OppoFood
Senior Member
As per title - what are they?
HFPA Problems?
- Thread starter OppoFood
- Start date
Help Support QuadraphonicQuad:
Do you mean with mixes or mastering or choice of titles or compatibility/glitches or surround availability? I'll try my best to help you out with any Qns. on these 
OppoFood
Senior Member
I am trying not to lead the input so I ask again - what are the problems ?
LizardKing
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
Here's my view:
I think there great - when done right...
Issues as I see them - I wouldn't necessarily say problems:
Availability - As you (and I) know - they aren't consistently available globally - e.g. Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road having said that you can quite easily order them online.
Lack of new (previously unreleased) surround content - apart form the Tommy re-mix has there been any other new 5.1 mixes? EDIT: The Les Mis highlights disc was new too wasn't it?
No video content - (by definition) - Beck Sea Change would have been great with the videos that are on the DVD-A.... Hey Oppofood did you pick that one up - they have it in JB Hifi?
On the positive - the releases like Beck - Sea Change, Elton John - GBYBR, Genesis - Selling England by the Pound have been done well.. and are reasonably priced...
I think there great - when done right...
Issues as I see them - I wouldn't necessarily say problems:
Availability - As you (and I) know - they aren't consistently available globally - e.g. Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road having said that you can quite easily order them online.
Lack of new (previously unreleased) surround content - apart form the Tommy re-mix has there been any other new 5.1 mixes? EDIT: The Les Mis highlights disc was new too wasn't it?
No video content - (by definition) - Beck Sea Change would have been great with the videos that are on the DVD-A.... Hey Oppofood did you pick that one up - they have it in JB Hifi?
On the positive - the releases like Beck - Sea Change, Elton John - GBYBR, Genesis - Selling England by the Pound have been done well.. and are reasonably priced...
Les Mis 5.1, Mike, not Phantom!
LizardKing
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
Corrected - thanks...Les Mis 5.1, Mike, not Phantom!
Same thing right???? i.e. boring Andrew Lloyd Webber musical stuff....
IMHO....
Corrected - thanks...
Same thing right???? i.e. boring Andrew Lloyd Webber musical stuff....
:yikes
Edit: PS. Lovin' the Lori Lieberman avatar
anyway.. to get back to the thread..
When the HFPA's are good they're good (Exile On Main St., Getz/Gilberto, Gainsbourg/Melody Nelson)..
..when they're bad they're very bad (Amy Winehouse)..
..and when they're excellent (Lionel Richie, Beck, Tommy, EJ, Stevie W., Marvin G.) they are truly excellent! (imho)
When the HFPA's are good they're good (Exile On Main St., Getz/Gilberto, Gainsbourg/Melody Nelson)..
..when they're bad they're very bad (Amy Winehouse)..
..and when they're excellent (Lionel Richie, Beck, Tommy, EJ, Stevie W., Marvin G.) they are truly excellent! (imho)
LizardKing
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
The Amy Winehouse is a terrible recording/mastering... But what I'd like to know is it "relatively speaking" better on the HFPA??
Not imho.. I compared it with the CD about a day or two after getting it (the SHF crew were curious to know before anyone at QQ was bothered.. I don't know if anyone here is really bothered to this day!? In all fairness, makes sense being a Stereo disc and all..!) and it sounded almost exactly the same as the BD to me, with the same distortion etc (I'm sure its a 'stylistic production touch' but YUCK!) on both.
In a blind test I doubt anyone would have a clue which was which, I know I wouldn't and I played them both at the same time flicking back and forth between the two.
The Amy W's really the only total washout I've got on HFPA so far.
The rest are a mixed bunch of clunkers and slam-dunkers!
Rather a good little piece here (the main draw is the head of HFPA saying that a lot more 5.1 is coming to HFPA, across Classical & Rock/Pop & Jazz)..
http://www.stereophile.com/content/universal-music-groups-poprockjazz-pure-audio-blu-rays
http://www.stereophile.com/content/universal-music-groups-poprockjazz-pure-audio-blu-rays
Serinus: How many Blu-ray releases do you plan for 2014, and in what genres? Can we find the list online?
Robert-Murphy: As of today, Universal has 100 hi-res Blu-rays available. There are probably over 100 more others available from other companies [eg, Naxos].
Joshua Phillips: It's going to be a big year for Pure Audio Blu-ray. We're in the process of completing the international release of our first new front-line title, George Michael's Symphonica. This is a big deal for us, because he's a big international high-profile artist.
