Tom Petty - MOJO! New music release in 5.1 on BLU-RAY!!!

[Chris Gerhard]

I love SACD, even stereo/mono ones and DVD-A is a favorite, but I think the world is moving towards Blu-Ray and that more average Joe/Jane's are hooked into Multi-Channel or will be by the simplicity of Blu-Ray and HDMI. Great BR players are inexpensive now, about $100 or so. I do want to see all Blu-Ray players have DVD-A/SACD capabilities in them at some point in the future as there will always be much value and importance for DVD-A/SACD. Would Blu-Ray even have "lossless" sound had it not been for DVD-A/SACD?

One would hope that these "audio only" BR discs do sell as I don't see the Major labels releasing Multi-Channel DVD-A/SACD in great quantities anymore, according to our "inside" folks here. This does not mean that there is not great value or a future for DVD-A/SACD. DVD-Audio is the perfect "lossless" format for small labels and any musical group can mix and author with this format and produce discs. Perhaps people will expect interviews or music videos to go along with the Hi-Rez Multi-Channel / Stereo BR audio. I'm not taking sides with any particular format as they're all already out there in great numbers and will never go away - one way or the other.

I would place the odds that every Blu-ray player at some point includes SACD and DVD-A at exactly zero. Panasonic has never made an SACD player and Sony has never made a DVD-A player. I am surprised we have seen a commitment from two companies to affordable players that do include both so that is more than I dreamed would happen. I think the market wanting all three is small anyway and is adequately served by D&M and Oppo. I do continue to have hope that Blu-ray will catch on for high resolution surround releases, more than concert discs, and maybe we are starting to see the beginning of that.

Chris

 

[MyCuff]

Saw this over at the Hoffman site:

It would be very good news indeed!

Holy cow! My favorite Tom Petty album ever. No shortage of Mojo on that album. Where do we start a petition???

 

[Old Quad Guy]

I would place the odds that every Blu-ray player at some point includes SACD and DVD-A at exactly zero. Panasonic has never made an SACD player and Sony has never made a DVD-A player. I am surprised we have seen a commitment from two companies to affordable players that do include both so that is more than I dreamed would happen. I think the market wanting all three is small anyway and is adequately served by D&M and Oppo. I do continue to have hope that Blu-ray will catch on for high resolution surround releases, more than concert discs, and maybe we are starting to see the beginning of that.

Chris

You're probably right, but my contention is more of a "why not" or it would be helpful if DVD-A / SACD would be added to more BR players. I mean a disc is a disc. If these unit's can do MP3 and CD they should be able to play anything. These BR players also stream "Amazon on demand" movies and Youtube clips which is nice and was unexpected when I bought my cheap BR player, but I'd rather "own" something like a BR disc and these features seem to be counterproductive to buying BR titles.

 

[Old Quad Guy]

Saw this over at the Hoffman site:

It would be very good news indeed!

If true, absolutely great news. It shows us that Tom Petty and his producer are clued into the what the future of music should go (or even can go at this point) by offering a Hi-Rez Multi-Channel / Stereo versions of one's music in some sort of format. Perhaps it's the artist's themselves that are going to have to move the ball forward if were going to get more Multi-Channel titles.

 

[timbre4]

Enjoy every sandwich - Warren Zevon

 

[dobyblue]

If true, absolutely great news. It shows us that Tom Petty and his producer are clued into the what the future of music should go (or even can go at this point) by offering a Hi-Rez Multi-Channel / Stereo versions of one's music in some sort of format. Perhaps it's the artist's themselves that are going to have to move the ball forward if were going to get more Multi-Channel titles.

It is absolutely going to start with the musicians, Trent Reznor, Neil Young, Pixies, Rob Halford and now Tom Petty are proving this. Hopefully we will vote with our wallets when we can, so that the fools in the upper echelons of the major labels may finally clue in that they left the SACD/DVD-A market two years too early and that now Blu-ray presents an even more plausible future for physical medium in the music industry.

