SAN FRANCISCO—Peacock will stream Telemundo’s live Spanish-language coverage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos with Dolby AC-4.

“As the leader in live sports streaming, Peacock is known for our unmatched reliability and quality,” said David Bohunek, senior vice president of global video engineering at NBCUniversal. “Fútbol fans will love watching Telemundo’s FIFA World Cup 2026 coverage on Peacock in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos with Dolby AC-4—it’ll be a truly stunning viewing experience they can’t get anywhere else.”

A joint team of engineers from NBCUniversal and Dolby Laboratories worked together for more than a year to fine-tune how Peacock brings Dolby Vision to live sports, combining Dolby’s latest streaming tools with NBCUniversal’s expertise in native HDR production.

All 104 matches will be delivered in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos with Dolby AC-4, a first for the event. Peacock’s presentation of Telemundo’s World Cup coverage is also believed to be the first commercial deployment of Dolby AC-4 by a video streamer.

Dolby AC-4 delivers clear sound with up to 50% greater efficiency than traditional codecs, enabling delivery of Dolby Atmos at the highest possible fidelity.

“There is no bigger stage in sports, and now Peacock viewers will experience every moment the way it was meant to be seen and heard," said John Couling, senior vice president of entertainment at Dolby Laboratories. "From the energy of the crowd to the emotion on the field, every goal scored, Dolby helps bring fans closer to the experience."

More information is available on the company’s website.

LAS VEGAS—In a notable effort to improve the quality of audio in OTA broadcasts, Dolby Laboratories and TV Azteca have announced a project to bring Dolby Atmos to free-to-air television in Mexico over ATSC 1.0 transmissions.

The two companies said the distribution of immersive audio within the current ATSC 1.0 transmission standard marks a significant step forward in the evolution of live television and opens the door for other broadcasters to make similar improvements to audio quality of OTA broadcasts.

Those involved in the project said immersive audio has a particularly powerful appeal in live sports events, where sound is an essential part of the emotion. With Dolby Atmos, sound moves above and all around, placing viewers at the center of the action and making every game more thrilling and memorable, Dolby said.

“Our work with TV Azteca represents a decisive step in bringing immersive experiences to mass audiences in Mexico,” said Pankaj Kedia, vice president of Americas, commercial partnerships at Dolby Laboratories. “Imagine watching a game from your living room and hearing where every cheer in the stands comes from, the sound of the ball, and the voice of the commentator moving around you. That is what Dolby Atmos makes possible today in Mexico.”

Pedro Manuel Carmona Ortiz, CTO of TV Azteca added that “this project with Dolby Laboratories marks a technological milestone, as well as a turning point for the industry, which would not have been possible without the support and collaboration of our strategic partners in this journey.”

In addition to Dolby, those include Imagine Communications and Ateme, a global provider in video compression and distribution solutions.

“We are collaborating with Dolby to demonstrate that innovation in audio can transform free-to-air television,” added Pedro Carmona Ortiz. “Our goal is to bring people closer to the real emotion of every story, with a quality that was previously reserved for premium environments.”

The announcement was made in Las Vegas, during the 2026 NAB Show, where Dolby, Imagine and Ateme are exhibiting.

LAS VEGAS—Dolby Laboratories said NBCUniversal’s Peacock will be the first streaming platform to embrace its full suite of advanced picture and sound innovations.

Peacock began streaming “Sunday Night Football” in Dolby Atmos immersive audio last September and said it is extending the availability of Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos to live National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball games throughout 2026. Although the announcement didn't include the 2026 Winter Olympics (Feb. 6–22), Comcast and select broadcasters aired the 2024 Paris Summer Games in Dolby Atmos immersive audio and HDR.

Peacock is also the first streamer to announce its commitment to support Dolby Vision 2 and Dolby AC-4, anticipated to launch later this year, according to Dolby. Unveiled at IFA 2025, Dolby Vision 2 is what Dolby describes as a “groundbreaking evolution” of its industry-leading picture quality innovation for televisions.

“Building on the success of Dolby Vision, Dolby Vision 2 is designed to meet the evolving expectations of today’s viewers and unlock the most out of your television,” the company said in its announcement. “From helping solve the debate on whether the picture is ‘too dark’ to delivering a more cinematic experience without distracting judder or soap-opera effects, Dolby Vision 2 delivers a more authentic, captivating picture—without compromise.”

Dolby AC-4 is that company’s most advanced and efficient audio codec to date, delivering crystal-clear sound with up to 50% greater efficiency than traditional codecs, the company said. Dolby AC-4 offers new personalization and dialog enhancement features and unlocks the highest audio fidelity possible while using a fraction of the bandwidth of traditional codecs.

“Peacock is raising the bar for what streaming entertainment can be with Dolby,” said John Couling, senior vice president of entertainment at Dolby Laboratories. “This partnership reflects our vision to push the boundaries of live sports and entertainment, delivering experiences that truly stand apart. With Dolby, Peacock stands as the premier destination for viewers who expect nothing less than exceptional entertainment at home.”

Added David Bohunek, senior vice president of global video engineering at NBCUniversal: “We deliver the most compelling content with the highest quality experience and unparalleled reliability on Peacock. Our partnership with Dolby ensures that whether our subscribers are streaming a thrilling playoff game, the latest Universal blockbuster or a critically acclaimed Peacock Original, they're experiencing it exactly as creators intended—with breathtaking picture and immersive sound that brings every moment to life.”

PHILADELPHIA—NBC Sports will present tonight’s NFL Kickoff Game between the ’25 Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys on Peacock in Dolby Atmos immersive audio.

The broadcaster also plans to stream weekly regular-season “Sunday Night Football” games in Dolby Atmos, a first for any NFL streamer.

“Peacock is the leader in live streaming because we’ve been focused since day one on providing our customers with an innovative, high-quality viewing experience that pushes the industry forward,” said Patrick Miceli, chief technology officer for Global Streaming & NBCUniversal Media Group.

“Peacock being the first streamer to support Dolby Atmos for NFL games adds to a list of sports streaming accomplishments that we’re very proud of, including our award-winning Olympics hub, record-setting NFL exclusives, all that we have coming for the NBA, and much more.”

The news follows Gray Media’s Super Bowl broadcast from eight of its NextGen TV Fox affiliates in February, which offered enhanced coverage of the championship game. The stations launched some combination of Dolby Vision high dynamic range (HDR), HDR 10+ and Dolby Atmos prior to the game, including WVUE in New Orleans, the game’s host city.

More information is available on the Dolby website.

Sports broadcasting is undergoing a profound transformation. Evolving audience expectations and technological advancements are making immersive, accessible, and personalized audio the new benchmark for fan experiences. Unlike several other iterations of early broadcast innovation, like the emergence of HD, 4K, and HDR, the technology that enables audiences to experience Next Generation Audio (NGA) is already in the hands of billions.

More than 3 billion devices, in fact, from laptops and smartphones to tablets, headphones, and home entertainment systems, are NGA-ready. Technologies like Dolby Atmos are widely available across consumer devices, yet in many cases, their full potential remains untapped by broadcasters.

Early Adopters are Pushing Audio Frontiers
Several recent deployments of NGA have demonstrated its real-world impact in live broadcast environments. Landmark trials with Serial ADM (S-ADM) and the emerging SMPTE 2110-41 standard during the Paris Games enabled France TV to deliver Dolby Atmos audio with personalized language options, all within a single bitstream.

That service remains on air today, delivering deftly personalized audio and setting an example for other broadcasters (not just in sports) eager to implement similar NGA workflows for deeper immersion and customization. Similar deployments are starting to take off in Brazil, which is rapidly adopting the ATSC 3.0 standard as a de facto broadcast delivery method.

These aren’t just technical enhancements, they’re foundational shifts enabling a range of exciting new features that enrich the viewer experience. Multilanguage support breaks down barriers, making sports accessible to a global audience. Meanwhile, enhanced accessibility via more nuanced audio description (AD) features ensures that everyone, regardless of visual impairment, can fully engage with the action without being forced to listen in mono or stereo. This means that some of the audiences set to benefit the most from NGA may be those who rely primarily, or even exclusively, on their sense of hearing.

Evolving Standards, Real-World Implications
SMPTE 2110-41 introduces a flexible way to send audio-related data, like metadata or subtitles, alongside audio and video in live IP workflows, which enables NGA to be in environments where low delay and accurate timing are crucial. Meanwhile, S-ADM, which is an open, standardized metadata format, leaps one of the final hurdles in personalized audio delivery.

