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High(er) Resolution Multichannel Recordings
Will (Finally!) Be Heard
By David J. Weinberg
More Bits And More Words
It was very clear at the September 1999 Audio Engineering Society convention in New York City that technologists are pursuing high resolution sound recording and reproduction from all available angles - more bits per word, more samples per second and more channels!
In the century-plus history of audio recording and reproduction, two constants have been a) the pursuit of improved quality and b) the competition among technologies. In the last twenty years, another constant has been added - the battle against unapproved copying and distribution.
DVD-Audio (developed under the guidance of the DVD Forum's Working Group 4 - WG-4) and the Sony/Philips' Super Audio CD (SACD) want to take us to the next level of consumer audio sound quality. However, resolving the copy limitation issues to the satisfaction of both the equipment manufacturers and the music owners has been a severe stumbling block.
For Widescreen Review Issue 27, I wrote "Will DVD-Audio Ever Be Sound?" about the development of DVD-Audio and the Sony/ Philips' Super Audio CD (SACD), identifying the "players" and the conflicts that seemed to be holding up its arrival forever.
Contender No. 1 - DVD-Audio
Developing the DVD-Audio specification required more than 73 man-years effort, including more than 40 WG-4 meetings and 20 more meetings between the WG-4 and the International Steering Committee (ISC; representing the music industry), with involvement by representatives of more than 48 interested organizations from all over the world.
By early 1999, the WG-4 had settled on 16/20/24-bit-per-word sampling at 48/88.2/96/176.4/192ksps, had ruled out the Sony/Philips' Direct Stream Digital technology and had adopted Meridian Lossless Packing (MLP).
The need for compression is clear. At 24-bits-per-word and 96ksps, 5.1 channels of audio requires a user-data transfer rate of 13.824Mbps, which exceeds the 11.08Mbps maximum for the DVD (and 9.6Mbps specified maximum for DVD-Audio). Even if the data rate were acceptable, less than 46 minutes of music would fit on the disc.
MLP provides bit-perfect data compression-decompression. MLP drops the data transfer rate to acceptable levels and enables the disc to hold more than 80 minutes of a 5.1-channel signal. This is particularly important as text, video and separate 2-channel mixes are added, since these features take up space and cut down the maximum time available for audio on the disc.
Along with other parameters (including NO regional coding!), WG-4 created the DVD-Audio format. The breadth and flexibility of this format led Robert Doris of Sonic Solutions to point out that there are more than 20 choices among the number of channels, sample rates, optional compressed tracks (Dolby® Digital, DTS® Digital Surround™, MPEG), etc.
The DVD Forum accepted the recommendation of the WG-4, formally adopted the specification in February 1999, and issued version 1.0 of the DVD-Audio Book (Audio application part, Part 4: version 1.0 of DVD Specifications for Read-Only disc) in April 1999. Note that just like all other DVD formats, this is not an official Standard established as such by a standard-making body; it is a format specification defined and adopted by a group of parties who have a vested commercial interest in establishing a single specification for all to use.
With increased digital audio resolution (compared to CDs), and the variety of ancillary functions this format supports, perhaps Al McPherson of Warner Bros. Records said it best: "DVD-Audio offers a larger palette of features to the artist."
By agreement of the members of WG-4 and the DVD Forum, the format book does not include the encryption and watermarking schemes required by the music owners to protect their intellectual property against unapproved copying and distribution. So, even though there was a lot of publicity about the de facto standard having been established, and while it is legal to cut a DVD-Audio disc and make players without encryption or a watermark, it has been clear that without copy limitation, the DVD-Audio format would not be commercially implemented in hardware or discs.
Finally, in November 1999, copy limitation encryption and watermarking schemes were finalized, with the legalities of licensing worked out. The DVD forum will soon publish version 1.2 of the DVD-Audio book, which will include the necessary information related to these copy limitation systems. Thus, DVD-Audio seemed finally ready to try for our dollars.
DVD-Audio Copy Limitation
There were several groups working to provide the Copy Protection and Management (CPM) schemes of choice for DVD-Audio.
Encryption
The 4C Entity group (IBM, Intel, Matsushita and Toshiba&emdash;www.4centity.com) was the ultimate winner of the encryption selection with their Content Scramble System 2 (CSS2 &emdash;CSS1 is used on DVD-Video discs). Naturally, details of this scheme are kept private to inhibit pirates.
A Hiccup
During 1999, using reverse engineering from a DVD player, the computer program DeCSS was written to enable DVD-Video discs to be played on PCs running the Linux operating system. In DVD players, there is a stored code that is used as a key in the decryption process. It seems that the people who created DeCSS used the code from the particular player they analyzed as a key part of their program. As a result, DeCSS defeats the DVD-Video's CSS1 encryption scheme, enabling uncontrolled copying of DVD-Videos.
Around the end of October 1999, a Norwegian teen distributed DeCSS over the Internet. This triggered a furor within the DVD hardware and software community.
Since CSS2, which was being adopted for DVD-Audio discs, is a sibling of CSS1, the wide distribution of DeCSS resulted in a total halt to DVD-Audio release plans. Even Matsushita, which had announced their intention to launch DVD-Audio players in Japan in December 1999, cancelled those plans.
Changing Direction
The 4C Entity group, which had developed CSS2 for DVD-Audio, circled the wagons and, under severe pressure from the content providers, decided not to try to 'fix' CSS2, but to pursue a different, more sophisticated system they called Content Protection for Prerecorded Media (CPPM). As of March 1, they were at about the version 0.9 level. In parallel, they have been working on Content Protection for Recordable Media (CPRM), and were at version 0.9+ for DVD-RAM and for the SD flash memory card (from Sandisk, Matsushita and Toshiba).
Their use of the term "media" instead of identifying the scheme specifically with the DVD makes it easier for them to broaden application of the CPPM scheme to other media not yet considered or available.
The watermark system adopted for DVD-Audio remains unchanged.
CPPM
Under the CPPM scheme, each DVD-Audio player will have a unique ID. This means that not only will each brand and model be uniquely identified, but, for example, if there are 25000 CTM Model DVD4604A players manufactured, they will each have a unique ID, just as they each have a unique serial number. This ID will be used in the decryption process. The ID from the playback unit is also stored in the data stream in every copy of a DVD-Audio disc.
If the industry finds that a particular ID is being used in an unauthorized software decoder (most likely by finding it on unauthorized copies of DVD-Audio discs), the DVD-Audio disc authors can track back to the source player (possibly identifying the individual owner), and add that ID to a list of unauthorized IDs that will be stored on a special part of all prerecorded DVD-Audio discs set aside for this purpose. Legal DVD-Audio players will, as part of their decryption algorithm, compare the player/decoder's ID against the list on the disc. If the IDs match, the player will not play the disc. Thus legal players will play all older discs, but none of those authored after the ID was put on the list. There are two possibilities foreseen:
1. The individual who owns the player whose ID was used is in on the scheme, whereupon his player not being able to play new DVD-Audio discs is 'just'; or
2. The individual took his player to a repair shop for service, and the repair shop read and used the ID (or some equivalent scenario in which the owner is innocent). In this case, when the user calls the manufacturer to find out why he can't play new DVD-Audio discs, the manufacturer can help him out, at their discretion.
