BPO Digital Concert Hall now streaming concerts in 4k video and lossless 44.1 FLAC audio

[TLS Guy]

Yesterday the BPO announced that in partnership with Panasonic they were now streaming concerts in 4K video and lossless Hi-Res audio. The audio is 44.1 FLAC encoded. So that makes it identical to CD quality. So I checked my TV, and the LG C class TVs are on the list. So I downloaded the App. So I have to use eARC for the audio.

I can report that the video is incredibly good. It is in the Blue Ray class, and in my view superior Netflix and Amazon 4K quality. The audio quality has always been excellent on the BPO Digital Concert Hall. However it is now improved and has increased dynamic range. One of the biggest losses in lossy compression is the ambient envelope. The sense of space and preservation of the original acoustic is in my view improved. The sound is more spacious and the high strings benefit.

The latest concert with Sir Simon Rattle conducting contains Benjamin Britten's Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra. This work has always been a great audio showcase, and shows off the new technical advances to the full.

Streaming technology seems to be progressing now at an ever faster pace.

 

[XEagleDriver]

Thanks for the update!

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

 

[TLS Guy]

Thanks for the update!

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

You are welcome. You should try it out and really let your system rip. If you have the latest Dolby Digital upmixer, then the feeling of space is astonishing. The other major work, is one of my favorites, but not often done. It is Benjamin Britten's Serenade for Horn, Tenor and Strings. It was written at the height of WW II in 1942 and 1943. That context is crucial. It is a setting of unusual poems, from a variety of poets across the centuries.
In the final song, the horn player is off stage and the effect is magical. The work was written for Britten's partner, tenor Peter Pears, and the great horn player Dennis Brain. Britten wrote this with the harmonies that allow the horn to be the natural hunting horn without valves. On this performance the horn player uses a very old natural horn. In my view this really gives the effect I think Britten intended.

 

[XEagleDriver]

The TV in the HT (a 5.2.4 of S2/Duo/Luna's, JBL Atmos and SVS subs) is an older Samsung plasma and may not be able to support?

However, if there is a BPO app for FireStick I might be OK.

The FS is connected directly into a Denon 4500H, so it should be able to handle the audio input.
Cheers,
XEagleDriver

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

 

[flippo]

I just got working on my new Sony Tv. It's great

 

[TLS Guy]

I just got working on my new Sony Tv. It's great

Yes, it is outstandingly good!

 

[TLS Guy]

Great News.

The Digital Concert Hall now has an app for Windows 10 for the 4K lossless streams. You can download it from the Microsoft store free of charge.
It downloads easily and quickly and launches pretty quickly as well. I have it pinned to the task bar of my HTPC.

May be it is my imagination, but I don't thinks so, that the audio is even better from my HTPC than eARC return.

As I have said before if you do a lot of streaming, then an HTPC is highly recommended and a wise investment. I still consider navigating stream via remote buttons a monumental PITA.

I think few members have HTPCs. However if you do a lot of streaming, I personally think it is part of the basics.

In particular the ergonomics of my LG TV remote is just abysmal, and not intuitive at all.

The SQ of this steam is astonishing. Even high bit rate top end lossy codecs, are not adequate for this type of program. Moving to loss less audio streams will in my view be a major advance.

One thing for sure the dynamic range of this stream is significantly greater. This means the average level is lower. That happens anytime you reduce or eliminate dynamic range compression. So with the old stream my volume was set at -12db, now it needs to be at -8db.

The high end is much smoother and more detailed. The imaging, spaciousness and ambiance are markedly increased. We really have arrived at a most exciting time in streaming distribution. I am confident things will only get better.

As always, the real barrier is the lack of really good speakers at a price that is the range of the many. The need for the broad mass of speakers to markedly improve is now more urgent than ever. This need is crucial as symphony orchestras and others go on line. On Saturday night's live St Paul Chamber Orchestra, they announced that in lockdown those attending virtually has increase to 400,000 world wide!

I really believe the potential market is much bigger than people realize. These types of streams really do require really good equipment. There needs to be a big focus on improved performance, reliability and above all aesthetics. This latter is hugely important, but neglected in this market. Miserable small cubes are NOT the answer.