Is it a SACD or Not?

[ryanwigginton]

I mail ordered a 'SACD' just recently. When it arrived, I took a look, and couldn't see SACD written anywhere on it. Instead it seems to be a dual layer disc. On the case one side is labelled as 'Audio Side' and the other 'DVD Side: Audiopart 5.1 Mix' and then also on the DVD side is 'Videopart 5.1 mix'.

On the inside it says...
'Do I need new equipment?'
No... (blah de blah de blah)

If this disc will play on a CD player or DVD player is it really enhanced audio when playing in my DVD-A/SACD player? Or am I just getting 5.1 channels and that's it?

Is there a way (perhaps software) I can test what bittrate the CD is encoded at?

[andy1249]

Ive seen a lot of those in the states the last time I was there , I think the offiicial name is dual disc ...

http://www.dualdisc.com/

It depends on the title what type if content is on each side , usually its a straight CD copy on one side and some variation of DVD video / DVD 5.1 mix / or DVD Audio on the other side.

It is not SACD though , and if it was advertised that way then that was wrong.

Any AV reciever should be able to show the audio bitrate on playback.

[unique]

i'm not sure if you get sacd dualdisc, but if it's sacd then when you put in the cd side you should be able to press the button on your remote and change between the layers on the sacd. your dvd player will probably also say sacd instead of cd somewhere or another. if it's sacd then it should have a standard cd layer and a second layer thats usually 48k/96k (i can't remember) instead of 41.4k, which may or may not be 5.1

the dualdisc layer may have a dvda MLP lossless track in addition to the DTS and/or DD tracks that your comments suggests

if you name the disc and perhaps post a link it might make it easier to determine

[ryanwigginton]

Originally Posted by unique

the dualdisc layer may have a dvda MLP lossless track

That was going to be my next question. The disc is 'The Silent Force' by Within Temptation.

By the way when I put the CD side in my player just displays CDDA.

I'm going to have a play, see if I can get the source information up while it's playing.

[ryanwigginton]

Ok, the DVD Video side is playing 5.1ch at 48kHz and the bitrate alternating between 5.8Mbps and 6.1Mbps. Does this mean anything to anyone? Is this any better than a standard disc?

[andy1249]

Yeah its just a standard Dolby digital mix. Nothing special.

DVD A and SACD are usually 96khz.

By the way , licensing on SACD's is pretty tight , and its highly unlikely that a legal SACD will ever share one side of a Disc with DVD A or anything else for that matter.

DVD A is not so strict.

Dualdisc sides can contain anything in a number of formats and there is no guarantee of quality with them , which is why I for one avoid them.

[ryanwigginton]

One last thing. I'm playing the CD layer and the info shows 'HDCD 44.1kHz'

HDCD?

I was just about to write to the seller and point out their mistake but now this has me uncertain.

[andy1249]

HDCD is probably a 20 bit recording as opposed to a standard 16 bit recording , 44.1 Khz is standard CD quality , its still not a patch on an SACD which is usually 24 bit 96Khz and a Dualdisc should never be marketed as SACD as that is false advertising.

Note that these dual discs are not as expensive as SACD or DVD Audio so if you were charged extra for it you were conned.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_De...atible_Digital

[Steve Whitton]

Originally Posted by ryanwigginton

One last thing. I'm playing the CD layer and the info shows 'HDCD 44.1kHz'

HDCD?

I was just about to write to the seller and point out their mistake but now this has me uncertain.

Yes; I had this once with a CD. It was Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, which did actually advertise itself (i.e. on the cover/sleeve notes) as an HDCD. I sold the CD ages ago, to make place for the Tubular Bells 2003 DVD-A. I used to do a lot of "playing about" when I first had my DV137 - looking at all the on-screen disc information. Like you, I'd never heard of HDCD before.

It is possible to have DVD-A that is 44.1 kHz, instead of the normal (or more usual) 96 kHz, though. I happen to have just one of those. I have a number that are 48 kHz also - the majority being 96 kHz though.

Providing you have your DV137 programmed to default to the hi-res layers of a DVD-A or SACD hybrid, the disc format should always appear on the front display - and elsewhere also, such as OSD. That way, you'll know for sure what the disc type is.

There are quite a few websites that are selling discs as DVD-As, when they are in fact (music only) DVD-Vs. You also have to be careful with SACDs, although not so much in my experience. I do though, if wanting to order from an Amazon Marketplace seller, always e-mail first and check that the item is definately an SACD - and not the standard CD. I've done this several times already, with varied responses!