Better audio in a NextGen world

Quite a bit has changed since the original ATSC 1.0 standard using Dolby AC-3 was released in 1995. That codec had one job: get audio from the input of the broadcast encoder to the output of the consumer decoder. At that time, digital signal processing power was limited and consumer decoders could do little more than simply decode audio. ATSC 3.0, which specifies Dolby AC-4, arrives at a time when processing power is fairly abundant in consumer devices which are already supporting advanced audio features like Dolby Atmos. Following the traditional Dolby approach, much of the time-consuming and heavy processing work is done in the AC-4 encoder enabling the decoder to remain more lightweight and use available processing power instead for things like virtualization (i.e., making two speakers sound like more than just two speakers), managing loudness, and applying dialog enhancement (Voice +). There are also additional features that can provide better Audio Description, alternate languages and even selectable announcers. All of this adds up to a more flexible system that makes it easier for broadcasters to deploy spectacular audio experiences.

 

This presentation will review the audio parts of the ATSC 3.0 standard, describe what is possible at the station side as well as the consumer side today, and explore how it is expandable to support additional features as content and infrastructure evolve.