What's My Beef!

Mondays are a time we break from the normal radio, TV, and Internet radio reporting to bring you some things for you to think about.

Remember the good old days when you once saw a medium such as a cassette, reel-to-reel, an 8 track, a vinyl record, or a cylinder, then you knew what format it was and what played it. Cassettes are magnetic analog playable on all cassette tape players (mini cassettes are playable on mini cassette players, but you guessed that already); reel-to-reels are playable on reel-to-reel machines; 8-tracks on 8-track players...if you can find them anymore; same with cylinder machines that play cylinders.

But vinyl records? Once the dominant medium, now is produced mainly for vinyl dance mixes for electronica clubs. Sometimes, they played at different speeds such as 33, 45, or even 78, but with a twist of the speed tuner, you can get the right speed with the same kind of playing machine.

Remember the 12-inch laserdiscs? Imagine if they were as dense as the densest five-inch CD-ROMs out today, how much data they would hold!

Mini Disc: audio

We had Mini Discs, which would have taken off if the fidelity was better and could hold more than just a CD's worth of music, but you knew what played them? Mini Disc players. Format: stereo digital audio.

CD-DA: two-channel audio

The dominant medium, consisting of more than just one format, is the five-inch digital CD. At first, we began with CD-DA, or two-channel digital audio as its widely used today for standard music. Soon, it begat other formats such as CD-ROM, CD-ROM/XA, CD-I, Photo CD, VCD, DD (Double Density CD), and more to be named later (we haven't even gotten to the DVDs yet!)

When you look at these CDs, how do you know what format its in and what machine plays it? Not so easy if you don't read the CD labels... assuming that they're pressed on them.

This website digs into the many other CD formats out today...

http://cui.unige.ch/OSG/info/MultimediaInfo/Info/cd.html

CD-ROM: data files

CD-DA begat CD-ROM when people realized that you could store a whole bunch of computer data on a 12cm optical disc (650mb). CD Audio Players and CD ROM Drives are similar reading machines. The difference? CD Audio Players cannot read CD ROM formatted discs, but CD ROM Drives can read CD ROM and CD Audio (with the right software).

CD-I: interactive

Also came CD-I (Compact Disc-Interactive). This is a consumer electronics format that uses the optical disc in combination with a computer to provide a home entertainment system that delivers music, graphics, text, animation, and video in the living room. Unlike a CD-ROM drive, a CD-I player is a standalone system that requires no external computer. It plugs directly into a TV and stereo system and comes with a remote control to allow the user to interact with software programs sold on discs.

CD-ROM/XA: extended architecture

Next came CD-ROM/XA (eXtended Architecture). Now we go back to computer peripherals - a CD-ROM drive but with some of the compressed audio capabilities found in a CD-I player (called ADPCM). This allows interleaving of audio and other data so that an XA drive can play audio and display pictures (or other things) simultaneously.

Photo CD: Kodak photo format

Next comes Kodak and Phillips's Photo CD formatted discs. They're simply digital pictures on compact disc. Photo CD discs. To make a long story short, they're basically WORM (Write Once, Read Many), just like CD-R discs (which can be used for audio music and digital files). These three formats are also playable on computers (music format on audio CDs only), but the Photo CD formatted discs are used on consumer devices for home viewing.

CD-DTS: 5.1 channel audio

Now we have CD-DTS: audio CDs with 5.1 channel sound that plays on any CD player with digital output connected to a DTS capable 5.1 playback system (the decoder can be on either end). DTS music CD's passes its bitstream thru PCM. They're also playable on any DVD player. DTS DVD's however, are different and require a DVD player (not a CD player) with DTS output capability. More on DVDs later.

More info found here: http://www.oz.net/blam/LaserDisc/dts_technology.htm

Instead of two channels, you have six channels (the .1 is the sub-woofer channel, I don't know why they call it .1), plus five-full range channels (center, two front stereo, and two surround stereo).

Confused now?