Now, broadcasters can dynamically adapt the audio on a program-by-program basis. For example, a soccer match can be produced with a 5.1.4 immersive bed mix, often referred to as the “international” or “clean” feed, with multiple individual dialogs in different languages. Commercials, meanwhile, can be delivered as a standard 5.1 mix. Thanks to metadata carried with the stream, downstream receivers or decoders automatically interpret the viewer’s preferences and render the audio accordingly, ensuring a seamless and personalized listening experience.

The industry win here isn’t just technical. For the first time, major players who provide the final emission codecs have aligned behind a single, open metadata standard versus relying on proprietary solutions. This moment of convergence unlocks enormous value for broadcasters, producers, and audiences alike.

Putting Viewers in Control
Audiences now expect experiences that reflect their preferences, needs, and identities. Sports audio is beginning to lead the charge in offering choice and inclusion, setting a benchmark for other producers in live events and entertainment broadcasting. NGA-driven innovation is enabling viewers to select commentary (and even the individual commentators) in their preferred language without compromising the immersive or surround sound experience.

Alongside a host of accessibility benefits delivering better dialogue intelligibility and AD services with full surround or immersive audio, broadcasters deepen connection and elevate overall quality with more sophisticated audio that brings fans closer to the action.

Crucially, object-based audio makes this flexibility possible. Traditional 5.1 or stereo workflows constrained the number of available channels, forcing broadcasters to make hard decisions about which elements of the audio experience to prioritize. With the ongoing advancements in Next Generation Audio, content creators should be motivated to deliver multiple language tracks within the same stream, allowing for personalization at scale without compromising the artistic intent of the mix.

This freedom will power richer, more engaging, and more inclusive experiences that reflect the diversity of today’s audiences. Broadcasters who want to win the future of sports audio have it all to play for — the technology is there, it’s time to give the viewers what they deserve.

In technological terms, a trend can have several different interpretations or even stages. It can be applied to an emerging audio technology that is not yet fully mature or adopted. Once uptake is underway a trend becomes current, as an increasing number of broadcasters begin to follow the initial adopters until that particular technology is firmly established in the market.

This does not happen immediately, which means an innovation can keep appearing at NAB Show for several years and seem like it is not that new at all anymore.

The reality is that implementation often takes a long time, as broadcasters’ replacement cycles or plans for new facilities come around and they get ready to install what are still the latest systems. This point is illustrated by Costa Nikols, strategy adviser for media and entertainment at Telos Alliance, who quotes Devoncroft Associates research showing that upgrading the audio infrastructure, which had been well outside the “Top 10” of broadcast priorities, was now in the “Top 5.”

Changing Priorities
“There’s a lot of investment going into improving audio quality, incorporating Next Generation Audio [NGA],” he says, referring to an umbrella term to define immersive and personalized audio experiences. “That also brings all these immersive experiences and customization and personalization features to the table, but how long is that going to take?

“I think we’re just at the beginning of something that’s going to be exciting and wonderful,” Nikols adds. “But if you look at the early adopters, it’s generally the national broadcasters that have adopted SMPTE ST 2110 and 2022-6 initially. Slowly, it will make its way out to the station groups and Tier 2 and Tier 3 broadcasters.”

The most visible NGA system is Dolby Atmos immersive audio. Atmos is specified by many of the leading streaming platforms, including Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, but it’s not yet a standard part of linear broadcast transmissions. But, as Nikols points out, there is a growing market for enhanced sound that goes beyond TV and into mobile and other areas.

“Around the time of last year’s NAB Show, the number of devices that supported Dolby Atmos was 1.5 billion,” he says. “The most recent figure is over 3 billion, so it pretty much doubled by the beginning of this year. But the market, as far as the content providers are concerned, is not really delivering on the capabilities of the consumer electronics that are already deployed.”

Forward-Looking Feature
Professional equipment is also ready for the wider rollout of NGA and immersive systems, with all leading mixing console manufacturers accommodating technologies such as Dolby Atmos on their new and current desks.

“Global events often incorporate NGA formats like Atmos as they tend to push the technological boundaries,” Christian Struck, senior product manager for audio infrastructure at Lawo, says. “NGA has been a topic of interest for over a decade and we have integrated these capabilities into our systems, both physical and virtual. There is a gradual increase in demand for immersive audio and it remains a forward-looking feature for people exploring advanced audio workflows. Real-time metadata transport as defined in SMPTE 2110-41 will also help push this.”

Henry Goodman, director of product management at Calrec Audio, agrees most audio consoles now on the market enable immersive mixing, but does not see it as a priority for many viewers.

“Whether the public is taking advantage [of what immersive programming is available] is still quite a big question,” he says. “And the vast majority of distributed content is still not immersive.”

A parallel situation exists with the adoption of Audio Over IP (AoIP), Goodman adds, noting that Calrec is still selling consoles that are not SMPTE ST 2110-compliant.

“AoIP is getting towards being the norm, but it’s not across the board yet,” he says. “And you’ve also got different types of AoIP. On smaller systems, people are using Dante for connectivity and while it’s IP, it’s not a 2110 infrastructure.

“For larger, major investments people are certainly building AoIP infrastructures, but there’s still some way to go [because] if you’ve got a lot of investment in baseband audio and video, it’s not a slam dunk that when you upgrade one of those studios you would necessarily choose to go IP because of the impact it has on the rest of the system,” Goodman says.

The Importance of Having an IP Backbone
Phil Owens, senior sales engineer for Wheatstone, agrees that although old technologies continue to play a part in audio installations, there is now more of a swing towards newer formats.

“While legacy equipment still needs to be incorporated, the backbone of pretty much all new systems will be IP,” he says. “The flexibility of an IP network is the primary driver for this. As full 2110 networks become more widespread, stations are adapting the IP approach even if they don’t implement 2110 right away. Having a basic IP infrastructure keeps that door open.”

IP also plays a key role in remote and distributed production, which, again, have been a consideration for over five years and, after getting a boost during the pandemic, are growing in scope and reach.

“Distributed production is not just about saving costs, it’s about utilizing the facilities that you’ve got more effectively and more efficiently,” Calrec’s Goodman observes. “And we’ve had quite a lot of discussions with broadcasters about them widening their content offering with more niche-type sports because, by looking at doing things with remote production in a more distributed way, they can then justify covering sports that they would never have been able to justify covering before.”

Lawo’s Struck agrees that the rise of remote production—or REMI (remote integration)—models are another significant trend. “These centralize resources while enabling distributed production across multiple locations,” he says. “This approach offers flexibility in how equipment is bundled and deployed. Automated productions also remain a consistent focus. They are particularly well-suited for news programs and scripted productions, though they are not applicable to more complex, dynamic productions.”

Of all current trends, artificial intelligence (AI) will have a high profile at NAB Show, with initiatives such as the PropelME startup hub, showcasing companies using the technology to change how the broadcast, media and entertainment market operates. While most on the audio side of broadcasting agree AI will make an impact on sound, the view is that—like other technologies before it—this is not happening quite yet.

“When we talk about AI, sometimes it’s just confused with automation,” Nikols says. “Automation technologies have been around for a while and they allow you to have complex workflows with lots of ‘if-then’ decisions.

“And for the most part AI is that,” he added. “But Generative AI coming into the game allows some really cool stuff to happen with auto-mixing and can determine what content really needs to come up and how to adjust for all the other different channels that don’t necessarily need to be part of the main audio all the time.”

As familiar as some—or all—of this year’s audio trends are, they are playing an important role in shaping the future of broadcasting, even if their full implementation is not happening just yet.

PHILADELPHIA and SAN FRANCISCO.—In a first for Super Bowl coverage, Comcast and Dolby have announced that Fox’s coverage of the Super Bowl on Feb. 9 will be delivered in both Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos.

The experience will be available to Xfinity TV customers as part of Comcast’s new Enhanced 4K offering on X1 and on the Xfinity Stream App.

“Enhanced 4K” provides customers with an unmatched viewing experience with the best picture and audio quality delivered to the home in the fastest way possible, according to Comcast, so the action customers see in their living room is only seconds behind the game as it unfolds in New Orleans.

