High Resolution Audio On A Collision Course

As reported in Todayís News on March 16 entitled ""RIAA President Hilary Rosenís NARM DVD-Audio Presentation,"" RIAA President and CEO Hilary Rosen made a plea urging all hardware companies to agree on a single standard for the next-generation music carrier. She said she hopes that ""at the very least"" new hardware will be made ""to seamlessly play either the DVD-Audio disc or the Sony-Philips disc.""Despite such pleas, both hardware camps are proceeding with their respective launches. Increasingly, concerns are being expressed by well-respected members of the recording engineering community that the watermarking systems under consideration will degrade the quality of DVD-Audio. Watermarking is a method to prevent more than one CD-quality digital copy per recorder to be made from a DVD-Audio disc. Such concerns that watermarking could well produce at least minimal audible artifacts under certain conditions are well founded. Supporters of watermarking say that for labels that are concerned about such artifacts, the recently adopted copy protection agreement doesnít require them to use watermarks, but the tradeoff will be a lower level of security.The uncertainty of artifacts derived from watermarking continues to be a burning issue. All major record companies had positioned DVD-Audio copy protection as the final hurdle to be cleared before marketing plans could be put forth publicly. Nonetheless, some companies are planning on releasing at least a smattering of titles this fall. In the meantime, the competition during this spring among watermarking technologies in blind comparative testing will determine to what extent, if any, watermarking will impact audible degradation.Stay tuned.