Read Professor Kelin J. Kuhn's Audio Compact Disk - An Introduction:
http://www.ee.washington.edu/conselec/CE/kuhn/cdaudio/95x6.htm

Some excerpts (without getting too technical):

The conventional audio compact disk is a high density media for storing digitally sampled audio. A CD audio disk holds approximately 74 minutes of stereo music recorded with 16-bit resolution. CD Discs (CD-Rs, CD-RWs, Audio CDs, etc.) are written from the center to the outside (this increases manufacturing yield, and also allows for changes in disk size).

Pocket CD-ROM: mini CD-ROM

We mentioned Mini Discs, but they're encased in shells. There's also Pocket CD-Rs and CD-RWs that can hold about 21 minutes of audio music (about 185MB) and are used in cameras and other devices, and can fit in a shirt pocket with ease. They are unencased like the five-inch CD and can be played in regular CD machines depending on format.

A CD-R or CD-RW disc can hold 74 minutes of audio or 650MB of data; but some CD-Rs and CD-RWs are designed to hold 80 minutes of audio (700MB of data) or 99 minutes of audio (850MB of data).

Confused yet? Here's another one for you...

VCD: video CD

Video CD FAQ: http://www.geocities.com/rwvong/vcdfaq.html

Video CD, or VCD, is a digital movie format on a CD (single density). It's basically a primitive version of DVD. It holds movies, using compressed MPEG-1 video. Its resolution is 352x240 (NTSC) or 352x288 (PAL), which is roughly comparable to VHS. A single VCD disc can only hold about 70 minutes of video, so for a typical movie, you need two discs. You can play VCDs back on a Video CD player connected to a TV, or on a fast PC with a CD-ROM drive. Some DVD players can also play VCDs.

Compared to Video CD, DVD provides much higher resolution (700x480), comparable to laserdisc or even better. DVD movies use MPEG-2 compression, rather than the MPEG-1 compression used by Video CDs.

And guess what folks? We have another CD format, but this one didn't last too long.

ECD: enhanced CDs, consisting of three subformats

FAQs about Enhanced CDs:
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/playmusic/faqenhancedcd.html

Enhanced CDs contain great audio accompaniments you can play on your stereo like a normal CD and doubles as an interactive and fun multimedia learning tool that works on any Windows-compatible PC. An Enhanced CD will work exactly like any Audio CD when played in your stereo. You will need a Windows-compatible PC to take advantage of the interactive features.

Enhanced CDs -- Frequently-Asked Questions http://www.noside.com/esd/ecdfaq.html

Playing ECDs on your Computer: Your computer thinks the ECD is a data disk, but you want to play the music. You will need to start the CD Player program, then play the music. ECDs can consist of basic HTML files, text files, MP3s, Real Video files, and other formats readable on your computer.

Also see Judy & David Help: Enhanced CDs
http://judyanddavid.com/help/ecdfaq.html

And we're not done with the CD formats yet. Check out FAQs about Enhanced CD and Compatibility Problems: http://www.thejerkyboys.com/cdsupport1.html

Q: What is Enhanced CD?
A: It is the interactive audio CD playable in computers and audio CD players. An umbrella term, Enhanced CDs can be one of three main flavors: Hidden Track, Mixed Mode and CD-Extra. Each of these implementations offers its own set of benefits and drawbacks over the others, however the format most likely to succeed in the long run is CD Plus. Currently, developers most concerned with compatibility release Enhanced CDs as Mixed Mode.

ECD Hidden Track: gap extending

Q: What is a Hidden Track CD?
A: Hidden Track is an implementation of "Enhanced CD" which bends the rules of standard "Red Book" audio discs by extending the gap between the first index point (index 0, start of track) and the second (index 1, start of music) in the first track in order to store all of the CD-ROM data. Audio players normally ignore the first index point of the first track and start playing music at the second. The gap is usually only about 2 seconds, but it can be extended to contain CD-ROM data. This format offers the key benefit of eliminating the "track one" problem associated with Mixed Mode discs. In addition it is compatible with a larger percentage (perhaps 80%) of installed-base CD-ROM players than is CD-Extra (60%).

