The Beatles Love DVD-A now avail

Picked up the "deluxe" version this morning from Best Buy for $14.99. (Regular CD, $9.99) I'm so tempted to pop the CD version into my laptop player at the office to hear what it sounds like, but I'm going to resist in order to listen to it in its full high-resolution glory at home tonight.

I'm heading to BB this evening. Yee-haa.

I have a Panny RP82 player and am only getting sound from the front left and right speakers when playing the DVD. My Denon receiver front panel displays Stereo96K and I am unable to access the PCM, DTS and DD5.1 formats that the box shows as available. If I play a DVD movie I get full surround sound and the ddisplay reads Dolby Digital. I have other DVD audio discs and they play in all channels. There are no audio options on the Love DVD main menu. Can anyone help?

Hmm. Sounds like you're accessing the DVD-Audio layer. That only offers the 6-channel 96/24 PCM audio; there's no menu, or access to DD or DTS.

If you're connected via coax or optical, as I think you are, the player will be downmixing to 2-channel 96/24, as that's all that fits through that connection. If you want full DVD-Audio quality in surround, you'll have to connect through the 5.1 analogue outs on that player. (Alternatively HDMI/i.Link, but I don't think your player has those).

Alternatively, find the option in your player's set-up menu that tells the player to access the DVD-Video layer. That layer will give you the DD and DTS soundtracks.

You say your other DVD-Audio discs work; have you been accessing the DD/DTS soundtracks on them? If so, you're not getting full quality.

[As an aside, I found it interesting that the DVD-Audio allows 96kHz output over S/PDIF; most DVD-Audios disallow this]

It states on the package that the format is DVD-Audio only.
Content-wise, I was less than impressed. Somehow, they have eliminated much of the "lush" sound that I associate with The Beatles and replaced it with something sparse and rather dry-sounding IMO.

The Love disc has DVD-Video content, I can assure you. I've played it.

The package only shows a DVD-Audio logo, but doesn't actually say it's "only" DVD-Audio. It definitely says it's got Dolby Digital and DTS, and it's right - but they're only on the DVD-Video layer. Very, very few DVD-Audio discs are not DVD-Video compatible.

The Dolby and DTS logos are on the back cover of the slip case.

Are there ANY DVD-A discs w/o at least a DD track? I thought it was mandatory?

Whatever, the sole reason for owning this set is the 5.1 tracks. I will listen to the CD on my 2CH rig just for yucks, and probably via headphones on the iPod, but you won't really get your money's worth until you fire up one of the 5.1 tracks.

A total blast!

Brian

My DVD player is connected via optical. I reralized after my posting that acessing the video layer was the key. I found the option in the player setup menu and turned on DVD video. The disc reloaded and the sound options were on the main menu for DD and DTS. Now getting all channels. I saw the show in Las Vegas but the sound on this disc is incredible!!!! How much better would the quality really be if I connected using the player's 5.1 analouge outputs?

Connect them both, A/B it, and you can tell us!

I would expect a 24/96 lossless 5.1 track to sound better than a DTS or DD track, but, how much better may be subject to the system you are listenning on, and how well it is set up.

But if you have a DVD-A capable machine, and have 5.1 analog inputs on the AVR, why not give it a try?

Brian

Remember, when you do that, first set your player back to DVD-Audio mode, otherwise you'll just hear Dolby or DTS through your analog-outs, and not the hirez MLP!

Well, if you can tell the difference between an MP3 and a CD, then that's probably similar to the difference between DTS/DD and lossless 5.1. And then a bit more, due to the higher-than-CD sampling resolution.

You might need to muck around a bit to calibrate the multichannel analogue connection, mind. Subwoofer level can often be problematic, depending on the receiver.

Excuse my langauge but F-ing awesome I just odered it! That was quite a surprise and good one at that. J.H.

