The Police

PolkThug

Picked up The Police: Every Breath You Take The Classics. This is a DTS only DVD-A, 5.1. Wow! The Rti tweeters were shining and I was smiling. Even if you don't like The Police, you'll at least like the quality. Another suprise is that I never thought I would like 5.1 for music. Of course you can make your receiver just do 2-channel, but I didn't like the sound as much.

Regards,
PolkThug

danger boy

PT, i've been teetering back on forth on this one for a while now. maybe i should just pick it up next time i'm in Best Buy and give it a spin.

I have this disc on redbook cd. it was remastered a few years back.. the quality of sound was very poor. so i don't listen to it anymore. but i do like the Police. so i'll prob pick up this DTS DVD-a one instead.

movieguy

the eagles when hell freezes over dts dvd is another awesome choice if you like listening to these dvd's in 5.1

PolkThug

Originally posted by movieguy
the eagles when hell freezes over dts dvd is another awesome choice if you like listening to these dvd's in 5.1

Yeah, I heard that one over at Hbomb's (dual svs setup). Everytime the bass drum hit, my heart would skip a beat.

AsSiMiLaTeD

That Police CD in SACD literally destroys the DTS version, a very good recording...

If you like the DTS version, pick up the SACD version as well, you'll love it...

Also, if you like that CD in DTS, check out the Sting Brand New Day DTS disc also, IMO one of the best DTS recordings out there...

therockman

That Police disc is not a DTS only DVD-A (there is no such a thing), it is a DTS redbook CD, and it does sound good. But you really have to hear this disc on SACD, it really does blow away that DTS disc.

danger boy

i've got a couple of DTS CD's. and they don't sound as good as a DVD-a disc. the dynamics aren't there.

the DTS CD's i'm talking about are.. Wings - Band On the Run and the Eagles - Hell Freezes Over. although the Eagles does sound pretty good, it ain't no DVD-a.

F1nut

As far as DTS and DD are concerned they are of much lower quality than either DVD-A or SACD and are heavily compressed. SACD is clearly the better format out of them all.

AsSiMiLaTeD

Originally posted by therockman
That Police disc is not a DTS only DVD-A (there is no such a thing), it is a DTS redbook CD, and it does sound good. But you really have to hear this disc on SACD, it really does blow away that DTS disc.

Originally posted by danger boy
i've got a couple of DTS CD's. and they don't sound as good as a DVD-a disc. the dynamics aren't there.

the DTS CD's i'm talking about are.. Wings - Band On the Run and the Eagles - Hell Freezes Over. although the Eagles does sound pretty good, it ain't no DVD-a.

Originally posted by F1nut
As far as DTS and DD are concerned they are of much lower quality than either DVD-A or SACD and are heavily compressed. SACD is clearly the better format out of them all.

Glad to see I'm not alone in my thinking...

PolkThug

I only own two music DVD's, so I don't know much about this stuff. Thanks for the lessons.

The Police DTS
Frank Sinatra (at the Sands) DVD-A

So, how much faster is the sampling rate of SACD, over DVD-A and DTS? The Sinatra DVD has 192khz/24bit. Up until now, I thought that 192/24 was as good as it gets.

Thanks,
PolkThug

F1nut

The best DVD-A or any PCM based format (such as upsampled redbook CD) can do is 24 bit/192kHz, that's 192,000 samples per second. Now, that's not bad and far better than standard redbook at 16 bit/44.1kHz, but SACD is 1 bit/2.8442Mhz, that's 2.8 million samples per second.

PolkThug

Thanks F1. I see SACD's in my future...

HBombToo

Toby we partied and did HT and did not have much chance to do SACD. Trust F1!... I most prefer SACD.

1/4Twin

danger boy

so based on the sampling rate.. that would be your deciding factor.. on which format you would go with?? hmmmm? interesting. so what you're saying Polk Thug is that DVD-a isn't worth squat since it has a lower sampling rate? without even listening to it, huh?

the two are similar yet differnet beasts. different technology.

F1nut

Al,

Some other factors to consider are the number of releases available, DVD-A has about 700, SACD has just over 2000. The number of high quality specfic only DVD-A players is very small compared to the number of SACD players. Then there is the backwards compatibility of SACD hybrid discs (which most are these days) that will play a CD layer on any CD player. DVD-A is trying to come up with a similar idea, but so far the CD layer has to be put on the flip side of the DVD-A and they are having alot of problems getting it to work. Then there is the deal with most DVD-A's not having a 2 channel layer and there are still alot of folks who don't want to listen to music in multi-channel.

The bottom line to me is that having the two formats to chose from is a real pain in the arse because there are titles only available on DVD-A that I would like to have, but I made my choice as we all must do.

