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hdcd compatible

post #1 of 23
10/11/03 at 5:59am
Thread Starter 
newbie sees "hdcd"
newbie thinks
newbie concludes:"high definition compact disc"
newbie is curious if there are any pcdps that are compatible w/ hdcds?
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post #2 of 23
10/11/03 at 7:26am
bangraman sees post
bangraman thinks
bangraman is also curious
bangraman gives up looking.
bangraman doesn't think so.



'hdcd' will play on any CDP. However only those with the Microsoft chip will allow HDCD decodes. I don't think there's a player with it built in yet. I think that despite what people may say on the portable forums, with the sound quality of even 'classic' PCDP's you wouldn't be able to tell any major difference between HDCD and regular CD.
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post #3 of 23
10/11/03 at 7:28am
From what I know of the HDCD format, they are recorded in a slightly better way than conventional CDs, so in their own right, at standard redbook level, they'll sound better - but those extra four bits really come into their own on a dedicated player...

...apart from my PC - I have no HDCD equipment... and I don't think, in the portable realm, you ever will see any either.
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post #4 of 23
10/11/03 at 7:43am
jasper994 thinks gee all laptops running windows media 8 and 9 support hdcd

jasper994 also has seen some portable dvd players that support dvd-a
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post #5 of 23
10/11/03 at 10:00am
I'm iffy on the whole HDCD thing. My home machine does do it as does my computer but by the time the audio gets out my speakers from the computer it seems to have "lost it".

Now what I will be first in line to buy and rumors are that Sony has got one coming is a portable SACD player. The headphone out would decode the standard two channel track (with the higher) resolution and have another port for 5.1 output when connected to an audio system.

The rumor I heard was a player with a dock. The doc provides the 5.1 output charges the battery and so on.

That would be way cool

g
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post #6 of 23
10/11/03 at 1:00pm
Whoops just re-read original post. I don't believe that there are any PCDP's that decode HDCD.

www.hdcd.com

Pacific Microsonics is the company that started it all. I believe in December of 99 (or was it 2000) they were purchased by Microsoft and that's why WMA9 now plays HDCD discs if you pop one into your computer and use WMA9 as your player.

Everything you wanted to know about HDCD is on the site.

Personally I'm not completely sold that it improves the sound all that much. HOWEVER, having said that I've found that just about every HDCD disc I've ever purchased is quite well recorded. They do produce nice sounding titles and I do recommend picking up a few and giving them a listen. If you visit their website you can see all the titles available on HDCD. Who knows, you might already own a bunch of HDCD titles and not know it. I have a friend who found out he owned about a dozen HDCD titles and didn't know it, look for the little HDCD logo on the back, or just look it up on the website.
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post #7 of 23
10/11/03 at 2:31pm
Quote:
Originally posted by Duncan
From what I know of the HDCD format, they are recorded in a slightly better way than conventional CDs, so in their own right, at standard redbook level, they'll sound better - but those extra four bits really come into their own on a dedicated player...

I agree with Duncan that most of my HDCD's are of better quality than the average recording.

I also am not completely sold that HDCD offers much higher resolution than normal redbook. My Arcam CD23 sounds great with HDCD discs, but I don't feel like it adds significant resolution over my other well recorded CD's. It is hard to tell since you can not switch HDCD on and off on the same player.
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post #8 of 23
10/11/03 at 8:19pm
Quote:
I agree with Duncan that most of my HDCD's are of better quality than the average recording.

I also am not completely sold that HDCD offers much higher resolution than normal redbook.
I believe a significant factor in not only HDCD but all "hi-resolution" formats is that more care is put into the recording. No studio is going to go through the extra expense of making a HDCD if they don't care about the final sound quality. I strongly believe that the fancy decode is secondary to the recording being made properly in the first place.
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post #9 of 23
10/12/03 at 8:11am
Quote:
Originally posted by Watchdog
[
www.hdcd.com

Pacific Microsonics is the company that started it all. I believe in December of 99 (or was it 2000) they were purchased by Microsoft and that's why WMA9 now plays HDCD discs if you pop one into your computer and use WMA9 as your player.

Everything you wanted to know about HDCD is on the site.

Personally I'm not completely sold that it improves the sound all that much. HOWEVER, having said that I've found that just about every HDCD disc I've ever purchased is quite well recorded. They do produce nice sounding titles and I do recommend picking up a few and giving them a listen. If you visit their website you can see all the titles available on HDCD. Who knows, you might already own a bunch of HDCD titles and not know it. I have a friend who found out he owned about a dozen HDCD titles and didn't know it, look for the little HDCD logo on the back, or just look it up on the website. [/B]
Hey, I found two in my collection.
One of them is even a favorite CD of mine! And my new CDplayer decodes HDCD. Just haven't put these two in yet.
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post #10 of 23
10/12/03 at 8:20am
Quote:
Originally posted by Lisa
Hey, I found two in my collection.
One of them is even a favorite CD of mine! And my new CDplayer decodes HDCD. Just haven't put these two in yet.
Make that one

Leah Andreone - Veiled has the label, is mentioned on the website but the light behind the HDCD logo on my player doen't go on.
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post #11 of 23
10/12/03 at 1:48pm
Quote:
Originally posted by Lisa
Make that one

Leah Andreone - Veiled has the label, is mentioned on the website but the light behind the HDCD logo on my player doen't go on.
You may have an older version of the disc. I know that if you purchase a Van Halen CD now, that it's almost certainly HDCD compatible, but if you bought one long ago, it isn't.

So, do you think your HDCD sounds any better than others in your collection
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post #12 of 23
10/12/03 at 2:34pm
I only have a couple HDCDs, but they sound really good on my player that decodes HDCD. The bits do make a difference.
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post #13 of 23
10/13/03 at 4:49am
Quote:
Originally posted by Watchdog
You may have an older version of the disc. I know that if you purchase a Van Halen CD now, that it's almost certainly HDCD compatible, but if you bought one long ago, it isn't.
yeah, but why is the HDCD logo on the cover of the 'old' CD then?

Quote:
So, do you think your HDCD sounds any better than others in your collection
I don't know what it's supposed to sound like but it sounds pretty good!
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post #14 of 23
10/13/03 at 1:35pm
Lisa, I have no idea. If the HDCD logo is on the disc, it should be encoded with the information and the HDCD logo should light up on your player.

Do you have WMP9? Try playing the disc in your computer with Windows Media Player and see if the HDCD logo appears in the bottom left of the WMP9 screen.
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post #15 of 23
10/13/03 at 1:50pm
Quote:
Originally posted by Watchdog

Do you have WMP9? Try playing the disc in your computer with Windows Media Player and see if the HDCD logo appears in the bottom left of the WMP9 screen.
I did, with both the CD's to check what I was supposed to see in WMP9.
And with the HDCD the logo appeared and with the Leah Andreone CD the logo wasn't there. So It has to be the CD.
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