We also had our big classical conference here this week. I met with the folks from Decca and Deutsche Grammophon, and they're really excited about the format. There will definitely be some movement fairly soon on some major titles we began work on quite some time back. I'll give you this information as soon as it's confirmed. We're looking to roll out 20–30 new titles in the next couple of months.
Robert-Murphy: Most of them will be from Decca, and appear in 5.1.
Phillips: One of the challenges we faced quite early on is that people who purchase Blu-rays have a real demand for surround sound and 5.1. We initially focused solely on the quality issue, but we found out quite quickly that people buying Blu-rays want 5.1 mixes in addition to stereo mixes. It depends on your personal taste, whether you'd rather have trumpets coming from the back of your head or sit as you would at a normal concert and have stereo. But one of our definite intentions this year is to get 5.1 masters onto Blu-ray, so people can choose from either 5.1 or stereo.
Serinus: You won't be remixing stereo masters into 5.1, will you?
Robert-Murphy: If they want this, they will be killed and crucified in a public place. You can quote me.
From the outset of HFPA's, I've wondered why such a big deal is being made about NO VIDEO, when there should be more than enough usable data space for at least some without any sonic compromises. Beyond the fact that human hearing can only go so far, so most of our sound systems, acoustic environment, etc., are not exactly optimal (whatever that might mean), so how much extra resolution one might hear is full of variables outside of any software.
That said, it is good that someone realizes that to sell these discs 5.1 is (typically) going to have to be figured into the equation along with the stereo (or, if one is available and the label is generious, an additional monaural mix for posterity).
ED
That said, it is good that someone realizes that to sell these discs 5.1 is (typically) going to have to be figured into the equation along with the stereo (or, if one is available and the label is generious, an additional monaural mix for posterity).
ED
anyway.. to get back to the thread..
When the HFPA's are good they're good (Exile On Main St., Getz/Gilberto, Gainsbourg/Melody Nelson)..
..when they're bad they're very bad (Amy Winehouse)..
..and when they're excellent (Lionel Richie, Beck, Tommy, EJ, Stevie W., Marvin G.) they are truly excellent! (imho)
Does anyone know if Tommy BDA ever got released as a single disc here in the States?
Right you are, just another of my tired, late nite brain cramps when all logic leaves the mind....
ED
ED
One reason for the 'no video' mantra is that adding video means a whole new set of rights has to be negotiated and added to the cost of production. Plus they're determined to pretend that they're creating a 'new format' by excluding video - 'It's like a CD, but better!' except for not being able to punch in a number on the remote to choose a song, or choose an audio stream by pushing the audio button, etc. etc.
What they may have finally figured out is that their best potential audience consists of people who don't have to have high definition explained to them. Those people (us) know what's been available before HFPA and have expectations of getting equivalent or greater value for their music dollar. When their answer to queries about missing bonus or surround content has been to say 'Our format doesn't include video' or 'this album wasn't recorded in surround' (no, it was recorded to 32 mono tracks, but some one had to mix it to stereo at some point so how about mixing it to 5.1 now? Oh, wait, there's already a quad or 5.1 mix in the vaults-- but you telling us it'd violate the artist's aesthetic intent to put them on the disc?) they seem to me to have been treating their best potential source of support with contempt. Give me a break.
So it's encouraging to get a glimmer of hope in the interview link above, at least in terms of surround inclusion.
What they may have finally figured out is that their best potential audience consists of people who don't have to have high definition explained to them. Those people (us) know what's been available before HFPA and have expectations of getting equivalent or greater value for their music dollar. When their answer to queries about missing bonus or surround content has been to say 'Our format doesn't include video' or 'this album wasn't recorded in surround' (no, it was recorded to 32 mono tracks, but some one had to mix it to stereo at some point so how about mixing it to 5.1 now? Oh, wait, there's already a quad or 5.1 mix in the vaults-- but you telling us it'd violate the artist's aesthetic intent to put them on the disc?) they seem to me to have been treating their best potential source of support with contempt. Give me a break.
So it's encouraging to get a glimmer of hope in the interview link above, at least in terms of surround inclusion.
OppoFood
Senior Member
So if I were to take a specific mix of any album and release it would there be any discernible difference between the different common formats - SACD, DVD-A, FLAC (or Hi-Res files) and the HFPA format?
Doubt it if the exact same source with the exact same mastering was used across all those formats. There may be some SACD/DSD "colour" but other than that they should sound identical (anomalies with handling various codecs in one's playback chain notwithstanding..).
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