BRYSTON'S PROCESSOR PHILOSOPHY

The Bryston processor is a unique product, in that we decided very early on to optimize it for sound quality - both Analog and Digital. This is a state of the art AUDIO product.

There is NO video switching on board as video switchers operate at very high RF frequencies which plays havoc with the noise floor of the audio. Video is also changing as we speak - Composite vs S-video vs Component vs firewire vs the now front running HDMI. The other thing to remember is like amplifiers, video switchers have different quality levels and I think allowing the quality of the video switcher to match the rest of the system is better served with and outboard video switcher. The other issue is that many system installers are using routers and switchers while others use dedicated video processors while still others prefer to use the video switching and processing/scaling in the specific projector or monitor.

We are planning on offering our own outboard video switcher (SPV-2) in the next year which will connect to a port on the rear of the processor. The other option available is to switch video at the TV or Projector as most TV's and projectors now have plenty of video connections provided internally and use a Universal Remote to switch audio and video together.

There are also NO Digital Power Supplies (2 toroides - 1 for analogue circuit and 1 for digital circuit) in the processor as the Digital switching supplies are also RF generators. The volume control has 2 parts to it - one analogue and one digital so analog signals do not pass through any digital circuitry. Some processor's say 'bypass' but in fact use the DAC's to raise and lower the volume level.

The movie recording standard in the industry at this point is 5.1/48Khz/24 Bit (in fact most movies are released in 44.1K/16Bit The DVD Video industry is 5.1/48K/24bit and as I understand it will remain that way because of the 'data rates' (9.6 Mbpersec maximum) available on DVD Video discs. In other words when you put Video and Audio on the same disc there is only so much storage and decoding speed available. Every major movie-scoring engineer I have discussed this with says that 5.1/44K/16bit is the recording standard used at this point and probably will remain so for a long time to come. Talk of the new DVD-HD and BluRay may change this issue but it appears the connector required will be the HDMI. If and when this occurs we will provide an update to our Processor. One other issue that a number of installers have spoke to me about is that HDMI has issues with cables distances beyond a few meters as well as ‘handshake’ issues where one manufacturers HDMI connector will not communicate with anothers. Many installers are going back to the tried and true Component video as a result.

If we look at the DVD Audio side then there are standards, which include a number of options available to the recording engineer from 44khz up to 192khz or combinations thereof. Some DVD-A engineers I have spoke with say they may use very high resolution 192 in the front 2 channels for instance and lower resolution for center and surrounds (again because of the 'data rates' of the disc). Word at the studio level is that 96/24 will become the standard. The other issue is that all of the DVD Audio players and SACD players only offer 'Analogue Outputs' so what you really need is a 6 channel analogue preamp not a digital processor. Added to this complication is the fact that the 6 analogue outputs on the current DVD Audio players 'bypass' the bass management controls you have in your processor. The latest DVD players have bass management capability and I suspect this will become more common place in the future. The issue is that bass management has to be accomplished in the ‘Digital’ mode so processors that offer bass management from the 5.1 analogue outputs from DVD Audio and SACD players have to convert the analogue back to digital to do the bass management then back to analogue again to output to the amplifiers. Not a good idea.

DVD HD and BluRay are new systems that require an HDMI connector to handle both the audio and video in a single connection. With BluRay and HD-DVD there are new high-resolution audio standards that are transmitted by HDMI as well. Eight channels of high-resolution 96K/24bit are promised. At this point in time DVD–HD and BluRay optical discs are still recorded using standard PCM, DD and DTS audio formats. It will take some time before the recording studios and the film scoring studios implement the new audio formats. When these concerns are settled and have matured to an industry standard we will address the issue.

James Tanner

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20 Year Warranty - A Generation of Music