In this episode we cover some historical fun facts about everyone's favorite movie format, the trusty DVD.  Then we review the Yamaha RX-V459 based on Ara's experience helping his brother install one.

 

From Wikipedia :

DVD stands for "Digital Versatile Disc" or "Digital Video Disc "

We'll bet that many of you did not know that there almost was a format war over DVDs back in early 1990's. It was Philips and SONY backing something called MultiMedia Compact Disc going against Super Density disc which was backed by Toshiba, Time-Warner, Matsushita Electric, Hitachi, Mitsubishi Electric, Pioneer, Thomson, and JVC. Sound familiar? Many people credit Lou Gerstner of IBM for bringing the two camps together to create DVD avoiding another format war similar to VHS vs Beta.

DVD players and discs first appeared in the US in March of 1997 five months after their Japanese introduction. They showed up in Europe a year after that and two years later in Australia. The first DVD that was released was Twister in 1996.

In June of 2003 DVD rentals topped VHS. Circuit City and Best Buy stopped selling pre-recorded VHS movies in 2002 and 2003 respectively. In June of 2005 Wal-Mart announced plans to eliminate VHS altogether.

The data rates for video files on a DVD can be:

• Up to 9.8 Mbit/s (9800 kbit/s) MPEG-2 video
• Up to 1.856 Mbit/s (1856 kbit/s) MPEG-1 video

The official allowed formats for the audio tracks on a DVD Video are:

• PCM: 48 kHz or 96 kHz sampling rate, 16 bit or 24 bit L-PCM, 2 to 6 channels, up to 6144 kbit/s
• AC-3: 48 kHz sampling rate, 1 to 5.1 (6) channels, up to 448 kbit/s
• DTS: 48 kHz sampling rate, 2 to 6 channels, Half Rate (768 kbit/s) or Full Rate (1536 kbit/s)
• MP2: 48 kHz sampling rate, 1 or 2 channels, up to 256 kbit/s

DVD-Video has four complementary systems designed to restrict the DVD user in various ways:

Macrovision is a company that creates electronic copy prevention schemes, established in 1983. The name is also sometimes used to refer to certain video copy prevention schemes developed by that company.

Content Scramble System (CSS) is a Digital Rights Management (DRM) scheme used on some DVDs. It utilizes a weak, proprietary 40-bit stream cipher algorithm that has subsequently been compromised. The system was introduced circa 1996.

Regional lockout is the programming practice, code, chip, or physical barrier used to prevent the playing of media designed for a device from the country where it is marketed
on the version of the same device marketed in another country.

1. U.S., Canada, U.S. Territories
2. Japan, Europe, South Africa, and Middle East (including Egypt)
3. Southeast Asia and East Asia (including Hong Kong)
4. Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Central America, Mexico, South America, and the Caribbean
5. Eastern Europe (Former Soviet Union), Indian subcontinent, Africa, North Korea, and Mongolia
6. China
7. Reserved
8. Special international venues (airplanes, cruise ships, etc.)

The user operation prohibition (abbreviated UOP) is a form of digital rights management used on video DVD discs. Most DVD players prohibit the viewer from performing a large majority of actions during sections of a DVD that are protected by this feature, and will display the no symbol or a message to that effect if any of these actions are attempted. It was intended for copyright notices and the ubiquitous (at least in the United States) FBI warning.

There is plenty more information at the DVD Demystified FAQ page.

 

 

This week I (Ara) helped my brother set up a new receiver he bought for his home theater. This is not a "Home Theater" but it is his family room set up with a new Yamaha RX-V459 (Street Price $300). This is what we would call an entry receiver but don't let that fool you, its much better than what you would find in your sub $1000 HTIB setup. Just for completeness his system consists of the Oppo 970HD upconverting DVD player (Street Price $150, which he bought at my recommendation), and JBL SCS145.5 SCS Series speakers (Street Price $255).  The total price for his system was $705 which is not bad for a decent sounding entry level system.

We are going to review the receiver today and we'll talk about the speakers on a later podcast. We have already covered the Oppo DVD player on a previous podcast. First we want to tell what this receiver is not. It does not support HDMI, it does not come with a dock for an iPod, nor is it THX certified. Other than that it is solid receiver/processor for the money. This is a 6.1 system that outputs 90 watts per channel. It decodes Dolby Pro Logic IIx, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital EX, DTS Digital Surround, DTS-ES (DTS-ES Matrix 6.1 and DTS-ES Discrete 6.1), DTS Neo:6 and DTS 96/24.

