Can you copy a DVD Audio Disc?

[N. Abstentia]

Sadly, it's just trial and error right now. Like you said, if you read a good review then it's most likely okay. Most of the ones I buy are because I liked the original CD, and in the case of the Bruce Dickinson and Porcupine Tree DVD-A's, I wish I never would have bought them. They are awful, even though the actual music on them is just outstanding. The moron who did the mix on those two (not the same person) totally ruined the experience.

On the other hand, the DVD-A's by Yes, Queensryche, R.E.M., and The Doors are mind-blowing so it has nothing to do with the DVD-A format. It's all in who does the surround mix.

If a title is available on both SACD and DVD-A...well I would look at DVD-A first because I like the lyrics, videos, photos, bios, and other extras, plus I can make a backup copy and play it on my computer at work. On the other hand if I don't have the regular CD I'll look at the SACD first if it's a hybrid so I can play it in the car or on the computer.

[kexodusc]

N. Absentia: I actually heard some of the Porcupine Tree DVD-A the other day...I thought it was, well, different, but certainly not as bad as your implying. The problem I have is that, for example, Wilson purposely wanted the guitars or whatever to emanate from the corners of the room, so it's not really reproducing the "band live in front of you" effect. Too much instruments flying at you from weird places, but in a way, I guess that's kind of artistic. Not my cup of tea tough.

I feel this would have been more suited to the industrial/techno/ambience genres but, hey, it's artistic, so I give it 7 out of 10.

BTW, isn't there not a 2-channel high rez track on that DVD-A? I only heard the weird artsy surround track.

[N. Abstentia]

Well it's not so much the stuff flying at you from everywhere that I don't like about the Porcupine Tree disc, it's the actual quality of it. The DVD-A loses every bit of punch that the CD has. The drums on the CD sound huge. The drums on the DVD-A sound like tin cans. Guitars on the CD (Strip the Soul is a good example) are huge, in your face. Being (somewhat) a guitar player, I can feel the guitar. On the DVD-A the guitars are thin and sound like they've been put through an echo chamber. Same with the bass guitar. Deep and punchy on the CD, annoying and mid-bassy on the DVD.

Here it is summed up...the DVD-A does not gel. It sounds like 6 totally different things thrown together and they don't belong together.

Now go listen to Fragile by Yes. Drums = huge, in your face..perfect. Guitars...although Steve Howe was never a crunchy chord player...are done right. Squire's bass is just where it should be, and it's deep. And this was recorded in 1971.

[kexodusc]

Hmmm, yeah I think we're talking about the same thing...the guitars and drums are way more concentrated and localized on the cd, they seem to lose some of the texture there.
But from what I've read and heard, Wilson had all the input and direction in that, so maybe it was his grand vision...I'll have to listen to it a few more times, but I don't own it...say, if you don't want that thing, I could probably take it off your hands

And doesn't it have a 2-channel track on it? Surely that would be dynamic and punchy? Don't make me eat all the things I've been saying to people that swear these don't sound any better than CD's.

[N. Abstentia]

I'm not sure about the hi-res 2 channel track, other than the downmix you get just by switching to 2 channel. I'll have to look. If I remember correctly though, the audio menu just cycles through the 96/24 and DTS tracks but I'm not sure.

[kexodusc]

Maybe I'm way off because I don't own a player or DVD-A's yet, but I thought most DVD-A's had a hi rez 2-channel track in addition to DD, DTS, and the the 96/24 PCM or whatever...am I wrong?

[N. Abstentia]

Maybe I'm way off because I don't own a player or DVD-A's yet, but I thought most DVD-A's had a hi rez 2-channel track in addition to DD, DTS, and the the 96/24 PCM or whatever...am I wrong?

I know some of them do, I'm pretty sure Yes Fragile has MLP stereo. However Porcupine Tree does not have it. It contains the following tracks:
MUSIC: Dolby Digital 5.1
MUSIC: PCM Stereo
MUSIC: DTS 5.1

And Fragile has:
MUSIC: Dolby Digital 5.1
MUSIC: DTS 5.1
MUSIC: MLP Surround
MUSIC: MLP Stereo

[Woochifer]

Maybe I'm way off because I don't own a player or DVD-A's yet, but I thought most DVD-A's had a hi rez 2-channel track in addition to DD, DTS, and the the 96/24 PCM or whatever...am I wrong?

The DVD-A is compatible with all players because they all include separate video and audio layers. The video layer is what can be read by any DVD player, and they typically contain at least a 5.1 DD track and another two-channel track, but the format for that depends on the disc. Some of them have a 2.0 DD track, while others include an uncompressed PCM track that can range from 44.1/16 CD resolution all the way up to 96/24 resolution.

Keep in mind that 96/24 PCM is the SAME resolution as the channels on a 5.1 DVD-A track (two-channel DVD-A tracks can go up to 192/24 resolution). Because of copy protection and space concerns, most DVD-As only include the high res two-channel tracks (even if only encoded to 96/24 or lower resolution) on the audio layer. Even before the DVD-A format was finalized, the DVD format has always had provisions built in for 96/24 resolution audio on the video layer, and a few labels like Chesky and Classic Records have put out audio-only two-channel DVDs in 96/24 resolution. The major labels did not embrace this as an audio format because they wanted any high res format to have copy protection built in, which DVD-A includes.

The DVD-As that Classic Records and Chesky put out DO include a 96/24 PCM track on the video layer, and the tracks that I've heard thus far sound very nice, and I don't own a DVD-A player yet either.