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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 800 V3

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Design philosophy…?

1 What is the Meridian 800?

The Meridian 800 is, without question, the most advanced and highest performance CD and

DVD player. It features an extremely high-performance architecture that guarantees you

access to state-of-the-art sound and picture performance for many years to come.

Meridian is the world leader in CD and DVD playback quality and 800 is our flagship. For

some time the 800 has been the industry benchmark, having received many international

awards including Class A+ and Class AA ratings from Stereophile and Stereophile Guide to

Home Theatre. In its latest Version 3 form, the 800 strides even further ahead of the field.

The 800 is built like a computer. So all the electronics are on plug-in cards and the drives are

replaceable. This is done so that the 800 can evolve with your requirements and as new,

formats are introduced. Here the resemblance to any other computer ends – this one is

skilfully made to provide the highest possible sound and picture quality.

2 What is the standard 800 configuration?

The 800 configuration just changed in a radical design upgrade to Version 3. The 800 plays

back CD, CD-R, Video CD, CVCD, MP3, DVD-R, DVD-Video and DVD-Audio discs using a

carefully selected and optimised DVD-ROM drive mounted in one of its two drive bays.

800 can be the system controller for Meridian installations, commonly for installations in which

800 directly operates with Meridian DSP loudspeakers (i.e. installations without 861). The 800

can be fitted with a number of different cards to add analogue or digital inputs to 800 – thus

integrating all other sources in your system.

You can also specify output options: your 800 can be configured to put out either multi-

channel or 2-channel as digital, analogue or both. You can also select balanced or

unbalanced outputs. Initially 800 Version 3 will not support variable output.

3 What can I add to my 800 now?

You can fit VE10, a new optional video card that adds an extremely high quality progressive

output for NTSC sources. See Q. 21.

You can also add input cards to the 800 to provide analogue or digital inputs.

For example you could fit an IE16 to give up to seven standard digital inputs, or use an IA00

(in conjunction with IE16) to add up to six 2-channel analogue inputs. Altogether you can

configure up to eleven external sources for 800.

Unlike previous versions, 800 no longer supports the 800 Series RF demodulator or Tape

cards – these should now be fitted in your 861.

4 Why is 800 made this way?

The 800, like its stable-mate 861 uses modular and card-based construction so that we can

evolve its performance and features as technology advances, as your requirements evolve

and as new formats enter the marketplace.

Meridian has a proven track record of keeping the 800 Series fully up to date, as this latest

version and the VE10 progressive card so clearly demonstrates. For more on this, see Q. 91.

Summary of content (18 pages)

