John Trickett of 5.1 Entertainment at the European launch of DualDisc

Starting with a batch of releases from 5.1 Entertainment Group, DualDisc is set to finally make it to European shores en-masse in April this year. As High Fidelity Review (HFR) has previously reported, the patent for the DVDPlus dual-sided CD/DVD product has hitherto been the stumbling block to any DualDisc launch in Europe. However, at the recent European DualDisc launch briefing at Dolby Labs’ office in London on 4th March 2005, John Trickett, chairman and CEO of 5.1 Entertainment Group confirmed to HFR that the issue has now been “resolved”.

In essence, Sony’s DADC disc production facility in Austria [see weblink at end of this story], which will be the first to manufacture the DualDiscs for the European market, can do so because it has purchased the necessary licence from the DVDPlus patent holder Dieter Dierks. This is being seen as a mutually-beneficial commercial arrangement which presumably circumvents a potential legal clash with Dierk’s own technology offering. In addition, it is expected that the Sonopress plant in Germany will soon follow-suit in manufacturing DualDiscs.

It should be noted that the DualDiscs in Europe, irrespective of which pressing plant actually makes them, will be identical to those already being produced for the US market (i.e. conforming to 1.45-1.46mm thickness) under the auspices of the RIAA (i.e. they will not be made to the thicker - 1.46-1.47mm - DVDPlus specification).

“The DualDisc specification, which was designed by all the labels working together, was handed over to the RIAA to manage. That specification will be released in a couple of weeks,” says Trickett.

It should be noted that production of DualDiscs will not be limited to any particular manufacturing facility. Essentially, any plant will be able to produce DualDisc providing it can do so according to the RIAA specifications. Of course, they may have to purchase a license from the Dieter Dierks. (In the USA the latter restriction does not apply.)

He continues: “In addition to the disc specification itself, there is also a content specification which defines minimum content levels. For example, the full album must be contained on the CD side, while the DVD side must contain the same track listing. This may be presented in high resolution format. And apart from a menu system, all other things are optional.”

While the specification itself does not presently demand inclusion of DVD-Audio (MLP), it does mandate the level of the quality of sound. “We want the audio quality of the DVD side to be no less than the CD side. In reality labels are going much higher than that. What we didn’t want to do was to create a specification which fundamentally restricted people’s ability to put discs out, yet at the same time we recognised the need to have some basic parameters to maintain the integrity of the brand,” he says.

Interestingly, when asked, Trickett did acknowledge that all but one of the DualDisc founding partners are releasing DualDiscs with high-resolution DVD-Audio MLP surround-sound content as standard.

Trickett, speaking on behalf of the DualDisc brand as a whole (rather than as a record label executive), also points out that for any independent artist or label wishing to release their own work on DualDisc “there is no license to sign [with the RIAA]. As long as they stick to the minimum content, they can call it a DualDisc.”

	A DualDisc display at the European launch

Specific DualDisc titles slated for the first European release in April by Silverline Records, immergent and Myutopia - all creative divisions of 5.1 Entertainment - include:

• Jane Monheit, 'In the Sun'
• Gary Moore, 'Back To The Blues'
• Blondie, 'The Curse of Blondie'
• Todd Rundgren, 'Liars'
• Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band, 'Swingin' For The Fences'
• Tipper, 'Surrounded'
• The Mavericks, 'The Mavericks'
• Robert Cray, 'Time Will Tell'
• The Church, 'Forget Yourself'
• Poncho Sanchez, 'Poncho at Montreux'
• Josh One, 'Narrow Path'
• Utah Symphony Orchestra, Abravanel conducting, 'Brahms - Symphony No. 1'
• Academy of St. James, 'Johann Sebastian Bach: The Brandenburg Concertos'

“DualDisc has been in the US market for just over four months,” notes Trickett. “In that time over a million units have sold through to the actual consumers - not just shipped out to stores. The feedback from both retailers and consumers has been very positive and it matches or exceeds what we found out from the market studies. In fact, the two came very close indeed. Product developments moving forward very quickly. Right now there are over 70 titles released in the US by both major and independent record labels.”

Silverline, immergent and Myutopia will release approximately 100 DualDisc albums before the end of the year. The other DualDisc partner labels – which include Sony/BMG, EMI, Universal and Warner – will announce their own respective timeframe for releases in Europe. “The music companies are working with their artists to develop the DualDisc, for an increase in releases in 2005 and beyond. It is ramping up very quickly indeed, starting at about 30 releases per month,” Trickett enthuses.

In addition to the industry representatives from Dolby Labs and Sony DADC, Meridian Audio’s Richard Elen was also on-hand to support the DualDisc launch. The UK-based audio research and hi-fi equipment manufacturing company originally developed the high-resolution MLP lossless compression system, and for which the DVD-Audio licensing and marketing is the responsibility of Dolby Labs.

Incidentally, although the co-founder of Meridian himself – Bob Stuart – was not there in person, a written statement from him was issued to the media. In it he says: “Sales of high-resolution audio discs have been held back almost entirely because they were simply not available in record shops: retailers did not want to risk valuable shelf space on a new format. However, DualDiscs are not hidden away or only available to special order, rather, they are packaged just like a CD, at around a similar price. Moreover, they are available in the standard CD browser racks, just where you would expect to find them. This increased availability has already led to the first million-selling DualDisc, with full DVD Audio content. Simple Plan’s ‘Still Not Getting Any’ on Lava Records [Warner] was certified Platinum in the US on the basis actual sales to consumers only one month after its release last November.”


Martin Fendt - 07/03/2005


Links:
Sony DADC
Sony DADC DualDisc [PDF File]
DualDisc Official Website
Meridian UK
5.1 Entertainment
Dolby Labs.

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