Linear Acoustic Moves DTV Audio Quality Upstream With AERO.qc™

LANCASTER, Pa. — April 14, 2009 — At the 2009 NAB Show this month, Linear Acoustic is introducing the new AERO.qc™ Audio Quality Controller, which combines all of the essential loudness and reformatting tools required for maintaining a consistent viewer experience, including ITU loudness measurement, loudness correction, selective upmixing, metering, and monitoring. AERO.qc is designed to simplify operational integration when deployed at the head of the program chain — during ingest, origination, or in-house production — where correction can be applied manually or automatically to maintain program consistency.

As the industry's leading provider of integrated DTV audio processing and transmission solutions, Linear Acoustic recommends the correction of level and format anomalies as soon as they can be detected in the broadcast chain in order to maintain quality and ensure program consistency. Further, the judicious application of loudness control and appropriate reformatting at the earliest possible stages can prevent undesired artifacts being unnecessarily introduced by downstream processing.

AERO.qc is part of a wider Linear Acoustic initiative to provide a comprehensive range of measurement and manipulation solutions that will allow broadcasters to correct format and level inconsistencies at the time content is being created, as it moves through the facility, or as it enters from outside sources.

Designed in conjunction with noted processing expert Leif Claesson, AERO.qc may employ simple level rescaling, industry-standard Linear Acoustic UPMAX stereo to 5.1 conversion, or optional 5.1-channel multistage AEROMAX™ loudness control. Operator intervention can range from full manual control of measurement and audio adjustment to highly automated processing that requires little oversight. Pre-processing content with AERO.qc prior to in-house distribution ensures that content conforms to on-air standards and simplifies re-exploitation strategies.

Front panel features include simple menu navigation and control of volume and speaker mutes via two navigation clusters, while a color TFT display shows ITU BS.1770 loudness metering with peak and VU ballistics along with essential metadata parameters. This allows the setting of a reference dialnorm level, metering of incoming content, and the rescaling of audio where necessary.

The integral 5.1 monitor section allows AERO.qc to operate in a standalone configuration in an ingest station application, or to support 5.1 monitor functions when used in conjunction with an on-air mixing console or other live production or post-production setups. Extensive monitor speaker calibration is provided by an included real-time analyzer (RTA), test noise generator, 12 fully adjustable parametric equalizers per channel, and speaker delay and level adjustments. An innovative loudness function maintains proper frequency response at any listening level.

AERO.qc comes standard with eight channels of AES I/O plus HD/SD-SDI I/O for processing any of the 16 possible audio channels and metadata. Options include eight-channel analog monitor outputs with inputs for remote fader, mute and return-to-reference controls and indicators, Dolby® E/Digital (AC-3) decoding, and HD-SDI de-embedding and re-embedding. A hardware remote volume control is also available.

"In response to the needs of our clients we are expanding the Linear Acoustic product line to address loudness and format consistency issues where they first appear in upstream processes," said Tim Carroll, founder and president of Linear Acoustic. "The AERO.qc is an essential tool for maintaining audio quality through program production, editing, post-production, and ingest."

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About Linear Acoustic

Linear Acoustic, a Telos company, is the leading authority in loudness control and upmixing solutions for digital television. The company designs and manufactures the award-winning AERO range of audio processing solutions and licenses key technologies such as UPMAX 5.1-channel upmixing to OEM partners. The company participates in standards work within the AES, IEEE, BKSTS, and EBU; is a member of the ATSC; and is a sustaining member of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. Linear Acoustic is also proud to have provided its UPMAX:neo™ 5.1-channel upmixer for NBC's coverage of the Beijing Summer Games. More information is available at www.linearacoustic.com.

ENDS