The purpose of the unique ID is not aimed at inhibiting cloning of DVD-Audio players, which is not expected. It is aimed at the possibility of a repeat of the DeCSS incident; in other words, CPPM is to severely limit the profits of pirates who write software based on a DVD-Audio player's ID for the purpose of mass illegal copying of DVD-Audio discs.
This system allows the user to make a copy, so the needs of the consumer, who might want a copy for the vacation home or the car, are accommodated.
The CPPM specification is undergoing review by all interested parties, including the DVD-Forum, which will, if CPPM is approved, have to adjust the DVD-Audio specification (currently at version 1.2) to accommodate it.
The CPPM specifications (except for the encryption and decryption keys) have been publicly released, but a license is required to use CPPM and acquire the keys. Information is accessible at www.4Centity.com.
The goal of the 4C Entity group, associated organizations and companies is to launch both DVD-Audio players and DVD-Audio discs around September 2000.
Watermarking
All five major music labels (BMG, EMI, Sony, Universal/PolyGram, and Warner), plus independent mastering studios were intimately involved in the selection process for watermarking DVD-Audio discs.
One concern was the need for the watermark to be inaudible while meeting the other criteria (which included surviving all forms of transmission including AM terrestrial and Internet broadcast, as well as home copying, such as the analog audio cassette). The watermark also needs to survive analog and digital downmixing, wow and flutter, pitch shifting, bandwidth limiting, codec processing and added noise. Extensive single-blind testing was a major part of the evaluation process.
There were six organizations invited to submit watermarking proposals. In addition, the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI&emdash;a group of over 120 organizations that is primarily known for addressing copy limitation for MP3 and the Internet&emdash;www.sdmi.org) brought in additional watermarking technology. Ultimately, the Aris Solana Corporation won all of the listening tests, and is the watermarking chosen for DVD-Audio discs. The watermark will include Serial Copy Management System (SCMS) metadata instructions identifying the recording, whether it is an original recording or a copy of an original and how many, if any, copies are allowed.
The Copy Permission Algorithm
A single copy, via a recorder's analog input or via a USB input port at no better than 16-bit/48ksps resolution (which is slightly better than the CD) must be permitted.
Additional copying conditions are defined by the content provider, who MAY allow one or more copies at higher resolution.
By licensing agreement, analog and IEC-958 USB digital recording inputs will be required to look for the DVD-Audio watermark and obey the commands in the metadata. When a legal copy is made, the recorder decodes and removes the watermark, then creates a new one for the copy in accordance with the instructions from the source watermark metadata, thus defeating efforts to daisy-chain copying.
Licensed digital connections by other than the aforementioned paths, such as via IEEE-1394 (FireWire®), must be securely protected against unauthorized copying by the 5C encryption system (not related to the aforementioned 4C Entity group's CSS2), which is optimized for FireWire interconnections but will work quite well across other digital interconnections. The 5C encryption is added within the player feeding the digital output, and is decrypted in the receiving device.
The licensed recorder stores, in non-volatile memory, the identity and relevant data from each source copied to prevent unauthorized repeat copying. How many of these IDs each recorder can store is not revealed&emdash;when it runs out of memory, with each new recording it drops a previously-stored ID (not necessarily the oldest one).
It is clearly understood by all that no copy limitation scheme is perfect. Ted Abe (Matsushita), in his September 1999 Audio Engineering Society presentation noted that "There is always a tradeoff between protection versus convenience."
Added Features
Since the DVD-Audio specification is a member of the DVD family, it takes advantage of the menu and video characteristics of the DVD-Video format.
Up to 2MB of the DVD-Audio disc is available for still-frame or limited-duration motion video.
The capability exists to offer bonus content through a "hidden" track, access to which would require a 4-digit key that might be made available in magazine ads, via the Internet or for a fee.
Compatibility
A CD-Red-Book layer is permitted under the DVD-Audio specifications. However, if the pricing is at DVD levels (about $25), it makes less sense to make the disc CD-compatible since people who want the CD will buy one, and those relative few who want the DVD-Audio will buy it separately.
According to Bob Stuart (of Meridian, source of the Meridian Lossless Packing), the hardware [to play DVD-Audio] will be there; it will be up to the software guys to provide compelling material at an acceptable price.
All DVD-Video players can at least recognize the DVD-Audio disc and can play the Dolby Digital mix [and additionally DTS Digital Surround] and any video data on the disc, because these portions of the DVD-Audio format are compatible with DVD-Video players and contain enough appropriately formatted metadata. It is possible to make a DVD-Audio disc without Dolby Digital or DVD-Video, but it is not expected.
Dealing With Multiple Channels And Multiple Mixes
There continues to be a lot of discussion and experimentation on what to do with all these channels.
Elliot Scheiner, well-known Grammy Award-winning producer & recording engineer, said that "we can use all these channels to do anything we want. There is no right or wrong. It's like the early stereo experiments, like the Beatles with the vocals on one channel. A lot of experimenting will happen. Everyone needs to feel free to do so. Multichannel can make it easier to realize certain effects, like a sense of openness, not available in two channels. However, we must retain the integrity of the original recording."
Ed Cherney, noted recording engineer, said "Multichannel frees the engineer to be an artist again, [without] having to be concerned with the sound coming out of a car radio with the windows open at 100mph." I guess he hasn't heard Editor Gary Reber's Impala SS DTS car system.
The DVD-Audio specification allows for automatic mixdown in the player to a two-channel output, and for a separate two-channel mix to be put on the disc. There is a general consensus among the engineers that they prefer their own two-channel mix to allowing an automatic mixdown in the playback from the multichannel mix on the disc.
Problems Yet to Resolve
As of January 2000, three of the major music companies still did not have DVD-Audio authoring systems, primarily due to delays in settling on the copy limitation scheme. This alone delayed the availability of DVD-Audio discs until at least Spring 2000.
Ed Cherney pointed out that true 24/96 end-to-end recording/editing/mastering systems do not yet exist, forcing many to process their signals with analog equipment. In addition, many engineers are recording in analog to make their projects future-proof.
Bob Ludwig (Gateway Mastering) noted that the best 24-bit converter he knows measured at about 22.5 bits resolution.
Packaging
DVD-Audio packages will be one inch taller than the standard CD jewel box to provide physical differentiation. I hope all of us who spend the money for DVD-Audio have shelves tall enough.
Is DVD-Audio A Major Upgrade?
The Audio portion of the DVD-Video specifications supports quite high quality audio: in Linear-PCM format (uncompressed)&emdash;16/20/24-bit samples at 48/96ksps for up to eight channels, as long as the total audio data transfer rate does not exceed 6.144Mbps. This means that at 16/48, up to eight channels of audio can be included; and for 20/48 or 24/48, up to five channels can be put on the DVD (all of which are more than adequate for surround-sound music). For 16/96, 20/96, or 24/96, only two channels can be incorporated into the DVD. Because this format doesn't include lossless compression, these audio formats will result in rather short programs.
The DVD-Audio format adds substantially increased copy limitation schemes, longer programs, the higher sampling rates of 176.4ksps and 192ksps and more channels at the higher data rates.
