It's not enough to merely record at 24 bit, as is currently done. To take full advantage of DVD-A, the recording has to be envisioned for MC, which to me means the band has to actively participate in the mixing. For example, you'd record very differently if you knew the final version had to "fit" into two channels, where you may add more tracks if you had enough channels to avoid "crowding."
I really like the SACD MC version of DSotM, for example, but is that what Floyd would have wanted? A good example of a well done disc (compared to the artists intentions) is the Neil Young DVD-A,
Harvest. It was originally intended by Young to be a 4 ch quad release, and the DVD-A uses the original 4 ch mix.
Damn, Chris, you're starting to worry me...we agree on the DSD/SACD thing, too!
I lack your engineering background, but it's obvious even to me that on paper, DSD has some problems. IMOHO, it does nothing better than PCM, and most things not as well. Plus it costs over 10X as much, and there still aren't all that many DSD mixers in existance. And while it may not be a scientific apples to apples comparison, the DVD-A discs I've heard generally sound better than the SACDs. I think DSD was created more to serve as a revenue stream than to address any real problems with linear PCM. It deserves to die, IMO.