Best Buy has deluxe for $14.99. Listen to CD in the car. Excellent. LOved mix of Tomorrow Never Knows/ WithinYou/without You... Strawberry Fields Forever. Cant wait to hear 5.1 DVD tonight after work............. I think the album is a subtle way George Martin is telling John and George that he is a better producer than Phil Spector.

Just finished listening to it. Jaw-dropping! I kept feeling throughout that if The Beatles were recording today, using today's technology, this is how they would sound. I guess that makes sense since it is actually them, and it was produced by their producer.

I have a Samsung HD-DV941, hooked up via multi channel analog to my reciever. the DVD player says DVD-A playng, and my amp is set to multi channel. The surround is there, however I have no access on the disc menue to DD, DTS or MLP options. No audio setup menu appears, just tracks and program. Am I missing something, or does the Samie pick DVD-A by default and not let me choose. I have other DVD-A (Queen, night at the opera) and it lets me choose. Also the bass, or LEF, is almost non existant. ANy help woulod be greatly appreciated.

Your player appears to be set to default to DVD-A, thus you are getting the MLP tracks.

You need to tell the player to access the DVD-V layer. There should be a setting somewhere in the player's set-up menu. When you have it set properly, the disc menu will have an "audio" choice that will let you access the 2CH, DTS, and DD tracks.

As for the bass, you would appear to be having an additional issue. I can assure you that if anything, the bass on "Love" is a bit on the hot side.

Many uni players have problems with the .1 channel being low. However, if this is an issue specific to "Love", then something else would be the cause.

Brian

Brian,

I looked for the DVD video layer in the setup menu and can find nothing. Could it be labled something else.

Thanks,
Jon

Assuming that Sammy gives you a choice, it could be called anything. My Denon and Pio call it something like DVD Mode (I think!), and the choices are Video or Audio.

Hopefully someone familiar with your machine will chime in. Perhaps a post in the DVD player section of AVS would bring an answer?

Brian

EDIT: I went to Sammy's web site and looked at the manual. If there is such a setting, I did not find it in the manual.

Sorry......but it may just assume that if you have a DVD-A, then that is what you want to play. If so, I would say that is a pretty unfortunate choice on Sammy's part.

ratpack,

The disc is a bit poor for not letting you choose DD or DTS through the DVD-Audio interface. And the player looks like it's a bit poor for not letting you access the DVD-Video version. The combination of those two looks like it's scuppered you from ever getting DD/DTS. But on the other hand, you have the multichannel interconnects set up, so you're ready to access the best quality DVD-Audio MLP version anyway.

As for the lack of bass, you will probably need to turn up the trim on your receiver's multichannel subwoofer input by 10 to 15dB. What receiver do you have? Does it have a separate setting for this? The Love disc shouldn't be any different from other discs hooked up this way; it's actually the nature of the multichannel analogue interface generally; the subwoofer channel is transmitted low to fit in high LFE peaks and redirected bass. It's the receiver's job to boost it.

A good receiver will have separate trims for multichannel analogue input, or will have a specific function to turn up the subwoofer input, for this reason. If you don't have this, then there are two choices:

1) turn up your receiver's global subwoofer output trim, but only when using the multichannel interface.

2) adjust the player's output trims; turn down the other channels and turn up the subwoofer channel.

Ah, by the way if you're using the multichannel inputs to your receiver, then all the calibration and bass management will almost certainly be bypassed. You need to set that up in the player - level adjustments and speaker distances/sizes. (Those player settings only apply to its multichannel analogue outputs).

Thanks for all of the input. I checked other discs and found that my Sammie defaults to DVD-A and if I try to access DTS it goes to PCM48, no DTS available. As for the sub, I increased my setting on the output and lowered the other four channels. I also moved my crossover to about 125Hz. All this said, problem solved.

Thanks,
Ratpack

Boy have I been missing the boat. I connected my DVD player to the 6 channel analog inputs of my AVR and the sound blew me away. Unbelievable clarity and separation of the voices and instruments. I heard sounds on the disc that with the DTS and DD connection were not there. Thanks for the tip. Now I have to listen to all my DVD-A discs again and it will be like hearing them for the first time.