“The Super Bowl is another example of how Xfinity is redefining the sports-viewing experience through innovations in our network and with the latest innovations from partners like Dolby,” Comcast Vice President, Sports Entertainment, Connectivity and Platforms Vito Forlenza said. “With the clearest picture quality and the most-realistic audio possible, we’re offering customers a viewing experience they can’t get anywhere else for the biggest live sporting event of the year. Plus, we’re delivering it as fast as possible over our state-of-the-art network so customers can feel like they’re witnessing every exciting moment at the same time as the fans in the Superdome.”

“Dolby and Comcast share a long history of delivering unparalleled, first-of-their-kind experiences to fans, and today marks another milestone in our journey to transform the future of live sports,” said Jason Power, vice president, AV ecosystem, Dolby Laboratories. “Together, we continue to raise the bar by offering Xfinity customers an immersive experience that brings the sights and sounds of the game to life like never before.”

In another first, Comcast also announced that Xfinity customers can also enjoy this 4K viewing experience with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos through the Xfinity Stream app, which is available on compatible Dolby-enabled streaming devices and TVs.

First launched for last year’s Paris Summer Olympics, Comcast explained that “Enhanced 4K” is a new quality standard to live sports delivered in 4K on X1. It leverages Comcast’s network technology to deliver the best-possible 4K video, ultra-low latency, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos.

Comcast also noted that Enhanced 4K joins a host of other immersive and interactive features on X1. These features include: multiview, where customers can watch up to four events at once on the same screen; aggregated sports hubs, which make finding any game fast and easy; and Odds Zone, a companion experience where fans can watch and wager with leading sportsbooks directly on TV.

NBCUniversal has released new details of its 4K HDR coverage plans for the Paris Olympics with the announcement that USA Network’s 24/7 coverage of the games will be available in 4K HDR with Dolby Atmos audio and that it will be providing a record 400+ hours of 4K content. 

Partners exhibiting USA Network’s 4K programming include Altice, Comcast, Cox, DirecTV/DirecTV Stream, Dish, Fubo, Verizon, YouTube TV, and select participating NCTC members, NBCU reported. 

Olympic programming on USA Network will focus on Team USA and team sports like basketball, soccer, beach volleyball, volleyball, and water polo. Other sports like track and field, 3x3 basketball, cycling, and swimming will also be featured on USA in 4K.

Programming will be 24/7 beginning at 8 a.m. ET on July 24th and end at 5:30 p.m. ET on August 11th.

NBCU also noted that its Olympics UHD programming provides pictures in ultra-high resolution (4K) that is four times that of current HD and that its High Dynamic Range (HDR) video will provide viewers with wider contrast and a richer range of color. NBCUniversal’s UHD coverage will also include Dolby Atmos, which provides a fully immersive overhead surround-sound experience (on certain distributor platforms).

To watch this UHD coverage, viewers will need a television and set top box/streaming device that supports 4K HDR.

More information on how to view the Olympics is available here. 

LOUISVILLE, Ky.—In another sign that broadcasters are finally using NextGen TV broadcasts to offer viewers new features instead of simply simulcasting existing feeds, Gray Television has announced several key initiatives to advance the NextGen TV transition and bring more of the benefits of this new standard to viewers in Gray’s local communities. 

In the runup to the Kentucky Derby, Gray announced that its NBC affiliate WAVE(TV) in Louisville, Kentucky, became the first affiliate of a major network to broadcast all of its programming using High Dynamic Range (HDR) with Dolby Vision and immersive sound using Dolby Atmos. 

The “always on” feature ensures that all of WAVE(TV)’s local and network content, including more than 30 hours of Gray’s live, local coverage from Churchill Downs starting with WAVE(TV)’s local morning news at 5:00am on Monday April 29 through the late evening news at 11:00pm on Saturday May 4 and including the key horse races in between, will all be in HDR with immersive sound.

“With HDR and immersive sound, WAVE(TV)’s programming will pop. Viewers will immediately notice the enhanced contrast between the brightest and darkest colors on the screen,” said John O’Brien, WAVE(TV)’s general manager.

Gray also announced that in Las Vegas, Gray’s Fox affiliate KVVU(TV) was the first commercial television station to launch as a NextGen Virtual Broadband IP Channel in December 2023. Earlier this month, KVVU(TV) became the first Fox affiliate and first NextGen Virtual Channel to broadcast its entire programming schedule in HDR with Dolby Vision, again bringing the rich colors and vivid contrasts of HDR to viewers in Las Vegas.

“For many years, broadcasters have been promising to use NextGen TV to bring superior picture quality and immersive sound to viewers. Gray is proud to be among a handful of leading broadcasters who are now delivering on that promise. Our stations in Louisville and Las Vegas are just the beginning of Gray’s efforts to launch more of its NextGen TV stations with these innovative, consumer-pleasing features throughout the summer and into the fall,” said Pat LaPlatney, Gray’s president and co-CEO.

In addition to advanced picture and sound quality, Gray also is using NextGen to offer new interactive and streaming services for viewers. 

In Las Vegas and Kansas City, Gray’s stations are using NextGen TV and the RUN3 Platform as a portal to access Gray’s live 24/7 local news-focused national streaming service, Local News Live. With a simple click of the remote, viewers watching KVVU(TV) in Las Vegas or KCTV(TV) in Kansas City on a NextGen television set can access Local News Live. Gray’s stations in Las Vegas and Kansas City are the first to use NextGen as a portal to access a free, live streaming news service providing a new public service to viewers in Gray’s markets.

“With NextGen TV and the RUN3 Platform, Gray is able to bring Local News Live to the millions of viewers in Gray’s markets who have already purchased or will soon purchase a NextGen TV set,” said Sandy Breland, Gray’s COO.

“In the coming months Gray anticipates it will use NextGen TV and the RUN3 Platform to offer more innovative and interactive features for its viewers, including start-over, interactive gaming channels, and much more,” offered Rob Folliard, Gray’s senior vice president and currently the chairperson of NextGen TV consortium PearlTV. “With the strong penetration of NextGen TV capable television sets in the country, we expect consumers will increasingly recognize how NextGen TV will improve their experiences even more than our industry’s transition from analog to High Definition fifteen years ago.”

NEW YORK—A special restoration team was assembled for the remastering of the six seasons—94 episodes in all—of “Sex and the City” (SATC), which was completed in UHD HDR Dolby and Dolby Atmos.

The remastered series is now available on HBO Max in Dolby Surround, a direct render from the Dolby Atmos mix.

Not only did the restoration team go back to the original Kodak Super 16mm film and two-inch analog tape to rebuild the series from scratch, but it also had to do so amid the COVID-19 pandemic. HBO decided to remaster the series in 2019.

When the audio team started the project, members were together in the HBO offices. However, once the pandemic began, team members worked from home, making the project a bit trickier. 

The audio team needed support to capture the true essence of the original audio recordings while also enhancing them for a Dolby Atmos experience. The team persevered, creating new workflows with the help of Nugen Audio’s Halo Upmix software, which allowed them to convert the old SATC stereo mixes into an immersive format.

“The mono and stereo stems from the original tapes of the series provided reasonable mix group separation, but at the same time presented some challenges for an immersive environment,” said Glen Schricker, HBO director of post-production sound.

“Despite the age of the show and what we had to work with, we were able to make legitimate Dolby Atmos mixes from those stems with Halo Upmix in our toolkit,” said Schricker.

“I’m a huge fan of presets, and Nugen knocked it out of the park with the hard center preset in Halo Upmix,” he said. “It became our go-to background starting point.

“We ‘surgically’ extracted as many hard effects as possible from the original BG/FX stereo stems, yielding new FX objects for Atmos panning and cleaner stereo backgrounds for 7.1.2 upmixing," he continued. "Occasionally, we would leave behind certain hard effects in stereo stems knowing Halo Upmix would appropriately direct those sounds to the center channel, which would leave the upmixed ambience intact and immersive.”

Halo Upmix assisted in deciding when and how to go from stereo to surround and helped in making the decision about what to put in the height, he said.

“A huge part of what I love about Halo Upmix is that when you bring something from stereo to 7.1.2, it doesn’t do crazy things. It behaves in a very natural sort of way,” said Schricker. “Depending on how you’re adjusting parameters and what preset you start with, it’s not just making things obnoxiously immersive―and with backgrounds in particular, that’s very important.”

Re-recording mixer Ryan McCambridge, who freelanced on the project, agreed, adding that Halo Unmix is a helpful tool, especially when there needs to be an awareness of the downmixing.