Contender No. 2 &emdash; SACD
Sony, a major player in the development of DVD-Audio, has kept its options open by also teaming with Philips to create the Super Audio Compact Disc (SACD) based on their Direct Stream Digital (DSD) 1-bit sigma-delta technology.
The SACD includes a Sony/Philips' proprietary data encryption system and both visible and invisible digital watermarking. As with all CPM systems, details of the schemes are not disclosed to other than licensees. There is no analog watermarking, yet&emdash;they are working to develop one that is adequately inaudible.
The SACD uses a Philips lossless data compression algorithm at less than 2.8:1, which allows up to 81 minutes of both 5.0-channel high resolution audio and a 2.0-channel mix on a single-layer disc. As much as 110 minutes of 2.0-channel uncompressed audio will fit on a single layer.
The SACD specification offers three combinations: a single-layer SACD, a dual layer SACD, and a hybrid SACD with a DSD layer and a Red-Book CD layer. There is no two-sided SACD configuration.
All SACD Players Will Play CDs
At the September 1999 AES convention, Sony demonstrated a prototype of their SCD-1 SACD player ($5,000 SRP) and announced the SCD-777ES player ($3,500), which Mike Fidler (Senior Vice President, Home A/V Marketing Division, Consumer Products Marketing Group, Sony Corporation) described as "flagship products aimed to exceed the expectations of the audiophile customer." These are strictly two-channel units, with no means of upgrading to multichannel units (the playback processing is performed in custom-designed hardware, not in software, so there is no easy upgrade path). Sony has plans to begin shipping multichannel models late in 2000.
In contrast to the DVD-Audio format, which is clearly a member of the DVD family, Sony is presenting the SACD as an extension of the CD, aimed at the high-end audiophile market. Sony representatives feel that high-end audiophiles are almost exclusively two-channel listeners, and therefore are aiming their initial SACD players and releases at them. Because Sony views two-channel high resolution audio as a market separate from the multichannel market, they see no compelling reason to provide an upgrade path to multichannel or to develop universal players.
Fidler said that multichannel SACD players will be added later to "provide the artists the choices." While many people want a universal player, Sony seems to prefer individual configurations for specific markets.
Listening to the demonstration at AES&emdash;although the sound was nice&emdash;it was impossible to make a valid determination of quality under such conditions due to unfamiliarity with the environment (although acoustically treated), the playback system, the recording and no way to compare the SACD with the source material.
Several independent producers and engineers have been involved in direct comparisons among analog, PCM and DSD recordings (the parameters of the tests are not known, including whether they might have been single or double blind, etc.) and have given high marks to the sound of the DSD playback.
Sony began delivering players in Japan in May 1999, and to Europe and the U.S. in Autumn 1999.
During the same presentation, Philips demonstrated a prototype multichannel player (no price yet) that they expect to have on the market at the end of Summer 2000. They expect to begin shipping a Marantz two-channel SACD player earlier in 2000 and are considering a universal player for third-quarter 2000 release.
Fidler said that parts of the recording, editing and playback chain are close to production models, while others are only in prototype state. Sonic Solutions has developed a digital audio workstation for DSD/SACD. Genex has announced a DSD multi-track recorder. Several other companies have announced intentions to develop and market DSD/SACD recording, mixing and mastering equipment.
There were about 40 titles available when the first players began shipping in the U.S. Half of these titles were from Sony, and the other half from independents (Audioquest, Delos, DMP, Mobile Fidelity, Telarc, and Water Lily Music). It is interesting that although Sony has made much of the Red Book CD layer that is an optional part of the SACD specification, none of Sony's first SACDs will have one, yet all of the independently produced SACDs will have a CD layer.
Is DSD Truly High Resolution?
There are engineering experts with appropriate knowledge and experience who question whether the current implementation of the DSD concept is a legitimate step forward. There have been claims that the DSD specification is somewhat similar to 10-year-old analog-digital conversion technology.
It is felt that with 64:1 "oversampling" (2.8224 Mbps per channel), a fairly high-order noise shaping filter (>5-pole; older conventional CD recorders used 7-pole anti-aliasing filters) with a corner frequency just above 20kHz is needed to get 110dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). With this sharp a filter in the playback decoder, the noise just above the audio band will rise rather sharply. Thus an even steeper passband filter is needed to keep that rising noise from reaching the audio output.
If steep filters are not used, then a very broadband amplifier is needed to prevent amplifier muting, shutdown or damage to the amplifier or speakers from the high levels of ultrasonic noise.
If adequately steep filters are used, it is questionable whether the frequency and phase responses would be as good as today's better 24-bit systems.
With single-bit sigma-delta processing, it is harder to prevent idle tones. If decoders using two or more bits-per-word are used, and dither is added, idle tones do not occur. Five-bit 64x converters are the best currently available.
Current so-called PCM systems are really hybrid sigma-delta processors, with noise shaping and filtering performed mostly in the digital domain, so the implementations can fairly closely approach the theoretical limits with relatively low aberrations.
Regarding the CD-Red Book layer, Toshiba has said that only 70 percent of CD players in use can play the hybrid SACD because not all the players are Red Book-compliant.
IC Implementation
Manufacturing equipment at reasonable prices requires inexpensive integrated circuits to minimize circuit components and manufacturing costs.
AKM Semiconductor has introduced a high-performance two-channel 24/192 DAC (digital-to-analog converter&emdash;used in playback decoding) IC for DVD-Audio.
Burr-Brown has announced development of a DSD DAC IC for SACD.
Cirrus Logic has introduced two-channel integrated circuits that support DVD-Audio (up to 24-bit, 192ksps) and DSD. Thus, three of them are needed for six-channel systems.
dCS has announced an ADC with digital outputs up to 24/192 plus DSD, and a DAC that accepts the same inputs. They also have a digital bi-directional PCM/DSD converter chip.
Hedging Their Bets
Sonic Solutions, a highly respected source of audio and video production software packages, has jumped into the fray with multichannel DVD-Audio and SACD authoring systems.
Teldec, a Warner label, has worked with Sonic Solutions to create a DVD-Audio title of Johann Strauss waltzes using Meridian Lossless Packing from an original six-channel, 24/96 direct-to-digital recording.
They also collaborated with Panasonic, Sonopress, Sony Music, Universal Music and the Warner Music Group to create the first DVD-Audio test discs, about which Al McPherson, Vice President of Technology at Warner, said, "Preparing DVD-Audio titles is much more challenging than traditional CD premastering. In contrast to a CD, which involves just a single stream of stereo audio at a fixed sampling rate [44.1ksps], our first demonstration DVD-Audio disc contains hundreds of different elements&emdash;ten tracks with six channels at different sample rates, graphics, menus, slide shows and video."
Sony Music is taking advantage of both high resolution audio formats. Leslie Cohen (Vice President, New Music Development, Sony Music Entertainment) said, "Sony Music has begun production on an impressive slate of DVD-Audio releases from a number of its top artists which will be available with the new format's launch. Sonic Solutions is the first company to develop the authoring tools for DVD-Audio, and following our joint success in producing these first test titles, we look forward to working closely with Sonic to take full advantage of DVD-Audio's capabilities as we help shape the future of this format."
