DVD Audio on blu ray

[andytk5]

Any of you guys that have the Samsung BDP1400 have any luck in playing a DVD Audio cd on the unit?

 

[j_garcia]

I don't think there are any Blu-ray players that will play the DVD-A portion of a DVD-Audio disc (or HD DVD players for that matter...) I read there was one player that did, but I haven't been able to verify that.

 

[andytk5]

Yeah I was looking into getting some DVD-A discs but I just don't know if they will play with my 1400. Do the DVD-A tracks sound that much better than an off the self cd? What about for 2 channel stereo playback?

 

[John Pendergast]

I just checked the user's manual and no mention of DVD-A capability. So my guess is it will not play it. JMP

 

[andytk5]

Yeah I saw that as well. I didn't know if maybe that 1.5 update changed this or is it a mechanical thing that FW won't change?

 

[John Pendergast]

You might find this link helpful in regards to your question about whether DVD-A disks are better quality than standard CD's:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD-Audio

JMP

 

[j_garcia]

No, DVD-A capability cannot be added with a firmware update. As for does it sound a lot better, well it depends on the disc, but yes it most certainly CAN sound better - that doesn't mean every disc does sound better. SACD and DVD-A are well worth the money IMO, but they are also definitely a niche product. If the disc has a DD or DTS 5.1 track, that should still sound pretty good too.

 

[andytk5]

Hey thanks for the link man. Very informative. Now if the CD is a 5.1 or DD or DTS like you said in your last post, can that be played on the 1400 since it decodes DD and DTS on DVDs? Are those the audio cds I should be looking for to get a higher definition option for my audio playback?

 

[Geno]

I have a Panny BD-10A that most certainly plays DVD-As (not true of its successor, the BD-30) Since I already have a Denon 3910 , I use it for everything except Blu-Ray movies. IMHO, DVD-A in multi-channel (as well as SACD multi-channel) is the best audio experience I've ever had. The new Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD are also excellent.

 

[John Pendergast]

Here is what is in the user's manual:
"Audio CD
An audio disc on which 44.1kHz PCM Audio is recorded.
This unit can play back CD-DA format audio CD-R and CD-RW discs.
The unit may not be able to play some CD-R or CD-RW discs due to the condition of the recording."

I am not sure if the BD-P1400 will identify and play 5.1 channel if an audio cd has that available. I will look tonight to see if I have any cd's with 5.1. In the meantime it might be worth it to buy a cd and just see how the player handles it. My music is stored on a music server, so my cd's are used as "backup" only. If you do buy a 5.1 cd, let me know the results. JMP

 

[j_garcia]

The only CDs I know of that will have 5.1 on them are DTS-CDs, which are somewhat rare - they essentially were the precursor to DVD-A. Some DVD-A discs do include a DTS or DD 5.1 track on them so that they can be used with any DVD player, not just a DVD-A capable player, though the resolution is not as high as with DVD-A.

 

[treejohnny]

I would love to see oppo come out with a BD player that would also do DVD-A....then I would have no reservations of what to upgrade to....

Right now I am using JVC XV-FA95, it is nice to have the 7 discs, but it is so old that it wont even play mp3 format