[Contents] [Previous Part]
[Top] I thought it was worth-while spending an evening converting these articles
into HTML format, and half a day scanning and processing the figures, even though the
articles were written five to eight years ago.
All of the technical details still apply, although some of the
forecasts for the future were somewhat wrong (as is usually the
case for nearly all attempts to prophesise the future).
The imminent release of the new DVD (Digital Video Disc) optical disc format
promises a whole new era of high quality audio and video. At the least, it will probably
result in the eventual demise of video tapes as a means of hiring movies (there I go again).
DVD has a base data capacity of 4,700 megabytes, and in a double-sided format it contains
up to 17,000 megabytes. It is the same size as a standard CD, but has more than 26 times
the data capacity. I have strong hopes that audio recording industry will use this
new technology to improve the sample rate (eg. upgrade 44,100 samples/sec to 88,200)
and the number of bits of resolution (eg. upgrade 16 to 22) in audio recordings to
make no question of the quality of digital audio (in terms of frequency response,
distortion, dynamic range and noise floor) being superior to all analog formats.
If you would like to know more technical details, read the article
"CDs for the Gigabyte Era" by Tom R. Halfhill in Byte
Magazine, October 1996, pp 139-144.
A good list of links for digital recording and DVD is at
http://www.hut.fi/Misc/Electronics/audio.html#digirecord.
The technical details of DVD are at
http://www.mpeg.org/MPEG/dvd.html.
Keep those discs turning and listen to music... [Top]
This year there have been some major revelations in the field of high resolution
digital audio for consumers. In February the steering committee of the
DVD Forum approved
the specifications for DVD Audio. Even though the
data capacity of a DVD disc is seven times that of a conventional CD disc,
to achieve a nominal 74 minutes of play back time at the highest resolution
in the specification, a lossless compression scheme is used, called Meridian
Lossless Packing (MLP).
There are quite a few sampling frequencies supported, 48kHz, 96kHz, 192kHz and
44.1kHz, 88.2kHz, 176.4kHz. The bit resolution can be 16, 20 or 24 bits.
Two channel stereo can be recorded at the highest sampling freqency and bit
resolution, while up to six channels of audio can be recorded at lower rates.
Analog Devices Inc. have been quick off
the mark and they are the first
semiconductor manufacturer to release a stereo audio DAC chip (AD1853) which supports
the complete DVD Forum specification for enhanced digital audio, which also includes
backward compatibility with standard CD audio and digital de-emphasis.
So, the stage is set for some exciting advances, and hopefully, some
fantastic recordings which we all can enjoy.
Power to the music listeners, [Top]
Here is a list of magazine articles (newest to oldest) which I used to help write this series. They go into
more detail in a lot of areas.
Richard Lambley, Optical Disc Storage, Electronics & Wireless World magazine, January 1989, pp24-27
Ken Pohlmann, Digital Domain - A Bit (Or Two) Better, Audio magazine, October 1987, p41-43
Ken Pohlmann, Digital Domain - Minding your P's and Q's, Audio magazine, March 1987, p26-30
Neville Williams, Compact Disc Players - 2, Electronics Australia magazine, March 1987, pp92-98
Neville Williams, Compact Disc Players - 1, Electronics Australia magazine, January 1987, pp88-93
J.R. Watkinson, Subcodes Explained, Electronics & Wireless World magazine, September 1986, pp26-30
Ken Pohlmann, Digital Domain - Aural Arguments, Audio magazine, July 1986, p19
Ken Pohlmann, Digital Domain - Choice Chips, Audio magazine, May 1986, pp36-38
J.R. Watkinson, Digital Audio Editing - 2, Electronics & Wireless World magazine, April 1986, pp52-54
J.R. Watkinson, Digital Audio Editing - 1, Electronics & Wireless World magazine, March 1986, pp29-32
J.R. Watkinson, Compact Disc Mastering, Electronics & Wireless World magazine, February 1986, pp47-50 & 62
J.R. Watkinson, Compact Disc Players - 2, Electronics & Wireless World magazine, November 1985, pp29-33
J.R. Watkinson, Compact Disc Players - 1, Electronics & Wireless World magazine, August 1985, pp52-55
J.R. Watkinson, Channel Code and Disc Format - 2, Electronics & Wireless World magazine, June 1985, pp80-82
J.R. Watkinson, Channel Code and Disc Format - 1, Electronics & Wireless World magazine, May 1985, pp27-28
J.R. Watkinson, Principles of optical storage - 2 - Focus and tracking
mechanisms, Electronics & Wireless World magazine, April 1985, pp43-46
J.R. Watkinson, Principles of optical storage - 1, Electronics & Wireless World magazine, March 1985, pp70
Ken Pohlmann, Digital Domain - Keeping Your Distance, Audio magazine, February 1985, pp10-12
Ken Pohlmann, Digital Domain - Optimum Optics, Audio magazine, January 1985, pp26-30
J.R. Watkinson, The Compact Disc System, Electronics & Wireless World magazine, January 1985, pp69-71
Martin Colloms, Compact Disc Players, Hi-Fi News & Record Review magazine, March 1983, pp49-52
[Top]
Postscript One - 1996
Glenn Baddeley
15 October 1996.
Postscript Two - 1999
Glenn Baddeley
27 June 1999.
References
Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2005 Glenn Baddeley.
http://werple.net.au/~gnb/mac-cdis/cdps.html was last updated 27 February 2005.