Room For Everything?
Gateway Mastering's Bob Ludwig has said about the new formats that "Every time you increase the resolution of the recording, it gives us more to work with.... The choice [among the CD, MP3 and high resolution audio] is the listeners'. Those who grew up listening to acoustic music tend to prefer higher quality audio systems." He sees a place for them all.
Denny Purcell (Georgetown Masters) is concerned that our society might make MP3 "cool" and won't need high resolution audio. He feels that we need to keep the top rung of quality high; that we need all levels of sound quality. He sees his role as helping others to hear the artists' songs better, and high resolution audio helps him do that. Purcell feels that digital recording has finally gotten to the point that it is more accurate than analog. He is anticipating the imminent arrival of the software plug-ins necessary to enable the sophisticated processing that is such a necessary part of today's mixing and mastering process.
Prospects
The DVD-audio format is undergoing a difficult birth. The "standard" has been approved and the "book" issued, yet until early November 1999, we couldn't hear the baby cry because of the battle over copy protection.
And its twin&emdash;SACD&emdash;is fighting for its independent life; competing for the same food&emdash;our money&emdash;and seems to have been born just ahead of DVD-Audio.
To keep all of this in perspective, Chuck Ainlay (Backstage Soundstage Recording Studio) noted that "24/96 [or DSD/SACD] isn't the ultimate end, it is only the next step. There will be others."
Although there have been a lot of claims for the audible superiority of DVD-Audio and DSD/SACD, there have been no known double-blind tests performed, so no true proof yet exists.
The bandwidth, dynamic range and distortion-sensitivity characteristics of human hearing are fairly well defined. The public seems quite satisfied with CD quality, and engineering analysis points to 16-bit/44.1ksps being theoretically sufficient to meet or exceed the hearing characteristics of most humans. As such, whether higher-quality sound will be audible to the public, or attract them en masse sufficiently to get them to spend more money to once-again replace their music collections remains questionable.
There seem to be two audio camps developing: a high quality audiophile group pursuing DVD-Audio and SACD and its successors, and the broadcast/Internet group that is working diligently to squeeze ever more signal into increasingly narrower pipes.
It is quite possible that both DVD-Audio and DSD/SACD will remain niche formats for high-end audiophiles.
The Larger Picture
With DVD-Video a well-established medium, and both DVD-Audio and SACD finally ready to become formats for distribution of higher quality multichannel music, "record" companies have to decide how to proceed. In early November, the Surround 20001 Conference session titled "Record Companies View Surround Sound" was moderated by Bobby Owsinski (President, Surround Associates), with leading A&R and production executives discussing how they are preparing to benefit from the growing demand for multichannel audio and music videos. These excerpts convey their optimistic attitudes and how clearly they see it as a business venture.
Bobby Owsinski: We want to find out how the content owners view the market. Mike, how does Capitol Records view the surround market? Do you find it viable?
Michael Frondelli, Capitol Records: I think Capitol finds it viable. Whether or not they are willing to make a big investment at this point is the question. I think that record labels have a number of [worries about] the market. They are looking at it very seriously, but are concerned about other issues at the moment [such as MP3]. I think they love the idea of having a new medium that's going to be a high resolution format. I think they are really excited about penetrating other markets, especially the home theatre system market. They see that there are a lot of marketing obstacles they have to overcome, because they're treading water right now trying to sell CDs and making sure they can be competitive in a market that's been existing since 1980. And there is the record retail issue. What price are you going to charge for this, and what is your cost of production to meet [that price]? Maybe the [DVD pressing] plants are set up to do it, but what does it cost to get the original mixer? What does it cost to get the studio time and in what speaker configuration are we going to do it? There are a number of questions.
Paul West, Universal Music Group: Well, it's an obvious first question to ask, and I think the best way to answer it on the part of Universal [Records] is that it's probably a yes and no answer. Due to our size; due to the merger last year, it's easy for me to say that there are factions within the company that do believe in [multichannel DVD-Audio] and are pushing strongly forward. Then there are probably some other factions within the same organization that don't see the light of day with it yet&emdash;in other words, they have to be shown. I cannot, in all honesty, give you a uniform picture of Universal. It's like everything else&emdash;with great things that come forward, it's usually a small faction within a large organization that believes in something, stays with it, [maintains] dedication to it, gets it to the marketplace; and it becomes a success. One of the other major [problems takes us] to that old ugly word of business affairs and legal contracts with artists and producers and so forth&emdash;the way contracts are written, who is going to pay for production costs? Right now, with the new media, [there are] high entry fees for production costs for re-mixing&emdash;especially if you're just taking an old selection and remixing it, which you can't do at the same time you are doing the two-channel mix. Somebody has to pay for it. In my world right now, I'm seeing some of the bigger questions not being asked on the technical end, but actually in the business affairs end.
Bill Allen, BMG: Excellent points all. I would add that BMG has no direct investment links to the technology world, so we really concentrate on our core business, which is making our artists popular. Multichannel is certainly a wonderful experience. It's a wonderful way to reach out and grab the fan base, and connect that fan base to an artist better than it ever has been before; thus selling more records, etc. But, as of now, we haven't had many of our artists banging down our doors asking to do this. I think that is more of what we're waiting for. We have a number of DVDs and DVD [music] videos out where we've dabbled in surround sound. Again, it's led, sort of, by the artist's vision. There really isn't a corporate stance here. I think once it's clear there is a market, and more importantly once the artists are excited about creating a surround experience, it will happen. And we are looking forward to it happening.
Owsinski: I'm going to divert from my program a little bit because the points were so compelling. The first one is education. Let's first talk about education of the people within the label. Do you think that, within the label, the awareness of surround sound and the method to deliver it to your customer is high enough to actually make this go at the moment? Or do you think that there has to be some internal education to [increase] the awareness [within your companies] of what the capabilities and the effects of surround sound are?
Frondelli: We've seen schisms created in the record industry, within companies themselves, within the past couple of years, primarily because DVD falls into several different categories in a company. Technically, a DVD is just a storage format. The record executives and the A&R people are aware of DVD only from their experience with DVD-Video. Now DVD has also fallen into the world of [multi-]media, and that's by virtue of what happened with the Enhanced CD and the experiences that new media people had with that [format]. We have Abbey Road Walls that does a lot of interactive media. We all have studios, so we know what surround [sound] is. I don't know if [the executives] understand the market value of it. They understand that it can image the artist, and they understand that if an artist motivates them and says we have to do this... that's the best way it can happen within a company. We have two out right now that are doing reasonably well&emdash;we put The Beatles (Yellow Submarine) out through MGM, and we have Radio Head that is just about to go gold (Gold in the DVD world is 50,000 units). But they are the only two titles that I could find sales reports on. There are various catalog issues that are being [considered] within the various divisions. They are waiting to see what experiences they can get from third parties that they are involved with, and what we do within the studio formats. So I think the first issue with [the executives is] to understand it better. They all are aware of it; they have all heard it and they want to understand the value of it in their world as a revenue stream.
