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Now that most Americans have finally stashed their turntables in the attic, the recordingindustry has decided to introduce a new format to replace the compact disc, only 15 years afterthe introduction of the CD.
The leading record companies and consumer-electronics manufacturers have agreed on the broadtechnical guidelines for the new format, called DVD audio. The accord signals a fundamentalshift in the recorded-music business away from two-channel stereo sound, the predominantrecording mode of the last 35 years, to multichannel audio using six speakers.
Industry executives vow that the move will not render today’s discs obsolete. But audio expertssay the new discs and players, most likely to reach the market in about two years at pricesinitially higher than current compact discs and CD players, may tempt many consumers to updatetheir sound systems and music libraries.
In addition to multichannel “surround sound,” the new technology will offer higher-fidelityrecordings than the compact disc. Despite the clarity of CD recordings, purists have alwayscomplained that they render music that is cold and lacking in the subtleties and nuances of livemusic.
The new discs will be able to store seven times more digital data than today’s CDs, and industryexecutives say some of that space may also be used for additional channels of interactive text,images or video sequences that could be played on a TV monitor.
With the shift to DVD audio, consumer-electronics manufacturers also hope to draw the musicbusiness closer to the growing home-theater market. Industry figures show that at least 13million households already have multichannel audio-video systems primarily intended to play the”surround sound” soundtracks on prerecorded videos and an increasing number of broadcast TVshows.
Equipment makers, of course, hope to generate a new cycle of profits by selling a new generationof audio gear.
But the transition may not be quick. The technical guidelines stipulate that a DVD-audio discwill play in a CD player, and compact discs will play in the new DVD-audio players. Still, onlybuyers of the new machines will be able to use the new features.
“This is a natural evolution for audio,” said Hillary Rosen, president of the Recording IndustryAssociation of America.
“The multichannel experience can be extraordinary. You can feel like you’re are sitting in thefront row at a concert or right in the middle of a band.”
Consumer-electronics manufacturers heartily agree.
“It gives a new sensation to music,” said Jan Oosterveld, senior director of strategic planning forPhilips Electronics, the firm that invented the compact disc.
But not everyone is entirely enthusiastic. Wes Phillips, an editor for Stereophile magazine, whichis sold to high-end audio enthusiasts, said he welcomed the plan to improve the recordingquality. But Phillips said he worried that some recording companies might abuse thesurround-sound capabilities to create gimmicky, less realistic renditions of musicalperformances.
There is no guarantee, of course, that consumers will not reject this latest audio format the waythey have some others in the past most notably four-channel quadraphonic sound in themid-1970s or digital audio tape in the late ’80s.
But industry officials say that because the new audio format is compatible with the current CDstandard, and because it will complement today’s multichannel home entertainment systems,DVD audio has a better chance of catching on than some of the earlier formats.
The change, if it does take hold, is certain to set off arguments in many families. Not everymember of the household is very likely to be enthusiastic about finding room for four morespeakers in the living room. And it is unclear how many consumers, who have already movedfrom vinyl records to CDs, might now be willing to buy a third version of Pink Floyd’s DarkSide of the Moon, for example, so it can be heard in surround sound.
Old recordings would have to be remastered for DVD’s six channels, but industry executives saythat the format is primarily intended for new releases.
“It would be wrong to perceive that we are doing this to convince people to replace their existingcollections,” said Lawrence Kenswil, executive vice president of the Universal Music Group,home to the MCA, Geffen and Universal recording labels.
DVD, which stands for “digital versatile disc,” was originally intended principally for videorecordings and as a replacement for the CD-ROM discs used in personal computers. In fact,DVD-video discs and players went on the market earlier this year, and DVD-ROM drives arebeing introduced in some computers now.
All of the discs are the same size and shape as the current CD. But the idea of moving musicrecordings onto the DVD format had been a low priority for the recording industry because,unlike the video industry, audio already had a popular digital format, the compact disc.
In discussions over the last few weeks, however, the recording industry has embraced the idea ofmultichannel audio and decided to move forward with the new format.
It also happens that sales of compact discs and audio equipment have been flat in recent years.
“We need something to recharge this industry,” said a senior consumer-electronics executive whodeclined to be identified. “Consumers are already embracing multichannel in home theater. Sowhy shouldn’t they get the same experience in audio?”
With little fanfare, mainstream manufacturers in recent years have all but stopped selling stereoequipment.
Almost every audio receiver sold today already has six audio channels. While CD players haveemployed only two of those channels, the expanded capacity enables these receivers to serve asthe centerpiece of a combination audio and home-theater system one reason that equipmentmanufacturers hope the new DVD-audio format will fit neatly into the home-theater market.
For that reason, the recording industry says text and video files may be included on the discsalong with the music. While a few music compact discs now have text and video if run on aCD-ROM player, DVD discs could offer more sophisticated video and text.
If a DVD-audio player was part of a larger home-theater system, the clips could be played on thetelevision. But the new DVD-audio discs will probably not be playable on the DVD-videoplayers already on the market; they use a different audio technology.
Still, the multichannel speaker layouts in use today are expected to be compatible with the newapproach. Six-channel video soundtracks use traditional left and right speakers, a center-channelspeaker that sits between them, left and right speakers in the rear and a “subwoofer” forextremely low bass. The new surround-sound audio format is expected to use a similar system.
No matter what sort of audio system consumers have today, everyone would have to buy a newDVD-audio player probably costing as much as $1,000 and some additional equipment tolisten to “surround sound” music.
People who already have a multichannel home-theater system would need a decoder box for thenew format, which would probably cost several hundred dollars.
Others with a simple stereo system would have to buy a new system, though they might be ableto use the two speakers they already have and add four more.
While many questions about the new DVD-audio discs remain to be answered, the music andconsumer-electronics industries have agreed on several key technical parameters. And executivesfrom both camps say they are committed to settling the other outstanding issues by the end ofthis year.
They have already decided that the higher storage capacity of the new discs will be used to holdtwo different versions of each recording. To ensure compatibility with today’s equipment, onewould be a stereo version made under the same technical guidelines used for current CDs. Thesecond recording would be the new, six-channel version. In a CD player, as a result, only the firstversion would play. But in the new DVD-audio players, both would be playable.
The recording indust
ry also wants to include some sort of anti-piracy protection in the new discsto deter the production of unauthorized copies, though no decisions have been made on how thatmight be done. The guidelines do not suggest that the discs will be recordable by the consumer.
But the most important selling point, the executives say, is the surround-sound capability.
For orchestral music or live recordings, the rear channels would generally be used to reproducereflected sounds and ambience so that listeners might feel as if they were in a hall with theperformers but not necessarily in the orchestra pit. Studio recordings of popular music, on theother hand, might be made so that listeners feel as if they were sitting in the middle of the band,with different instruments playing from different corners of the room.
The technical format for the six-channel recordings has not been chosen. But the recordingindustry plans to send out requests for proposals in the next two or three weeks, and at least fourcompanies say they plan to enter the competition.
Sony and Philips, which jointly introduced the CD format in the early 1980s, have a jointDVD-audio proposal.
Dolby Laboratories, the California company whose multichannel, digital audio format is thestandard for DVD-video and high-definition television, plans to enter, most likely with adifferent system. So do Toshiba and Digital Theater Systems, which makes a multichannel,digital audio system for movie theaters and the consumer market.
The recording industry plans to hold competitive listening tests in several cities over the next fewmonths and choose a winner by the end of the year.