Just got mine today and I must say WOW! It sound amazing. this was quite a surprise and a good one. I don't have a DVD-AUDIO player anymore due to HD-DVD taking up the analog inputs of my processor but the DD/DTS sounded insane. Very very cool the beatles in 5.1. J.H.

Quick question. I am reading on other sites that the DVD-A of Love can only output 5.1 surround. However, on my Onkyo 802 when I go into the setup menu and switch from "Mutichannel" analog output to "Stereo" analog output, I get a stereo version and the center and rears turn off. The display info still reads "24/96 5.1 DVD-A" however, so I'm curious as to what's being done to the signal. Would that still be considered "advanced resolution" stereo when you have your player "circumvent the system" to achieve stereo, or is it one of those, "God only knows what your player is doing to downmix the native 5.1 material to stereo" and who knows kinda things?

Only reason I mention it is many others are complaining (on other sites) that there is no stereo version included for this DVD-A release, but my particular player is doing it. Just wondering if it's still DVD-A quality though when you do the downmix to stereo. It sure sounds great in stereo when I do this, just wondering if I'm getting the "full monty" of DVD-A capabilities from a "bits/kilohertz" perspective.

BTW, I am floored with this release. I too bought in early to SACD and DVD-A and besides the Flaming Lips "Yoshimi"; The Eagles "Hotel California" and James Taylor's "Hourglass" and maybe Pink Floyd DSOTM, "Love" is in the top 5 for sure all-time surround releases (for me) for musical content and execution of surround.

I've tried playing the DVD-A layer on my Pioneer DV-578A (hooked up to a Sony surround receiver). The music is accompanied throughout by severe "clipping" type noise, making the disc unlistenable. All my other DVD-A discs sound just fine on this machine, and the "Love" DTS tracks play flawlessly on my other DVD player.

Has anyone else experienced this, or heard of such? I don't think it's a problem with the disc - I borrowed a friend's copy and the same problems with the DVD-A layer recurred.

The player is down mixing the 5.1 to 2CH. There is no seperate 2CH mix on the DVD-A. I played it on my Pio 45a (set for 2CH mode), and it sounds pretty good to me, but I have not tried to do a direct comparo to the real 2CH mix on the CD, or on the DVD-V layer.

How it does it, I do not know, but it does sound pretty darn good.

Brian

Are you connected digitally? When you play your other DVD-A's are you playing the DVD-V layer? I suspect that you were, since you can not send a 5.1 MLP stream over coax or optical, and that is all that is on the DVD-A layer of the disc.

If you want the Sony to play it, you need to go into the menu and set the player to access the DVD-V layer.

Brian

The Sony plays the DTS layer okay; it's the Pioneer that's having trouble with the DVD-Audio. When I put the disc in, the front panel display reads "DVD-Audio" just as it does for the other DVD-A discs played on it (the playback mode is set to DVD-Audio rather than DVD-Video). The Pioneer is connected to the receiver through the "5.1CH" input (with the usual mess of analogue cables) - and flawlessly plays every DVD-A disc in my collection - with 5.1 surround and exceptional clarity and range - every disc except, unfortunately, "Love".

So I have no idea what's going on, unless it's due to some basic incompatibility between the player and the disc... along the lines of how some of the early generation DVD players had trouble playing certain DVDs.

I haven't received my copy yet but you may be out of luck... I now own 2 DVD-Audio discs and 1 Dual Disc that do not play correctly in my Pioneer 563a (the model prior to the 578). I have a sinking feeling I'm going to have problems with this disk too. I guess I'm going to have to break down and buy a new universal player... this is starting to royally piss me off. I was fine for years and now all of a sudden new discs don't work.

FYI, the other discs are

The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
The Flaming Lips - At War With the Mystics
Keane - Hopes and Fears ( the GF's of course...)

Brandon, perhaps you lack the latest firmware for our beloved 563a. Send me those lousy discs that won't play and I'll get the firmware upgrade for you.