“Halo Upmix helped us keep control of how things translate when you are going to downmix,” said McCambridge. “It was just as important for us to hear it in stereo as in Atmos because not everyone has Dolby Atmos speakers at home and will ultimately listen in stereo. Halo Upmix creates an upmix that can be folded down to stereo without losing any sonic integrity.”

Re-recording mixer Aiden Ramos appreciated how Halo Upmix transformed the older audio that he organized and premixed. 

“I was basically taking the stems and lining up all the audio to picture, organizing everything properly,” he said. “I was the one separating things into the correct environments―such as the background noises in Carrie’s apartment or in a bar scene. New York City background noise itself is basically like another character, so there were a lot of stems to go through and organize. Using Halo Upmix was super useful for all the backgrounds, just to get things to sit in the right place and feel immersive.”

More information is available on the Nugen Audio website.

PENNSAUKEN, N.J. —Orban Labs has announced the availability of Orban AtmoSphere, its Dolby Atmos upmixer, designed to deliver a consistent surround sound experience. 

The Orban AtmoSphere automatically upmixes any legacy content, including mono, stereo and 5.1 audio to Dolby Atmos in real-time. 

“Our Orban AtmoSphere upmixer enables television broadcasters to provide their viewers with  consistent immersive audio programming without image collapses caused by legacy non-Atmos  content.” said David Day, president of Orban, which is a leader in audio processing for TV, radio and internet broadcasting. “The U.S. patent-protected AtmoSphere technology also alleviates the costs of remixing legacy content to accommodate Dolby Atmos mixes.” 

Dolby Atmos is a technology that adds overhead action effects as well as subtle atmospheric  and object-based locational effects that places the listener in a '3D sphere of sound’ for a more realistic sense of acoustic space than provided by traditional surround 7.1 systems. Orban  AtmoSphere is available as standalone hardware and on the Ross softGear platform, the company said. 

More information is available at www.orban.com, or via email (info@orban.com) and phone (856-719-9900). 

INGLEWOOD, Calif.—The NFL Media headquarters—a state-of-the-art IP media broadcast production center that opened less than a year and a half ago—leverages one of the world’s largest Dante audio networks in the world with some 18,000 Dante connections as well as connections to 31 direct fiber audio locations at SoFi Stadium here and six local direct fiber audio locations.

The ultramodern IP-based 4K and HDR-capable facility, home to NFL Network, NFL.com, NFL RedZone, the NFL app and other departments, is also connected to all 30 NFL stadiums via 10-Gbps interfaces and all 32 NFL practice facilities. 

Currently the facility, which employs more than 1,000 people, houses five main stages supported by numerous production control rooms, audio control rooms and workstations, has a post-production operation with 18 high-end edit rooms, two audio-sweetening suites and 90 VDI thin-client desktop editors accessible from anywhere in the facility or remotely, said Bruce Goldfeder, NFL Media vice president of broadcast engineering.

At the moment, NFL Media produces 1080p60 broadcasts with Dolby 5.1 audio, but the facility’s infrastructure can support 4K60 with Dolby Atmos 7.2.4 audio and is capable of scaling to future formats, including 8K and HDR.

To bring all of this together, the facility relies on nearly 18,000 Dante audio network connections, 16,000 MADI connections and more than 2,000 Riedel intercom channels. The Dante audio-over-IP platform enables audio and control data to be transported via standard 1GB Ethernet networks. More than 3,500 products from 500 manufacturers support Dante, which replaces point-to-point analog and digital connections with software-based routing, making it possible to send audio channels anywhere on the network.

For audio production, the various NFL Media studios are equipped with a mix of 11 System T Dante-enabled broadcast production audio consoles from Solid State Logic.  

“This is one of the largest, if not the largest, Dante installations in the world, and the NFL team picked SSL in part because we offer the most Dante-integrated broadcast production consoles available,” said Phil Wagner, senior vice president at Solid State Logic. “The Dante ecosystem is huge, and it continues to grow because Dante is incredibly solid, flexible and secure.”

The facility also uses Dante Domain Manager to secure audio networks and allow for seamless expansion of Dante systems over any network infrastructure. DDM is a complete network management software that enables user authentication, role-based security and audit capabilities for Dante networks.

“The Dante network and tools like Dante Domain Manager make it easy for us to quickly and easily reconfigure our audio workflows to bring together the equipment and people needed for any production,” said Goldfeder. “We needed a solid infrastructure for the productions we’re creating today, and we need to know that the system we have in place can grow with us and accommodate our future needs. Dante offers that level of scalability and flexibility.”

More information is available on the Audinate and Solid State Logic websites.

Immersive sound for broadcasting is all about spatial orientation, sonic separation and hoping that the listener can reproduce some dimensional sound through speakers or headphones. Clearly the sound mixer can’t control the sound ecosystem or how the consumer listens to content, but it seems that immersive sound reproduction is a moving target and certainly creating a compelling sound mix that may well be heard over speakers, soundbars and headphones is no easy task.

Horizontal Layers
The problems often begin with overly conservative sound design, but as sound practitioners we must start somewhere and build forward. Typically, sound design looks at audio as horizontal layers—for example, immersive sound proposes an ear-level horizontal layer of sound and a stratus of sound above the head of the listener. NHK, the national broadcaster in Japan, has even recommended that there should be sound projected from below ear level.

When immersive sound was initially contemplated and tested it was reasoned that these above sounds should be captured and placed into the upper sound zones and reproduced by the height speakers. Even basic sound design principles would suggest that the sound mix should be what you would hear as if you were there. Horizontal layers of sound are fine for basic immersive sound production and academic consideration, but if the “real” sounds above the spectator’s head are diffused atmosphere and excessive PA noise, then not much of these sounds are particularly constructive to an interesting immersive soundfield/mix.

Further I would argue that too much atmosphere in front of the listener is boring, fatiguing and impacts speech intelligibility and is one reason why the immersive sound mixer should consider alternative mixing designs. For example, most soundbars project the sound from in front of the listener and I believe that this should be a major consideration for the sound designer/mixer. 

Since most immersive soundbars project frontward, upward and sideways then the question is—are up-firing soundbars projecting more atmosphere in front of the listener, thus diluting the mix? This could be the case if the front left and right height channel are used primarily for ambiance and atmosphere. 

Basketball, For Example
Consider that if the front height channels are projecting sounds from the front and upwards, then it makes sense to use the front height channels to reinforce the screen action, dialogue and ancillary audio. Front Soundfield Reinforcement (FSR) is a concept that I have promoted since a presentation I made at Germany’s Tonmeister conference in 2016. 

FSR basically supports using the complete front vertical soundfield—left and right channels along with the left and right height channels to mix a front “soundframe” around the visual presentation. For example, basketball has a clear top frame with the net and hoop and bottom frame with the floor. By placing some sounds in the vertical perspective this design helps to elevate a 2D image into a 3D soundspace.

Testing of basic immersive sound production began in 2014 with NHK in Japan and later in 2016 with NBC testing various microphone schemes at the Olympics and American football. In 2016, Seoul Broadcasting System adopted ATSC 3.0 and used the MPEG-H encoder to transmit the 2018 World Cup into the homes of Korea.

 The 2018 World Cup was probably the first major sporting event that made available an immersive sound mix with the addition of an overhead atmosphere layer constructed from Schoeps microphones. Felix Krückels was the sound designer and worked with Helmut Wittek on an immersive array, the ORTF 3D, which was described as a “double-layered ORTF using eight microphone capsules.”

Capturing immersive sound with ambisonic or 3D array-type microphones creates a stable dimensional foundation, but is not necessary to create an immersive experience, particularly with sports sound. 

For example, according to NBC Sports’ Karl Malone, director, sound design, NBC has created immersive sound at Notre Dame football games for several seasons and uses a variety of mono and stereo microphones to create immersive sound. Simple immersive sound production does not require 3D microphones or 3D mixing busses, however virtually all mixing consoles used by the broadcaster—Lawo, Calrec and SSL—have 3D panners, which easily allow for spotting/placing the sound elements around the intended listener. 

What 3D sound does need is more adventurous sound designs and a good understanding of encoding and how decoding/rendering affects the sound design. In my basketball example I suggest a pair of lavaliere microphones to capture the backboard and net swish and to route these sounds as audio elements/objects to be rendered into the front left and right height channels. 

