DVD Audio or SACD creation in 2023 ?

[Pierro787]

Hi,

What is the best strategy for 5.1 surround sounds diffusion in 2023 ? I have created some ambiant and relaxing sounds with ambisonic records, synths and sampling sounds ( rain, tibetan bowls, birds, thunderstorms, etc ) with Nuendo. All the production is with 5.1 surround sounds and music.

I plan to sell this with relaxing kits containing essentiel oils and diffusers with a company who is specialized into this business.

I m in France and I know it s possible to press around 500 Audio DVDs for 500 euros in standard pressing CD / DVD plants.

Pressing SACD is much more complicate and there is only one plant wich can do the job in Austria. I can not find any fees for this anywhere on the net. I have just read the price for 500 SACD may by far away expensive.

I guess pressing SACD may be a better decisions because there are much more SACD players around the world.

Another option would be to create a mobile app containing all the audios with binaural audios with headphones. But as a sound designer, I would prefer creating some DVDs Audio or SACDs.

What do you think ?

Thanks,

Pierre

 

[gene_stl]

I doubt that there are more SACD players in the world. I think you probably should look at either Red Book CD or DVD-Video in order to get maximum number of potential users. Anyone please correct me if I am speaking in error. But that is my impression. I also don't know what the percentage of DVD players that can play DVD-A. That would be something to look into.

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

Proper pricing is confidential information and actually can't be shared. If you want it for yourself, inquire and request a quote from a pressing plant. It's recommended to do this regardless to get current market prices as the information on the internet can be inaccurate and outdated.

The decision for SACD or DVD-Audio in the modern day boils down to this: do you want the 5.1 version to be more accessible or the stereo version to be more accessible? If it's the former, go with a DVD-Video/DVD-Audio Hybrid. If it's the latter, go with a Hybrid SACD.

 

[Horbus]

If it's just music none of the above mentioned. SACD and even more DVD-A are no common formats anymore and DVD-A never had been. If you are looking for 5.1 Audio than Blu Ray pure Audio would be the way to go imho. If stereo would do then of course CD!

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

If it's just music none of the above mentioned. SACD and even more DVD-A are no common formats anymore and DVD-A never had been. If you are looking for 5.1 Audio than Blu Ray pure Audio would be the way to go imho. If stereo would do then of course CD!

Agreed. Especially as it's also possible to author Blu-ray compatible muxes onto DVD-/+R media, aka: AVCHD discs.

I've created a few AVCHD 'Audio Only' test muxes using 'lossless' 6-channel 96kHz/24-bit LPCM audio along with black encoded AVC video and chapters. Using the afore-mentioned, you can get around 42 minutes onto a 4.7GB (4.37GB actual) single layer DVD-/+R disc.

Edit 1: Of-course it's possible to get longer durations if the 'lossless' multi-channel PCM audio is encoded at say, 48kHz/24-bit. And even longer durations if 'lossy' multi-channel Dolby Digital (AC-3) audio at 448kbps is used.

Edit 2: Both DVD-Audio and SACD formats (need to be authored using specialist software and) require expensive dedicated hardware players. Whereas a Blu-ray audio discs can be (authored using free softwares such as TSmuxer GUI and burned using ImgBurn and) spun on any 'regular' Blu-ray disc player.

Cheers

 

[par4ken]

SACD is still a common format! It never really died, it remained popular in Japan since it's inception. We have been getting lots of good stuff from DV, I'm looking forward to future releases!

DVD-A has been dead for some time.

I like Blu-Ray for the long playing time, the ability to hold plenty of bonus material!

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

DVD-A has been dead for some time.

Well, not in my heart!

 

[Plan9]

Hi,

What is the best strategy for 5.1 surround sounds diffusion in 2023 ? I have created some ambiant and relaxing sounds with ambisonic records, synths and sampling sounds ( rain, tibetan bowls, birds, thunderstorms, etc ) with Nuendo. All the production is with 5.1 surround sounds and music.

I plan to sell this with relaxing kits containing essentiel oils and diffusers with a company who is specialized into this business.

I m in France and I know it s possible to press around 500 Audio DVDs for 500 euros in standard pressing CD / DVD plants.

Pressing SACD is much more complicate and there is only one plant wich can do the job in Austria. I can not find any fees for this anywhere on the net. I have just read the price for 500 SACD may by far away expensive.

I guess pressing SACD may be a better decisions because there are much more SACD players around the world.

Another option would be to create a mobile app containing all the audios with binaural audios with headphones. But as a sound designer, I would prefer creating some DVDs Audio or SACDs.

What do you think ?

Thanks,

Pierre

There are far more DVD players in the world than SACD players. Every Blu-Ray player is also a DVD player. Not the case with SACDs.

Your best option is to do a DVD-Video with lossy 5.1 sound (and potentially a DVD-Audio part if you want to put lossless surround on it -but the latter won't be playable in every player).

There is difference between an "audio DVD" (a DVD-Video containing only audio), and a DVD-Audio (a specific format with lossless surround sound not readable in every player).

