France's new national HD terrestrial broadcaster, Television Numerique Terrestre (TNT HD), has chosen the Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby Digital platforms for its HD content's surround sound and stereo audio needs.
TNT HD launched its expanded HD services in late October. Preliminary offerings, so far, include: TF1 HD, France 2 HD, ARTE HD, Canal+ HD, and M6 HD.
Dolby Digital Plus (based on Dolby Digital technology) was specifically developed to adapt to the changes in future delivery, while retaining backward compatibility with existing Dolby Digital 5.1-channel home theater systems. Dolby Labs said its Dolby Digital Plus works best for limited-bandwidth environments such as terrestrial broadcasts.
By December, the HD forum specification in France will require that HD-ready sets sold anywhere in the country must include Dolby Digital Plus and High Efficiency AAC audio. (Dolby recently announced a new technology, Dolby Pulse, which is based on the HE AAC standard.)
