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DVD-Audio compatibility question


jdm56

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Will a SACD/DVD player play the Dolby Digital track on a DVD-A disc? Will it play the Hi-Rez, two channel track, if there is one? I'm looking at a couple of Sony machines that do SACD and DVD, but not DVD-Audio. But there could be at least a measure of compatibility with DVD-A discs if it could play something.

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jd, it'll play the dolby digital track as long as it has a DD decoder which all most likely do. & yeah many dvd-audio discs have a dolby digital, dts &/or pcm 2.0 track on 'em in addition to the

mlp (meridian lossless packaging) format (hi-rez) track.

but it won't do the high-rez dvd-audio, whether 96/24 5.1 or 192/24 2.0 if it doesn't have a mlp decoder on it.

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Hi boa,

Thanks for the info. I wasn't too sure.

Ticks me off, really. There are only a handful of "universal" players available, ranging in price from $700 to $1500. And only two that I know of have a hi-rez digital output. And there are only two receivers that can take that hi-rez output (Pioneer Elite VSX-49TXi and Denon AVR-5803) - And I can't afford either one of them! And then there are those two Sony ES integrated receiver/DVD-SACD players. And they don't do DVD-A, and in fact, don't even have a 5.1 analog input! IT'S SO FRUSTRATING! Why can't the industry work TOGETHER on these new formats instead of against each other. The DVD-A camp act's like SACD doesn't exist, and vice-versa.

...maybe I should just hold out another year or two.

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JD, you are in the same situation that has been bugging many people for quite some time and you are not the first to say "I'll wait".I have three DVD players and 2 CD players. Not one of them plays SACD. I sat back and cruised the titles that were available on SACD and decided ,for my taste,that the choice of DVD-A titles that have been released were more to my liking. How many SACD discs will you buy if you get one of these so called universal players? I think that is the question you should ask yourself before purchasing one.Some of these universal players compromise quality in some areas while trying to cover all the bases.In my opinion none of these players on the market cover all the areas of audio and video formats well enough to command the type of prices they are asking for them.That is why many people who can afford it have more than one or two players if they own many different types of audio/video discs in different formats.I think the best of both world's just ain't happening yet in DVD player land.Yes it is frustrating but we're shelling out the bucks aren't we.Why? Because we love this stuff. 1.gif

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The problem for me with separate players for SACD and DVD-A is that my receiver only has one set of analog, 6-channel inputs. So some sort of switch box would have to be used. Maybe there is a unit that manages the bass (like the ICBM), AND switching? I don't know. This is the appeal of the integrated units, for me.

Magnolia Hi-Fi (only Pioneer Elite dealer near me) is having a sale tomorrow (who isn't?). Maybe I'll take a listen to that DV-45a.

fini

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I've seen the Pioneer DV-45A on the 'net for around $400, and the firewired DV-47Ai for under $700. But there again, the only Pioneer receiver that inputs the firewire connection is the big-dog Elite VSX-49Ai. And I don't need no stinkin' 170W/channel to drive klipsch heritage speakers! Plus, those big receivers are just TOO DANGED BIG! My gosh, some of them are 19 or 20 inches deep. (or more) My CWD cabinets are only about 18 inches deep, and my Standesign rack only about 16. It's a conspiracy, man...

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