bobsobi

It depends on how the DVD's menu is structured. A few DVD-As I have will autoplay, but most require that you choose the program, which means you have to engage the nanny-feature of putting the car in Park and applying the parking brake (absolutely ridiculous and infuriating!!). This, in addition to the downmixing flaw, is what compelled me to create 5.1 DTS-CDs. They load faster, too.

I don't really mind at this point, since Lexus corporate cut me a check for $1,600 for my trouble.

CygnusX1

I think I'm pretty late to this thread, but I just test drove a 2009 LS460 with the ML system. I brought along my Acura ELS demo DVD that they give away with their cars to test the sound of the ML system. The ML read the disc and played everything on the disc....but the music didn't sound right, especially the vocals.
What's weird is that it sounded like it was converting everything to stereo like some people here have said. When it got to track 21 where all the discrete channels are played one at a time, only the front left and front right channels had any output, the center and rear channels were silent. I tried the DSP surround settings both on and off with the same result. We tried a 2007 LS460 with the same results, but the weird thing was that an actual picture came up on the NAV screen where it didn't come up on the 2009?
Funny enough, there was an Acura TL right there and the disc sounded perfect on the ELS system...even though in my opinion the ML seemed to have a cleaner and more pleasing sound.
I went to a Lexus dealer and tried the disc on a new 2013 ES350 ML system and it just skipped and refused to play.
So now I'm totally confused, I really liked the 2009 LS460 but if it can't play DVD-A then I don't want the car. Same goes for a new ES350 which was my other option. I wanted to try it on a new LS but the Lexus dealer was so annoying I just left.
Am I reading correctly that the 2010 LS fixed that problem? Has anyone ever tested an Acura disc in one of these or verified that all the discrete channels work?
Thanks

bobsobi

Based on my experience, the 2010 ML was able to correctly reproduce discrete 5.1 high-resolution MLP/LPCM, and sounded damn fine while doing it, at least in the LX I auditioned. So, I'd say the entire 2010 ML line should be DVD-A compatible, but the ML system can sound quite different from one model to the next. I'd assume the flagship LS would also sound fine, but I'd be surprised if the 2010 ES received the serious equalization improvements it would need to correct the FR flaws of my 2009 ES.

Anatoliy

I have the same problem with my 2008 IS350 ML Sound System. DTS and/or DD would play fine but uncompressed multi channels stream won't play in rear speakers only front ones. Went to the dealer no help at all! another problem I get is with DTS-CDs created by DVD Audio Extractor they would not play properly I can hear booming (corrupted) sound and not CD-TEXT.

Any one knows how to fix DVD-A play back and how to burn properly DTS-CDs for lexus ML sound system to support CD-TEXT and corrupted sound???

thanks in advance!

djpauly28

Just a heads up. I bought a 2014 IS 350 F Sport with Mark Levison Audio. I tried a variety of discs and audio/video files in different formats. If you disable Auto Play and turn the Mark Levison Surround setting OFF, the DVD player WILL play the 5.1 Dolby Digital surround program on most commercially purchased DVD-Audio discs. It will not play the high res DVD-Audio files or any SACD or DTS encoded surround discs. You need to load most discs with the parking brake engaged to see the audio options and start disc playback. When you release the parking brake, the audio will continue to play, and you can navigate through the tracks with the regular CD/DVD controls. Here's a list of what I tried and results, for your reference:

Commercial Discs:
CD: YES
SACD: NO
DualDisc DVD side with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround: YES
DVD with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround: YES
DVD with 24/96 PCM Audio: YES
DVD with DTS Surround Audio: NO (even though it appears to play, nothing plays thru speakers)
CD with DTS Surround Audio: NO

Burned DVD:
DVD with DVD Audio files only: NO
CD with DTS Surround Audio: NO
DVD-ROM with FLAC files: NO
DVD-ROM with WAV files: NO
DVD-ROM with iTunes M4A Audio files: YES
DVD-ROM with Mp3s: YES
DVD-ROM with Mp4 Video files: NO
DVD-ROM with MOV Video files: NO

TheForce

You can play more formats from USB:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...newer-mls.html

nsaldanh

I burned a DVD-Video disc with 24/48 Khz PCM material and it plays on a 2014 LS