As for Damn the Torpedoes, Ryan de Topanga has posted on the Blu-ray.com forums that they will definitely move forward with Blu-ray high resolution releases of the entire Tom Petty catalogue if Mojo (and now DTT as well) sell well enough to make it a somewhat profitable venture. Tom wants to do it, he loves what Blu-ray brings to the table...I hope we get our way! There are more than a few TP albums I'd love to pick up on BD-A.

 

[alk3997]

I would place the odds that every Blu-ray player at some point includes SACD and DVD-A at exactly zero. Panasonic has never made an SACD player and Sony has never made a DVD-A player. I am surprised we have seen a commitment from two companies to affordable players that do include both so that is more than I dreamed would happen. I think the market wanting all three is small anyway and is adequately served by D&M and Oppo. I do continue to have hope that Blu-ray will catch on for high resolution surround releases, more than concert discs, and maybe we are starting to see the beginning of that.

Chris

Chris, you've made some excellent points.

For those looking for a Blu-Ray/DVD-A/SACD player, the cheapest by Denon appears to be the DBP2011UDCI. Should be available in August for $800 (cheap by Denon standpoints). Right now we have a DENON Blu-Ray and a separate Denon DVD-Audio/SACD/DVD player.

Andy

 

[dobyblue]

Chris, you've made some excellent points.

For those looking for a Blu-Ray/DVD-A/SACD player, the cheapest appears to be the DBP2011UDCI from Denon. Should be available in August for $800 (cheap by Denon standpoints). Right now we have a DENON Blu-Ray and a separate Denon DVD-Audio/SACD/DVD player.

Andy

The cheapest currently is the very well-reviewed Oppo BDP-80
MSRP $289
Includes native DSD output through HDMI
http://oppodigital.com/blu-ray-bdp-80/

Complete Media Support:


•Blu-ray Disc - The high definition Blu-ray Disc™ format provides pristine video and audio quality for your home entertainment.
•BonusVIEW - BD "Profile 1.1" enables "picture-in-picture" and secondary audio features for viewing director or actor commentary while the main movie is playing.
•BD-Live™ - BDP-80 supports BD "Profile 2.0" and contains all necessary hardware - audio/video decoder, Ethernet port, and 1GB of internal storage - for BD-Live.
•DVD Up-Conversion - The BDP-80 up-converts DVD from standard definition up to 1080p output. The up-converted video maximizes DVD picture quality and bridges the visual gap from your current DVD library to Blu-ray discs.
•DVD-Audio - The BDP-80 plays DVD-Audio and supports both stereo and multi-channel high resolution audio programs. Users can select whether to play the DVD-Audio or the DVD-Video portion of the disc.
•SACD - The BDP-80 plays Super Audio CD (SACD) and supports both stereo and multi-channel high resolution audio programs. The BDP-80 can output DSD (Direct Stream Digital) over HDMI in its native format or convert into PCM. (Analog audio output for SACD supports PCM mode only, and is not available when DSD over HDMI is in use.)
•Additional Media Formats - Additional disc and file formats, such as audio CD, HDCD, Kodak Picture CD, AVCHD, MKV, and other audio/video/picture files on recorded discs or USB drives can be played back on the BDP-80.

 

[alk3997]

dts HD MA is useful for saving space on a disk, but that is not needed for a blu-ray audio-only format.

I won't be buying this anyway since I'm more of a SACD type of person and would rather not have to turn on a TV just to play music.

The time for format wars is over. The winner of the 5.1-channel DVD-A/SACD was no one - both sides died. Any rock/pop/modern (discrete) 5.1-channel is good in any format at this point. Hi-rez even better.

As far as DTS HD MA is concerned. the output of DTS HD MA on a fully compatible Blu-Ray player is LPCM. On an incompatible player, the output is standard bit rate DTS (the DTS core) of 1.5 mbps. The use of DTS HD MA saves some room but I would bet that most of its use has to do with the software used for mastering the disc. It is also possible that DTS is offering some incentives to use their products.

But from a sound quality standpoint, DTS HD MA = TrueHD = LPCM with most Blu-Ray players sold in the last year.

