Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Questions for Meridian at Cedia expo 2004

Fellow Hitchhiker's:

I met today (Saturday) with Bob Stuart and Duncan Smith. For those of you that don't know, Duncan is Head of Development for Meridian. His counterpart in Research is Rhonda Wilson, PhD. So in an odd twist of fate they have an R running Research and a D running development ;-)

Bob and Duncan spent just shy of two hours going over all of the questions and answering as best they can.

Please be patient with me - I had show commitments Saturday evening and am returning home after the show closes on Sunday. It is likely that I won't be able to get everything digested and posted until sometime Monday or Tuesday.

There were some interesting items from M that I will cover in a seperate post.

Cheers from Indianapolis, IN.

Thanks John, i am sure we are all looking foreward to see it.

I have onened a new thread covering news items found on the web about Meridian products.

Jaco

Fellow hitchhikers -- thanks for your patience. It took me a couple of days of non-stop crunching to decode the MHR feed direct from Bob and Duncan's brains ;-)

I used jaco's consolidation of the questions post as the source for questions, and I have the questions/suggestions along with Meridian's response directly behind.

In a couple of cases, the questions were duplicates/rephrases or were answered by another question.

8xx
- Will it get the same possibilitys as a G98 (among them video inputs of the VE-100 card ?)

Meridian Response:
800 Version 4 is anticipated in November which would give 800 DVD comparable video options to G98. Pricing is not available for upgrades at this time. However, the purchase for an 800v4 will be the same as an 800v3, in
other words no price increase for the product.


- Video scaling and optimising card

- Will the VE12 be available, or does it wait
for the 2nd generation HDMI chips ?

Meridian Response:
See 800v4 answer above.

- Id also like to know what the deal with the
axis setting in the 861 is- it's not in the mconfig software and everytime I set it, if I fetch, and store (with new changes) the axis reverts to -1. Why not give users the control in mconfig and perhaps different axis settings for different presets- maybe someone prefers a higher sound for music but not for movies, or vice versa.

Meridian Response:
The 861 has no axis control. These are
speaker settings, and should be stored on the speaker. It is a single global setting, and is covered in the speaker's manual.

- Input card(800 series) for pickups with HiRes A/D conversion. Now only IA35 with IA00 no HiRes solution.

Meridian Response:
Not at this time. It is suggested to use an external phono stage, and a stereo input on IA45.


- 880: Any update on that front I thought M wanted to add the video playback capability to it.

Meridian Response:
The 880 Media server is not going into production.


G series
- once HDMI2 is set, how will the upgrade to the G68 be handled. Replacing the video board? Or just replacing one of the 3xSpdif boards with an audio only HDMI connection.

Meridian Response:
It's really v1.1 which supports multi-channel High-Res audio across HDMI. Meridian is awaiting production silicon so that they can figure out how it will be done.

- can we upgrade the G9x to HDMI v2.0 specification with a software revision only? or hardware upgrade will be necessary?

Meridian Response:
It is not known at this time whether existing silicon can be firmware upgraded. JRS and Duncan Smith both feel that MHR SmartLink is a superior connection standard.

- G68 firmware profiles made available optimised to each of the DSP speakers.
I suspect that the new voicing of the G kit is rather more suited to 5.5ks than my 6ks.

Meridian Response:
G kit is not voiced for different DSP loudspeakers. A digital signal is being passed to the DSP loudspeaker and regardless of the DSP loudspeaker that is being used, the same data would be passed to a DSP5500 or DSP6000.

JK Editorial: Or a DSP5000, DSP7000 etc etc.

Voicing would only come into play for G kit if an analog loudspeaker were being utilized.

Also, a side comment was made that if equalization were to be done for DSP loudspeakers, that equalization would take place in the loudspeaker, not the processor.

- Will there be a G04 tuner with digital outputs ?

Meridian Response:
No immediate plans for a G04 tuner. According
to JRS this is the first such request.


- a G series Hard Disk music server with a TV interface .....or a 2-way RF remote would be great.

Meridian Response:
Music Server is no comment.

JK Editorial: Bob and Duncan made it clear that they will not comment on products that are in early stages of development. Don't read something into this as they were very non-commital about it.

A 2-way RF Remote is going to be extremely unlikely.

- a G series DVD/CD player without the DVD-Audio stuff (or SACD should they decide upon that. What's the point paying for DVD audio when there's hardly any software...

Meridian Response:
G series DVD players have been designed from the start as A+V. The cost differential for
leaving off DVD-Audio is slight. The current title count per JRS was 860 titles. Meridian feels that DualDisc will bring a substantial increase to the title count after its launch.

As for SACD nothing is planned at this time.

- G98: we need a way to manually set the scaler in addition to the deinterlace, 720p, 1080i and auto options. Im not sure whether I need 50Hz also converted to 60Hz to allow 1366x768x60 on PAL discs. Also the ability to retime external analogue sources may be useful - ie PAL external source converted to 60Hz.

