How important is audio quality to the average consumer? “Production studios think of audio as half the picture. The truth is, it’s more,” says Randon Morford of Sorenson Media, manufacturer of the industry-leading Squeeze encoding and compression solutions. If a movie or show--whether delivered on a disc, TV, or online--has good video but bad audio, consumers simply won't watch. However, if the video is bad and the audio is good, studies show, they are most likely to watch the whole thing, he says. “The human ear can compensate, but the human eye can compensate a whole lot more.” That said, why are we, as consumers, still hearing less-than-high resolution audio even with the new high-definition optical disc formats? Industry analysts say, what’s available is good enough, but most importantly what’s available now is convenient!

Chris Armbrust, director of R&D for DVD Compression, Technicolor Creative Services, says, “We can now deliver 7.1 uncompressed as well as lossless audio. The bandwidth requirements are baffling when compared to DVD," he explains. "Some of the bitrate requirements are up to 13Mbps, which is more than is available for audio and video in DVD.” Bandwidth is clearly not an issue, but that's not the only potential roadblock. Not all of the authoring/multiplexing tools have supported all of the codecs and not all of the players have implemented support for all of the variations of audio codecs that are now available.

Once one of the high-definition disc formats becomes mainstream (and it's looking more and more like Blu-ray will be the one most likely to move in that direction, but that doesn't mean it will get there soon, will the high-quality standalone audio disc ever come? Once again, I was hoping the advent of a new disc format would push the record labels, maybe even the movie studios, to put more development into audio quality and surround sound. My hopes were dashed yet again after speaking to industry analysts. What I found--much to the chagrin of my replicator friends I’m sure--is that even when it comes to niche HD audio markets, the internet is the future.

Convenience is the driving force behind music delivery, and even with the prospect of Blu-ray and HD DVD, that’s not likely to change, says Philip Hodgetts, founding editor, Creative Planet’s Digital Production BuZZ. “CDs replaced LPs because of the convenience factor (random access, multiloaders, playlists). Higher quality was just a bonus. Likewise, DVD replaced VHS because of the random access, and just happened to be higher quality. MP3 players have rapidly replaced CD players (at least for portable players) because of the convenience factor of carrying that much music. Once the average buyer has 'good enough' quality, they stop buying based on quality. Instead, they buy on convenience and price.”

Other high-definition audio lovers besides myself do exist. Mark Waldrep of AIX Entertainment, for example, has custom-mixed music with high-definition video into 9.1 surround. “It would be ideal for the formats to embrace music, but it’s not happening. I like to be out there on the bleeding edge, but there is just no way I’m going to invest the money in the authoring tool. I’ve been told by both high-definition camps (Toshiba and Sony) that these new formats are about movies, not music.”

Not ready to surrender quite yet, Waldrep created the iTrax website, which is a sort of HD-only iTunes. iTrax allows users to search, select, audition, and download individual tracks or entire albums that have been produced using state-of-the-art HD audio and video equipment. Only tracks that have actually been recorded and delivered in HD, rather than tracks that have been upsampled or transferred from older “standard definition” sources will be available through iTrax.

It’s been said over and over again, but Morford’s quote says it best: “Convenience trumps quality.” If you want to know where the future is, look at 13-year-olds and what their listening, viewing, and buying habits are. That's where the trends are--“not what the sales guy tells you," Morford says. "People are downloading stuff. Do they care about the quality? Somewhat, but convenience is key. However, we’re starting to get the ability to deliver better and better quality with the convenience.” While the disc’s audio quality has not changed, online quality it is improving. As bandwidth increases, you can offer better stereo and start adding surround sound. We’re in a transition period. Devices that connect to your computer or to the web that provide HD will become common.

Doom and gloom predictions aside, there are two rays of hope for HD audio, and HD audio on disc in particular. The first is that in the Blu-Ray Profile 3 there is a specification for audio-only players--indication of some progressive thinking on the spec-setting side that at least makes HD audio development possible. And, secondly, there is still a Grammy category for surround sound. In case you weren’t watching recently, the award was given to George Martin and company (of Beatle fame) for Capitol/Apple's Love. Does this mean the Beatles have a chance to change the world again? Stranger things have happened. Debbie Galante Block (debgalante at comcast.net) is a freelance writer based in Mahopac, New York.