Audio Engineering

Other Digital Audio Devices 635

Considerable effort has gone into defi ning standards, but the fi nal specifi cation was
approved in February 1999. Any delays were caused by the introduction of
copy-protection codes as demanded by the music industry.

The situation now is that it is possible to design universal DVD players that will deal
with both DVD-Video and DVD-Audio, but decks intended for DVD-Audio only will not
play DVD-Video. As a further complication, because DVD-Audio is a rather different
format, some DVD-Audio discs will not be fully usable in any DVD-Video player other
than a universal type, which at the moment is not in production or even planned. With
some cooperation from manufacturers it would be possible to turn out DVD-Audio discs
that would operate on all DVD decks or drives. As usual, it is unwise to be a pioneer
consumer, just as it was in the Beta/VHS days.

The protection system that has been adopted uses what the manufacturers call a digital
watermark. This adds signals that appear as low-level noise, and the recording companies
claim that this is completely inaudible. If enough audiophiles can hear the difference, then
it is a distinct possibility that two separate audio markets could develop, one using the older
CD format for music acceptable to enthusiasts, with DVD used for all other recordings.
However, we may feel that the golden-eared brigade can always detect the inaudible, even
on discs that have not had the coding added, but most users will not be affected.

● Sony and Philips, who developed the CD standards, have joined forces again to

make their Super Audio CD format that competes directly with DVD-Audio.

This takes us all back to the VCR battles of VHS and Beta, but manufacturers are

likely to respond by making playing decks that will allow the use of either type of

disc. At the moment, neither players nor discs are in plentiful supply.

Although DVD drives will read CDs, they will not in general read CD-R discs, and since
recordable DVD is still rather distant, this might be a stumbling block to anyone who is
contemplating transferring a treasured collection of tracks to CD-R. However, most DVD
players can read CD-RW discs. This difference arises because DVDs use a laser whose
light color is not the same as is used for CD players, and this light does not match that
used for CD-R, although it is better adapted to CD-RW.

At present, I would not urge anyone to rush out and buy DVD-Audio, even if equipment
becomes available on the United Kingdom market. The list of incompatibilities already
suffered by DVD-Video (fi lms that will not play on specifi c players) is very long, and