DVD Audio

DVD Audio

I have been slow to come to the world of “DVD Audio” – for one thing, I do not have a proper 5.1 DVD audio set-up. The first one I bought was “Halloween” by Frank Zappa. I am a life-long fan of Frank Zappa and I have been known to buy just about anything that walks down the pike from the Zappa Family Trust. There is a 2^nd FZ DVD-A (“Quadraphiliac”) but I haven’t obtained it yet. I bought this DVD-A in a store, probably paid a “regular retail price” for it (i.e. not full list, but not super cheap).

Both Crowded House and Simple Minds DVD-A’s were bought because of price – I got them for $3 each. I’m not much of a Crowded House fan – I sort of lost the program after the 2^nd album, never saw them live. I was quite a Split Enz fan, once upon a time, however (I contributed the Split Enz discography to Mike Chunn’s first book etc.)

As far as I know, I have a full set of studio Simple Minds albums – some as re-mastered CD’s, some as original vinyl releases – I even bought their double DVD set from Canada of all of their video clips! And I have tons of their 80’s 12” singles – really good packaging, good sound…seen ‘em live – real good. I believe there is a 2^nd DVD-A for the Simple Minds.

I spotted the Motorhead DVD-A at an outdoor record collector swap meet for $5 – I’m a fan of the classic 3-piece line up (Lemmy, Philty Animal, Fast Eddie), saw ‘em live many times, chased after all of their autographs; I own all of that line-up’s CD’s and most of the original vinyl; I was shocked to see that there was a US DVD of all of their video clips – which I also hurriedly bought.

At the Al Kooper concert in January 2006, he mentioned that he had mixed Blood, Sweat & Tears “Child Is Father To The Man” into 5.1 (for DVD-A). Now that’s a DVD-A I would be keen to buy (as far as I know, it hasn’t been released yet).

So, what’s the future for this format for me? I doubt I will set up a 5.1 system at my home – what room would it go in? It would mean having to buy a new amp, and some new speakers. I suppose some releases could appear that would motivate me to buy a bunch of new equipment – perhaps a 5.1 of John Cage’s “Indeterminacy” – a record that has been in mono (only) since it’s release in the late 50’s.

Why does this all reek of “quadraphonic” to me? I have a couple of quad LP’s in my collection – with their funky hi-pitched tone (for the decoder) – SQ, QS, Discrete etc. What about ‘3-channel’ – “tri-ereo”! Or that system devised in San Francisco to play back the “Highlights From Vortex” LP on Folkways?

I love all the variant audio / video formats – beta hi-fi, Mini-disc, 8-track, cassette, LP, 45rpm, 12” single, CD3, CD5, CD, reel-to-reel, laser disc, play-tape, micro-cassette… PAL, NTSC, SECAM, U-matic ¾”…the medium is the message – the medium is the massage – the medium is the mass age – Thank you, Marshall McLuhan!