Category Archives: DVD

It’s about time: the perfect projector for PAL DVDs?

Posted on August 12, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

In September InFocus will release its ScreenPlay 5700 projector in Australia. Could this be the perfect home theatre projector? It uses what is apparently Texas Instrument’s newest DMD, the Matterhorn. I say apparently because TI has seen fit not to … Continue reading →

Posted in DVD, Equipment, Video | Leave a comment

Comparing the comparable: High Resolution audio vs the CD

Posted on August 8, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

I’ve just uploaded to my Home Entertainment pages my 1999 comparison of a Chesky recording. Comparing a recording with itself? Why? Well, one is on DVD in high resolution 96kHz, 24 bit PCM, while the other is merely a CD, 44.1kHz, … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio, CD, DVD | Leave a comment

Eat Drink Clean Dirty

Posted on August 4, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

The interlacing plot thickens. While I have identified specific problems with frame misalignment in some PAL DVDs, some other DVDs have interlacing problems which are more difficult to diagnose. For example, Twentieth Century Fox has just sent me a number of … Continue reading →

Posted in DVD, Video | Leave a comment

Rumbling a Subwoofer with a Cartoon

Posted on July 31, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

Do you like showing off your subwoofer? There are a number of DVDs that do the job fairly well, but my favourite is the otherwise forgettable Titan A.E.Fox animated movie. In particular, the first six minutes or so before the main … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio, DVD | 2 Comments

DVD+R/+RW vs DVD-R/-RW compatibility

Posted on July 31, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

In a discussion of DVD-RAM, it says that it ‘is a standard for recording information through a RAM drive in a personal computer rather than a video recorder.’ This is not correct. Of the three major DVD Recorder manufacturers, Panasonic‘s lineup … Continue reading →

Posted in DVD, Recorders | Leave a comment

DVD Audio is not MPEG audio

Posted on July 31, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

Ah, an Australian newspaper (which shall remain nameless) reports: The new [DVD Audio] standard, based on the MPEG-2 format used in DVD video, uses the extra storage to produce a high quality audio recording that more closely replicates the sound … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio, Codecs, DVD | Leave a comment

DVD Audio Bonus Groups — DTS responds

Posted on July 30, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

I have queried Warner Vision, the Australian distributor for the majority of DVD Audios, and DTS about the appearance of Bonus Groups. Now DTS has responded (Warner has told me that they are querying the US company for their titles). Here’s … Continue reading →

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Setup DVDs

Posted on July 29, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

One of my editors has just written to me: I have a letter from a reader asking where to buy Video Essentials. I bought our NTSC version from online … I remember receiving something about there being a PAL version, but … Continue reading →

Posted in DVD, Testing | Leave a comment

Crippled SACD multichannel

Posted on July 27, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

Multichannel Super Audio CD (SACD) simply does not work properly in most home systems. And we are in the hands of Sony and Philips, it seems, until it does. SACD is duking it out with DVD Audio as the high … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio, CD, DVD | Leave a comment

X-Easter Eggs

Posted on July 25, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

I’ve just been examining the structure of the Region 2/4 X-Men Limited Edition DVD. Several things stood out. The movie itself resides in Title 2 (there are 42 Titles!), and also in Titles 1 and 3. Title 3 is the branching … Continue reading →

Posted in Disc details, DVD | Leave a comment