports Version 1.2 of the DVD-A standard. It supports all sample rates and bit resolutions available within the standard including 24-bit/192kHz in 2-channel and 24-bit/96kHz in multichannel formats.

Cube DVD-A is also DVD-Video-compatible. A DVD-V-compatible VIDEO_TS folder created in a typical DVD-V authoring system and can be combined with a Cube DVD-A to produce a DVD which is playable on both DVD-V and DVD-A players. It will integrate the folder into the disc image and a layer break for DVD-9s. It also makes use of the imported video streams to create AVTTs to combine DVD-V elements with high-resolution audio content. "The most important thing to note about Cube DVD-A is that it is the only program on the market with which you can ‘proof' an entire DVD-A scenario on the system," according to Cube spokesman Curt Smith, "without actually burning a DVD disc. Cube DVD-A Proof facilitates the playback of the Cube DVD-A Scenario on the AudioCube. This saves an incredible amount of time and money in the production process," Smith adds. Cube DVD-A lists for $7,950 in the U.S., while Cube DVD-Proof is sold separately for $9,950.

On the SACD side, Sony and Philips have authoring tools, but they have thus far been used only in their own production, according to David Kawakami of Sony Music. However, studios who want to try their hand at the format can now do so through a new SACD authoring system recently made available by long-time digital audio editing tool supplier SADiE. SADiE has had a 2-channel Direct Stream Digital editing and authoring workstation for SACD for some time. However, its new Series 5 expands the DSD range with 64fs processing multichannel system. The DSD8 is a full-fledged eight-channel PCM editor as well.

Sonic Studio of Minneapolis, is also expected to start shipping an SACD system in April that will master and edit as well as create a disc image for replication plants, according to Sonic Studio CEO Jeff Wilson.

SIDEBAR: hurry up & wait?
Those authoring and mastering DVD-A and SACD say that 2003 will be the year both formats get some legs. Right now, there are only a handful of studios that can handle the work. But with this year's onslaught of new titles bringing visibility to the formats and credibility to the market, it may be the time for studios both small and large to start looking at whether or not high-definition audio is right for them.

Actual costs of getting into DVD-A can be as low as $10,000. The costs of developing DVD-Audio titles with Sonic Solutions' DVD-Audio Creator workstation are probably a third of what they were originally, according to James Moore, chief engineer of New York-based Metropolis DVD.

However, the costs of audio tools and other audio-specific equipment are not the only consideration. DVD-A, in many if not most cases, requires video know-how as well as audio know-how. Moore says DVD-A is five years late to succeed easily as a discrete format, in that consumers are used to DVD-V and expect video on any discs designated DVD. "People are trying to make DVD-A into DVD-V with super high-resolution audio," he says. "That's where the difficulty lies. If you want pictures and you want video, you should really be doing a DVD-V, but that's not the case," he says.

Audio professionals and video professionals might want to consider partnerships which will help with the learning curve, according to Roger Talkov, president of DVD Labs of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Bob Michaels, president, 5.1 Production Services (a subset of Los Angeles-based 5.1 Entertainment), disagrees with both Moore and Talkov. He says it's time to get over the perception that DVD-A authoring is very complicated and difficult. He uses both Sonic Solutions and Minnetonka tools to create discs. "I think many people feel we still have a long way to go with DVD authoring, but in my eyes, we don't," Michaels says. "I've brought the authoring cost down to the level of DVD-V. Once the equipment and software purchase are made, it's economical to build and author discs. A simple DVD-A can be produced for $7500, same as a DVD-V title," he contends.

Talkov concedes that the tools are improving. "When we originally started doing DVD-A titles about two years ago, we had to hand-script them," says Talkov. One of the discs he did for Telarc (the record label that put out the DVD Labs-authored "Beethoven's 5th" on SACD and DVD-A) had 80,000 lines of code. "It took a couple of months to finish that disc. Now, we have user interface tools that allow us to do discs in a day or two," he says.

One way of improving the economics of DVD-Audio production, according to AIX Records' Mark Waldrep, happens deep in post-production, when it comes time to select a disc capacity. AIX--a pioneer in high-resolution recording for DVD-Audio and winner of a 2002 Discus Award for Nitty Gritty Surround--has been pioneering the largely untapped DVD-14 (dual-layer DVD-9 on one side, single-layer DVD-5 on the other) format for its most recent DVD-Audio titles. "Publishers get 8 cents a tune per unit. If I put the material on two discs, that figure is 16 cents per tune per unit. If I put it on one disc, it counts as one. DVD-14 discs are a buck a piece, which is not outrageous." Recent DVD-14 discs from AIX include Guitar Noir by Laurence Juber (of Paul McCartney's Wings) and Dorian Michael's Acoustic Blues with Juber and Albert Lee playing as guests. This release offers guitar lessons and printable music sheets in addition to performances. (For more on AIX' DVD-Audio recording and production techniques, see www.emedialive.com/r20/2001/between12_01.html and www.emedialive.com/r20/2001/between12_01.html.)

But whatever costs you can make up on the mastering end, the fact remains that DVD-Audio production is costly and complex. On the other hand, "SACD is relatively simple," according to David Glasser, chief engineer at Airshow Mastering in Boulder, Colorado. "From an engineering perspective, except for needing some different tools, the workflow is not much different from mastering a normal CD. The choice is, do I want to put out a high-resolution surround recording, just a stereo recording, or make it a hybrid disc? Just a small amount of authoring is needed to add SACD text." The cost of the workstations is not much of a factor in deciding whether to do a project, Glasser says, citing the availability of stereo SADiE systems (Airshow's base system of choice) for $10-$15,000, with a 5.1-converter system adding another $10,000.

COMPANIES MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
5.1 Entertainment Group www.5point1.net
Airshow Mastering www.airshowmastering.com
AIX Records www.aixentertainment.com
BMG Entertainment www.bmgentertainment.com
Chesky Records www.chesky.com
Cube-Tec www.cube-tec.com
DataPlay www.dataplay.com
DTS Entertainment www.dtsonline.com
DVD Labs www.dvdlabs.com
EMI Group www.emigroup.com
Metropolis DVD www.metropolisdvd.com
Minnetonka Audio Software, Inc. www.minnetonkaaudio.com
Sonic Solutions www.sonic.com
Sonic Studio, LLC www.sonicstudio.com
Sony Music Entertainment, Inc. www.sonymusic.com
Sterling Sound www.sterling-sound.com
Telarc International Corp. www.telarc.com
Universal Music Group www.umusic.com
Warner Music Group www.wmg.com