Content area
Full text
PHILIPS DEFENDS DCC QUALITY
* Responding to a growing chorus of MiniDisc makers who claim that MD and DCC sound are virtually identical, DCC makers Philips and Matsushita held a last-minute, joint press event at SCES to defend DCC.
Tadashi "Ted" Abe, general manager of Matsushitas DCC Business Development Office, he offered an extensive look at tests done on DCC and MD, in which DCC proved superior again and again.
In one test, researchers made 10th-generation copies of a piece of music on both DCC and MD. Abe played DAT tapes of both, and the DCC sounded very close to the original while the MD copy was noticeably degraded.
Of course, consumers would not be making 10th-generation copies (SCMS would prevent them, but for the purposes of the test the SCMS was removed). Since each serial copy magnifies the errors introduced in the first, the implication is that DCC makes cleaner, sharper copies.
However, the event was not, officials for both companies insisted, the first shot in a more serious PR battle between the two formats.
"We just think it's important...