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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]
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