Andy

 

[alk3997]

The cheapest currently is the very well-reviewed Oppo BDP-80
MSRP $289
Includes native DSD output through HDMI
http://oppodigital.com/blu-ray-bdp-80/

Complete Media Support:


•Blu-ray Disc - The high definition Blu-ray Disc™ format provides pristine video and audio quality for your home entertainment.
•BonusVIEW - BD "Profile 1.1" enables "picture-in-picture" and secondary audio features for viewing director or actor commentary while the main movie is playing.
•BD-Live™ - BDP-80 supports BD "Profile 2.0" and contains all necessary hardware - audio/video decoder, Ethernet port, and 1GB of internal storage - for BD-Live.
•DVD Up-Conversion - The BDP-80 up-converts DVD from standard definition up to 1080p output. The up-converted video maximizes DVD picture quality and bridges the visual gap from your current DVD library to Blu-ray discs.
•DVD-Audio - The BDP-80 plays DVD-Audio and supports both stereo and multi-channel high resolution audio programs. Users can select whether to play the DVD-Audio or the DVD-Video portion of the disc.
•SACD - The BDP-80 plays Super Audio CD (SACD) and supports both stereo and multi-channel high resolution audio programs. The BDP-80 can output DSD (Direct Stream Digital) over HDMI in its native format or convert into PCM. (Analog audio output for SACD supports PCM mode only, and is not available when DSD over HDMI is in use.)
•Additional Media Formats - Additional disc and file formats, such as audio CD, HDCD, Kodak Picture CD, AVCHD, MKV, and other audio/video/picture files on recorded discs or USB drives can be played back on the BDP-80.

Even better for the price. Thanks!

Ah yes, but the DENON throws in the incredibly useless 3D compatibility! Who could pass that up?

I've corrected my original append.

Andy

 

[dobyblue]

It should also be noted, if it hasn't already, that you don't need to turn your TV on to play this disc.
The default track will be the PCM 2.0 track, but press the AUDIO button once on your remote to toggle to the dts-ma track.
No harder than any CD or SACD.

 

[Almen]

The default track will be the PCM 2.0 track, but press the AUDIO button once on your remote to toggle to the dts-ma track.

That's great!

 

[daved64]

Streaming here:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/thelife/music/news/story?id=5260264

 

[alk3997]

Sound and Vision magazine has a large section of this month's magazine devoted to Tom Petty and how the Mojo 5.1-channel mix was done.

Andy

 

[wavelength]

Streaming here:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/thelife/music/news/story?id=5260264

Great link...not just samples but the whole album. Thanks!

 

[daved64]

Great link...not just samples but the whole album. Thanks!

No problem. First Flash Of Freedom sounds like the Allmans! Mike Campbell is one of the best guitar players around.

 

[Guy Robinson]

Never been big on Petty but after listening to Mojo in it's entirety I'm actually liking most of it. So I will be buying it. Everyone with BR capability on this forum should be supporting these initial BR Audio offerings. Otherwise, there may not be anymore in the future. BR is the only way that HD surround is ever going to make it now.

 

[timbre4]

Great articles in S&V on the Mojo project, the more I read about the mixing aspects the better I felt about the use of the surrounds for this album. When the mixer says there needs to be more in the surrounds and he details what vocals, delays & effects go there along with some of the keyboards, the better it gets.

Hopefully this sells in decent numbers in BD and just maybe a few of his key catalog albums could follow? Other artists please take note!

 

[daved64]

Hopefully this sells in decent numbers in BD and just maybe a few of his key catalog albums could follow? Other artists please take note!

Damn The Torpedoes is on the horizon.

 

[The Rang]

dts HD MA is useful for saving space on a disk, but that is not needed for a blu-ray audio-only format.

I won't be buying this anyway since I'm more of a SACD type of person and would rather not have to turn on a TV just to play music.

I agree because I'm an SACD fan too, but my main stumbling block is: my Blu-ray player doesn't live in my audio system, it's in the TV room.
So I have no way to get the most out of the sound quality this disc can offer without moving the BD player downstairs into my audio room.
Already have a Denon 3930 down there for SACD/DVD-A and don't wish to replace it (with an Oppo for example) at this time.

We'll see what the future holds. If the Denon dies and/or BD Audio becomes popular I might change my mind.