News

Meridian Flies the Flag for DVD-Audio (5/1/2004)

Special booth display promotes the leading high-resolution disc format

International leader in digital audio and video for home theater and music systems Meridian Audio Limited (Booth #17220, Las Vegas Convention Center, South Hall 1 & 2), has dedicated part of its booth at CES to promoting the increasingly-successful DVD-Audio format, with displays of a sample of the 700-plus available titles, a Meridian DVD-Audio replay system and a computer with DVD-Audio replay capability, as well as a selection of the 12-million-plus players sold by manufacturers all over the world.

DVD-Audio is a member of the Digital Versatile Disk (DVD) family, the most successful consumer product ever. DVD-Audio extends the medium to include super-quality surround-sound with core technology from Meridian: lossless compression. Meridian Lossless Packing (MLP) was developed by Meridian and is licensed via Dolby Laboratories, whose adjacent booth (#17214) also features DVD-Audio products and technology. Six channels of advanced-resolution 24-bit, 96 kHz sampling surround-sound and two channels of stereo at up to 192 kHz sampling give DVD-Audio the highest level of quality available in a consumer audio format, with a frequency response up to 100 kHz and a full 144 dB of dynamics maintained across the entire frequency range.

In addition to superb-quality audio, DVD-Audio, as a member of the DVD family, includes all the features that make DVD-Video so popular. The DVD-Video zone on almost all DVD-A disks makes them fully backwards compatible and playable on any player with the DVD logo (though for full audio quality, a DVD-Audio/Video player is required). Disks can include lyrics, notes and slideshows that change with the music, along with extras such as music videos and 'making of' documentaries.

Today there are over 160 DVD-A player models available, in the range $93 to $20,000, from over 35 manufacturers including Meridian, and a selection of these will be on display at the booth. To date, over 10 million stand-alone DVD-A players have been sold - almost four times the number last year. In addition, an estimated two million computer-based players have shipped, from companies such as Creative Labs and InterVideo. A Creative Labs computer system with Audigy 2 DVD-Audio system and 5.1 speakers is also on show at the booth. And of course, DVD-Audio discs will play in any of the over 100 million DVD players in homes all over the world.

Centerpiece of Meridian's DVD-Audio display is a series of stands showing cases of some of the titles available on DVD-Audio, produced by all but one of the major record companies and tens of smaller ones, in every musical genre. Over 700 titles, the vast majority featuring advanced-resolution surround-sound content, were available by the end of 2003 and the list has more than doubled in the last 12 months, with significant additions over the recent holiday period.

A Meridian replay system featuring DVD-Audio is also a part of the display, along with on-screen presentations on DVD-Audio technology, while staff are available to answer questions on the format and discuss Meridian's involvement, covering not only the consumer end of the process but also the authoring side, with the assistance of Minnetonka Software, Inc.

www.meridian-audio.com