linuxaudio.org

> you can store

quoted text
> uncomressed PCM on DVD-A discs, you still only get 9.6 Mb/s, but

> that just gives you enough bandwidth for 4 24/96 or 6 24/48

> channels.

How many minutes of audio can you get on a DVD-A then, assuming you

use the maximum bandwidth available to get the highest sample rate

for your number of channels?
I can imagine this could work quite well without MLP encoding for

stereo music, as opposed to surround mixes. As Mike Oldfield once put

it, you only have two ears and your natural inclination is to face

the thing you are listening to. I don't think he was very happy with

some of the surround version done of his music, dating back to the

quadraphonic vinyl days.
A serious drawback I can see at the moment for 5.1 mixes of music is

that if people are playing them back on systems designed for home

cinema, the rear speakers are likely to be the those tiny plastic

ones, really only intended for effects noises. I'm sure that two good

speakers will sound better than six bad speakers.
One factor that isn't really addressed by MLP is that DVDs are really

cheap to make now. Plenty of films come with a second disc for the

special features now - so is there any point in using an expensive

compression system on DVD-Audio that requires hardware support? A two

disc set is likely to retail for more than a single disc anyway -

that's marketing for you... 
Cheers
Daniel