AAC gets big win with DVD Forum

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
http://www.highfidelityreview.com/ne...umber=13634395





Quote:

The DVD Forum has chosen AAC for the DVD-ROM zone of DVD-Audio discs ? the inclusion of a low-resolution (lossy) track suitable for solid-state and portable devices has long been championed by DVD-Audio figureheads such as Dolby?s John Kellogg as a way of enhancing the value of the format to all listeners, not just those interested in its high-resolution potential.



The selection of AAC came after a number of competing formats were proposed; they included MP3, ATRAC and Microsoft?s WMA. Additional formats, such as Vorbis Ogg for example, were not put forward for consideration...





This is huge news. More penetration for AAC means more support in DVD chipsets and a backdoor for Apple to get iTunes solidified in CE.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 14
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,419member
    What would really rock is Apple getting Fairplay support added.



    I tend to think that consumers will move to HD based solution for the home but support is support
  • Reply 2 of 14
    johnhenryjohnhenry Posts: 152member
    On a side note, can we throw a dvdaudio discs in our macs and listen to them? (or better yet rip them?)
  • Reply 3 of 14
    macgregormacgregor Posts: 1,434member
    Interesting that Fraunhofer helped with AAC and has also come up with surround sound mp3!



    They might be a great partner (aquisition) for Apple?!?!?



    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3550833.stm



    http://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/pub_rel...4/index_d.html
  • Reply 4 of 14
    macgregormacgregor Posts: 1,434member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by MacGregor

    Interesting that Fraunhofer helped with AAC and has also come up with surround sound mp3!



    They might be a great partner (aquisition) for Apple?!?!?



    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3550833.stm



    http://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/pub_rel...4/index_d.html




    Ooops....Fraunhofer is an institute...probably can't buy and institute....
  • Reply 5 of 14
    wmfwmf Posts: 1,164member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by hmurchison

    More penetration for AAC means more support in DVD chipsets and a backdoor for Apple to get iTunes solidified in CE.



    Not really. Future DVD-Audio discs will have two copies of the music: one in MLP format and one in AAC format. DVD-Audio players will read the MLP audio and computers will read the AAC audio. So DVD-Audio players won't support AAC.
  • Reply 6 of 14
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    That's great! I've long thought that soundtracks and other audio should be included on DVDs but the problem has always been protecting the content. AAC + fairplay makes a great solution to this problem. Good news all around.
  • Reply 7 of 14
    bartobarto Posts: 2,246member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by torifile

    Good news all around.



    Really. Myself, I'm going to wait and see just how this content is "protected". Case in point: DVD Video. You aren't supposed to be able to copy it to your computer at all. Will you be buying DVD Audio if you can't copy the tracks to you computer(s) and iPod?



    Barto
  • Reply 8 of 14
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Barto

    Really. Myself, I'm going to wait and see just how this content is "protected". Case in point: DVD Video. You aren't supposed to be able to copy it to your computer at all. Will you be buying DVD Audio if you can't copy the tracks to you computer(s) and iPod?



    Barto




    My reading of that quote, and I could be off, is that the point of having a lossy format available on the disks is to allow for transfer to portable devices. I would assume that would include an iPod. If not, I'll bitch like the rest of us and figure out a way around the limitation. As it stands now, getting audio off a DVD is more trouble than it's worth.
  • Reply 9 of 14
    bartobarto Posts: 2,246member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by torifile

    My reading of that quote, and I could be off, is that the point of having a lossy format available on the disks is to allow for transfer to portable devices. I would assume that would include an iPod. If not, I'll bitch like the rest of us and figure out a way around the limitation. As it stands now, getting audio off a DVD is more trouble than it's worth.



    If DVD forum is going to allow copying to personal devices, why not just allow transfer - by licensed software - from the original, high quality source? This fact alone makes me pessimistic about any softening on the recording industry's part.



    Barto
  • Reply 10 of 14
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Barto

    If DVD forum is going to allow copying to personal devices, why not just allow transfer - by licensed software - from the original, high quality source? This fact alone makes me pessimistic about any softening on the recording industry's part.



    Barto




    They are scared to death of you even having the faintest chance of being able to get the original 24/96 or 24/192 data in unencrypted form. That's as close as you're gonna get to the master tape in digital form.



    Which does indeed suck, because I want to buy a DVD-A and/or SACD player, but I want an all digital link from player to processor, at the least. It seems terrible inelegant and an ugly hack to go from DVD-A/SACD -> 6-ch analog connection -> A/D in the processor -> D/A in the processor -> 6-ch analog connection to the amplifiers. What would be ideal would be (for example) raw SACD bitstream -> processor -> PWM (digital) amplifier (like www.tactaudio.com), a completely digital connection almost to the speaker terminals.



    Well, that's my rant for the morning.
  • Reply 11 of 14
    bartobarto Posts: 2,246member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by nguyenhm16

    They are scared to death of you even having the faintest chance of being able to get the original 24/96 or 24/192 data in unencrypted form. That's as close as you're gonna get to the master tape in digital form.



    And nguyenhm16 hits the nail on the head. The medieval recording industry regards computers as evil, and doesn't want you to be able to listen (and therefore be able to copy) high-quality audio on your computer. The industry is living in the past, hoping against hope that computers (at least in their current form) will somehow go away. Just like the "rising prices in iTunes land" thread.



    Maybe they'll wake up in time to see the SS Reality steaming towards them, maybe not...



    Barto
  • Reply 12 of 14
    wmfwmf Posts: 1,164member
    I'm betting these discs will wrap the AAC with some new kind of DRM that isn't compatible with the iPod or any other portable music player currently on the market, so you'll have to install new (Windows) software to play them.
  • Reply 13 of 14
    cubedudecubedude Posts: 1,556member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Barto

    Maybe they'll wake up in time to see the SS Reality steaming towards them, maybe not...





    What are the chances of that happening?
  • Reply 14 of 14
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by wmf

    I'm betting these discs will wrap the AAC with some new kind of DRM that isn't compatible with the iPod or any other portable music player currently on the market, so you'll have to install new (Windows) software to play them.



    Like nguyenhm16 and Barto pointed out, I think it's a concession that the music publishers are banking on. They give you lower quality digital copies of the original to deter you from making the effort to rip the DVD-A portion.



    I doubt they'll have any copy-protection or DRM on the AAC content.
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