Q I saw an ad in last Sunday's Best Buy newspaper supplement for a Philips DVD recorder that can burn DVD-R/W. The ad seemed to imply that with one of these devices (cost $899) you could burn your standard VHS video cassettes with your home movies onto a DVD-R/W disc. Is this really true?

A Yes, but Philips makes two versions. One does DVD-R/W and the other does DVD+R/W. You can connect your VCR to the DVD recorder, play your tapes and record them right onto a DVD. DVD+R/W appears to be compatible with more DVD players, but the DVD-R/W recorder is less expensive. I thought about buying one, but decided instead to record my old home movie VHS tapes onto my computer, through a Dazzle Digital Video Creator USB interface, edit them with a Non-Linear Editor (NLE), and then output them onto a DVD+R/W that is built-into my PC. The total cost is about the same as the Philips, and is more difficult to use, but a lot more fun, because I can edit the movies with cool scene transitions. The Philips won't allow you to do more than just basic editing.

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Q I have a Harman Kardon AVR-7000 receiver and a Denon DVD-1600 player. When I play a movie in DD, the bass is pretty good, but when I play the same movie in DTS mode, the sound is much clearer but the bass is lower than with DD. Is it suppose to be like that?

A This can be caused by several factors. One is how the producers engineered the two versions (DD vs. DTS). They don't necessarily have the same balance in the various channels. Secondly, some receivers have separate bass settings for DD vs. DTS, so you have to check and see what they are set at. But the bottom line is the volume control. If you want more bass, turn it up. If you want less, turn it down.

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Q I have a plasma TV screen. Will connecting my DVD player's component video outputs to my receiver and then to the TV affect the picture quality?

A Even though some of the new processors and receivers have a reasonable bandwidth in the component video routing, there is no getting around the fact that you still have to go through two sets of plugs and jacks in the receiver, vs. just going directly to the TV. There is always some signal loss at the jacks. My suggestion is to go direct from the player to the TV.

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Q The debate is on between DVD-A and SACD. Which format do you think sounds better? I have looked all over the web and have not seen any real definitive answers. You had mentioned universal players coming out in the fall. Do you know which companies? I really like the Denon DVD-1600, but would like to see it with SACD capability as well and am wondering if I should just put my purchase off for 3 or 4 months.

A The opinions I have read tend to favor DVD-A, but SACD is still very good, and sounds much better (to me) than conventional CD. We will know more about the universal players when we go to CEDIA in a few weeks. Right now, DVD-A has the edge because it is PCM, which makes it compatible with existing players in one of its forms, the 24/96 two-channel audio discs. These discs, such as the ones made by Hi-Res Music, are a type of DVD-A. They work on any DVD player with 24/96 DACs, because they are indexed in the DVD-Video section of the disc. DVD-A per se, is not.

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Q I have a Pioneer Elite DV-05 DVD player, which I also use as my CD player, and I also have a Denon AVR-4802 receiver. Both the player and the receiver have 24/96 DACs. Which DAC should I use to get the best sound quality while listening to CD?

A The way to test this is to connect the digital output from your player to a digital input on your receiver, and also the two-channel analog output of the player to the receiver. Use one input, such as CD, for the digital connection, and a second input, such as Aux, or TV, for the analog input. Then put on a CD and just switch back and forth between CD and Aux to hear the difference. There may be some difference in volume between the two connections that you will need to take into consideration before deciding on which one you like best.

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Q In your experience, which recording label tends to produce the highest quality (i.e., most accurate) products?

A This is a really cool question, because it shows that consumers do care about such things. One problem is consistency. Studios don't necessarily use the same mastering labs for every project. The most important problem though, is that if a movie studio puts out a DVD that is poorly engineered (too much edge enhancement for example), there is no other choice for that particular movie. You either get that disc, or you don't see the movie on DVD. With classical music, it is a different story, because the classics are recorded by many different orchestras and labels. What I look for is music without dynamic compression, meaning that when an artist is singing softly, it is quiet, and when really going for it, the voice is actually louder coming out of the speakers. I have heard discs where it all sounds the same volume, regardless of how an artist is singing, or how the orchestra is playing. This is dynamic compression, and I detest it.

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Q What is the relationship between RMS and Peak Music Power Output (PMPO)?

A With AC voltages, such as your household AC, and also music coming from an amplifier, the voltage on the waveform has a + peak and a - peak. This is the peak voltage. Somewhat less than that is the RMS value, which is related to the area under the waveform curve. For example, US household AC is 120 Volts RMS. It is also 170 Volts Peak. With audio, the rating is in watts, rather than volts, and the watts that the amplifier will output depends on the impedance of the speakers, so it is not a simple thing to convert RMS watts to peak output. This is why the RMS rating is the only one you really need to know when evaluating an amplifier. However, Peak Power is a marketing term that usually is just double the RMS power, and PMPO is another marketing term that occasionally may be 4 times the RMS rating. For DC, the peak and RMS values are the same.

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Q I currently have a modest HT setup. For speakers I have Soliloquy 5.3 fronts, Mirage OM-C2 center, Mirage BP-450i rears, and a SVS CS-Ultra Sub. The five channels are driven by an ATI AT-1505 amp using a Yamaha DSP-A1 as the pre/pro.

I want to improve my two channel performance. One option I have been weighing is to get a tube integrated like the Rogue Tempest or Cary SLI-80. Do you think this would dramatically improve stereo listening? I could use the integrated's HT pass through during HT sessions. Would 60 watts tube amplification be sufficient for home theater in the fronts? Would it be better to use a switchbox for the speaker wires and use the SS amp during home theater sessions? Do you have other suggestions for tube integrateds or a tube preamp and amp combos?

A This all depends on your reaction to the tube sound. It won't necessarily sound "better". It is a preference thing. Tubes will sound warmer than solid state. In any case, 60 watts of tube power will probably not be enough for action movies, but likely enough just for two-channel music listening, depending on how loud you listen. If it is chamber music, 60 watts will be enough. If it is techno, you will need more. Use the pass-through for movies, where all amplification is done by the ATI.

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