ECD Mixed Mode: multimedia with audio

Q: What is a Mixed Mode CD?
A: The first implementation of Enhanced CD was the Mixed Mode disc. This is a single session, "Red Book" audio CD that contains CD-ROM data on its first track. This specification offers 100% compatibility with installed-base CD-ROM drives and is therefore popular with developers. On the negative side, however, it offers the "track one problem:" the CD-ROM data is generally audible when played on an audio CD player and at high volume. What is worse, because the spec. calls for data on track one, the unusually loud noise is the first thing the consumer hears.

ECD CD Extra: multimedia with audio

Q: What is CD Extra (Plus)?
A: CD-Extra is one of several implementations for Enhanced CD - the interactive audio CD playable in computers and audio CD players. The Sony/Philips CD-Extra specification (the "Blue Book") defines a standard format for the inclusion and access of song lyrics and liner notes, pictures, animation and movies along with the standard CD audio tracks on a CD. The standard was recently agreed-upon by music and computer industry heavy hitters and allows musicians and record labels to enhance audio CDs (CD-DA) with multimedia content. Its list of endorsers virtually ensures success in the marketplace. Sony and Philips, Microsoft and Apple, all the major labels and the RIAA have agreed to implement and promote the CD Plus standard. The CD-Extra premaster is a multisession disc recorded in two sessions: Session one contains the conventional audio tracks, while session two contains the multimedia content. Audio CD players can access a multisession disc, but can not recognize anything beyond the first session. By taking advantage of new stamped multi-session CD manufacturing capabilities, CD-Extra eliminates the "track one" problem of the older enhanced CD implementation: Mixed Mode. But on the negative side, multisession capable CD-ROM drives are relatively new and specialized. As of this writing it is thought that as many as 40% of installed-base CD-ROM drives cannot play a multisession disc.

What are the colored books you encountered from these websites? Here's a brief summary:

CD-i ("Green Book")
Video CD ("White Book")
Audio CD ("Red Book")
CD Extra ("Blue Book")
CD-ROM (CD-R and CD-RW) ("Orange Book")

CD-MP3: MP3 formatted CDs

MP3s are basically compressed music files stored on CD-ROM discs (CD-R or CD-RW) burned on a data disk. An MP3 is a file format, not a media format. Since they're not CD Audio discs, you cannot play them on an ordinary audio CD player unless they're equipped with MP3 decoding (capable of playing anywhere between 24 and 192kbps MP3 files). You can, of course, play MP3s on computers, their natural environment with the use of software such as Winamp. You can hold 10 hours of 128kbps MP3's on a CD, 40 hours if they're encoded in 32kbps, but the lower the bit rate, the worse the fidelity. Lower bitrates are suitable for AM and voice, but use the higher rates for music. 192kbps MP3 discs holds roughly 6.5 hours of audio.

DD-ROM: double density CD

Now Sony has introduced some new digital CD formats: DD-R and DD-RW. They're double density CD formats that are readable only by the new computer DD drives. DD discs can hold 1300MB of data, or 148 minutes of audio.

SACD: Super Audio CD with three subformats

Read the Sony FAQ:
http://www.sonymusic.com/sacd/faqdirect.html

Now we have yet another kind of CD: the Super Audio CD! There are three subformats of this format:

SACD DLD: Dual Layer Audio Disc

They're like Sony's DD discs, also formatted with a second layer to double playback for up to 148 minutes of music and playable only on a SACD player.

SACD HD: Hybrid Disc

This format allows for a two or six channel listening environment and playable on a CD player as well as SACD players.

SACD SLD: Super Layer Disc

This allows for up to 74 minutes of high quality SACD playback, and playable only on a SACD player.

The sound of SACD comes directly from Direct Stream Digital (DSD) recording technology. DSD's simplified mechanism for recording and playback results in a frequency response of over 100kHz and a dynamic range over 120dB across the audible frequency range. DSD increases the resolution of music by more closely following the original wave form of the music, which results in music reproduction that is remarkably pure and faithful to the original.