 

[hi-res_edition]

By all means stick with DVD-Video. While I prefer SACD and Blu-ray discs, I am not the common market. If the product is for audiophiles, then Blu-ray is the best IMO. But, it sounds like the product is for the common market, thus DVD-V is the best solution, as already noted above, users with a Blu-ray player can play the DVD, and of course anyone with a DVD can also play it too. All the best in selling your product.

 

[barfle]

I’m going to add my vote for using standad DVD as a distribution format, simply because that’s the format that can be played by the most players. I doubt that many people could hear the compression artifacts in the sounds you are using,

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

I’m going to add my vote for using standad DVD as a distribution format, simply because that’s the format that can be played by the most players. I doubt that many people could hear the compression artifacts in the sounds you are using,

If you have the budget I would recommend including a DVD-A potion on the DVD though, even if it's super basic. The satisfaction of lossless can't be beat.

 

[proufo]

I’m going to add my vote for using standad DVD as a distribution format, simply because that’s the format that can be played by the most players. I doubt that many people could hear the compression artifacts in the sounds you are using,

Agreed.

I think though that to qualify as a premium product the recording should go beyond DVD (it's 2023!). And the right answer is Hi-Res Blu-Ray. Players are abundant and cheap, some even with 7.1 analog outputs. A few tweaks of the 7.1 mix and you can add an Atmos logo to it, ready for streaming.

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

Agreed.

I think though that to qualify as a premium product the recording should go beyond DVD (it's 2023!). And the right answer is Hi-Res Blu-Ray. Players are abundant and cheap, some even with 7.1 analog outputs. A few tweaks of the 7.1 mix and you can add an Atmos logo to it, ready for streaming.

Yeah, the players are cheap. The media is not! It's the most expensive optical disc format!

 

[kfbkfb]

~25 years ago, there was a lot of controversy about whether (5.1) Dolby Digital sounded worse than DTS.

I don't know the current status of this controversy, maybe could encode the surround sound in 5.1 Dolby Digital at 448kbps (IIRC, the DVD-Video maximum) and the maximum data rate for DTS and put both on a region free DVD-Video.


Kirk Bayne

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

Yeah, the players are cheap. The media is not! It's the most expensive optical disc format!

Single layer BD-R (25GB) media is indeed pretty expensive, especially with jewel cases. By contrast, DVD-/+R (4.7GB) media is around a quarter of the price and can be used to create AVCHD (Blu-ray authored) discs

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

Also, you'll have to take consideration authoring costs. If you can't afford official software, you'll have to get into the nitty-gritty of open source, or even worse, reverse engineering and hex editing. I'm pretty sure not everyone has my patience with trial-and-error.

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

Also, you'll have to take consideration authoring costs. If you can't afford official software, you'll have to get into the nitty-gritty of open source, or even worse, reverse engineering and hex editing. I'm pretty sure not everyone has my patience with trial-and-error.

As I mentioned in post #5, after the multi-channel audio stream has been made it's possible create AVCHD (Blu-ray authored) discs using free softwares such as TSmuxer GUI. Which can then be burned using ImgBurn.

I've created a few test discs using 'lossless' 6-channel LPCM audio at 96kHz/24-bit, 88.2kHz/24-bit and 48.0kHz/24-bit. I've also created a couple of test discs using 'lossy' 6-channel Dolby Digital audio at 48kHz (448 and 640kbps). Such discs could technically run for around 16 hours!

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

As I mentioned in post #5, after the multi-channel audio stream has been made it's possible create AVCHD (Blu-ray authored) discs using free softwares such as TSmuxer GUI. Which can then be burned using ImgBurn.

I've created a few test discs using 'lossless' 6-channel LPCM audio at 96kHz/24-bit, 88.2kHz/24-bit and 48.0kHz/24-bit. I've also created a couple of test discs using 'lossy' 6-channel Dolby Digital audio at 48kHz (448 and 640kbps). Such discs could technically run for around 16 hours!

Replication (aka pressed discs) is a different story, and I do believe the user wants to replicate.

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

Replication (aka pressed discs) is a different story, and I do believe the user wants to replicate.

Indeed, the OP does. And mentioned: "it s possible to press around 500 Audio DVDs for 500 euros in standard pressing CD / DVD plants...". (However, pressing the discs is one thing. There most probably will be various set-up costs too.)

Once a working 'image.iso' file has been created, my process should be able to be transposed onto single layered DVD media and be playable on most (if not all modern) Blu-ray players.

EDIT: It's probably worth reiterating that my process creates 'audio only' discs. There are no menus, pretty pictures or colourful video. You just put the disc in the player and press play. Skipping to different numbered tracks is possible.

And as the disc performs just like a regular audio CD does, technically you don't even need to switch on the TV.

 

[barfle]

Agreed.

I think though that to qualify as a premium product the recording should go beyond DVD (it's 2023!). And the right answer is Hi-Res Blu-Ray. Players are abundant and cheap, some even with 7.1 analog outputs. A few tweaks of the 7.1 mix and you can add an Atmos logo to it, ready for streaming.

I don’t see that the OP was aiming at a premium market, and the sounds that he’s distributing don’t seem like they would have audible benefit from charging higher prices.

Sure, there are higher fidelity formats around, but if you’re aiming at maximizing your market, plain ol’ DVD seems the way to go.