Set up is the same as any receiver, you connect the A/V source equipment to the back of the receiver and connect any video you are passing through the system to your TV. This receiver does not upconvert video but it will switch component, composite, and S-Video for you. For my brother's application it did not matter as his TV has two HDMI inputs and he went straight to the TV for his STB and DVD player. The unit does accept digital audio. It has two optical and one coaxial input. It will also support Dolby TrueHD  and DTS HD audio via its six analog external inputs. But to make use of this your Blu Ray or HD DVD player needs to decode these audio formats and output them on six analog outputs. We had the whole thing connected in about 20 minutes and where ready to calibrate the audio. Since this is an entry level device it does not come with the Yamaha Professional Room Acoustic Optimizer (YPAO) so we did that the old fashion way with a sound pressure meter and by putting the receiver in a test mode. We were done in about 10 minutes.

Features:

CINEMA DSP Digital - this is Yamaha's enhancement to Dolby and DTS processing. I (Ara) have an older Yamaha system and have never liked the sound created by this technology. I just listen to what is on the original material. The same is true with this unit. There is one exception to this and that is when the unit is in "Night" mode. It suppresses loud effects, including music, while leaving dialog alone. This is great when watching an action movie. You don't have to keep lowering the sound when it comes to an effects scene.

SILENT CINEMA and Virtual CINEMA DSP - This is like Dolby headphone in that it provides a surround sound experience in the headphones. When we tested it did give us the impression of surround sound. It actually was a good compromise if your kids are asleep and you want to watch something with explosions. The Virtual Cinema did not fare as well. We really didn't get any feel of surround when we used the three front speakers. But this could have been a result of the room. Its odd shaped and has one wall missing. So your mileage may vary

XM, XM HD, & Neural Surround - These are features to support the XM connection. You'll need additional equipment to hear XM radio (which we did not have) on this receiver. From the Yamaha website - Neural Surround is a proprietary audio format that embeds the rich envelopment and discrete image detail of surround sound and is 100% compatible with stereo content. Chosen by XM Satellite Radio as the format for their 24/7 XM HD Surround programming. XM HD allows for 5.1 sound.

Compressed Music Enhancer - The receiver has a mini jack on the front of the unit that makes it very easy to connect an external mp3 player (there is no iPod dock). The Compressed Music Enhancer tries to digitally compensate for missing highs and lows of ripped music. I did not hear a big difference in the music that was compressed at 128 kbps mp3 or AAC files. But when I played 256 kbps AAC files the music came to life. I did not try a lossless file.

Other Features include (from Yamaha's site):

• XM Ready with XM HD Surround Powered by Neural Surround
• Compressed Music Enhancer
• Front Panel Mini Jack for Portable Player Connection
• Preset Remote Unit with Illuminated Input Indicators
• Selectable 9-Subwoofer Crossover Frequencies / Subwoofer Phase Select
• 6.1-Channel, 540W Powerful Surround Sound (90W x 6)
• Digital ToP-ART and High Current Amplification
• Direct Stereo for High Quality 2-Channel Sound Reproduction
• 192kHz/24-Bit DACs for All Channels
• HDTV Compatible 3 Component Video Inputs
• Dolby Digital EX, DTS-ES, Dolby Pro Logic IIx and DTS 96/24 Compatibility
• Night Listening Enhancer (Cinema/Music) and SILENT CINEMA
• Quad-Field CINEMA DSP and 14 Surround Programs
• Audio Delay for Adjusting Lip-Sync (0-160ms)
• High Dynamic Power and Linear Damping
• Wide-Range Audio Frequency Response for DVD-Audio/Super Audio CD Compatibility
• Subwoofer Phase Select
• 3 Digital Inputs: 2 Optical and 1 Coaxial (Fixed and Assignable)
• Speaker A, B or A+B Selection (Front L/R)
• Front Panel Video Aux Terminals
• Virtual CINEMA DSP
• Preset Remote Unit with Illuminated Input Indicators

How did it sound?
Please remember that speakers make a big difference here. The JBL speakers that we had connected to it are OK. Nothing that we would write home about though. So with the aforementioned caveat, the unit sounded good. I listened to Dolby Digital (including EX), Pro Logic and DTS (including ES) and found it to faithfully decoded all formats. Music from CD sounded excellent. As was stated above the iPod sounded good with high bit rate rips. I am very confident that if you connect this receiver up to high quality speakers you'll be satisfied with the results.

Conclusion:
If you have a limited budget or you are looking for a receiver for a secondary home theater this receiver will not disappoint. It will process all audio formats for today's movies and with the six external inputs you are covered for Dolby's TrueHD and DTS HD audio formats. Although there is no integrated iPod Dock the mini jack on the front panel makes it easy to connect  the Portable Music Player of your choice.