The SACD format can accommodate more than four times the information of the current CD format. With this extra capacity, a standard Super Audio CD will provide space for 2-channel stereo data, as well as an area for up to 6-track multi-channel data, storage capacity for text and images, disc variations, copyright protection and much more.

Good news if you have a huge audio CD collection: they can be played on all SACD players!

Well, I guess we're all done with the CD disc. What's next? The DVD disc!

The DVD!

A DVD disc is capable of recording video, audio and data information of many different types and formats, just like the CD disc. In 1996, The DVD Forum released the DVD-Video format, which was designed to deliver video at a quality exceeding VHS tape with surround sound and better than CD audio. In March 1999, the DVD Forum released the DVD-Audio format.

DVD Audio:

http://www.digitalaudioguide.com/faq/dvd-audio/faq_intro.htm

DVD Audio is a six channel sound, 5.1 surround sound, playable on all DVD video players if not already.

The audio fidelity of DVD-Audio far exceeds the quality of conventional CD's and audio on DVD-Video. DVD-Audio provides for audio in stereo and in multi-channel surround in a wide range of specifications. In addition to audio, a DVD-Audio disk can contain a limited amount of video, which can be used to display text, such as lyrics or notes; or stills such as a photo album. Up to 16 graphic stills can be associated with each track and on-screen displays can be used for lyrics and disc navigation. As an option, a DVD-Audio disc can also include audio tracks recorded in the DVD-Video specification (Dolby Digital and DTS) for compatibility with DVD-Video players.

DVD Audio discs cannot be played on CD audio machines!

DVD Video

DVDs hold far more data (from 4.7Gb to 17Gb) than CD discs (650 MB). Compared to Video CD, DVD provides much higher resolution (700x480), comparable to laserdisc or even better. DVD movies use MPEG-2 compression, rather than the MPEG-1 compression used by Video CDs. That is why DVD Video is the new standard for watching movie rentals (best of all, no rewinding necessary!) They keep saying that the DVD will replace the good old VHS tapes, but guess what folks, as of yet, I can't timeshift my favorite TV shows on DVDs yet in an affordable way.

The difference in sound between DVD Audio and DVD Video: DVD-Audio allows for a wide variety of audio formats at varying levels of specification. DVD-Audio supports the same multi-channel audio formats used with DVD-Video. Therefore both DVD-Video and DVD-Audio can provide high definition multi-channel audio recorded in the Dolby Digital and DTS audio formats. However, real advantage of the DVD-Audio specification over DVD-Video and CD is in the significantly increased quality of the PCM audio format. PCM or "Pulse-Coded-Modulation" is the audio format standard for CD's and available on many DVD-Video's. DVD-Audio supports a significantly higher quality of PCM audio than is possible on CD or DVD-Video. Full multi-channel surround sound can be recorded in high fidelity PCM creating a sound field with the ambience and fullness of a live performance. DVD-Audio PCM can be recorded with a range of frequencies that are more than four times that of a CD; giving instruments a liveliness and expression that is not possible on a CD. DVD-Audio PCM also has a much greater dynamic range that possible on a CD - making louds louder and quiets quieter. The greater storage capacity of DVD's allows for much more music to be recorded than possible on CD's.

DVD ROM

DVD ROMs are consisting of DVD-R and DVD-RW disc subgroups. You can record files and audio, just like their smaller-density CD counterparts.

DVD-MP3: MP3 formatted DVDs

We mentioned CD MP3s, compressed music files burned on CD. You've probably figured out already that you can store even more MP3s on DVD discs! You can hold 10 hours of 128kbps MP3s on a 650 MB CD. How does holding over 75 hours of 128kbps MP3s on a 4.7 GB DVD sound! Try 300 hours of 128kbps MP3s on a 17GB DVD disc! To go further, on that same 17GB DVD, you can fit over 1,500 hours of 24kbps MP3s on it! To the max, fit 4,500 hours of 8kbps talk audio on 17GB! That's five years of Rush Limbaugh you can archive at that bitrate!