West: Again, to use that excuse of a massive organization that is changing and growing every minute, I would say a fair statement for Universal is that there are people within certain groups of the organization [for whom] it's full throttle ahead, but one problem I think all of us face, no matter whose company it is&emdash;of the majors or any of the smaller labels, is the multimedia portion. I'm starting to see this already, and it's somewhat of a personal opinion (but it's also an observation), that nobody is probably going to put out a DVD-Audio disc just for the sake of multichannel alone. They are going to look at the full multimedia abilities it's capable of. This involves graphic arts people; it involves departments that have to work with each other that would normally never really do so. All of a sudden you have to bring in outside people; like [during this morning's session] we were talking about authoring. Well, forget about the audio portion. You just get involved with the graphics part of this thing. It's mind boggling. You are going to meet a whole new industry of people you never had to deal with [before]. That really is part of the whole thing; that this is such a big new medium that is capable of so many things. We think it needs to be a certain size [&emdash;have a certain amount of content&emdash;] to go out the door, but it takes a lot of coordination from a lot of different areas to try and pull that all together to make it go out the door. I think that is one of the more challenging things. And back to the business and legal issues, talking about clearance for titles and things like that&emdash;every piece of graphics you put into this thing you have to have clearance for. Everything is copyrighted. This is quite a massive undertaking for everybody, and it's going to take a while to get it going. The good news is we all know that multichannel is a key portion, or maybe the [characteristic the consumer finds] compelling, so it's up to us to start getting material mixed [and] ready to go, then merge it when we get our act together on all the other areas.
Allen: I'm the Director of New Media Technologies for BMG, which is a corporate role. A very small, centered, corporate bunch of people that worry about marketing, that worry about technology, that worry about a whole bunch of things. In that position, we get to reach out to all of our labels, and there are something like 400 of them. We actually attract the attention of maybe 15 or 20 of them. We are trying to understand the DVD-Audio format ourselves. It's a very exciting format that can do much more than multichannel, although that's going to be a key factor in helping that format succeed. There are still a lot of details that everyone needs to know. We're actively educating our labels as to what the format can do. To the extent that they listen, we'll see.
Owsinski: I just want to share something with you since the legal thing keeps coming up. My company, Surround Associates, is just wrapping up production of a DVD sampler for CEA [(formerly CEMA)]. We're putting examples of different genres of music on these discs, and we are going to various labels and getting those. To show you what's involved legal-wise, there are four different types of contracts required for this project. For instance, if there was a piece of music that had no pictures and no graphics (no moving pictures or still pictures), that was one contract. There was yet another contract if there was just music and moving pictures. There is yet another one if there was still graphics and music. Then there was another [contract] if there was music and interview materials, like electronic press kits. So you can take whatever legalities you had and multiply it by at least a factor of four. You can imagine the hassles. In terms of releases, it's equally as crazy from the standpoint that not only did we have to get a release from the record label, but we also had to get one from the publisher as well as sync license. We also had to get clearance from the artists and the management. There were cases where we had three out of the four, and management would say something like "No, we don't think that's a good idea."
Owsinski: I'm curious about your ultimate goal for any product that you put out to the customer. Has there been a demand from your customers for surround sound? And if there isn't, do you think you will have to educate the consumer, or do you think that there will be a built-in education process? Do you think that maybe they'll just hear and love it and demand it from you?
Frondelli: My position at Capitol is Vice President of Capitol Studios and Mastering. I think the consumer has gotten some of the education through the home theatre system market. I feel strongly that we all have been chasing this set-top box kind of set up with a universal player. The DVD 1.0 spec [defines] a player that will play all formats. I believe we're probably going to have to penetrate [the market] in several different ways. One way I think most people have become used to dealing with a lot of audio is through PCs. I think sooner than later we're going to be able to get a [digital pipe] big enough to the home that we're going to be able to download 5.1-channel surround files and people are going to be able to play them over their PC 5.1 systems. I think a lot of it comes from the producers. I don't think we've yet found the right format to entice the consumer. I think we have to come up with something that is unique, as was the CD [when] it came out. I believe that is the goal right now. I think that is what is going to get them excited. I also see the gaming industry being very interested in this role. They will absolutely be able to get people excited about it. The whole idea is getting the consumer excited. What's going to make him [reach] into his pocket again? How is it going to be the least amount of financial impact to him with the most benefit? What's going to get him into something like buying another upgrade for his computer? Or to buy a box so he can buy more software from us?
West: I am Vice President of Studio Operations, Engineering/New Technology for the Universal Music Group. Wearing many different hats, I have been involved in many different parts since the inception of this format. There is something very unique about this time around with a new format. The CD basically was invented, people migrated to put music on it, and then there it went. There was no inter-relationship, or any relationship, between the hardware manufacturers and the software manufacturers&emdash;us&emdash;for that product. This time around is completely different. We were brought in from the very inception of this product and worked a lot of long hours trying to bridge what the [Consumer Electronics and Information Technology corporations wanted with the needs of] the music companies. With that bridge complete, I see cooperation in terms of Universal endorsing it as a product, and the fact that the hardware companies are very hungry to market this product. The symbiotic relationship between the hardware and the software being very strong for this product is part of what I think will be directly targeted at the consumer. I think there will be a calculated media blitz. Everybody I brought in to hear multichannel DTS demonstrations three years ago (they were label presidents, well known musicians, artists, managers [and others]) basically said this is exciting, this is amazing (We heard some [similar] comments and testimonials [about DVD-Audio]). The point is that everybody got excited about it. I have to feel that if these people, who are somewhat cynical at times, got it and were moved by it, then it will happen in terms of marketing the hardware and software.
Allen: To give them credit, the movie industry got the five speakers into the living room to the extent that they are there now. In a small way, I think our reaction about developing DVD-Audio was kind of a knee-jerk reaction, but if folks are going to be listening to relatively decent-sounding movies, and then they put on their CD and it collapses down to two speakers; this is a problem. So even though it was a knee-jerk reaction, we decided to do it, [and] do it right. That is what we have been trying to do with the DVD-Audio format. Now we want to lure [the customers] away into a multichannel audio experience. I don't know if we're going to add any driving force to sell multichannel. I think we are relying on the existing base to get it going. Because of that base, as we do it better than it's ever been done, it will catch on.
Owsinski: I want to come back to DVD-Audio and some of its ramifications in great depth. But first I have a question for all who own a DVD-Video player. How many have bought DVDs that were primarily music titles? That being said, do you find them, if they were done in surround sound, compelling and enjoyable? Generally speaking, we agree that it's a good experience. How do your companies feel about music-only DVD-Video titles? Is there a possibility that if DVD-Audio is slow in giving birth, we would go to a music-only title that is just an AC-3® [Dolby Digital] or a DTS DVD-Video disc?
Allen: We feel the audio aspect has turned out potentially so well that we shouldn't be doing audio-only on the DVD-Video spec for a number of reasons (when I say audio-only, that doesn't mean we won't do it with video for a concert). In terms of a slide show presentation or limited graphics with audio, it's not something we feel strongly about. There aren't as many technical choices for the audio on the DVD-Audio format and, to be honest, copy protection is an issue, and something we've achieved in the DVD-Audio format. Speaking for BMG, and I think the market chose this; there aren't any audio-only DVDs out under the DVD-Video spec that aren't full videos.
Frondelli: We are just not at that point right now. Everybody is in a wait-and-see kind of place.
