Merging Technologies

Hi everybody,

reading an "Audio Siganl properties" SACD paper by Philips and Sony, I saw that they recommend that Track Start Markers should have and offset of at least 50ms; I was wondering if you actually do that, or if you have had any problem using no offset when music doesn´t stop between tracks (when there is, for example, an "attaca" connection).

Thanks!

It's the same situation as with CD: You are relying on a variety of disc players and their different handling of the track markers to mute and mute the output circuits.

I was at a meeting with Sony / Philips at an AES show several years ago where it was stated that "7 CD/SACD frames" was considered an acceptable time frame to allow 'any' player to unmute in time. A CD frame is about 13 milliseconds, so the full seven frames equals 91 mSec.

So, sure, you can put a marker anywhere you want and maybe on 90% of the players this will be fine. But... Who wants to get the phone call from a producer saying that her mother's SACD player is cutting off the beginnings of her favourite track and it only happens on the disc you authored????

Graemme

Thanks Graemme,

it´s always great to hear your opinion!

This is really a double edged sword. I understand the un-muting thing but on the other side is the precision that is required for placement in contiguous audio. I'm authoring an SACD today that is continuous. If I add the 7 frames to this program, you get a blip of the outgoing program before the attack of the note. The only way to really check this is to make references and test them in players.
All the best,
-mark

I hear you about testing in actual players. But where do you draw the line? My point was that it's impossible to predict and test in all possible situations, practically speaking. On top of all of that, consumers are now used to 'instant' playback of files, with no need for any regard of the 'unmuting' circuitry time lag...