You can play CDs, VCDs, and DVD Videos on DVD Audio and DVD Video players. Some DVD players can play MP3s on CD, but have yet to play them on DVD if they're not already. Some DVD Audio players can play SACD discs.

The CD vs DVD Table

The following table outlines the technical specifications for PCM on DVD-Audio and standard CD's.

Specification CD     DVD-Audio
Audio Format  PCM    PCM

Disk Capacity 650Mb
                     4.7Gb - Single layer
                     8.5Gb - Dual Layer
                     17Gb - Double Sided Dual Layer

Channels      2 (stereo)
                     Up to 6

Frequency Response
              5 - 20kHz
                     0 - 96kHz (max)

Dynamic Range
              96db
                     144db

Sampling Rate - 2 channel
              44.1kHz
                     44.1, 88.2, 176.4KHz or 48, 96, 192KHz

Sampling Rate - multichannel
              n/a
                     44.1, 88.2KHz or 48, 96KHz

Sample Size (Quantization)
              16 bits
                     12, 16, 20, or 24 bits

Maximum Data Rate
              1.4Mbps
                     9.6 Mbps

CDs are plentiful right now, but why so many different formats for the medium? With all these CD-DA's and CD-MP3s and CD-what-is-its all over the place, you'd be spending more time trying to figure out what can play the CD disc than you would be playing the CD disc.

Now with all these digital disc formats floating all over the place, you would think it's about time someone would just simply create a machine that would read every disc ever recorded in any format? Make things a lot simpler for the rest of us.

In this year's Radio Shack catalog, I came across a DVD player that plays this CD format:

SVCD: Super Video CD

We have VCD, video CDs, that are basically compressed movies on a single density CD holding about 650MB. I came across this SVCD format, which I guess to be a video CD movie on a doubel density CD holding about 1300MB. While VCDs hold about an hour, SVCDs hold two hours, enough to fit a movie. But with the more superior DVD discs reigning supreme with better resolution and sound, why do we need the SVCD, which is nothing more than a souped-up CD movie compressed with the more inferior MPEG-1 compression.

DIVX: PPV DVDs

It was an old competeting format where renters take the CD home for some $5 bucks and play it for about 3 days or so, then the disc expires and watchers have to pluck in another $5 over a phone line attatched to a DIVX player if they want to see it again and again. Sorry folks, but of all the CD formats that sucked, save for the Mini Disc, this one was the suckiest!

Any more CD formats left? Is someone working on a triple-density CD out there?

You really hit the nail on the head with this Why So Many CD Formats piece [yesterday]! Imagine the confusion you have if you own a DVD-Audio disc, a Double Density audio disc, and a CD, and you have to put the discs in and out of the 5-inch laser disc players until the damn player works! Who was responsible for creating so many 5-inch disc formats for the confused general public in the first place!

You mentioned seven-inch DVDs to distinguish them from the five-inch CD discs. You could also throw in a six-inch double density disc. Now if you have a seven-inch disc, it won't fit the laser players with the smaller disc trays because of its size. This resizing is a long shot, but ought to be phased in, or else just simply make all laser disc players read every five-inch disc format ever created, which would make the players cost around $500 apiece.

At least Clear Channel doesn't have to worry about the mixed-up CD formats...all the music they need is on computers, not discs!

Travis Martin:

Five-inch CDs will be around long after the audio-only CD players have ceased production, only then will there be a disc player that would read those "obsolete" formats and the newer formats for many generations on until the CD discs destruct due to old age. Hopefully, the CDs that will destruct first will be the rap talk junk that's being heard on most of the so-called Top 40 stations nowadays.

I never heard of double density CDs until I read your piece, but my guess is that this new format won't last long and will go the way of the digital cassette tape in favor of DVD Audio, which stores far more music than a double density CD. I called around a few stores.