Meridian Response:
Additional resolutions are possible, but the big question is what resolutions are desired.

As for 50/60Hz Pal to NTSC or even 60/50Hz NTSC to PAL the answer is no. Standards conversion at the quality level Meridian
wants is not feasible without a dramatic
increase in the cost to manufacture the
players. The suggestion is to purchase a display that can handle both 50 and 60 Hz.

- G9x: What is the chance of all G98/G91 owners getting the option of upgrading the internal Rom Drive when HD DVD comes out? Or do we all have to replace our player again?

Meridian Response:
There are two competing standards for High Definition optical media, HD-DVD and Blu-ray.
Both of these are incomplete from a specifications standpoint. Upgrades for existing Meridian products haven't been considered and won't be until all of
the relevant audio and video standards are fully defined. Also, there is no guarantee that a High-Definition optical player of either format would playback standard definition DVDs equal to or better than current DVD players.

It will be some time (several years) before appreciable media in either format will be
available, in the meantime enjoy what is out there!

JK Editorial:
I personally see this as highly unlikely. Both HD-DVD and Blu-ray include mandatory decoding capabilities that G9x (or any other existing Meridian DVD player) cannot decode.
I am referring here to H.264/MPEG-4 and VC-1/VC-9. Even if the ROM drive itself were
upgraded if you had media encoded in either of these two new codecs the player would be
unable to decode.

DSP speakers
- When will the setting SW for DSP 5k/.till 8k(eg. Axis,boundary,...)works?

Meridian Response:
PC Setup for Axis and boundary is only provided for DSP33 and DSP420s, as these lack displays. Axis/boundary settings are currently handled by the speaker.


- Phase and burst(impulse)correction via SW for the chassis adjustable to your hearing
place-not the standard optimisation for 1m distance measurement like now-( for DSP speakers)

Meridian Response:
Optimization is not for 1m (or any other distance for that matter). Phase and burst
correction would require substantially more DSP horsepower than is currently available without even mentioning the software development lead time which would be very
long.

- 192 kHz option for 8k

Meridian Response:
Not at this time. They are awaiting standards to settle out for HDMI and 4x SPDIF. Other possibilities could require wiring topology changes which they don't want to pursue.

- I want to see the track number or station name on my DSP speakers

Meridian Response:
This was added to the software wish list, but is not currently in development.


[General]

- Bass management
-- LFE and bass management seperated, stereo woofers

Meridian Response:
Stereo subwoofers is already possible in a configuration with 5 main speakers.
Seperating LFE from bass management may not be better than utilizing stereo subwoofers due to the importance of spatiality in bass.

Once software is complete for enabling > 8 active outputs supporting more subwoofer output possibilities will be likely.

JK Editorial: I brought up the possibility of using 2 different subwoofers for LFE and bass
management with more extension/SPL capability for the LFE subwoofer and a less capable
subwoofer for bass management but both JRS and Duncan felt that this would be better served with matched stereo subwoofers to preserve spatiality.


-- I would like to see subwoofer bass management which includes two subs, one for LFE and one for front (L/C/R) mono.

Meridian Response:
See above -- this is a rephrase of the previous question.


-- crossover points for each channel or mains, center and surrounds having separate
crossover points.

Meridian Response:
This is a reasonable request. It's tough to choose a compromise between ease of use and
flexibility. At this point, ease of use is the path taken.


-- more explanation: Full and comprehensive explanations of bass management on the website.

Meridian Response:
This is tough to do as Meridian does not want to give away proprietary information to their
competitors. They will consider what they can do to improve the available documentation
with the above caveat in mind.


-- anything on Dolby Digital+ (perhaps to soon as Dolby has not really announced that)

Meridian Response:
There are no immediate plans to support DD+ as there is currently no media available which could deliver a DD+ datastream for decoding.


-- Do M plan to relaese an external HDMI/DVI switch?

Meridian Response:
There is no comment on any potential future products.


-- Any plans on supporting WMA9, the audio stream in the HD-DVDs available today.

Meridian Response:
No immediate plans were disclosed.


-- lip sync- some want smaller adjustments and some want adjustments beyond 30ms
(I think they took out the global frame delay setting in the new software).

Meridian Response:
It is not planned at this time, but they will consider adding it to the wish list in the future.


- MRC
-- Any changes to MRC coming?

Meridian Response:
Concurrent with the release of 800v4 (Anticipated in November 2004) a new version of MConfig will allow for MRC to run within the main Config program instead of seperately.

As for MRC algorithm improvements Bob and Duncan stated that improvements to MRC will be provided in future software upgrades. There was no disclosure of what (if any) improvements might be made.


-- Improvements to MRC assessment of the room, and how the sub channel is measured...
it invariable does the full three runs only to accept the data anyway. What is it looking for? Is the system not set up to respond to a sub channel, in that it won't measure like a full spectrum channel?

Meridian Response:
JK apologizes for missing coverage of this question with Bob and Duncan.


