Question About Playing Back DVD-Audio Discs

[dr8track]

A friend of mine wants to get into multi channel music. I'm a little confused about what hardware is necessary in terms of a player to playback DVD-Audio discs. Of course, they can be played on a universal player, but can a dvd-audio be played back on a regular dvd player? I didn't think it could, but I am able to playback dvd-audio discs through the dvd player in my laptop via the VLC player. But if I try to playback a dvd-audio disc on a couple of dvd players I have hooked up to my receiver I get the video to playback, but no audio. All my players are hooked up via HMDI. They playback movies just fine using the HMDI, but when attempting to playback a dvd-audio disc they will only play the video portion. Is that normal? Is a normal dvd player supposed to be able to playback a dvd-audio disc? And if not, then why can I play them on the dvd drive in my laptop? On my laptop I get video and audio.
Any clarification would be appreciated.

 

[arnold_layne]

A standard DVD player will not play the high resolution DVD-Audio portion. Most DVD-Audio discs will have a DVD-Video portion playable in any DVD player. The audio will usually be DTS or Dolby Digital or PCM. To play the high resolution DVD-Audio portion you need a player capable of doing so. The Oppo BDP93 and BDP95 are the most popular choices at the moment. They will play just about every kind of disc there is along with most audio and video files via USB or eSATA.

A_L

 

[cupboy]

96khz is the limit for PCM on a dvd-audio disk played back on a dvd player, or even a Blu-ray player. If the PCM is 192khz it will only play on a dvd-audio player. At least this has been my experience.

 

[leevitalone1]

A standard DVD player will not play the high resolution DVD-Audio portion. Most DVD-Audio discs will have a DVD-Video portion playable in any DVD player. The audio will usually be DTS or Dolby Digital or PCM. To play the high resolution DVD-Audio portion you need a player capable of doing so. The Oppo BDP93 and BDP95 are the most popular choices at the moment. They will play just about every kind of disc there is along with most audio and video files via USB or eSATA.

A_L

+1 - oppo 95 or 93 add your own dac if desired, w/o mod still a great player

 

[0tto]

+1 - oppo 95 or 93 add your own dac if desired, w/o mod still a great player

i'm pretty much doubt that $500 and $1000 (+ tax and shipping) price tags for the player alone, would be attractive
for novices in HiREs/Surround world entry.
fortunately there many manufacturers still offer inexpensive universal DVD-Audio/Video/SACD players, which is not
hard to find new and used.

Is a normal dvd player supposed to be able to playback a dvd-audio disc? And if not, then why can I play them on the dvd drive in my laptop? On my laptop I get video and audio.

no, those players upon inserting the disc, looking only for VIDEO_TS directory and don't have even slightest clue about
existance of AUDIO_TS and files in it.
i'm not sure how is going development of VLC thus not sure if this appz familiar with DVDA format. could be it just uses
video part of hybrid DVDA in the way of how this doing hardware DVD players. perhaps at the moment for playback
such lossless format like MLP, DSD, DTS HDMA most developed software player would be foobar2000. if you have
analog 5.1 or HDMI interface on laptop/PC and receiving side, you may use them to listen lossless streams on your audio
system from computer.

 

[proufo]

96khz is the limit for PCM on a dvd-audio disk played back on a dvd player, or even a Blu-ray player. If the PCM is 192khz it will only play on a dvd-audio player. At least this has been my experience.

If I have it right, the chips that decode a DVD-A are different than the ones that decode a DVD. What remains to be assessed is if, say, a 24/96 DVD-A sounds better than a 24/96 Audio DVD.

 

[dr8track]

Thanks for all the info. I assumed that the regular dvd players were just playing back the video portion of the content on the dvd-audio discs. The only thing that threw me was my ability to play back video and audio on the dvd-audio discs through my laptop. VLC seems to play almost anything, but I was surprised it could play dvd-audio discs.

 

[0tto]

If I have it right, the chips that decode a DVD-A are different than the ones that decode a DVD. What remains to be assessed is if, say, a 24/96 DVD-A sounds better than a 25/96 Audio DVD.

that's only the matter of class of the transports used for disc reading.
universal DVD-Audio/Video/SACD players typically belong to higher class
of electronics equipment and built from better components than the average
DVD-Video players. but either of them can send raw digital stream to receiving
side of audio system, which would be decoded into analog by means of receiver
or stand alone decoder. thus PCM will retain existing parameters without regard
to directory where it was stored on physical medium.

 

[proufo]

And presumably that would apply to internal decoding too.

So the "trouble" to go DVD-A would only make sense if the recording is 24/176 or 24/192.

that's only the matter of class of the transports used for disc reading.
universal DVD-Audio/Video/SACD players typically belong to higher class
of electronics equipment and built from better components than the average
DVD-Video players. but either of them can send raw digital stream to receiving
side of audio system, which would be decoded into analog by means of receiver
or stand alone decoder. thus PCM will retain existing parameters without regard
to directory where it was stored on physical medium.

 

[0tto]

So the "trouble" to go DVD-A would only make sense if the recording is 24/176 or 24/192.

that's one, among others advantages of DVD-Audio format over an Audio only DVD

range of 44.1/88.2/176/192 KHz cannot be applied in DVD-Video format, which is
limited to 48 and 96KHz only.
the trouble is that DVD-Video was developed and standardized way before concern of
delivery of the advanced surround sound and stereo had arise.

 

[LizardKing]

And presumably that would apply to internal decoding too.

So the "trouble" to go DVD-A would only make sense if the recording is 24/176 or 24/192.

And of course you can only do Stereo Linear PCM 24/96 or 48 on DVD-V. If its surround it has to be Dullby or DTS - then you really do want a DVD-A.