What is DVD-Audio?

DVD-Audio is a format specifically designed to provide the highest possible audio fidelity capable on DVD. The audio fidelity of DVD-Audio far exceeds the quality of conventional CD's and audio on DVD-Video.

DVD-Audio offers at least 74 minutes of very high quality, surround sound, plus additional features (such as video and limited interactivity) that are not available on CDs. Capacity of a single layer DVD-Audio is of high quality full surround sound audio. In addition the disc can accommodate the same audio encoded as Dolby Digital for playing on existing DVD-Video players. During 2003 a double-sided 'hybrid' version is likely to become available with a CD compatible layer.

SACD (Super Audio CD) also offers high quality audio and optional surround sound but no images, video or interactivity. SACD discs can be hybrid and include a CD audio layer which will play on normal CD players, albeit at CD quality. SACD discs will not play on DVD-Video players unless they are designed to play SACD.
With the increase in penetration of surround sound systems in homes, stimulated by the growth in DVD, more and more consumers will want their music in this format. DVD and SACD offer surround sound, but only DVD offers multimedia content.

DVD-Audio players have been available in the USA since July 2000 and several of the major music companies and many independents have released several hundred DVD-Audio titles. Most players are also DVD-Video capable and nearly all DVD-Audio discs will also play on DVD-Video players, in full surround sound but using compressed audio.

DVD-Audio is not just a niche format for audiophiles, but could grow into a mass-market, surround sound format suitable for all music genres.

DVD-Audio Features
The main features of the DVD-Audio specification include:

Why DVD-Audio is needed
Some people in the industry have questioned why the DVD-Audio format is needed, since DVD-Video can provide audio, video, stills and navigation. However, while DVD-Video offers multi-channel LPCM audio, the available bit rate is only 6.144 Mb/s compared with DVD-Audio's 9.6Mb/s, which is further enhanced by MLP to offer the maximum sampling rate and quantisation with maximum playing time.

DVD-Audio is also designed to play in audio-only players (such as in-car players) and offers slideshows and text that are optimised for audio. Finally DVD-Audio offers CPPM, which is much stronger than CSS for DVD-Video. These differences are summarised in the table below.

For compatibility with existing players, most DVD-Audio titles being released include a DVD-Video compatible zone using Dolby Digital or DTS encoding. This means that each DVD-Audio disc will play in the tens of millions of existing DVD-Video players around the world, although for maximum quality a DVD-Audio player is required

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