Jesse

therockman

And Jesse forgot to mention one very important factor that makes SACD more acceptable to audiophiles than DVD-A. With an SACD, you slip the disc into the machine and just press play; Wow, you have music. With DVD-A, YOU HAVE TO HAVE A VIDEO MONITOR in your system so that you can navigate through arcane menus in order to select the program layer that you want. To difficult and it nessesatates a video monitor in your hi-fi.


Rocky

PolkThug

Originally posted by danger boy
so based on the sampling rate.. that would be your deciding factor.. on which format you would go with?? hmmmm? interesting.

In my experience, a higher sampling rate has meant better quality. My experience with sampling rates revolves around making MP3's. I'll play 128 MP3's in my headphones, but in my car or home stereo, I like at least 192 MP3's.

Originally posted by danger boy
so what you're saying Polk Thug is that DVD-a isn't worth squat since it has a lower sampling rate? without even listening to it, huh?

Never said that. I think you're confused, I've only heard one DVD-A, and I've never heard an SACD. I'm really happy with my DTS CD, so I would also be happy with anything "above" that, whether it be DVD-A or SACD. I am very eager to try SACD.

Regards,
PolkThug

*edit "DTS CD"

therockman

Polk Thug, It is very important that we all stay on the same page here. So to be literal, your Police disc is not a DTS DVD, it is a DTS redbook CD. The terminology and technology are very important to distinguish correctly.


Rocky

PolkThug

Thanks Rock. Knowledge is good. I made the assumption it was a DVD.

-PT

danger boy

cool.
i don't think many DTS CD's are released anymore. I've only seen a handful of them at the record store these days. I never thought the sound on them was all that impressive. but likeI said. i do own a couple of them anyway.

Danny Tse

Keep your eyes out for the hybrid SACD, meaning that's separate CD layer on the disc that makes it compatible with almost all CD players, of Every Breath You Take - The Classics at Walmart. It can be purchased for as low as $10.00.

With the exception of EBYT - The Classics, all of The Police's SACD on the market are single-layer SACD. However, they are available as hybrid SACD overseas. Have no idea who made that dumb decision.

Same with the Peter Gabriel SACDs.

F1nut

Edit:

Yep, you're right!

shack

Originally posted by Danny Tse
With the exception of EBYT - The Classics, all of The Police's SACD on the market are single-layer SACD. However, they are available as hybrid SACD overseas. Have no idea who made that dumb decision.

Same with the Peter Gabriel SACDs.

I have heard that is has to do with the licensing in the US. Something about each version on the disc (Redbook, SACD stereo and SACD MC) is considered separate requireing fees for each one. I don't know if this is fact or not...just what I've heard.

Danny Tse

Royalties was the issue that's keeping Beyonce Knowles's "Dangerously In Love" (on Sony) hybrid SACD from reaching the US this month. See below link.

http://www.highfidelityreview.com/news/news.asp?newsnumber=12618871

Maybe this is the reason why Springsteen's albums are not on hybrod SACD?

mhw58

Originally posted by PolkThug
Picked up The Police: Every Breath You Take The Classics. This is a DTS only DVD-A, 5.1. Wow! The Rti tweeters were shining and I was smiling. Even if you don't like The Police, you'll at least like the quality. Another suprise is that I never thought I would like 5.1 for music. Of course you can make your receiver just do 2-channel, but I didn't like the sound as much.

Regards,
PolkThug

A better way to go is to buy the Every breath you take dvd which includes the videos and has the same dts 5:1 sound. It also
has extra songs from the Old grey whistle test and some live
stuff. It's great.
Mike

mhw58

Originally posted by F1nut
Al,
The bottom line to me is that having the two formats to chose from is a real pain in the arse because there are titles only available on DVD-A that I would like to have, but I made my choice as we all must do.

Jesse

Jesse,
Do you have any recommendations on a good universal
player that plays both sacd and dvd audio in the $500
range. I'm looking at the Denon 2200. What model sacd
player do you have?
Thanks, Mike

PolkThug

Originally posted by mhw58
Jesse,
Do you have any recommendations on a good universal
player that plays both sacd and dvd audio in the $500
range. I'm looking at the Denon 2200. What model sacd
player do you have?
Thanks, Mike

The Denon 2200 seems to play everything I throw at it, including "remastered" DVD's.

mhw58

Originally posted by PolkThug
The Denon 2200 seems to play everything I throw at it, including "remastered" DVD's.

Polkthug,
What are remastered dvd's, are they bootlegs? I'm looking at the
Denon 2200 and the 2900. The 2200 seems to be a great
player for the money.
Mike

PolkThug

Originally posted by mhw58
Polkthug,
What are remastered dvd's, are they bootlegs?

Let's say you buy a DVD, then you make a backup copy of it on your computer which you slim down to just the movie and the DTS soundtrack. The 2200 will play them no problem.

Regards,
PolkThug