Media Reports

Dancing ‘round the Blue-ray/HD-DVD Bush
By Barry Fox

The Blu-ray versus HD-DVD war has drummed up plenty of consumer interest in the idea of blue laser discs for HD movies and music. Not many sales but big interest. . .

The stupid standards battle remains a constant all-pervading disincentive for consumers to back either horse and the cost and hassle involved in producing the discs is far greater than expected—it can take six times more work to author a blue disc than a DVD. Only the majors dare risk such high investment in formats that are poorly supported and may eventually fail.

Market analysts Understanding and Solutions held two blue disc conferences in Barcelona recently. Making HDTV Business Happen was strongly supported by the Blu-ray camp, and Sony in particular. The official conference of the DVD Forum always pretends that Blu-ray does not exist.

Mark Knox of the HD-DVD Promotion Group had to confirm that there is still no final license agreement on the AACS copy protection which all Blu-ray and HD-DVD manufacturers must use. Existing players are made under interim license.

The final license will include compulsory use of a Verance watermark to stop a player playing any unauthorized disc, for instance made by pointing a camcorder at a theater screen or a “screener” disc not intended for home use.

There is also no agreement yet on the Managed Copy system that is vital to the Digital Home proudly outlined by Kosaku Hatanaka of Intel. “Managed Copy will allow a PC in the living room to connect to a TV in the bedroom, or transfer content to a portable device or provide secure streaming. Secure copying to a server will create a new business model. Electronic sellthrough, with content burned to disc on a PC will create a new momentum.”

For the last session of the DVD Forum Bill Foster of U&S chaired a discussion panel on disc authoring and replication. He remarked that some disc producers found dealing with the AACS Licensing Authority “a pain in the neck.”

Laurent Villaume, President of French replicator QOL (Quantum Optical Laboratories), jumped in with passionate support. He reminded that the studios had chosen AACS as the mandated copy protection system for both formats, Blu-ray and HD-DVD.

“Whereas Macrovision was voluntary for DVD, and we did not have to pay to use it, we have no choice over AACS. It is universal. Every HD disc must use it. We have no choice and we have to pay a lot of money. The license is very expensive. We have to pay $25,000 and then we have to buy the keys for the discs. These have to be delivered by Fedex and it can take ten days or more. We want it to be cheaper.”

Said Masato Otsuka, of disc replicator Memory-Tech: “It used to be by Fedex and take ten days but now it can be done by e-mail and we can get keys in 24 or 48 hours. But it’s still too expensive. We must pay $25,000 to become a licensee, then buy an MKB group of keys for around $400. And then we have to pay $1500 each for the Content Certificate keys needed to code a disc. That’s $1500 for each disc. And if we need to re-make a disc, even if we only make a small change in the graphics, we have to buy a new CC for another $1500. It’s too much. We need to see a reduction.”

The AACS-LA website is still, after more than two years, only under construction with the key information areas News and FAQ still “coming soon.” AACS-LA’s appointed spokesman cannot say when the site will contain the promised information.

Warner is involved with AACS-LA on two levels, as developer and partner, and as customer. So I asked Steve Nickerson of Warner about AACS. He acknowledges that there is a need for AACS-LA to become more communicative and flexible.

“It’s a startup. And like all startups they are having growing pains, from developing the technology and now selling and servicing it. They probably haven’t done the best job in the world of making that transition. They’ve gone from 0-60 mph pretty quickly. We’ll work with them to help fulfill on that.”

ARE YOU EXPERIENCED?
In the Wild West, traveling salesmen would stand on a wagon and offer expensive snake oil as the cure for all ills. There was a lot of entertaining patter and anecdotal evidence, but no medical or scientific proof. An accomplice in the audience would vouch for the oil’s wondrous powers and pretend to buy. Charging high prices added to the illusion. W.C. Fields played an oil merchant in “Poppy.”

There has been snake oil for hi-fi (in one case literally grease to smear on the label of an LP) for as long as there has been hi-fi. But there have also been genuine tweaks, including corrosion-proof connectors and olive oil to clear wax from your ears, which can make a big difference to what the listener hears. The difficulty is distinguishing snake oil from meaningful audio aids.

Hi-fi snake patter often includes the put-down “if you can’t hear the difference there must be something wrong with your ears,” or the sneer “science says a bumblebee should not be able to fly.” W.C. Fields would have had a field day with it.

Few consumers are brave enough to admit they have wasted a considerable amount of money on a tweak product that made no difference. That’s why specialist magazines employ reviewers to measure equipment objectively and organize panels who listen blind to repeated tests in the hope of producing opinions that are statistically significant. It’s also why companies with faith in their tweak at least try to offer some evidence that it works. But not all evidence is equal.

Creative, the large company that is well respected for its PC sound cards and portable stereo players, is now selling a device called the X-Fi Xmod, which takes in the sound from any desktop or notebook PC or Mac and “restores the details, expands the music to surround sound and creates an experience that goes beyond studio quality.”

Creative’s website also offers a chart that helps evaluate the result. Audio Format is on one axis and Experience is on the other, to show that the Experience of listening to X-Fi-enabled CD or MP3 exceeds the Experience of Studio Quality. (http://www.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=209&subcategory=668&product=15913).

This leaves just one little question, though. How to measure Experience?

Panasonic, part of Matsushita (the largest consumer electronics company in the world), recently told me about a new home hi-fi that uses a “pure water capacitor for transparent sound reproduction.”

“Pure Water Capacitor Helps Improve Sound Purity,” Panasonic explained when I asked for some more detail. “With its high water content, this capacitor provides excellent electrical characteristics and. . . the clean current it delivers helps the speakers produce a clear, pure transparent sound.”



Ah. So. To get clear sound you wash it in pure water. Doubtless it rates high on Creative’s Experience scale too.

“Directionality” is the newish theory that decrees that the sound of music depends on which way the electrons are flowing through the wires. So, surprise, surprise, it pays to pay more for Direction-Tested wires.

Russ Andrews, who sells cables, got some people very hot under the collar when he recently wrote in a hi-fi magazine stating as bald fact that “all cables—yes all cables—have signal directionality. . . in one direction the sound is slightly louder, has lower distortion, is cleaner, smoother, sweeter, has deeper bass, and overall wider dynamic range.”

I didn’t get hot under my collar, because some of these parameters are scientifically measurable and provable by statistical blind panel tests. Andrews was sticking his neck out with bald claims, so must surely have some hard facts to back up his claims.

I asked Russ Andrews for a reference to any statistically significant listening tests and electrical measurements.

“Yes, it is a statement of fact,” Andrews replied through a spokesman. “Directionality is observable by listening test and measurable with test equipment. Regrettably, I am not at liberty to quote the measurements or their origin.”

Draw your own conclusions. But I now feel at liberty to keep on enjoying music through direction-un-tested wires. M3

Barry Fox reports on the audio industry as columnist for the British publication Hi-Fi News. His commentary appears in every issue of Multi Media Manufacturer.

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