West: Having more history on the Universal side of the company, our market for music videos, even in the VHS format, was pretty weak. Therefore, the migration of that into DVD was probably a no-brainer. We don't see using the audio in the DVD-Video spec as a viable carrier, since we know there is something better on the horizon:[&emdash;DVD-Audio, with better] copy protection.
Owsinski: What is the most important part of the DVD-Audio spec? Is it the watermarking and encryption, the high-resolution 24/96 audio, multichannel? Which one, in your opinion or your company's opinion, do you think is most important?
Allen: I think all of it. This is an opportunity that they didn't get the first time around with the CD. If they can get watermarking, and they can get encryption that can't be broken, they would love to be able to have that. As far as the 5.1 surround, anything that can image an artist on the cutting edge is what they want. If they can convince the artists, or an artist convinces them, that they want to do this, and they hear it and people love it, [the executives will love it] and think it's a great idea, they will absolutely go for it. If they can also see that they can participate in the home theatre system base and market their product to them as well, I think that is going to be a big difference to them on the revenue side.
West: I think the best answer is all the above. I believe you are going to see titles that have slide shows and quite a lot of multimedia elements to them, as opposed to just emulating a CD that happens to have multichannel on it. It doesn't mean you can't do that, but my companies just don't see that. Despite the learning curve to try to author all of these elements to come together, we are taking the pains to learn how to do that. DVD-Audio will be a multichannel carrier. You can already see it. The NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) now is interested in multichannel. The Direct Broadcast Satellite group is interested in multichannel. We know there's multichannel in the Digital TV specs. We have to look at this from the standpoint that if there are other media of distribution out there, we're going to have to deliver product to put on it. It seems like DVD-Audio is a major carrier to be the most obvious way to get this material to the consumer and the broadcast and other enterprises that we see in the future.
Frondelli: I think the perceived value of this uniform file format, that's on all the DVDs, will get rid of some of the incompatibility problems we had with CD extras and some of the exciting marketing things we wanted to do by launching a CD extra on the CD-ROM drive. By doing all this cool stuff, we are trying to build business to build relationships, again building a bridge between the consumers and the artists. You can really do some neat things. And I think the DVD specification in general is bridging that gap, and will make it work better in more machines.
Owsinski: What's your position on SACD?
Allen: How much is the player, and how many people have SACD players? I think it's a rhetorical question.
West: As a content provider, we look at all formats and then make decisions. When [a specific format] seems to have some merit and direction, we pursue it. I think all these formats are too immature at this point to really make final decisions, especially if you look at the hardware side of it. The universal player means that you can possibly play all of the above.
Owsinski: Let me hear your views on release plans in terms of legacy artists as opposed to general back catalog or big blockbuster artists that might be candidates for surround sound. How is that determined?
Frondelli: Any company is going to take a two-pronged approach. They are going to work with both front line and catalog artists. I think this is all going to germinate from the catalog. They can re-purpose original masters. If their contract says that they have clearance to put out this media, they'll be able to participate more easily than with the catalog artists. We have a lot of three-track [recordings] at Capitol that we want to re-purpose. There are third party companies that [we are] looking at, plus the studios, to come up with ways of doing it in some sensible way where it doesn't sound like fake stereo or fake surround. I think they are looking at the quality of the product they want to put out. Again, this all goes back to return on investment. How much money are they going to invest again to find the original mixer and pay for him/her and the studio time? What is the main focus? Catalog marketing, together with new media, and then front line. Obviously they are going to take those artists who have a desire to be presented in this format and who want to be on the leading edge to image themselves in such a way. They want to appeal to some of the people who are interested in newer technology.
West: I think looking at it from a business/ logic perspective, every one of the content providers has a top-100-selling catalog. That means those are constant sales-driven titles, year after year, no matter if the artist [has been commercial for only] a couple of years, or has been dead for 50 years. It all boils down to making the numbers work, and looking at your top 100 is a place to start. That is where the numbers usually work. In terms of re-purposing those, we don't necessarily need to have 8-track, 16- or 24-track [recordings]. There are probably some three- and four-track [recordings] from certain decades that, if they are put in the right hands with the artist and producers (and especially the mixing engineers), can be turned into wonderful new releases&emdash;just like people thought a lot of content opened up for them when they heard a CD of an [LP they already owned]. I think [the best choice is to primarily use the existing catalog of albums,] with a little mix of an artist that believes in this [new format] and has his act together. You will get a definite idea of what the market is like, and then you will have a lot of your marketing people [on board] when they see something that is already there. They will study it and further refine it to find out what else we should be putting out there.
Allen: In trying to identify potential releases for multichannel, it's common sense [to use the existing] catalog and go forward. In terms of the catalog, what is a natural fit? I think surround sound, or whatever you want to call it&emdash;multichannel, fits easily into some categories. It mimics the live concert experience, classical music, etc. How it translates to a pop world? I think that's a little longer a learning curve. It's a whole new artistic palette we've got here to work with. It's not easy to identify what might work. We're targeting a current series out on CD that's doing very well. I think that is sort of a natural first step into the DVD-Audio market and surround or 96/24 or above. It's how the numbers add up.
West: Perhaps we are the ones who can actually pull this off. Could we [decide] what we really want to call this? Is it multichannel? Is it surround? What is it actually? This has been a real bug for me. I try to piggyback on home theatre for the video, as far as equipment, but basically differentiating ourselves as being in music as opposed to being in the film business. Terminology can be really important. We really have to have a clear, concise idea of what we are trying to sell to the consumer. Maybe we should try and [identify] specifications, terms, acronyms and other things that this [group] should start thinking about.
Owsinski: How important is 96/24? Is it just marketing? Is it hype? Is it truly for the audiophile? Will your customers be able to tell the difference?
Frondelli: I want to know how many consumers in the last 20 years have heard better-than-16-bit? And how many records have we sold in 16-bit? Do kids care about MP3? It's free. They don't care. They wouldn't know the difference a lot of times. Who's going to sit there with a synchronous file and compare the two? I don't think anybody really cares. But the bottom line is, we do. We as professionals have to. I care more about 192ksps than I can care about 96, because I am interested in the next 25 years for our audio in the EMI archives, and I want to [record] in the highest resolution format that I can, so that if we want to go down to 96/24 and put it out there, we have it already waiting. We are going to try to transfer everything to 96/24, and we are going to put it into some format that we haven't determined yet. That is another issue, because it's another side of this&emdash;archiving all this stuff; and how is it going to last for the next 50 years. We've had this wonderful analog tape that's done it really well. So what do we do now? We are going to have all these various formats, whether it's the new PhonicSR1 or [something else]. And what format are we going to [record] in as professionals so that we can re-purpose [these recordings] like we've done with these wonderful analog tapes for the last 30 years. We've a lot of things to look at. But I'm excited about 96/24. I would love to have it at home. I care about the audio. I don't know if the consumer understands it well enough to care.
