Update for anyone interested...

On 30 Jun, wrote:
In article , Evelyn Carnate
wrote:
On 18/06/2012 16:23, Jim Lesurf wrote:

It's a while since I looked at it but I thought Windows Media Player
would decode HDCD if you have a 24-bit sound card. WMP11 on my laptop
shows 'HDCD' in the bottom left corner when playing an HDCD.

AIUI both WMP and foobar will 'decode' HDCD. However I'm far for certain
that they do this correctly. I've been looking at the foobar code and it
is rather odd. And it says it is based on the C J Key code, which is
also IIUC what ended up in WMP.

The more I look at the foobar 'source code' the more it looks like it isn't
all real useable code but a sort of 'pseudo-C' outlining the general
behaviour. For those who know 'C' the following comments are examples of
what is odd...

The .c file has no 'main()' nor is one referenced or somewhere else like in
the .h file. It is just some blocks of data and some proceedures.

Many variables have no starting value given before being used.

Many variables have no defined type.

In various places one variable is set equal to another with no casting.

It also does things like use 'samples' as an array name and 'sample' for
individual values, which makes reading a PITA as the container and the
contained have almost the same name. Oh, and in neither case is the type
clear. Nor is it clear if there are two sets (left and right) or one, with
a specific arrangement for left and right in one block.

And the control code detection process in the program seems to have no
relationship to what is described in the Patent, etc.

So - as with the Patent and AES paper - it seems to be a sort of 'hunt the
clues' set of writings rather than normal computer code. I'm wondering if
the 'C' version is just a set of notes. But I'm not sure if the C++ is any
better!

This in turn makes me wonder if WMP and Foobar actually do correctly and
fully 'decode' HDCD.

However I've started writing up an explanation of how HDCD *says* it works
and how it *says* it does this, along with some practical results and
comparisons to probe the claims. The lack of a reliable decoder doesn't
help. But I realised that it is useful that some discs are hybrids with an
SACD layer to compare with the HDCD-replayed-as-CD. :-) And for rock/pop
HDCDs it is of interest to simply expand out the peak soft limiting and
compare that with the as-a-CD results.

Anyone know what makers currently sell HDCD players? I know of the Oppo
(and it CA version) but that is a play-all BD player. Is anyone like Denon
or Marantz or other mid-market audio maker producing HDCD players? I'm
wondering what people are expected to play these discs on. (Apart from Linn
who, I imagine, assume you have to buy a Linn. Any other player is clearly
no good ahem as the results may show. ;- )

Slainte,

Jim

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