DualDisc - what the heck is it?

April 26, 2005 2:41 PM

Ok, so I got the cool new Springsteen DualDisc CD. Only the cd/DVD player in my PC pretty much sees it as a plain old CD. I gather it's supposed to provide some new level of security and 5.1 surround sound. Do I need new equipment? Why can't I see or hear any of this stuff? Is there an app required to play these things? The DualDisc website is particularly uninformative as is the Springsteen site.
posted by Red58 to Technology (10 answers total)

It's shiny on both sides, right? Have you tried flipping it over?
posted by mr_roboto at 2:51 PM on April 26, 2005

The flip thing is key, other than that, your standard DVD player software should be able to play back the 5.1 mix. To get to the higher-resolution audio, you need a DVD-A player, however.
posted by pmbuko at 2:58 PM on April 26, 2005

Response by poster: Yes, yes I tried both sides. The DVD side has files with .VOB, .IFO and .BUP extensions. Also some MP2 files and some files I can't see.

I can only play the CD side. I haven't tried it in my TV connected DVD, but that's next.

DVD-A, need to check that. thanks
posted by Red58 at 3:17 PM on April 26, 2005

As a side note: I'm encouraged by the DualDisc format. It might be a sign that the recording industry is using good old value as a weapon against downloading. We'll see.
posted by davebush at 3:29 PM on April 26, 2005

If DualDisc is anything like the DVD Plus format released in Europe by Sonopress, they're just a CD and a DVD glued together. Regrettably, this makes them thicker than the average disc and thus prone to malfunction. One of the selling points of DVD Plus was that you could watch, say, a concert on your TV, and then take the same disc and listen to the live recording in your car. But the thickness of the disc meant they didn't play in many car stereos.

DVD Plus has been out for years in Europe and you don't see many around, so if DualDisc is the same thing, I wouldn't hold your breath....
posted by forallmankind at 4:50 PM on April 26, 2005

Response by poster: I tried it in my DVD TV machine and it works just fine. Whatever, it all seems like overkill to me. I don't really have time to sit around and watch this stuff more than once.
posted by Red58 at 4:52 PM on April 26, 2005

I just got the album, and DualDisk did indeed seem thicker than a normal disk.
posted by jmd82 at 6:59 PM on April 26, 2005

Works fine on my dedicated, through-TV DVD player too. I doubt you'll have a problem using it on that setup.

I may not watch it more than a few times either (you know, once or twice for me and then once for everyone I feel compelled to show it to) but I'm glad to have it. Particularly because this album has a lot of careful thought behind it; this content is a nice way to experience the songs in a new way. I also appreciate that the versions he's playing on the DVD are not just copies of the final studio recordings on the CD - they're actual performances.
posted by Miko at 7:08 PM on April 26, 2005

I've got the dualdisc of Snow Patrol's final straw.. it has the CD content on one side, and on the other side, there's two things.

If you look in the AUDIO_TS folder, there's a lot of VOB files - this provides the DVD-Audio version of the album. You need a DVD-Audio player to hear this.

There's also a load of VOB files in the VIDEO_TS folder. You need a DVd player/DVD playing apllication to play this - on the Snow Patrol disc, it provides the album in 2-channel and multi-channel Dolby Digital.

Don't know if the Boss' album is the same, but hope that helps.
posted by ascullion at 9:28 PM on April 26, 2005

Hey-

(disclaimer: I work for sony)

Dualdisc is a way to make CDs more attractive as physical purchases, IMHO more to combat the "i get 600 hours of bonus footage with my $15 DVD, but i dont get diddlysquat with my $15 CD" issue.

it has CD Audio on one side and DVD video/audio on the other. You should be able to listen to the 5.1 stuff via a standard DVD player.

From my interactions with the group the developed it, they really did try very hard for 100% compatibility. Even though the cd audio isn't technically redbook (because of the dvd on the other side) they still should work on any CD player bought in the last 10 years.

Enjoy
posted by softlord at 9:51 PM on April 29, 2005