Slowly but surely, Apple creeps into the 21st Century with digital A/V with authoring tools, with the intro of iDVD/DVD Studio Pro. And the DOLBY DIGITAL logo appears on a separately shrink-wrapped Apple-branded product for the first time (as opposed to DVD Player 2.2, which isn't a standalone product).
But according to the Apple "Digital Hub" philosophy and the DVD Studio Pro specs, I can author an AC-3 encoded DVD with my one-year-old G4/500 because the spec says I can write to DVD-RAM. Great! But I gotta play it back on a DVD player to listen to it in all its AC-3 glory.
So the question now is: What sound application will handle this? Answer:
<<Select the sound files and assign them to the correct position in the sound field. **A.Pack** does the rest, giving you an AC-3 audio stream ready to include on a DVD. If you desire, you can listen to your audio stream on your Macintosh. >> (Huh?)
Riddle me this, Batmen (sic): I have two AC-3 sound systems in the house, but rarely have I been able to get good full DVD-playback (with AC-3) from third-party solutions on my G4 or my older Mac clone. Don't own a standalone DVD, didn't think I needed it. Does the continued lack of an Apple (or partner)-branded Dolby Digital audio-out solution indicate:
A) It's a hardware/software problem on the Mac platform;
B) Apple (or their partners) *can't* afford the Dolby license fee on such a small market but Wintel *could* so they have it;
C) Steve Jobs doesn't care about great sound--he has a tin ear;
D) The home entertainment industry is pissed about the idea that *any* PC, laptop or desktop, Wintel or Mac, could or can replace a CD/DVD/mp3 player/PIM by itself in the first place, so Steve pacifies them with the "digital hub" concept, to wit: You *make* it with the Mac, i.e. the Hub, but *play* it with the other device at the end, i.e., the spoke.
E) Any combination of the above.
And by the way, where does MiniDisc come in?
Whadayouthink?
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