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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 800 V3 Design philosophy…? 1 What is the Meridian 800? The Meridian 800 is, without question, the most advanced and highest performance CD and DVD player. It features an extremely high-performance architecture that guarantees you access to state-of-the-art sound and picture performance for many years to come. Meridian is the world leader in CD and DVD playback quality and 800 is our flagship.
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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 800 V3 5 Why is a ROM drive used? The 800 uses a ROM drive because this is the best type of drive to ensure accurate data recovery on all disc types while providing a stable platform that can be changed in the future to keep pace with new requirements. For more on this, see Q. 6. 6 How can a ROM drive be so good? ROM drives recover the data from computer discs perfectly. Loading a computer program rarely fails due to the ROM drive.
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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 800 V3 9 What about 192kHz? 192kHz is available on some DVD-Audio discs. The 800 is fully capable, the analogue output cards use an extremely high quality studio-grade 192kHz 24bit D/A conversion system. Although MHR Smart Link can support it, at the moment there is no industry-standard digital interface for 192kHz. We expect that at some point a standard will be established; then you will be able to reconfigure or add a suitable output card.
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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 800 V3 It provides a secure copyright protection environment and has the very important benefit of lowering jitter and improving sound quality on all material. MHR is an approved method to pass the highest possible sound quality from 800 to other Meridian products like the DSP loudspeakers. 15 What is audio copy protection? Some DVDs use encryption to protect the audio content.
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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 800 V3 19 What about PAL and NTSC? 800 will play discs authored in PAL or NTSC. If you select Auto TV standard in the Video Settings menu then 800 will play the disc in its native format. 20 Does the 800 convert PAL to NTSC and vice-versa? If your display doesn’t support PAL or NTSC then the 800 has a translation feature that allows you to enjoy the movie. You can enable this in the Video Settings menu or from the front panel.
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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 800 V3 A great feature of the card construction used in the 800 Series is that you only need to buy the options you need. Since a very high-performance Progressive addition like VE10 is not inexpensive and since some 800 owners do need this feature we offer it as an option. 25 Does 800 have video processing? Yes! Digital video processing is extensively used in playback.
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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 800 V3 32 What is Halt? When you press ‘Stop’ the first time, 800 will remember where it is on the disc. When you next press ‘Play’, it will resume from that position on the disc. 800 will even remember this position for CD or DVD-Video if you remove the disc and then re-load it (without loading any different disc). If you want to start the disc again, press ‘Stop’ twice in succession. You will see the on-screen icon is different for the Halt and Stop states.
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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 800 V3 39 Does it play DVD-Audio? Absolutely! Meridian has been closely involved with the development of DVD-Audio and their MLP (Meridian Lossless Packing) is not only the highest quality audio format known, it is mandatory on DVD-Audio discs. DVD-Audio brings you the sound of the original master recording in a fascinating array of options for surround, stereo, audio rates and often with very useful video material.
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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 800 V3 from our recent addition of DVD-Audio. Our criteria for adding support for formats are absolute performance quality and/or anticipated long-term availability of software. 47 What about MP3? 800 allows you to replay MP3 files stored on CD-R or DVD-R. This is a great feature for playing back collections, for building long-playing discs for parties or for sharing discs with portable players.
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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 800 V3 Connections…? 53 What audio outputs are available? The Meridian 800 can be fitted with a digital output card, (one or two) analogue output cards – or both. The digital output provides two separate output signals: Main (multichannel on three connectors) and an additional 2-channel output on one connector.
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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 800 V3 57 Does 800 have 5-wire RGB output? No. Five-wire RGBHV is the format used by upscaled progressive video (see Qs 21, 23 and 24). 58 Does 800 have a SCART output? Not at the moment. We may release a version of the video output card if enough customers want it. 59 Has 800 got a headphone socket? No. 60 Can I record from my 800? You can record audio from the analogue outputs.
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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 800 V3 64 But I want the preamp version of 800. Can I get one? Yes, Meridian plan to continue to offer version 2.5 for those who want the 2-channel preamp, or who do not want a multichannel or DVD-Audio player. Should you later decide to upgrade to version 3 then this will be a simple process. See Q. 53. 65 Does 800 include bass management? No it isn’t needed, it is a surround processor function.
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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 800 V3 So if you play a multichannel track from DVD-Audio then 800 tells 861 to pick the ‘Discrete Music’ preset. If the next track is high-resolution 2-channel then, for example, 861 can automatically pick a 2-channel input mode like Meridian’s superb Trifield to render in surround, or you could have Stereo.
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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 800 V3 72 How is the software changed? 800’s software can be updated using a computer with an RS232 connection. Updates will be posted from time-to-time on the Meridian web site at: http://www.meridian-audio.com/lib_soft2.htm Take care! There are four hardware versions of 800 in current use and you must only fit the software that suits your player. Loading the wrong software will disable the player.
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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 800 V3 79 What is Decode DD2.0? In the special ‘96’ menu (see Q. 34) there is an option for the player to decode Dolby Digital 2.0 tracks. This option is normally used in installations where the audio output is configured to pass a bitstream to the surround processor. In such cases, normally, the surround controller will be required to decode Dolby Digital or DTS. This menu item allows the player to pass the bitsream only when the track is multichannel.
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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 800 V3 85 Can I control 800 with AMX, Crestron or Phast? Yes. The 800 has a very full set of commands that allow it to be fully integrated into any control system that uses an RS232 bridge. These commands are posted on our website for all supported products at: http://www.meridian-audio.com/lib_apps.
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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 800 V3 About upgrades…? 91 What is the future upgrade path? Like its stable-mate 861, 800 is not like any other kind of Hi-Fi equipment. Both have been designed using high-performance backplanes in such a way that all the circuitry is on plug-in cards. This means everything can be upgraded, changed, evolved and so on. 800 extends this concept to using standard-sized drives.
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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 800 V3 96 Can my dealer do upgrades? Your dealer can help you with software updates. Meridian dealers are not authorised to make hardware upgrades. See an updated version of this FAQ at our website http://www.meridian-audio.com/lib_faq.htm See the referenced documents in our web-library: http://www.meridian-audio.com/m_lib.htm.