Hi-res files to DVD and playback

[iMark]

I recently ordered the Peter Gabriel "So" box set. It contains a subscription to Bowers and Wilkins Society of Sound. The files on the site are available in Apple Lossless and/or FLAC 16/44 or 24/96.

I have downloaded a few 24/96 files. They play fine when i connect my MacBook with a Toslink cable to my DAC, after setting the MIDI audio output to 24/96.

Since I don't want to move my MacBook to the stereo every time I want to play these files, I thought I could burn them on a DVD-Video with Toast. After tinkering with the settings in Toast I have managed to burn what they call a Music DVD with 24/96 files. The strange thing is that on screen the Bluray player (Sony BDP S590) tells me that it is playing 24/96 files. My DAC however (connected with a coax digital cable to the Bluray player) tells me that the incoming signal is 48. Is this normal for a Sony Bluray player? Does it only output 24/96 through HDMI and not coax or optical?

There's nothing in the technical specifications of the Bluray player about limitations of the coax output.

Any tips are welcome.

 

[MajorFubar]

Is this your player?

http://www.docs.sony.com/release/BDPS590_BX59.pdf

If so, page 58 of the instructions do specifically state that it won't play 'DVD Audio' discs. The DVD Music Disc you created through Toast is a regular DVD with just music on it and no video. The instructions for Toast clarify this. See here: http://mymoments.roxio.com/enu/articles/mac/audio/2010/02/create_a_dvd_music_disc_with_toast_10.html

http://mymoments.roxio.com/enu/articles/mac/audio/2010/02/create_a_dvd_music_disc_with_toast_10.html...and as such, yes, the audio wll be 48kHz, which is the standard sampling-rate for audio on DVDs.

 

[iMark]

In the Toast Music DVD custom menu there is an option for 24/96. When I play the hires music DVD in my Sony it shows 24/96 on the screen of the TV. The output though to my DAC is 48.

So your reply doesn't really answer my question about my Sony bluray player.

 

[AnotherJoe]

Are you burning the files as 24/96 PCM ?

I would imagine the Sony would only play the files as PCM (wav). Sonys format support is not the best.

 

[iMark]

Yes, the files are 24/96 PCM. Roxio Toast allows you to drop the 24/96 FLAC files into the software and then converts it to 24/96 PCM.

I have just tested the disc on our old Sony DVD recorder, connected through coax to the DAC (basically moving the coax cable from the bluray player to the DVD recorder). I now get 24/96 input on the DAC. Problem solved!

Although I would prefer that the BDP-S590 would output 24/96 over coax. Is this a rather undocumented limitation of Bluray players?

Anyway, with a bit of fiddling with Roxio Toast I can now burn hi res music DVDs. "So" in 24/96 sounds amazing, even better than the SACD I also have. Off to the Society of Sound website to download some more albums.

 

[gagagaga]

Late reply, but ...

The 48/16 issues with the sony via toslink is a result of DRM restrictions - part of the agreement on bluray was to limit audio output to 48/16 on non-encrypted liinks (ie toslink), so the Sony i playing at 96/24 but downsampling to 48/16 for the toslink due to this.

If you have the gear, try playing over HDMI - your amp should report the input as the full 96/24.

 

[ruitjerru]

Hallo iMark

I am trying to do what you did, being burning SACD single FLAC files onto 1 DVD keeping the high end audio.

Above you state you were tinkering with the settings in toast, can you be more specific what settings you used, including how to get to those settings or where to click.

Thanks in advance

Robert

 

[Karmakanic]

Hi Guys,

I would like to know the Toast burner settings as well. What version of Toast?

thanks,

Karmakanic

 

[iMark]

One of the annoying things in this forum is the fact that you don't get a notification when there is a reply in a thread of messages.

I only saw the questions today.

I use Toast Titanium 11.1.

Here are the settings.

When you open Toast, choose Audio and then choose to make a Music DVD. Then click finish (a bit counter intuative).

You can drag the files you want to burn to the left box. Then in the settings box choose 'Customize'. Choose 'Encoding' and then set to custom.

Video format is MPEG-2, Average bit rate and Maximum bit rate to lowest, Motion Estiomation to good. Reencoding to Automatic, Field Dominance to Automatic, Aspect Ratio to 16:9. I have set it to Auto-play disc on insert and Play all items contiuously.

In Audio settings choose PCM and in the dropdown menu choose 96 KHz, 24-bit, stereo.

In the Menus settings you can upload a picture of the disc you're burning or import a something you made yourself. This menu makes the disc interactive on the TV screen. I keep the Number of Buttons at Automatic. Every track has it's own button on screen.

With these settings you can burn a Music DVD with hi-res music files.

 

[qsnurses]

I'm not a expert at all this burning at all. But I use AppGeeker DVD Creator After it was recommended in Lifehacker.

Download: http://www.appgeeker.com/convert/burn-wmv-to-dvd.html

I have been using it for a long time and it can convert almost anthing to DVD and supports batch process.