West: I'd like to differentiate between the actual source recording made in a studio versus the consumer format it's delivered in. Over the years, in the consumers' minds a CD was closer to the master tape [than the LP and cassette]. Fortunately, we took the time and the care to make sure that the master tape, that might now be 25 or 30 years old, was first recorded on a machine of the highest quality and caliber of its day, so its "day" was forthcoming when the CD was released. You can unlock all the incredible sound that was on that tape. I've got two concerns: One is that I'd like to see things recorded in the highest possible quality format that is available at the studio now, with the one caveat that we don't go far out and end up with a machine that five years from now can't play it back no matter what the quality was. The second thing is determining the distribution channel in terms of the consumer product line&emdash;what quality level we release from the master tape to the consumer. The lines have gotten more cluttered. The amount of quality differential between the recording studio and the consumer has narrowed. On the studio side, I'd rather have something in a format where I can make more decisions downstream, as opposed to saying that I record something in 24/96 or 192. We all know that our analog half-inch or quarter-inch masters are probably most kind in that they have allowed us to do what we are doing now.
Allen: Of course, we have to record at the highest possible quality and find a way to preserve that with the technology currently available. Have we reached a point where technology has bypassed what is necessary for the masses? I think we are going to try and identify the audiophile groups, and what kind of releases they like, and target them. I don't know if it's too much for the masses right now or not.
Owsinski: Let's stay on this for a little bit. I know some record labels, who shall remain nameless, that are taking 48ksps master tapes and up-sampling them to 96ksps, just so they can put 96k on the box. That is clearly a marketing decision. Who is that market? How long will it take for this format to reach mass acceptance? What do you think it will really take in order to get there&emdash;surround sound on DVD to the masses?
Frondelli: There are a lot of things that could affect that. High Definition Television with a surround sound broadcast might be the thing, if we are talking about educating the consumer and getting it out there. If [music] companies can bundle with other technology companies to get a format out there, [letting] their artists put themselves on the cutting edge, they're going to do it. HDTV can put it out there. I happened to visit NBC's Tonight Show, and Bob Wiley (who is a fabulous mixer) is chomping at the bit to put a surround room together, but they are not ready to make the big leap (That is a question, too, that has to do with other forms of media). Again, as I stated earlier, the PC can be a very good way to get it [to the consumer] quickly. How long before 24/96 and 5.1 surround actually gets established? I really couldn't say. I wouldn't bet it would take less than five years.
West: I guess I am going to look at it from the frontier of the home and the frontier of the car. In the very beginning, the catalyst is probably the DVD-Audio disc in the home and in the car. In Japan, the car audio market is still a very lucrative, very healthy market. I think it splinters out to other distribution methods of getting [audio] in your home, in your car or on cable. To put a time frame on it, let's say we release some titles to the public with certain artists, targeted to age groups that have the disposable incomes and really want to put their dollars out. They want to have this experience. If we can get the early adopters on board within two years, and enough high-end units can be sold for home and car, I believe that by the third year, you get moving in your middle tier quality of units. I would say within five years it could be a carrier for people to enjoy and derive pleasure from; there will be an economic incentive for us to put the stuff out and for them to buy it.
Allen: I would just add that broadcast, home, car, game and anything else you can possibly think of, is necessary to help penetrate the market. Just a healthy skeptic, I think things take longer than you'd imagine. I think we have to work urgently every day to get this in the time frame that they are mentioning. I'm hopeful.
Owsinski: Just so that I understand, are you saying that you think it will take five years for this to become a viable format? Do you mean as a format that will suddenly chart, or a format that some people will buy? Or are we talking about a format that actually supplants the CD? What I am trying to get at here is, when do you think a DVD, or some sort of media carrying surround sound, will reach the point where the CD is now (where it is so far above cassettes)? How long do you think that will take? Do you think it's five years, or five years before there is some general acceptance?
Allen: It's a tough question. I think it's very possible that the DVD-Audio disc could actually come out in a two-channel high resolution format for people. Maybe replace the CD. It could be a revolution; we don't know yet. Like I said earlier, I am not so convinced that this surround DVD issue is solely an audio issue. It's also a question of whether or not people are going to sit in a fixed position to listen to a complete album without a visual image, or without some sort of interactivity. I am reaching out to the [DVD] developer and [hope that when they] come up with something, it will be unique. That is absolutely going to fuel the fire. If it gets to an artist, it's going to snowball like the Enhanced CD did. We don't do that many [Enhanced CDs] any longer, primarily because it became a promotional tool, which was like a video, that may not be part of the record budget or the artist deal. Sometimes that's part of the marketing and promotion spent in an artist's contract, and that might be absorbed either at 100 percent or 50 percent by the company. If they see items like this that are going to cost them a lot of money, and they compete with the actual CD on the shelf, it might take longer [before the record company will invest in it]. Again, it has to be fueled by the desire of people who want to have it, and it has to be fueled by the record label seeing that they will make money from it; that they can bundle opportunities with consumer electronics manufacturers and software people to see if there is some way to get their artist out there. It's still going to take a while. Whether or not it's going to be accepted in five years, I can't say. I would love to see enough ingenious producers out there come up with something unique, like what happened with the Enhanced CD. It's almost a parallel situation. You never get a second chance at a first introduction with something like this, and what we don't want to do is upset the consumer and then go into his pocket for yet another player. We have many issues to overcome. I would say that the evolution would probably take five years, and only less if somebody came up with a unique concept that would be so in demand by the consumer, that the record labels won't want to [wait].
West: In five years, when it basically has legs and it's alive and well, are we still mixing stereo masters? Absolutely! In 10 years? I think so. In the meantime, you start to augment that with multichannel. Then I think it could become what the CD became, where it ends up in boom boxes and other very low-end-quality devices. I think then it's a technology that really takes over. The technology is a key part of this rate of change, and it creates a paradigm shift. To get the DVD-Audio disc to really surpass, or come neck-to-neck with a Red Book CD is going to take some other technology changes that we don't know of today.
Frondelli: I agree. It's a hard answer and hard question. I think all of us are striving for new technology, better experiences, higher fidelity; more exciting immersion in the listening experience. It reminds me of Sleeper, Woody Allen's movie. That's definitely where we are headed. Is multichannel just one small step in that direction? Yes. Is it a necessary step? Yes. It's a long term [project]. I don't know when the CD is going to die, but I think this sort of progress will continue for quite a while, and it's fun to participate.
Owsinski: Just so you know, on the DVD-Audio disc you can have 24 slides per song. And the slides could either be manually switched or automatically switched. There is also a video zone on the disc. I have heard that there is going to be a limit of only six minutes of video on this disc, and it's not a technical reason, but political. If you go beyond that, it becomes a rentable item at Blockbuster, and I understand that this is a Catch 22 with most of the labels. How important are the graphics and video to the DVD-Audio disc? Do you think it's of great importance, or do you think it's not that important?
Allen: It seems to me to initially try and use these features out of the box with this format. The only way to be cautious would be [to view] the music as a young person's business. If you want to take the financial out, it's selling records to 13-year-old girls, when it comes to internal investment. You can't get away from it. So if a 13-year-old girl thinks that the scrapbook is the most incredible thing that she's ever seen, then we are going to do it, and have the format to do it on. Which brings us to the whole idea here today, that a lot of creativity has never been thought of yet, as far as what the capabilities are. We are talking about the technical specs here today. When you start bringing in the creativity aspects, that is where it's going to go. The last point on that is, I also tend to believe that a lot of times things come out with a lot of features that nobody wants or cares about, and they disappear over time. Look at the features that were on an audio CD player at the very beginning, like track indexes and pitch control. After a few years, it just migrated down to fast forward and next track, maybe resume and a few other things. The point is the consumers will really tell us which of these features is the coolest thing.