Only Fry's Electronics down by the stadium sells blank CD-DDs as well as the Sony DD recorders. I have seen the double density CD players at Best Buy. I'm not going to bite into a format that's going to be obsolete when the DVD Audio monster is rising and will be supplanting it and all versions of the CD Audio format (mixed, Plus, etc.) once the prices for DVD Audio machines and discs drop way down.

USA Today: http://www.usaToday.com/life/lfront.htm - Universal, 20th Century Fox, DreamWorks and Artisan Entertainment plan as early as summer to release movies on a new generation of VHS videos ú high-definition and digitally recorded.

To a movie-loving public increasingly accustomed to high-quality digital DVD discs and convenient video recorders that use PC-like hard drives, VHS tape may seem nearly quaint.

But with more than 2 million digital TV sets already in homes ú and not a lot to watch on them from network or cable broadcasters yet ú Hollywood hopes consumers will embrace the pumped-up tapes as a way to see more movies in their finest resolution.

"It's film quality at home on your high-definition TV," says Craig Kornblau, president of Universal Studios Home Video. "There's a need for this."

So-called D-VHS tapes promise to look twice as good as DVD on new high-definition TVs ú though they're not compatible with today's VCRs. To play them, you'll need a new machine such as JVC's current D-VHS model (for about $1,500), the only VCR so far that's "D-Theater" compatible. JVC, which created the VHS format, plans to license the technology to other makers.

Another plus: Blank D-VHS tapes (about $20 each) can record up to four hours of broadcast or cable shows in full high-definition format ú or up to 50 hours of regular programming.

The D-Theater system blocks copying of tapes as well as Napster-like sharing of their digital signal via the Net, an acute fear of Hollywood recently and one reason so few movies have been digitally broadcast to date. "We have not been comfortable with the copy protection in place," Kornblau says.

But some detractors note that the design of the D-Theater system may allow programmers to limit home taping.

"We think that once consumers are informed about the D-Theater system, and that it is at least $500 higher, most consumers will reject it," says Bob Perry of Mitsubishi, which makes a $1,000 D-VHS recorder that does not support the system.

DVD-RAM - DVD-RAM disks can be accessed in the same manner as a hard drive, with drag-and-drop capabilities, and can be rewritten up to 100,000 times. Storage can be 2.6 gigabytes or 4.7 GB on a single-sided disk, or 5.2 GB or 9.4 GB on double-sided disks. They are ideal for jukebox systems, data archiving, backup and professional personal multimedia authoring.

DVD+RW - DVD+RW disks are for storing data and video content for computer and entertainment applications. Each disk can hold up to 4.7 GB of information and can be written to more than 1,000 times.

DVD-RW - DVD-RW is the rewriteable version of the DVD-R format. These disks can be written to more than 1,000 times and are compatible with most DVD video players and DVD-ROM drives. They can also hold up to 4.7 GB of information.

DVD-R - DVD-R disks are capable of producing premastering disks and are ideal for high-volume data recording, archiving and playback. They can hold up to 4.7 GB of data, which can never be overwritten or altered.

DVD+R - DVD+R discs are DVD+RWs in a write-once format. Also with 4.7 GB of capacity, they are most commonly used to store digital photographs or up to two hours of digital video and are certified for the new high-speed DVD recorders.

Where it's at

Except for a few stalwart manufacturers, such as Toshiba, that have stuck with the DVD-RAM standard, most are adapting -R or +R technology.

These include Hewlett-Packard, Lacie, Panasonic, Ikeneba and Sony, just to mention a few. So it looks like it may emerge victorious.

Now the big thing to remember here is that once you choose a format (DVD-RAM, DVD+R or DVD-R), you're stuck with it, so consider your needs carefully before spending your hard-earned bucks on a DVD recorder for your computer.

For example, if you want to transfer your old video tapes of the wife and kids to DVD and play them back on your DVD video system, you can only use DVD-R or DVD-RW disks and should purchase a recorder that handles that format.

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