Minnetonka
DISKWELDER STEEL REVIEW
DVD-A Authoring Software
ã 2002 Eddie Ciletti
Authoring a DVD-A has never been more accessible than Minnetonka’s Discwelder
STEEL ($495 MSRP, reviewed here) or CHROME ($2495 MSRP). Both are as easy
to use as your favorite CD burning software. Simply drag and drop any combination
of Stereo or Surround files into their respective folders, the name of
which is automatically integrated into an on-screen menu.
NOTE: DVD-A is an audio-specific format that supports multi-channel
audio resolutions from stereo to surround, up to 192kHz / 24-bit. Check
out the Sidebar: CHOMPING THE BITS for some basic info and
ranting. Visit www.discwelder.com
for white papers, tips and links.
CHE SAPORE GELATO?
Whatever is not addressed in this review can likely be answered by saying,
"STEEL is the plain vanilla authoring tool and CHROME is tutti frutti!"
The primary purpose of STEEL is to make hi-res stereo and multi-channel
audio discs that are playable on consumer equipment. It is also possible
(though not tested for this review) to create a Master DVD-A disc from
STEEL for replication purposes.
STEEL accepts PCM .wav and .aiff files. There are no imaging
options except for the title page and its default background. CHROME has
more Aesthetic and Technical finesse, including the ability to import Meridian
Loss-less Packing (MLP) encoded files. I think both tools will go a long
way toward making DVD-A a convenient and respectable archiving format.
FYI, Minnetonka Audio Software — www.minnetonkaaudio.com
— is also the source for stand alone Dolby AC-3 and DTS software encoders.
A LITTLE TRAVELLING MUSIC
My journey began by installing a Pioneer A-04 DVD burner (about $400
street and as recommended by Minnetonka) and the STEEL software to a Dual
Celeron PC running Windows 2000. Easy! Discwelder STEEL opens quickly,
ready to do business. A Jazz Trio recording I made last summer was chosen
as the source material. The session was recorded Multitrack to proTools,
mixed on the fly via Yamaha DM-2000 to a pair of tracks on a Fostex DV-40
at 88.2kHz / 24-bit. An Audio Technica Stereo Shotgun mic (in MS mode)
was placed at the 2nd floor balcony and connected to the DV-40’s
analog inputs (3 and 4) via Great River MP-2X transformer-less preamp for
the rear channels.
File transfer from DV-40 to my aged PII-450 workstation was via ethernet.
Cool Edit Pro (V2) opened and slowly extracted four ".wav" files
from a single 1.2GB embedded file that contained three songs, five-minutes
each - using a PII-450mHz PC. The raw 88.2kHz tracks were labeled
and saved but playback was not an option because the converters attached
to Mixtreme (the soundcard) do not support sample rates above 48kHz. (See
"Wish List.") Initially, copies of the files were down-converted to 44.1kHz.
The "balcony" tracks were decoded from M/S to stereo using a TC Reverb
plug-in (for Soundscape) to add a 10mS pre-delay and reverb.
So excited was I to burn a DVD-A that the manual was never opened. After
the first test was successful, I then created a disc with two versions
of the three songs in hi-res 88.2kHz stereo and the 4-channel versions
at 44.1kHz. In addition, I also transferred a DTRS Test Tape created for
5.1 system calibration. Burn on!
HUNK OF BURNING LOVE
DVD Burning is not real time let alone faster than same. It’s a good
excuse to take a break and make a Latte, as I often do. On playback the
JVC XV-SA70 had no problem with the hi-res tracks — that is, no dropouts
or stuttering — although there were problems with the 4-channel 44.1-khz
mixes that seemed to be player issues. On closer listen, I noticed a little
"zing" in the top end on all tracks that turned out to be the JVC’s converters.
I confirmed this by playing two copies of a CD, one through the DVD player
and the other through a Technics CD player feeding a reference converter
(an early version of Crane Song’s HEDD). The difference was Day and Night,
which proves that the ability to translate a high-resolution file does
not simultaneously imply a high standard of reproduction. The XV-SA70 lists
for $435.
WISH LIST
STEEL is easier to navigate than a DVD Player, whatever code magic was
required to make that happen is transparent to the user and much appreciated.
My wish list is simple and yet relies on hardware outside of the realm
of Minnetonka’s responsibility. Keep in mind that these programs were just
released in Fall’02 and so some catch up is naturally required.
