How Video Will Save the Audio Star
Posted in: Today's Chili
LAS VEGAS — After years of enduring the poor sound quality caused by compressed digital audio formats, your ears are about to get a break. The unlikely saviors? Newly dominant high-definition video protocols, specifically HDMI and Blu-ray.
"I think it’s had a great effect on the whole marketplace, really,"
said Tom Dixon, vice president of marketing for surround sound company
DTS. "From the consumer research we get, we’re looking at probably a
higher acceptance curve for Blu-ray than what DVD had in its first
three years."
At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, manufacturers are showing a host of technologies that will bring better sound quality to your ears. The easiest and most effective way to improve your sound quality has always been to upgrade your headphones and speakers, because those final links in the audio chain matter more than any other factor. But due to the connected nature of today’s entertainment world, you can now achieve sound quality improvements near the edge of the network, just before sound reaches the speakers.
Here’s how it’s going down. The Blu-ray audio-video format will have a much better chance at popularizing high-definition audio than specifically audio-oriented formats like SACD or DVD-A. That’s partly because Blu-ray got a huge boost last year when its competitor, HD DVD, died after Warner Brothers pulled its support for the format.
As part of its initiative to promote better-quality audio, the Blu-ray Disc Group is using the phrase
"the perfect audio" to promote its format. And as consumers upgrade to
Blu-ray and high-definition signals, they’re connecting their devices
with an HDMI cable, with profound implications for home audio fidelity.
Before this, high-quality cables were either of paramount importance or totally irrelevant,
depending on who you asked. Consumer Reports’ assistant project leader
Rich Hammond falls into the second camp. "There’s no point in [testing
cables] for our readers," he told us during a tour of their testing
facilities. "If someone was really interested in having a blind
shootout of high-end cables, the kind of money and the kind of systems
that might possibly reveal those differences or make people think they
can hear those differences [are too expensive] … there are some things
that are pointless for us to pursue."
However, HDMI, with its ability to carry HD audio and video, is a cable that makes a real difference in terms of quality and convenience. Now that consumers can send HD audio and video throughout their home
entertainment systems with ease, manufacturers hope
they’ll be more likely to upgrade to surround sound.
Essentially, audio is piggybacking on video on
the road to high definition. Once it gets there, the stage will be
set for digital and physical better-than-CD-quality audio formats. Dixon said DTS is in talks with various players in the music industry, and that many people — especially the artists — are excited about Blu-ray’s extended dynamic range and surround sound.
Retailers are on board too. David Bales, marketing manager for Pioneer, is
optimistic about his company’s future as consumers make this switch,
despite the current economic outlook.
He said Best Buy, Circuit City, Amazon and other
retailers are champing at the bit to sell us all 7.1-channel A/V
receivers, and that they plan to offer discounts on them when people upgrade
their televisions to HD. To that end, he said, "We expect to see some
pretty big promotions going out over the next year."
And
high-definition audio doesn’t necessarily mean paying audiophile prices.
Bales said all of Pioneer’s new A/V receivers now have HDMI
1.3a repeaters, and that even the
company’s low-end $200 model can handle 1080p, 24-frame video and high-definition audio.
"HDMI’s level of video, and sound resolution and bit depth, the
amount of information running through the wires, and with the copy
protection and all the other things that go with the new
high-definition formats — it’s just the new standard," Bales said.
Pioneer and other CE manufacturers hope that the receiver — not the
computer — becomes the brain of your home entertainment system, by
connecting to computers and portables for digitally distributed content
while integrating seamlessly with cable boxes, physical media players
and televisions via HDMI.
Once the home has been made safe for high-definition audio, the next step will be to do the same on the portable side.
Even though most consumers don’t currently obsess over audio quality with their portable devices, manufacturers are optimistic they can sell quality in that market too. "There’s a latent consumer need out there to have an
enhanced portable listening experience," says DTS’s Tom Dixon. "There’s a great opportunity out
there."
To that end, DTS is one of several companies at CES offering
manufacturers technology for improving the sound of MP3s in portable
devices. Another is ARC, which has an impressive chip-and-software solution
thanks to its acquisition of Sonic Focus. The company expects it to find its way into
portable media players within the next 18 months.
"We can make an MP3 player sound
like a home theater system," said Michael Franzi, head of business
development for the company.
It’s about time.
See Also:
- Audiophile Claims Monster Cables and Coat Hangers Sound the Same
- Sennheiser’s HD 800 Headphones: Audiophiles Only Need Apply
- CES 2008: Toshiba Faces Music on HD DVD: "We’re Not Dead"
Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com
