Category Archives: Audio

Overseas Blu-ray purchases

Posted on March 12, 2009 by Stephen Dawson

Today I received a copy of the Japanese Anime movie Akira, which I ordered on Blu-ray from Amazon. Reason: the Japanese 5.1 channel Dolby TrueHD sound track is encoded at 192kHz and 24 bits: the maximum supported by the format. … Continue reading →

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Disclosures and subjectivity

Posted on February 24, 2009 by Stephen Dawson

This morning my attention was drawn to my disclosures page on this site (click on ‘Disclosures’ above). Having more or less forgotten about it, I went and had a read. Two things struck me. First, it was woefully out of … Continue reading →

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The Wall Street Journal on the re-ordering of the music recording industry

Posted on January 12, 2009 by Stephen Dawson

The Wall Street Journal today has an interesting piece on how international record companies are gradually accommodating themselves to the fact of digital technology. As it puts it: But after suing some 35,000 music fans for illegally downloading songs, music … Continue reading →

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Everything you always wanted to know about Blu-ray sound, but weren’t silly enough to request

Posted on December 3, 2008 by Stephen Dawson

Earlier this year I did a two part piece on the audio standards of Blu-ray and some of the complications in getting it out just the way you need it. Here it is: ‘The New Digital Sound‘

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DTS vs Dolby Digital vs high definition sound

Posted on November 25, 2008 by Stephen Dawson

Interesting article here about the differences in sound quality between the various forms of DTS and Dolby Digital and the new lossless formats, in which actual controlled listening tests are conducted. Bottom line: differences are subtle.

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Bring on the Blu-ray Sound

Posted on October 22, 2008 by Stephen Dawson

Although I think DVD Audio is a dead format, and SACD isn’t too far off either, I still keep buying them if I see them at a reasonable price. The other day I picked up The Who’s Tommy from Amazon.com … Continue reading →

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Sony Playstation 3 Audio Handling

Posted on October 17, 2008 by Stephen Dawson

A couple of months ago Sony Computer Entertainment kindly loaned to me a Sony PS3 for use as a Blu-ray player. I sought this so that I could explore the new advanced features of Blu-ray: BonusView PIP material and BD-Live … Continue reading →

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Site News

Posted on July 19, 2008 by Stephen Dawson

For a while I’ve been writing review of Blu-ray discs for Sound and Image magazine. I’ve started loading them onto this site at ‘Blu-ray Reviews‘. I expect to have quite a few up over the next couple of weeks. Some … Continue reading →

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HiFi funnies of the day

Posted on June 17, 2008 by Stephen Dawson

[Via Transterrestrial Musings] I have huge respect for the brand Denon. Its range encompasses decent, reasonably priced stuff (nothing really mass market) through to some seriously high end gear. But I do have to wonder how it can bring itself … Continue reading →

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Sony PS3 Gets DTS-HD Master Audio

Posted on May 5, 2008 by Stephen Dawson

A couple of weeks ago I was doing a piece on choosing your next Blu-ray player. I said, in short, that you’d be nuts to buy anything other than the Panasonic DMP-BD30 because it alone can do all of the … Continue reading →

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