An experienced sound practitioner might ask, “What happens to these above sounds in a stereo or surround mix?” Interoperability between formats has been a problem, but digital sound, metadata and rendering solved some of the conversion issues between formats. Dolby Atmos, Auro 3D, DTS:X and Fraunhofer MPEG-H are examples of encoders for distribution of immersive sound; and when the audio reproduction device detects a particular codex it will renderer the proper balance and spatialization appropriate for the reproduction device and the number of transducers. For example, with a Dolby Atmos enabled up-firing soundbar it should project the net sounds above the listener.

The wide range of reproduction devices does not guarantee similar sound experience, but I would argue that just about anything is better than rear-mounted television speakers.

Hope is not a strategy; successful immersive sound is in the mix. 

LAS VEGAS—Sound is part of the many different aspects of broadcasting that will be featured at the 2022 NAB Show. Two elements in particular—immersive/personalized audio and intercoms—will attract a lot of attention in Las Vegas.

A trend that is still in its relatively early days is immersive and object-based audio (OBA). Both of these, which come under the general heading of “next generation audio” (NGA), have been discussed and promoted as “the next big thing” to hit broadcast television for at least the last decade. 

Dolby Atmos
This year will mark a decade since the first film in Dolby Atmos—Disney’s “Brave”—was released in cinemas, according to Mathias Bendull, vice president, Living Room, for Dolby Laboratories. “It’s incredible to see the progress we’ve made and the growing excitement from consumers and the industry demanding immersive sound experiences brought to life by spatial audio,” he said.

Today the world’s top streaming services—Apple TV+, Disney+, Netflix, and many others—deliver their most-watched movies and streaming shows in Dolby Atmos (and Dolby Vision) and Dolby Atmos devices are widely available across various price points and form factors from home theater systems to smartphones and TVs, Bendull said. 

With Samsung’s recent announcement that it would support Dolby Atmos in its upcoming Micro LED and Neo QLED TV, this means all major global TV manufacturers are now delivering TVs with Dolby Atmos, according to Bendull, who added that a majority of these TVs in North America also support ATSC 3.0 tuners, which will provide consumers access to NextGen TV delivered via Dolby AC-4.

“Consumer interest in Dolby Audio technologies, such as Dolby AC-4 and Voice+, has also shaped how broadcasters promote the benefits of NextGen  TV,” Bendull said. “This includes the recent NextGen TV holiday campaign, which aired commercials in participating ATSC 3.0 markets promoting the features of Dolby Audio, such as improved dialog audibility enabled by Voice + and consistent loudness.” 

Dolby is also teaming up with Pearl TV to amplify these messages at the NAB Show and through consumer education and retail point of sales initiatives,” he added.

Personalization & Immersive
On the horizon, the benefits of personalized audio features like home and away commentators, multiple language support, and audio description for 5.1 and Dolby Atmos are being explored by key industry players jointly with Dolby.

There is the view, from institutions such as Fraunhofer IIS—the main developer of MPEG-H 3D Audio—that the personalization aspect of NGA is the more compelling and necessary feature, rather than immersive sound. Christian Struck, senior product manager for audio production for Lawo, comments that the current trend appears to be creating presentations—in other words, “audio stems”—that can be used for different applications whose volume levels are set by viewers at home.

“A stem-based approach means that more channels and busses are needed than for a 5.1 setup,” Struck explains. “This means the ability to set channel levels for a variety of presentations becomes paramount and a flexible array of monitoring options is required.” 

On the subject of immersive audio, Struck describes it as “the perfect complement to 4K picture quality” and says it is being increasingly demanded by rights holders. “The main features for audio consoles in an immersive workflow, such as high channel counts and the bussing, monitoring and mixing infrastructure to support them, will become available in 2022.”

In terms of greater capacity on mixing consoles, at this year’s NAB Show, Lawo will be showing a 48-fader version of the mc²36 at the booth in the Central Hall. Other introductions include a software version for the mc² range, the A_UHD Ultra-High Density IP audio engine and new software features for the V_matrix routing, processing and multiviewing platform.

While sport and drama have fully embraced immersive audio—for future-proofing post-production if not for transmission at this time—there are areas that do not appear immediately well-suited to the technology.

“Our ‘bread and butter’ is TV news and it will be some time before that sector gets into the immersive environment,” comments Phil Owens, senior sales engineer at Wheatstone. Of personalization he adds, “There are a lot of levels to that. You can pick and choose different channels for things like second languages. But that’s not really immersive audio.”

At its booth in the North Hall, Wheatstone will launch Tekton 32, its latest audio over IP (AoIP) console for TV. The networked console is based on the company’s WheatNet-IP protocol that is aimed at smaller, local TV stations, which are either installing automated production systems or downsizing staff. It has 64 channels, which are layered, and motorized faders that can be controlled by the producer or director through the automation system.

Also on the subject of IP, a highlight at Calrec's booth will be a demo in which three independent consoles will be operated from a fully redundant pair of ImPulse cores; a 48 dual fader Apollo console, a 40 fader Artemis console and a headless console running Calrec Assist on a PC. The ImPulse DSP features native SMPTE 2110 connectivity and is compatible with the Calrec Assist web interface as well as Calrec’s Apollo and Artemis consoles to provide a simple upgrade path for existing Calrec customers moving to an IP domain.

It also provides 3D immersive path widths and panning for next-generation audio with height and 3D pan controls, flexible panning and downmixing built-in.

AoIP for Comms
IP is now firmly established in most areas of broadcast audio, from mixing to networking to distribution and contribution links. Another area that is now exploiting the full potential of AoIP is communications. 

The major intercom manufacturers—Clear-Com, Riedel and RTS—each has its own take on the technology, while other, smaller developers, or those entering this market more recently, have put their own spin on comms through IP. These include Green-GO, Glensound, Sonifex and AEQ, all of which will be exhibiting at the show.

Clear-Com, which will be exhibiting in the Central Hall, began investing in IP technology during the mid-2000s. Product Manager Kari Eythorsson explains that this was primarily to add remote connectivity for large comms systems in an efficient way. This, of course, proved beneficial during the height of the pandemic when production teams were either operating remotely within a broadcast center or working from home.

“In TV and film production, there was a need to build bubbles for people to work within,” Eythorsson says. “It was possible to reduce the number of people in a bubble [by connecting] with simple wireless systems.” He adds that the AES67 interoperability standard has allowed for expansion of IP systems, while virtual intercoms were facilitated through linking key panels, computers or smartphones over Wi-Fi, LTE or 5G connections.

Riedel also saw IP and remote communications become more in demand because of COVID-19, with the creation of hybrid environments.

 “Due to remote and virtual productions, as well as hybrid workflows, the IP connected intercom is becoming a new normal or a new requirement in projects and applications,” comments U.K. Sales Manager Nacho Lee. Despite the growing ubiquity of IP intercoms, Lee adds that more established technologies, such as matrices, still have a place in comms setups.

Audio may be a smaller percentage of the companies at exhibitions like the NAB Show but it is certainly making an impact with technologies that are significantly changing both the way people work in broadcasting and what TV services can offer their viewers. 

BURLINGTON, Mass.—Avid and Dolby have created a joint training and certification course for the integration of Dolby Atmos Renderer and Avid Pro Tools.

The course consists of 40 hours of self-learning, 18 hours of instructor-led training, held over three days, and a professional certification exam. When the course is completed and the exam passed, participants will receive the Avid Certified Professional: Pro Tools | Dolby Atmos certification credential.

Dubbed the PT210D Pro Tools Dolby Atmos Production course, it enables Pro Tools mixers to recognize the components of a Dolby Atmos content creation studio and outline workflows for creating immersive audio in Pro Tools. The course also provides instructions on techniques for working with Dolby Atmos beds and objects, Pro Tools sessions management, Dolby Atmos Renderer configurations and final delivery formats.

“This course provides core learning opportunities to fill the need for Dolby Atmos training and validates the skills and competencies of sound technicians and engineers to prepare and deliver Dolby Atmos content,” said Rob D’Amico, senior director of Product Marketing, Audio Solutions at Avid. “For students, this course addresses the lack of formal learning related to immersive audio. Launching the Pro Tools Dolby Atmos course and certification and building it into the Pro Tools learning paths and certifications accelerates their education and career path.”

The PT210D Pro Tools Dolby Atmos Production course is available through Avid’s website. 

HEBDEN BRIDGE, U.K.—Calrec is launching a free educational training module for mixing live broadcasts in Dolby Atmos using the Calrec Brio console. The training modules are designed to explain how to create and monitor immersive mixes with a variety of inputs on the Brio console.

