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| SURROUND SOUND FOR SPORTS IS ESSENTIAL!
If your business delivers audio to consumers, you should know that the demand for multichannel audio is quickly becoming a requirement, especially for sports. The Future Is Here Now! New technologies, new terminology, and a new emphasis on quality mean that you will face many new challenges in delivering what consumers demand. Linear Acoustic has the tools that all of the major sports broadcasters rely on to deliver clean, consistent, and compelling surround sound to listeners in a reliable and cost effective manner. Have you taken into account what the future requires? It is not a complex process, but there is a basic underlying framework that is common to all sports broadcasting. Planned and implemented properly, the system will support the demands of program producers, network operations, and consumer delivery. Understand The Requirements Below are several areas that require specific attention when designing a signal path to deliver sports surround audio from the original venue all the way to the consumer. These are also the areas that generate the most consumer complaints if not handled properly. Program Production and Upmixing/Audio Upconversion - An Easy First Step The truck rolls in at 8 AM and the broadcast is set to start at 6 PM. Will you have enough time to set up all the microphones, outboard gear, monitoring, and routing and get a high-quality 5.1 channel mix going from the start of the game? Maybe. In today's tough environments, maybe is not good enough. Upmixing can help you form a quick foundation for a discrete 5.1 channel mix using stereo sources. Not meant as a replacement for your 5.1 mix, upmixing is a starting point that will save you time and allow discrete elements to be added as they become available. Upmixing is also an excellent means for integrating non-5.1 elements into a discrete 5.1 channel mix. It is especially helpful when music beds, highlights, or interstitial material is delivered with only a two-channel soundtrack. Key Points
Loudness Control (i.e. "The LOUD commercial problem") - Main Viewer Complaint #1 One of the areas that continues to generate viewer complaints and broadcaster frustration is loudness. Program-to-program and program-to-commercial or interstitial transitions can cause objectionable shifts in loudness. For program channels that are sent to consumers using AC-3 via satellite, digital cable, and terrestrial digital television, the built-in side channel data path called Metadata has features that have the capability of helping the situation. Unfortunately, audio metadata relies completely on the accuracy and the honesty of the person or people setting the values. Should metadata be used wherever possible? Yes. Can metadata set be wrong maliciously or otherwise? Yes. Can it be missing? Yes. Do you need a safety net? Experience has shown the answer is Absolutely Yes. This does not help paths that might not have the capacity to handle metadata. This is a valid situation, and is working every day for several broadcasters. Here, it is imperative that audio processing be part of the signal chain. It is critical that this audio processing is specifically designed for use in digital television and is not re-purposed gear from other areas such as production. Key Points
The "Missing Announcer" Problem - Main Viewer Complaint #2 The next largest area of consumer complaint is that of inaudible or unintelligible dialog, and it comes mostly during stereo listening. The problem occurs for several reasons, but one of the most common is over aggressive mixing of surround channel information which is then exacerbated by the so-called "hyper-surround" features found in most stereo television sets sold today. Everyone has seen the logos on the front of these sets! While these effects can make for an interesting soundfield, they can create a disaster with content that has substantial anti-phase information, like wide stereo or two channel surround mixes. For 5.1 channel listeners, the fix is easy: turn up the center channel at home (or in the truck), but for two channel programs delivered to stereo viewers, the problem is hard to solve. How is it possible to adjust the dialog once the audio is a finished stereo program? It is possible, and it can now be done in a way that does not affect surround listeners. Key Points
Backhaul and Distribution - More Channels are Needed, and What About AC-3? Backhaul and distribution may need to handle 12 or more audio channels. Until recently, this has meant sacrificing between four and 12 Mbps from an already tight transport stream, very likely causing a severely negative impact on video quality. New systems allow up to 16 channels of audio to be carried in as little at 2 Mbps. It is important to know that there are choices, and thanks to SMPTE standards, these alternatives are compatible with most existing satellite gear. Key Points
Often considered only for emission, AC-3 (Dolby Digital) is in fact being successfully used by more networks for distribution than any other coding format. It is proven, flexible, sounds good, and contrary to incorrect opinions, survives an adequate number of generations if necessary. But multigenerational performance may not be necessary thanks to new tools that allow for seamless splicing of AC-3 streams. Producers take note: a single encode can take place as close to the original content creation as is possible, and quality preserved all the way to the consumer. Integration within broadcast facilities can be accomplished with newly developed tools designed specifically to support AC-3. Commercials and interstitial programming can even be "crash switched" into the pre-compressed AC- 3 streams, processed, then sent on to consumers with perfect audio quality. Key Points
Reference Accounts Linear Acoustic products are used by major broadcasters world-wide including ABC, ESPN, Turner, NBC, affiliate stations of ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, WB/CW, and PBS networks, and many others.
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