[ProAudio] Lossless audio on YouTube

[Richard L. Hess]

Corey,

I should not get started on this, but I'll keep it brief. People don't 
care or sometimes prefer using UNDECODED tracks that were Dolby A 
encoded in their re-releases.

While John Dyson, with some support from me, has worked tirelessly on 
the software decoder for tapes recorded with Dolby A, the feedback is 
it's not quite there yet.

Dolby made software decoders for Dolby A and SR for one of their Cinema 
products, but have said to me "we will never issue a software decoder 
plugin" and "it's impossible."

For many reasons I can understand those statements, and I see why "good 
enough for Cinema projection" isn't "good enough for master tapes."

Also, I know people who prefer the 361 decoder over the 363 and 
vice-versa (I prefer the 363).

It would even be difficult to remanufacture hardware Dolby A decoders 
today because a few specific components that affect the micro-timing of 
the attack/release are no longer manufactured, and Dr. Dolby used some 
of these components, it appears, precisely for their transfer function 
at specific levels. This is very difficult to emulate in software 
(generic diode and Zener diode models don't work) and may be why it's 
well nigh impossible to do one.

Cheers,

Richard


On 2021-04-23 5:32 p.m., Corey Bailey Audio Engineering via ProAudio wrote:
>
> In 1987, I attended the unveiling of Dolby Digital for 35mm film. The 
> demonstration was very impressive although one could tell when the 
> sound was switched, back & forth, between DD and the analog sound 
> track which was Dolby SR encoded. Afterwards, I pointed out (at the 
> time) to David Gray & Tom Scott, that there were less than a dozen 
> theaters equipped to play an SR encoded track....world wide. This 
> meant that the vast majority of theaters that installed DD, would be 
> playing an SR encoded soundtrack through a system designed to play 
> Dolby A.........UGH!
>
> David pointed out that Dolby had done several focus groups &, much to 
> his surprise, the listeners couldn't tell the difference or, didn't care.
>
> My $0.02
>
>
-- 
Richard L. Hess                   email: richard at richardhess.com
Aurora, Ontario, Canada           http://www.richardhess.com/
http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.

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