“Mixing in Dolby Atmos enables the ability to place an audio source freely within a three-dimensional environment; not only within a 5.1 or 7.1 bed, but also overhead,” said Henry Goodman, Calrec’s director of Product Development. “Many larger consoles have features which make this easy, but assistive features on smaller desks can also help reduce the workload when it comes to NGA mixing for live broadcasts.”

Goodman also noted that there are no retakes with live TV, so mix engineers need to have the ability to get it right the first time.

“The broadcast landscape has changed rapidly over the last few years with the rise of live events delivered in Dolby Atmos, which is why online training courses are more important than ever,” said Mike Babbitt, director of Solutions Engineering at Dolby Laboratories. “It has been great to work with Calrec on this effort, which will provide additional tools and resources that the next generation of broadcast mixers will need to meet this growing demand from service providers.”

The Calrec educational training module for Dolby Atmos mixing is free through its Calrec Sound Institute. 

MUNICH—Rohde & Schwarz is releasing a new version (version 6.9.1) of its R&S Clipster mastering system that extends support for Dolby Atmos multichannel surround sound production technology and the latest IMF (ST2067-X) delivery standards.

The new software upgrade is specifically targeted at producers of home entertainment content. It is designed to ensure media content can be mastered and delivered via the widest range of IMF-compliant streaming service providers, says Rohde & Schwarz.

Clipster users can now add all variants of Dolby Atmos files to their edit timeline and can edit them like any other file. IMF packages that feature Dolby Atmos can be created to ensure delivery of quality content, as well as perform real-time QC, including for the immersive audio tracks prior to and after creation of the deliverable.

The latest IMF standards are now supported by Clipster, as is legacy content created using previous IMF standards. These revised IMF standards simplify distribution and archival of IMF content packages by removing previous constraints regarding the required types and number of assets referenced by the Composition Playlists.

For more information, visit www.rohde-schwarz.com.  

TEL AVIV, Israel—TAG Video Systems has announced that it is MCM-9000 monitoring and multiviewer platform is now able to support Dolby Atmos. With this, broadcasters can verify, validate and ensure error-free video and audio content delivery for MPEG-TS and OTT sources, including encoded audio.

Dolby Atmos is a 3D surround sound technology. With MCM-9000 now able to support the Dolby Laboratories audio technology, it can decode the Dolby Atmos stream for both MPEG-TS and OTT broadcasted content, allowing for full monitoring and audio bars visualization of the audio on all Dolby Surround and Atmos channels.

The MCM-9000 monitors the Dolby Atmos stream in parallel with the video and regular audio, allowing the broadcaster to ensure all structural aspects are correct and to detect any abnormalities. All channels can be decoded down to baseband audio with the Atmos information displayed on the Multiviewer.

With this addition, MCM-9000 is now certified by Dolby to support Dolby Atmos, Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital Plus formats.

For more information, visit www.tagvs.com.  

SAN FRANCISCO—Wohler has announced that it is now integrating Dolby Atmos as part of its decoding and monitoring options for its iAM-12G-SDI audio/video monitor, specifically the Dolby Audio Professional Decoder.

This new integration will enable iAM-12G-SDI users to monitor Dolby Atmos and other traditional Dolby Audio technologies. It also allows for the mixing of Dolby signals with other broadcast signals in customized presets. Support for these features can be enabled over 12G-SDI inputs, AES inputs and SFP inputs.

Other new features that Wohler has added to the iAM-12G-SDI include loudness measurement, phase indication, support for 12G fiber options, preset enhancement and pre-fade or post-fade selection of both XLR and DB25 output connectors.

For more information, visit www.wohler.com.  

John Schur, President of the Telos Alliance’s TV Solutions Group, outlines the Next Gen products creating ‘buzz’ at IBC 2019. These products include the Telos Linear Acoustic LA-5291 Professional Audio Encoder. It enables the creation of immersive Dolby Atmos audio at live events for transmission to broadcasters. Also included is the Telos Infinity IP intercom system. It supports two-way intercom communications without the need for a matrix over public/private IP networks.

Netflix is upgrading its audio settings to provide quality as close to the original program master.

The network says the changes were prompted by input from the Duffer brothers, producers of its wildly popular “Stranger Things” series. The producers noted audio degradation in the second season in 2017, which spurred Netflix to revisit the networks’ entire audio chain with the goal of reproducing audio quality as close to what producers intended.

“Series mixes were getting bolder and more cinematic with tight levels between dialog, music and effects elements,” Netflix said in a blog. “Creative choices increasingly tested the limits of our encoding quality. We needed to support these choices better.”

Since inception, Netflix has used static audio streaming at a constant bitrate, which “selects the audio bitrate based on network conditions at the start of playback,” according to the company. For video, however, Netflix has used adaptive streaming that optimizes video quality based on the viewers’ network connection.

So Netflix decided to carry the adaptive streaming concept to audio by developing an algorithm that allowed the technology to be supported and certified by the myriad streaming devices used to access its service.

“Based on internal listening tests, listening test results provided by Dolby, and scientific studies, we determined that for Dolby Digital Plus at and above 640 kbps, the audio coding quality is perceptually transparent,” Netflix said. “Beyond that, we would be sending you files that have a higher bitrate (and take up more bandwidth) without bringing any additional value to the listening experience.”

It also adopted what it terms a “bitrate ladder” for 5.1-channel audio ranging from 192 up to 640 kbps. This ranges from “good” audio to “transparent,” according to Netflix.

For Dolby Atmos, the company increased the bitrates on its highest offerings to 768 kbps. “We expect these bitrates to evolve over time as we get more efficient with our encoding techniques,” the company said.

More information is available here. 

Editorial note: This story was originally published in May of 2019. 

LAS VEGAS—At the 2019 NAB Show, Wohler Technologies debuted iAM-12G-SDI, the latest product in their iAM IP range of rackmount monitors. Based on Wohler’s iAM-Video-2, the new monitor includes dual input 12G-SDI over BNC and 4 SFP cages, two of which may also be configured as additional 12G inputs. Featuring 16 meters and touchscreen technology, Wohler says it is the first in-rack monitor to offer 12G Video with the option for Dolby Atmos monitoring.

The two 12G-SDI inputs on BNC can also monitor 3G/HD/SD-SDI signals, providing complete backward compatibility. ST2110 and ST2022 inputs are enabled by the use of SFP’s using the SFP cages that can also accept a variety of modern and traditional signal inputs. Dolby Atmos signal processing is also enabled over the 12G-SDI inputs, along with Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Digital Plus with Dolby Atmos and Dolby E.

“We are pleased to have had the opportunity to partner with Wohler in delivering Dolby Atmos monitoring solutions to the market allowing Dolby Atmos roll-out to scale,” says JC Morizur, senior director of Professional Products and Solutions, Dolby Laboratories. “The addition of Dolby Atmos monitoring in Wohler’s iAM series range of rackmount monitors will drive more ways to experience spectacular audio.”

The iAM-12G-SDI supports multiple signals: 12G/3G/HD/SD-SDI, options for VoIP formats (SMPTE 2110, SMPTE 2022), as well as a growing range of additional I/O options via its small form-factor pluggable (SFP) interface. All iAM Series products use SFP cages to enable simple adaptation of interfaces and a wide selection of signal I/O. The addition of Dolby Atmos, Dolby E and Dolby D processing makes this unit a first in the marketplace, according to Wohler.

Dennis Baxter is the new columnist for Inside Audio

The beginning of a new year is a good time to reflect on the past and look down the road to the future. Jay Yeary, my friend and colleague, is taking some time off. I will attempt to fill his big shoes by continuing to present concepts and ideas about audio for broadcast and broadband and how to navigate through the sound minefield to success. TV Technology is known for presenting the latest in technology and innovation, and I plan to continue Jay’s excellent work with a year long exploration of the technology and production practices that will make possible the transition into a new world of sound.

Technology makes possible advances in production practices and value. For example, advances in technology resulted in stereo and surround sound, and today we have the technology to transmit between 16 and 24 full fidelity audio channels and many more channels by adjusting the encoding parameters.

But now the question is: what will we do with all those channels of audio? Immersive sound and interactivity come quickly to mind.

IMMERSIVE AUDIO

For several years we have all read in TV Technology and other publications about ATSC 3.0, a set of voluntary broadcast standards for the production of advanced audio and video and at least one major U.S. network, NBC, has been moving forward with testing immersive audio.