-- Will M be implementing more channels (height for the front and rear) any time soon

Meridian Response:
When software for more than 8 channels is available, height channels will be possible.
There is no reported time line for when this software would be available.


-- Any updates - factual or speculative - on the hi-res debate, dual discs etc

Meridian Response:
DualDisc is coming, although no date was given for its launch. Bob felt that the release of DualDisc would dramatically improve the title count for DVD-Audio rather quickly.


-- Decoding of discrete Quattro LP�s -on digital domain.

Meridian Response:
There are no immediate plans for either SQ or QS decoding. Meridian does offer Ambisonic
decoding, and it's SuperStereo mode is not bad on some old quad recordings. Meridian
suggested using an external phono stage in conjunction with an IA45 card for 861 owners.


-- Possibility to reduce via SW the DSP modes for every input-eg. for CD only music and direct can be selected.

Meridian Response:
Smart Link assists in dramatically reducing the available DSP options. Allowing a specific list of available formats (ie Stereo, Direct, Ambisonics Trifield) for stereo inputs (as an example) is being added to the software wish list.

-- No downsampling from 192 sources

Meridian Response:
This is covered earlier when discussing HDMI v1.1 / 4x SPDIF.


-- I would like the ability to plug the PC into the controller, via USB, serial, ethernet or whatever, and have this also communicate with the other items, DVD's, speakers etc, via the standard comms link.

Meridian Response:
This already works. You can direct commands to other products via Comms if you are connected to the system controler via RS232 or (in the case of G68) USB. USB is already on G68. For other components additional interfaces have not yet been considered.

JK Editorial: 8xx boxes would require new computer cards to get USB or ethernet or interface X.


-- a correction curve for the center speaker if it's behind a perforated screen is a clear
exception and would be a valuable feature. For example, the roll off curve of the Stewart microperf is known and corrections for a range of distances behind the screen would be easy to implement.

Meridian Response:
Which microperf? Stewart, DaLite, Draper or Vutec? All are known corrections but increasing the frequency limits (even for just one channel) increases the amount of DSP horsepower required. While it is a good suggestion, it is not currently feasible.


JK Editorial: Use a Screen Research which doesn't require EQ instead :-)

John also asked:
Currently only 5.1 and 7.1 speaker setups are available. Some users rooms are more conducive to a 6.1 setup with a single center rear channel. Is it possible to add support for a single center rear channel.

Meridian Response:
Meridian tries to adhere to Dolby and THX approved formats. 6.1 is not currently approved by either DD or THX. However, this was considered as an addition to the software wish list.



[This message has been edited by John Kotches (edited 09-14-2004).]

Thanks very much for all your efforts , John ( and Jaco ), very interesting all round.

Manus

John,
Thanks for the work.

Jaco

JK,
You are a gentleman.
Many thanks
Nick

All,

It was my pleasure -- I got to spend about 2 hours talking with Bob and Duncan going over all of the questions and answers.

I'm glad my CEDIA room mate (Stacey) let me handle the interview session for Hitchhikers.

Thanks John.

Some of the answers have blown apart a few myths.

As for my personal question regarding G9x alternate resolutions and the "big question of what resolutions" to be supported, my response would be to allow this to be a user defined resolution defined in mconfig that is then downloaded into the G98 to become a single alternate to 720p and 1080i.

As for buying a display that supported both 50 and 60Hz. I would if the manufacturers made displays that supported native resolution at both 50 and 60Hz. If native is supported at all, its normally just as a 'PC mode' resolution of 60Hz which is of no use to us PAL guys. I do however think I have tracked a display down that does and will be looking for 1366x768 support when it arrives even if the EDID does report 1280x720!

-Ian

Some do. The Marantz VP12S3, Samsung H700AE and Sharp VX-12000 all support 50 and 60 Hz at 1280x720p.

Jaco, many thanks for compiling the list, and John, a job well done sir!

Thanks to you both

George

quote:

-- LFE and bass management seperated, stereo woofers

Meridian Response:
Stereo subwoofers is already possible in a configuration with 5 main speakers.
Seperating LFE from bass management may not be better than utilizing stereo subwoofers due to the importance of spatiality in bass."


Sorry, but may someone clarify this for me please?

I assume you can have standard mains LCR crossovered above 80 Hz e.g. and 2 "false" mains crossovered below 80Hz as stereo woofers.

Does it means in that case you can set crossovers both pass over or pass under on all (howmuch?) channels?

Does it works with analogue output or only concerns M DSP speakers?

thanks in advance.

Juno,

I'll do my best. It should work identically whether you are using analog or DSP loudspeakers. This is only valid in a 5.1 system. 7.1 only supports one subwoofer for the time being.

With two subwoofers, you have the options of:
left/right (aka stereo subwoofers), centre/ surround (basically front/back), mono/surround.

The suggested configuration is left/right, which will split the bass load as appropriate between the two subwoofers. Two subs help preserve spatial information.

Meridians suggestion is to use two matched subwoofers, instead of two unequal subwoofers and running in Two left/right configuration.

Cheers,