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SACD? DVD-A?
- Thread starter ifjake
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ifjake said:
SACDs should play in any drive that says compact flash. that's the advantage of them, they're still backwards compatible. as far as DVD-A's i'm not sure because i've never tried them. what happens when you stick one in the drive?
yeah but i was under the impression that the backwards compatibility of SACDs means that you'd get the same old 16bit-44.1kHz PCM quality out of it. i'm interested in getting the high quality goodness out of it. my idea is that, as long as the hardware technology is basically the same as a DVD-ROM, you should be able to find some kinda of software to translate the data. there are DVD players that can play SACDs. so i'm thinking the drive is the same. i'm hoping it's possible to emulate whatever hardware that makes SACD playing possible in a DVD player on your computer. like apple's DVD player app. some kind of SACD player app. and i assume that the hardware is capable, since there are pro audio apps that can record in high fidelity. does anyone know anything about this?
SACDs generally have a CD layer in them, so your drive will play that by default. Most DVD-As have a DVD-Video component and that is what plays on your computer as well.
For either of these formats, you need to have an analog converter capable of delivering the high definition content. Those simply are not in Macs as of yet. SACD uses a separate form of encoding, so that is another issue, that the decoder would have to exist in hardware or software, which it doesn't on Mac. DVD-A requires higher quality converters, so even if your Mac could play it, it would be downsampled and dithered down to 48kHz/24-bit.
cpjakes
For either of these formats, you need to have an analog converter capable of delivering the high definition content. Those simply are not in Macs as of yet. SACD uses a separate form of encoding, so that is another issue, that the decoder would have to exist in hardware or software, which it doesn't on Mac. DVD-A requires higher quality converters, so even if your Mac could play it, it would be downsampled and dithered down to 48kHz/24-bit.
cpjakes
The short answer is no, SACD hi-res recordings reqiure specialist kit, as do hi-res DVD-a. Both will play at 44.1/16 on a standard CD player, and DVD-a will work in it's surround componant on a DVD-v player under DTS and dolby encoded rules.
You'll be able to play the discs, but not enjoy the reason for their existance.
There are combo sytems that'll play all formats, Sony do a good one.
You'll be able to play the discs, but not enjoy the reason for their existance.
There are combo sytems that'll play all formats, Sony do a good one.