NBC has successfully completed the audio testing by capturing and producing immersive sound using Olympic and college football content and distributing the production over its DirecTV partner. At an AES presentation, I heard a senior level NBC audio executive acknowledge it was better than he expected.

But there can be confusion. There have been a variety of audio papers and publications espousing a multiplicity of opinions about what immersive sound is, so it is beneficial to hypothesize a set of discussion parameters. Fundamentally, immersive sound includes some sound reproduction above the listener: either two front speakers for height, denoted as 5.1.2 or four speakers for height represented as 5.1.4. The 5.1 is the typical surround sound speaker setup and the .2 or .4 is the number of sound source channels above the listener. I say “sound source channels” because the sound above the final listener will likely be from side-firing or up-firing speakers or soundbars.

The question now is how does the audio practitioner get from 5.1 surround sound production to some sort of immersive sound?

There is little information and practical experience on how to produce immersive sound live and I plan to share the experience of my fellow sound designers and mixers as well as my practice with producing immersive sound in my 11.1 Genelec studio for the last six years. I assure you the solution is more than a “black box.”

Over a series of columns, I will examine the technology that will make immersive sound possible for the audio mixer, sound designer and content producer. Additionally, we will discuss production practices and possibilities to inform the audio practitioners who has to craft immersive sound.

In the last decade, audio has seen the development and implementation of digital infrastructure technology with digital networks using MADI and IP protocol and it seems that IP systems have touched virtually every signal path and flow that an audio person deals with. This may be the death of analogue audio except for the conversion of sound with transducers such as microphones and speakers.

Microphone reviews show up in the pages of TV Technology, but I plan to look at new approaches to conventional analog capsule microphones such as MEMS-based technology and computer controlled microphones that can beam form into a variety of patterns.

All the microphone manufacturers are experimenting with MEMS technology, but I suggest they get away from conventional microphone design. A MEMS-based shotgun microphone would probably improve durability, but I see new capture methods using beam steering as the future. Now marry those technologies. I have listened to a 19 capsule MEMS microphone and was surprised at the cost and sonic performance. We will discuss these topics later this year.

IN THE VIRTUAL WORLD

Fundamental to immersive sound production is vertical panning. The mixing consoles used for live broadcast and broadband are different than the virtual mixing desk in the post production world. Mixing immersive sound in a studio is firmly entrenched with film and drama because vertical panning is possible with Dolby Atmos, Auro 3D, THX and many other unknown (cheaper) programs that have vertical panners. However, 3D panners for live production of sports and entertainment have only recently seen the light of day with 2018- 2019 offerings from SSL, Calrec, LAWO and Stagetec, to name several. This year I will take the time to explore the possibilities and requirements of next generation mixing consoles.

I believe if we sound practitioners/mixers can hear it, we can mix it. Immersive sound monitoring in the confined space of the OB van is going to be a significant challenge. Test productions have been conducted in some existing OB vans and OB suppliers and designers are considering ways to accommodate immersive sound. Additionally, speaker manufacturers such as Genelec have a range of speaker sizes that seem to be a temporary solution. I would like to suggest that speaker manufacturers come up with alternative designs that would fit better in small spaces. I suggest there could be mathematically placed speakers to create some sort of virtual sound reproduction of any format from stereo to 11.1 or even a 22.1 immersive soundfield that would reside in the OB van. Master control would monitor in a proper acoustical environment with a variety of speaker configuration including soundbars and advise accordingly. Remember, essentially all consumers will listen on some configuration/variation of a soundbar, making a virtual sound reproduction platform at the capture point useful.

CONSUMERS DRIVE THE ADOPTION

Immersive sound is coming quicker than expected because there are standards, encoders and processors, but most importantly, the consumer can experience a better sound product over soundbars and headphones. Reproduction quality is only getting better. Is it perfect immersive sound? Good question, but probably not. Does it sound better to the consumer? Probably. But the consumer will get the ear of the content producers and drive the adoption of immersive sound.

For the audio practitioner the question is how do we produce sound for the future? Practice, test, learn and question.

The question that concerns me the most is how does the audio practitioner design sound for a wide range of playback options? Last month’s CES showed that there are plenty of consumer playback options… but soundbars are at the top.

Audio production will suffer from a range of reproduction options which are probably not capable of precisely reproducing the sound designer’s aural vision. The consolation is that it probably sounds better than what the average consumer was listening to and that is the starting point.

Over the course of the next year, we will take a look into that crystal ball for the future of audio, and most importantly, how you can best prepare for it.

Dennis Baxter has spent more than 30 years as a sound designer. He is the author of “A Practical Guide to Television Sound Engineering,” and is working on a book about immersive sound practtices and production. He can be reached atdbaxter@dennisbaxtersound.com.

Since 2013, my first NAB Show stop has been at Avid Connect. This year I was extremely intrigued to see how the event would differ from previous years, since Jeff Rosica had taken the helm of the company following the still-fresh ouster of the previous CEO — who originated the event — along with the Avid Customer Association. It didn’t take long to find out.

Avid Connect has always tended to be product-heavy from start to finish, but this one simply did not feel that way. There was plenty of discussion of Media Composer, Pro Tools and the Media Central Platform — Avid’s business is to make and sell products after all — but the overall event, and the breakout sessions in particular, were far more interesting and educational than prior years, covering a wide range of topics that were not specific to the company and its products.

TECH TRENDS

One session that was surprisingly engrossing, “Technology Trends Musicians Can Utilize for Tracking Royalties.” It covered, among other topics, the pros and cons of streaming.

Panelist Jordan “DJ Swivel” Young made the case that, for those who have a dedicated fan base, streaming can actually be a greater source of revenue than CD or song purchases because the artist gets paid every time the song is played, not just when a purchase is made.

A different technological solution to the issue was presented by Benji Rogers, CEO of Dot Blockchain Media, who claims that current audio file formats are antiquated — WAV is 27 years old; MP3 is 24; and FLAC is 17 — and are part of the problem because they don’t contain persistent metadata.

Rogers proposes a new format and wrapper with blockchain as part of the fundamental framework so that ownership can be tracked from inception through all iterations, sampling and reuse.

Whether or not you’re an artist trying to get paid, the ability to encode persistent, unmodifiable metadata will soon become an essential element of every single piece of media as the ability to replace original audio and video content with completely believable digital substitutes becomes even more mainstream than it already is.

There were several sessions on immersive content and VR, both key elements of Next Gen Audio, and these sessions were far more informative than any I attended at NAB.

The panel of “Creating Spectacular Experiences With Dolby Atmos” included re-recording engineers Doug Hemphill, Ron Bartlett, and Tim Hoogenakker. During the discussion on mixing immersive content, Hemphill pointed out that as sound density increases, imaging and intelligibility decrease, so films with busier soundscapes are more difficult to mix and it becomes harder to make individual sounds stand out. In fact, he sometimes pulls back the density of the sound mix when there are really intense visuals to give people’s brains a break.

When asked what it was like to be able to place sound in so many locations, Bartlett said that they went a little overboard with the overhead speakers at first, but realized that this actually made the film sound more mono and less immersive, so more judicious use of the overheads is now employed.

[Read: 2018 Audio Prognostication—What Lies Ahead?]

Everyone felt that the soundscape in Atmos is more akin to listening in the natural world than standard surround mixes, though every so often the choices made in the surround mix are the right ones compared to the Atmos mix.

While they do verify downmixes as they mix, Hoogenakker said that he specifically checks television downmixes on a soundbar since more people than ever are listening on them at home.

Something that helps keep costs down while speeding up workflow is being able to work in 7.1.4 in smaller rooms to prepare audio for the Atmos mix room. Hemphill brought us all back to reality by reminding us that even though the ability to create amazing immersive soundscapes is now in everyone’s grasp, dialog remains king. Always.

CHALLENGES OF AUDIO IN VR

In the first session on audio for VR, “Techniques for Mixing Audio in VR Content,” the panelists covered aspects of VR production I had not even contemplated. Benedict Green of Ecco VR stressed the importance of preproduction and the fact that, when shooting content, the crew, recording equipment, cables and anything else that might take people out of the experience must be concealed, which is a tad difficult when shooting live actors while trying to capture and playback audio.

Avid Connect has always tended to be product-heavy from start to finish, but this one simply did not feel that way.

Green and Varuna Nair of Facebook both noted that ambisonics is the preferred format for VR audio and there are different tools for working with different order ambisonics.

