HDCD question

[Hi Def Cow]

First, yes I'm aware that HDCD isn't quite up there with SACD, DVD-A, and the few Blu-ray audio titles we've gotten. That said, I noticed the HDCD logo on the back of a few of my albums and started reading up on it. Testing what I'd read, I found that my PC reads them, and with a good pair of headphones on, Van Halen sounds pretty damn good! So seeing as how it's a Microsoft technology... what are the chances anyone knows if the Xbox360 can decode HDCD? Here's Wiki's little bit on PC compatibility:

Windows Media Player

Since Windows Media Player 9 for Windows XP, PCs are capable of decoding and playing HDCDs on personal computers with a 24-bit sound card installed.[6][7] Media Player 9 indicates the presence of an HDCD by flashing the logo in the control bar at the bottom of the application window. This was changed in versions 10 and 11; if an HDCD is inserted into a drive with WMP 10/11 running, the HDCD logo appears only if the HDCD feature is disabled, thus, signalling that it should be enabled for proper decoding.


I'll admit I'm not much for PC stuff, but apparently my computer qualifies for this as that little HDCD logo they mention popped up on mine. Anyway, like I said it sounds pretty good on my headphones, definitely a step up from the average CD, but I'd really love to play it on my home theater somehow, and the 360 seems the most likely candidate. Anyone have any suggestions or knowledge to pass on?

[singhcr]

Hi there,

HDCD is a 20-bit, 44.1 KHz signal instead of the standard CD rate of 16-bit, 44.1 KHz, so it will sound noticably better.

I doubt the 360 will support that. What you can do is extract the HDCD info on your computer. You can get a trial version of dBPowerAmp and under the DSP options, select HDCD. It will extract it off the CD and you can save it as a 44.1/24-bit file (I use FLAC). If you want, you can make a DVD-Video disc with audio only (DVD Video spec allows for 48/24 and 96/24 2 channel audio). The program will take care of the file conversions for you, and you end up with an ISO that you can burn.

I have some Bee Gees HDCDs that I wanted to play on my home stereo system but I didn't have a HDCD reader, so I converted the HDCD disc to FLAC and then to the DVD Video format. You can also easily burn DVD Audio discs if you have a player for that.

It's not really that complicated and will take about 5 minutes to do, but I imagine it sounds complicated. If you like, PM me and I'll walk you through the process.

Chris