Frondelli: First of all, what price is this going to be at? [Are there] children out there who are going to buy a DVD of Britney Spears for $27 or $30? I don't think so. It's got to somehow be priced in the right way. But all those features that we all love, growing up in the '60s or '70s for me, having stereo, having headphones, were really cool. Being able to watch a video on TV is what kids have grown up with now. They want their minds blown. They want something that is really going to get them excited about it.
Audience Question: [The DVD-Audio specification defines] an audio file format. It is very high end. It's better than CD. The audiophile market has been drawn and driven by a lot of home theatre stuff, but you've got all this digital interconnectivity. You'll have multichannel coming off of computers. You'll have it coming off of satellite and all sorts of television broadcasts through your cable. Then we have this new super-high-end format that we can't put through our digital processors because there is no way to get that digital in. The idea that you are going to have audiophiles take this player and have to convert it down to six analog channels, and go into products that don't have analog inputs on it is a real problem for trying to sell an audiophile format.
Owsinski: So your question is about the difficulty in interconnecting between consumer items. Will that impede the development of the format?
Audience: It's just that audiophiles now consider that the way you do this is have components make digital interconnections. To go back to having six analog outputs on a player, you can't connect it to any of the audiophile components that are out there. All the digital processors out there that do Dolby Digital and DTS, which have driven the multichannel market, have digital inputs. And now you're saying you need six analog inputs, and there aren't many products that have that on them?
West: I think I understand your point exactly. Part of this is a multi-faceted situation involving record companies, hardware manufacturers, the computer industry, copyright protection laws and other various things. All those have to go together to formulate some solution to all those concerns. One of the things that I think is part of the answer is the fact that there isn't digital output. At the same time, to put six channels of high bandwidth through existing connectors is not really viable, and doesn't exist either. There are other higher bandwidth pipes that are being created for interface, such as FireWire [IEEE1394], which a few companies have endorsed, and there is a copy protection scheme that is akin to that particular transmission interface that is already out there and will be used. In fact, Sony is starting to use it in some of their product lines for consumers. There will be things forthcoming for this. Unfortunately, yes, you're going to have to buy these devices to get the interconnectivity between them. The hardware manufacturers are very much aware of this, and we got hit with this dead on in the very beginning in the talks we had. My last point is that this is why the audio on DVD-Video discs is in the clear; it's not CSS-encoded because there was a platform of external Dolby decoders that people had to interface with.
Audience Question: How long will DVD-Audio discs and regular CDs co-exist?
Frondelli: That is a really good question. Making day-and-date release with a CD, to get DVD production you almost have to start it before the artist has conceived the idea for the album. They would have to have whole new marketing set up for that, and I don't think they would want to cannibalize the sales of the CD and confuse the audience. It's like Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of Moon would be a great idea. But to go out and do the next Marcy Playground record and put it out there in day-and-date, it's a struggle, unless they did it like they do vinyl, where they have limited releases. To put that together, the time line to get this all started almost has to start as they are writing the songs.
West: The artists that are so far out there and have their act together almost come in with the final project complete. All we have to do is review it and assemble it. Many artists would involve the record company to a greater degree of coordination and detail. You're not going to see it with those. We see a lot of tools that allow an artist [to create] a two-channel and the multichannel mix simultaneously. [Once these tools become more prevalent,] maybe the only thing left will be the graphics and story board for the slide shows and stuff like that. And over a period of time, it will get better.
Frondelli: I think the day we see that happen, the DVD would be [produced] first. In other words, the conception of the DVD and the day we see that happen will probably be with some major artist who would have created this in surround conceptually before it went to stereo. That would be the landmark event for this thing to bust wide open. It would take that unique artist to come up with it.
Allen: There are extremely complicated rights management deals associated with new audio/video works. There is a slight glimmer of hope in that we have to do this at a rapid pace for the Internet. So there are infrastructures developing that are going to benefit DVD-Audio and the use of the Internet for these unknown new formats.
Audience Question: With distribution on the Web, are the labels concerned that by taking the time to properly make the decisions about surround music, people might go around the mechanisms in some way and distribute independently? What is your feeling about the MP3 trend, for instance? How do labels feel about self-distribution?
Frondelli: It's a beat them or join them kind of thing. All of us have been involved with various parts of this component with the RIAA, with Madison Intertrust, which are competitive formats to MP3 that would be more [securely] encrypted. I think that is the billion dollar question we are all concerned about, with the evaluation of our catalogs as we continuously find MP3 titles on the Internet, on news groups, and people just downloading this stuff like crazy. It's a sore spot, and I think that we will find a way to work with it where it could be a win/win situation, where it will be beneficial to the labels to do that. I know from our perspective at EMI, we all hit the ground running in January after hearing all these new things, and we have been looking into these new issues. Especially now that DSL and the cable modems are available to people, and we all realized that the bigger the pipe the faster it goes. We also have to take the reverse perspective, which is to say the bigger the pipe the bigger the opportunity.
West: In regard to people and the MP3 trend, you know you've seen some of that now and it will probably continue. Granted, a lot of what you see now are people who got established somehow through a record label initially, then went off on their own and tried to market themselves. The Internet obviously makes it a lot easier and more visible and lucrative, possibly. We'll see. The good news is, we recognized it and we are working on it, as opposed to it being just a fad. We take it seriously.
Allen: It's an opportunity. To share some statistics, they've polled some people and identified some fans (fans being defined as someone who owns two or more albums of a particular artist). When that group of fans was asked why they didn't have the newest album, the answer was 98 percent that they didn't know the new one was out. The Internet is such a wonderful opportunity to capture the impulse buy and to look forward to things to be distributed among friends, as long as everyone involved gets their fair share out of it.
Frondelli: The one up-side for me, and with all the Internet, is that there are a lot of new artists that you're able to hear right now, and I think from a label perspective, we look at that as an A&R opportunity. I totally applaud all those artists who go out and do it. The only down side to all this, and what the artists must understand, is that we are not making any money. There is no revenue stream; no copyright. It's a lose/lose situation. The exception is, I believe, Karen Fischer. She is the first Internet artist, with 200,000 hits on her particular track. Record labels take notice very quickly when they see hits. So this is a new phenomenon and all of us are getting used to it.
Allen: I saw a discussion among some self-published artists who were asking for advice from some music industry veterans about how to get action. The advice was that you can do a postcard campaign&emdash;just a lot of traditional answers&emdash;and you end up defining what a record label is. Exactly where is the business falling? Where are you going to make money? How can a single individual create a hit?
Epilogue
DVD-Audio is the next step up in the industry's pursuit of improved quality and new ways to earn profits. As the Surround 2000 conference session shows, we are at a very early stage with a brand new medium with complexities coming from all angles that make the business risks of wrong decisions much higher than in the past. It will take some time, and the patience of many of us who like to be at the forefront of technology, for the right direction to shake out.
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