They also discussed some of the challenges of working with audio for VR, including never being able to use a boom mic on set; and the difficulty of using ambisonics microphones because they cannot move without changing the soundfield. Managing loudness, and keeping audio from clipping is a huge challenge, as can working with nonaudio people who may reorder or mangle the ambisonics tracks. According to Nair, when thinking about VR, audio engineers should “think of it as another tool in the toolbox.”

In the session “Creating a Compelling Immersive Mix for VR Content,” Scott Gershin made the case that realism is not always the best approach, since the purpose of sound is to help tell the story in whatever way necessary.

Like Green and Nair, he also mentioned things I had not really considered. For instance, if you move a sound in the soundscape, people will pay attention to it, so don’t move it if you don’t want it noticed. Gershin does not move backgrounds, but he does group and move all sounds for given characters together to the same place in the soundscape because that is where the character exists at that moment.

Since we don’t really hear things behind us he feels that a 270-degree soundfield is wide enough. As for where this is all heading, Gershin thinks that VR will be commonplace in five years and boring in 10, but augmented reality is really where we’re heading anyway.

Jay Yeary is a television engineer who specializes in audio. He is a member of AES, SBE, SMPTE and TAB. He can be contacted through TV Technology magazine or attransientaudiolabs.com.

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LOS GATOS, CALIF.—Netflix has announced it has added Dolby Atmos sound to all its new original content, beginning with Bong Joon-ho’s “Okja.”

The film is also being presented in Dolby Vision, the company’s high-dynamic range video format.

The combined Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision streaming experience from Netflix will be available on 2017 LG OLED TVs pending an update soon.

Netflix says it plans to roll out support to additional devices “over time,” making the Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision combined experience more accessible to Netflix users around the world.

“Netflix and Dolby share the same vision for delivering spectacular experiences to consumers,” said Giles Baker, senior vice president, Consumer Entertainment Group, Dolby Laboratories. “With consumers already able to experience Dolby Vision on Netflix, it was a natural continuation of our partnership to bring a new level of immersive audio with Dolby Atmos to Netflix members around the world.”

“With the addition of Dolby Atmos support on Netflix, we are enabled to deliver the most cutting-edge experience to our global members and provide another creative tool to the artists,” added Greg Peters, chief product officer, Netflix. “I’m excited for Netflix members all over the world to be able to get a theater-quality experience in the comfort of their own homes.”

This story first appeared on TVT's sister publication TVB Europe. 

SAN FRANCISCO & CULVER CITY, CALIF.—In a deal between Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Dolby Laboratories, past and future titles from SPHE will be released with Dolby Atmos soundtracks, which is designed to deliver audio that places and moves specific sounds anywhere. This will include the first titles to be released in 4K/UHD disc format.

Among the first titles that SPHE is set to release in the new 4K/UHD format with Dolby Atmos are “The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” “Salt,” “Hancock,” “Chappie,” “Pineapple Express” and “The Smurfs 2.” Additional titles will be announced at later dates.

“By adding Dolby Atmos to our home entertainment content, SPHE has the ability to offer audiences a rich, enveloping sound experience on both physical and digital formats, including the new 4K Ultra HD discs,” said Man Jit Singh, SPHE president.

NEW YORK—Audio systems are being required to handle many more channels than 5.1 plus stereo. In the consumer world, Blu-ray with Dolby Atmos can support multiple channels for an immersive audio listening experience. For those who can’t add more loudspeakers to their listening rooms, solutions such as Yamaha Sound Bar, can provide a 3D-like sound field without the bulk. And major MSO Comcast will be supporting Dolby Atmos in its Xfinity X1 platform starting in 2016.

At the broadcast, production or origination end of the spectrum, we’ll need to rethink our audio systems to accommodate the growing requirements of next-generation audio, an umbrella term Tim Carroll, Linear Acoustic founder and Telos Alliance chief technology officer, prefers to use. This covers object-oriented audio, which can provide immersive audio, personalized audio, visual descriptions, multiple languages, headphone rendering and more.

MORE CHANNELS 

One of the big changes is the multitude of audio channels that will be required. Instead of BNC or XLR connections, multiple channels of audio will be carried on an RJ45 connector and interconnected through an AES67-based network using computer network switches. This will obviate the need for another audio system mainstay, the crosspoint-based routing switcher. No more determining matrix configurations or what sources need to be available to what destinations.

And maybe even more radical, now that most of us have gotten used to SDI where audio is carried along with the video, audio and video will need to once again go their separate—although synchronized—ways.

If you’re thinking of upgrading your plant or creating new, build in an AES67 network. Carroll said, “No matter what happens with audio, an [AES67 network] will be able to handle it. It will be more expensive to go SDI and SDI will probably not be able to handle it.”

The audio network shouldn’t be the same as that used for business computers and devices like printers, Carroll advised, but digital telephony could be carried on an audio network, and can have some advantages in tying in phone calls to an audio production system or server.

Certain off-the-shelf network switches can be used. Carroll said that Telos has tested and certified switches that they stand behind for broadcast-grade networks. The list can be found on the Telos Alliance website.

Reliability for an audio network is key. It must run 24/7 with no signal delays. This may not be something a business IT department is used to, and must be considered when determining who will maintain and monitor the system. Education on all sides can help the transition.

The audio network will need to be synchronized with video and other technical networks, but that has been made easier with the passage of two recent SMPTE standards, ST 2059-1 “Generation and Alignment of Interface Signals to the SMPTE Epoch,” and SMPTE ST 2059-2 “SMPTE Profile for Use of IEEE-1588 Precision Time Protocol in Professional Broadcast Applications.”

These standards are based on the IEEE 1588-2008 standard for Precision Time Protocol (PTP) and written to address sync requirements for professional audio and video systems.

Manufacturers of master sync generators are starting to make PTP available. An example is the Evertz 5601MSC, where PTP is an option.

While it looks like over-the-air broadcast of next-gen audio will need to wait until ATSC 3.0 is completed, streaming is an option today. Broadcasters don’t necessarily have to wait before upgrading their audio systems.

“AES67 can handle multiple audio channels in a single RJ45 connection using network cable,” said Ken Tankel, platform manager, TV Processing at Linear Acoustic. “This is much easier, more space-efficient and likely less expensive than placing multiple BNC connectors on the rear panel of a device. A user should consider what AES67 can offer. This includes audio contribution, audio monitoring, metering, and the ability to control source/destination connections anywhere an IP network can reach. All of these things can be done without needing a dedicated hardware audio router. We think that there are many places to start.”

One of them is the on-air chain. For example: “Linear Acoustic has the SDI x.Node that interfaces two HD/SD SDI I/O to 16 pairs of AES67 I/O. We also have separate audio processing and loudness control with AES67 I/O,” Tankel said.

Fig. 1 shows an example of how AES67-networked equipment can be incorporated in an on-air signal chain.

Fig. 1: An example of how AES67-networked equipment can be incorporated in an on-air signal chain

THE ADVANTAGES OF AES67

Production is a big area that can take advantage of AES67, not only for a single control room/studio complex, but especially across multiple studios and control rooms, as different control surfaces, stage boxes, IP servers and audio processing can all be easily linked, as well as the on-air devices. The same could be said of mobile trucks.

While audio over IP has been in use in radio facilities for over a decade, now that AES67 has been standardized, it should see more use for audio for TV or video. Production audio console systems from such manufacturers as Lawo, Studer, and Wheatstone offer AES67 capability, and Calrec has announced AES67 support with products out in the future.

“It is an ideal time to look at the equipment and manufacturers that you want to use and find out if AES67 interfaces are already available or planned for,” Tankel said. “The industry is in a transition and designing with AES67 in mind will become easier, and more common, as more manufacturers choose to include it in their products. Audio consoles, intercom, audio DAWs video editors, telephone, ISDN and IP-based audio transport, audio processors, loudness controllers and playout systems are just a few of the places that AES67 can find immediate application in the television facility.”

There could be an argument to wait a bit until AES67 becomes a feature in equipment you are interested in. And there are some things in flux. Still to be standardized are such functions as audio naming conventions, advertising and discovery, as well as carrying GPI control, and there is ongoing work in that direction.

No matter what one chooses to do now, it’s important to start becoming familiar with AES67 and networks in general.

Mary C. Gruszka is a systems design engineer, project manager, consultant and writer based in the New York metro area. She can be reached via TV Technology.