AXON Synapse enhanced by Linear Acoustic

01.27.2009

AXON has announced that its modular Synapse system will be enhanced with Linear Acoustic's DTV audio loudness management and stereo-to-5.1 upmix algorithms.

AXON will incorporate the AEROMAX-5.1 channel loudness and dynamic range control algorithm, and the upMAX upmixing algorithm with AutoMAX-II, into its Synapse modular system on two different platforms. The enhancements will be on view at NAB later on this year.

The new functionality within Synapse will protect viewers from loudness shifts and loss of surround sound. The built-in loudness control, upmixing, and metadata control, resulting from the AutoMAX-II integration, make it the ideal choice for ensuring a high-quality, seamless surround sound experience for viewers. Control of all parameters will be available through AXON's free-of-charge Cortex monitoring and control software.

"We are very pleased with the opportunity to incorporate Linear Acoustic's expertise into Synapse," said AXON CTO Peter Schut. "These units will be a welcome expansion to Synapse's audio for video handling. We have been very successful with incorporating Dolby functionality into our Synapse, and we are sure that these new products will be beneficial to our customers' DTV applications."

The new Synapse unit will accept four pairs of PCM audio to handle two-channel to 5.1-channel audio programming and a bypass input. Multiband, multistage loudness control and selectable upmixing can be applied to the input audio, resulting in smooth, consistent audio that is 5.1 channels at all times. Another Synapse card will perform the same functions in the embedded SD, HD, or 3Gb/s domain. A full-time LtRt or LoRo downmix version of the main program is provided as the fourth AES output pair. Metadata is accepted as a standard RS-485 serial input for control of upmixing and processing functions.