My first request is for a standalone DVD-A software player to confirm
that the disc is playable and functional via video Menu. This requires
a sound card that supports sample rates up to 192kHz. Such hardware is
already available at www.lynxstudio.com
and www.egosys.net. In
late October '02 Creative
Labs Audigy-2 card and software arrived that includes a soft DVD-A
player. The second wish is for error rate reporting to confirm the media
is not half-baked. (STEEL will verify the data after burning if this option
is selected.) Minnetonka tells me that the next generation of DVD burners
should allow them to hook into that area of the DVD playback hardware.
HEAT SHRINK
Suffice to say I couldn’t be happier with STEEL as it now allows me
to create playable archives of high-resolution recordings. And while the
DVD-A format requires a compatible player, the prices are reasonable and
the functionality of the new hardware is quite sexy. The JVC player, for
example, can play Region-2 (PAL) discs as NTSC video.
My first experience with DVD and surround was in 1998. The mixes were
disappointing enough that I was inspired to set up a system and take a
whack at it. This led to an industrial mix for Price Waterhouse Coopers
and a visit to an authoring facility. When asked what it might cost to
burn a few rough mixes to DVD, their response was a mere $15k obstacle
in my path to sonic nirvana, using Dolby AC-3 (a lossy compression algorithm).
A lot has happened since then. Minnetonka’s Discwelder STEEL allows you
to burn a no compromise DVD-A with no compression, on Media
that is less than one-tenth the cost is was four years ago. Yippee! No
I gotta get all my friends hip to DVD-A.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SIDEBAR: Chomping The Bits
The obstacles to DVD-A authoring are learning curve related, not for
the software — Discwelder STEEL is as intuitive as it gets — but knowing
what the format and the players will and won’t do. The limitations of all
DVD formats are related to the speed at which players can transfer and
translate the data from the disc, the maximum rate being 9.6Mbits / sec.
At 96kHz / 24-bits, Stereo audio has a bit rate of 4.6Mbits
/ sec — four channels would push the limits to 9.2Mbits /
sec, 11.52Mbits / sec for five-channel surround. Combinations of high-resolution
and / or -channel count can exceed the speed limit, hence the use of Meridian
Lossless Packing (MLP).
The term "DVD" implies all of the things we have come to associate with
the format, especially moving images and 5.1 surround. The primary difference
between DVD-V and DVD-A is the emphasis shift from video to audio quality.
While video must always be compressed on a DVD-V, a stereo 192kHz recording
is just .4Mbits below the 9.6Mbits / sec limit, uncompressed on a DVD-A.
Think of DVD-A as a next generation CD. As such, DVD-A players will exist
as hardware for the home and the car (where imaging is unnecessary) as
well as "soft players" most recently supported by Creative Labs Audigy-2
hardware and software. Within five years a CD only player will be rare,
backward compatibility being built into all DVD players.
DVD RANT
Most important to audio professional are the two high-resolution audio
options — DVD-A and SACD. Like Betamax and VHS videotape, these two formats
are battling in the consumer arena for recognition as well as acceptance.
It is not fair to pit the two against each other, since both offer more
resolution and more channels than the original Compact Disc. The issue
for consumers is compatibility.
Since the introduction of the DVD, playback hardware has been rendered
obsolete several times over. Manufacturers would be wise to create products
with the flexibility to accommodate all formats current and future. Both
Manufacturers and content providers must both agree to accept the notion
of the "universal player" ASAP, otherwise all of the work we do will be
for naught. The last thing content providers want is for consumers to inadvertently
purchase a disc that is not compatible with their player. Stereo records
created the very same issues back in the late fifties all the way through
the sixties. Who can afford the hassle of returns?
Most professionals already have high-bit depth and multi-channel capability
but keeping up with the high sample rate race is not quite as easy. Obsolescence
affects everyone. On the bright side, digital converters from Wolfson Microelectronics
( www.wolfsonmicro.com ) are compatible with all formats — DSD / SACD /
2.8224MHz to PCM formats from 16- to 24-bits up to the 192kHz sample rate.
COMPATIBILITY
The "other" compatibility issue concerns the combined effect recordable
media can have in burners and players. Consider just DVD-R and DVD-RW.
First the media must be compatible with the burner. Even so, the same two
discs may not both be compatible on the same player. It has
to do with the spectra of the record and playback lasers as well as the
media itself, in the same way the BIAS is applied to, and is different
for, different types of analog tape. For a thorough report on media, players
and burners visit: