LAUSANNE, Switzerland—Connected TV software solution provider iWedia and Fraunhofer IIS, a leading applied research organization, have announced a partnership that will see the seamless integration of MPEG-H Audio into iWedia’s comprehensive ATSC 3.0 software stack.

The partnership is notable because it represents a crucial step in preparing for the rollout of the DTV+ next-generation broadcast standard in Brazil, which will incorporate advanced audio capabilities to enhance consumers’ viewing experience.

“This partnership with Fraunhofer IIS is vital for iWedia to deliver state-of-the-art solutions for emerging broadcast standards like DTV+ in Brazil,” explained Hans-Juergen Desor, iWedia CEO “Our deep knowledge of Android TV framework from the native codec to the TIF extensions and ATSC standard, will ensure an exceptional and personalized audio experience for viewers.”

This collaboration leverages iWedia’s deep expertise in ATSC 3.0 solutions and the cutting-edge advancements in MPEG-H Audio technology driven by Fraunhofer IIS.

“MPEG-H Audio provides significant benefits for broadcast, and we are excited to collaborate with iWedia to combine these advanced audio capabilities with ATSC 3.0 in preparation for DTV+ in Brazil,” added Adrian Murtaza, chief business development manager at Fraunhofer IIS. “Our joint work on integrating the MPEG-H codec, UI manager, and audio scene configuration handling into Android will enable immersive and personalized audio experiences for Brazilian consumers.”

The two companies described the benefits of their collaboration on bringing MPEG-H Audio to Android TV devices as follows:

• Preparation for new era of immersive and personalized audio with ATSC 3.0. Our collaboration ensures devices will be ready to deliver the advanced sound of the DTV+ broadcast standard.
• Experiencing high-fidelity MPEG-H Audio. We are working directly within the ATSC software stack and Android operating system to guarantee a smooth and exceptional audio experience by integrating crucial components for decoding and managing audio.
• Enjoying enhanced audio control and customization. Our integration provides users with easy-to-use tools to manage and personalize their audio experience, tailoring the sound to their individual preferences. This is achieved through the audio elementary stream piping, which is essential for retrieving and applying user preference scene configurations.
• Streamlined integration process. Manufacturers will benefit from our integration process, which makes it easier and more efficient to incorporate cutting-edge MPEG-H Audio into their TV products.
• User-friendly and intuitive experience. Handling audio information and user preferences within the Android TV framework to provide such an experience when interacting with MPEG-H Audio features involves extending the TV Input Framework (TIF) to handle audio information and user preferences effectively.

RIO DE JANEIRO—Advanced HDR by Technicolor, Fraunhofer IIS and Globo showcased high dynamic range (HDR) and MPEG-H Audio content that is compliant with Brazil's TV 2.5 standard on Hisense TVs during the just completed Paris Olympics.

The demonstration showed how standard dynamic range (SDR) content can be upconverted to deliver a premium viewing experience while watching live broadcasts of major outdoor sports  and other events, Advanced HDR by Technicolor said.

Advanced HDR by Technicolor delivered premium HDR content by leveraging the solution suite’s Intelligent Tone Mapping (ITM) feature to upconvert live SDR content to HDR while adding SL-HDR dynamic metadata to create a TV 2.5 HDR signal in an SDR backwards compatible manner. TVs that support the TV 2.5 standard received the HDR experience without compromising the quality of SDR delivered to legacy devices, it said. 

"HDR enhances outdoor sports event experiences by delivering the most vivid images to TVs capable of receiving HDR content," said Valerie Allie, Video Solution Group senior director with InterDigital. 

"As a result, the details of athletic performances, stadium environments and overall action are more vibrant, providing a more immersive viewing experience," she said.

Advanced HDR by Technicolor is a collaboration between Philips, InterDigital and Technicolor.

Fraunhofer IIS provided MPEG-H Audio technology that delivers an immersive 3D sound experience. The Next Generation Audio system provides unique personalization features in addition to an enveloping audio experience, said Fraunhofer.

This is made possible by the metadata accompanying the audio content. It contains all control information required for user interactivity and optimizing the reproduction and rendering on the end-device for the best audio experience on any platform, it said.

"MPEG-H Audio delivers an immersive experience, creating a sense of being in the middle of the action. Audio elements like the cheering crowd, athletes' movements and venue ambience are clear and realistic. The personalization options also allow viewers to customize the audio experience, by, for example, switching from a traditional to a venue mix. This enriched audio quality adds depth to the broadcast, making the experience more engaging and captivating for the audience," said Adrian Murtaza, senior manager technologies and standards at Fraunhofer IIS.

A new generation of Hisense TV models that comply with the country's TV 2.5 standards were used for the demonstration.

These advanced TV models promise to deliver a superior viewing experience by combining ultra-high-definition (UHD) and HDR-enhanced picture quality with immersive 3D sound.

"Hisense TVs integrate features like Mini-LED, Quantum Dot Color, 144Hz refresh rates, vibrant highlights, AI video processing and AI Sports Mode, which enhance the viewing of live sports. Hisense is looking forward to providing immersive visual and audio experiences that will redefine home entertainment in Brazil," said Wood Bi, assistant vice president of Hisense International.

More information is available on the Advanced HDR by Technicolor, Fraunhofer IIS and Hisense websites.

The Fraunhofer-Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS, primary developer of the next generation, immersive and personalized MPEG-H Audio system, and Wohler, supplier of monitoring solutions to the broadcast and streaming industry, have announced that they are partnering to deliver MPEG-H Audio monitoring to broadcasters and streaming services.

“Partnering with Wohler will soon enable broadcasters and service providers worldwide to check the quality of their next generation MPEG-H Audio productions in SDI-based workflows as well as in future ST 2110 IP-based infrastructures,” says Adrian Murtaza, senior manager, technology and standards at Fraunhofer IIS. “We are particularly pleased to deliver monitoring of the MPEG-H Audio system’s advanced personalization options to a broad user base.”

“Wohler’s new relationship with Fraunhofer continues our tradition of developing innovative market-leading products.  Our exciting partnership has now brought to market the first ever MPEG-H immersive in-rack audio monitoring solution.  This is delivered as a software option for our flagship iAM-12G in-rack monitor, enabling our customers to monitor and analyze their MPEG-H productions,” explained Makarand Karanjkar, CEO, Wohler Technologies Inc.

The new version of the iAM-12G-SDI 4K Monitor will enable comprehensive quality control for MPEG-H Audio live production workflows with a wide range of features to monitor the technology’s advanced interactivity options. This will enable users to control the MPEG-H Audio Production Format in addition to traditional audio formats over its 12G-SDI, AES, and SFP inputs, the companies said. 

It provides operators with an easy and accessible way to quality-check all MPEG-H Audio interactivity options just before the final transmission. The intuitive visual display and graphical user interface of the iAM-12G-SDI are similar to those used by at-home-audiences to interact with MPEG-H Audio content. They allow operators to switch between various presets, enhance the dialog, and dynamically position audio objects in the three-dimensional space.

In addition to that, the enhanced functionality provides audio metadata monitoring options for loudness and dynamic range control. They also ensure that all audio objects and metadata are perfectly aligned with the video content on SDI. This is particularly useful for programming like live sports broadcast, where commentators as well as action sounds need to be perfectly positioned.

AMSTERDAM—Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits ISS today demonstrated its JPEG XS SDK (software developers kit) 5.0 solutions that achieve a 25% acceleration for encoding and decoding 4K and 8K images on x86 CPUs, ARM CPUs and NVidia GPUs at the ongoing IBC 2022 convention.

The performance increase stems from streamlined parameterization and optimization, much of which centered on massive application of single-instruction multi-data commands and data pipeline optimization for processing, Fraunhofer said.

As a result, fewer than four cores of a CPU processor are needed to encode or decode UHD video at 60 fps, Fraunhofer said.

The organization also announced that the Fraunhofer ISS SDK allows MXF support in accordance with SMPTE ST 2124.

The JPEG XS compression codec was designed to enable transmission of high-quality video up to 8K via the Internet Protocol (IP) in production quality. JPEG XS, an ISO standard, first appeared in 2019 and is now on its way to market, Fraunhofer said.

A patent licensing pool program and several SDKs have been established to enable industry partners to access and implement the new compression codec for different media workflows and devices, it added.

More information is available on the Fraunhofer website.

See Fraunhofer at IBC 2022 Stand 8.B80.

ERLANGEN, Germany & MONT-SAINT-GUIBERT, Belgium—Fraunhofer IIS and intoPIX have launched a joint licensing program for JPEG XS-based software and hardware solutions.

JPEG XS is expected to be used within studio environments and broadcast systems to help increase bandwidth requirements as video is transported over local, wide-area or wireless networks.

The near zero latency codec has been designed to transfer any audiovisual content over IP-based workflows, including 4K, 8K and beyond.

According to the organizations, the integration of JPEG XS eliminates the need for “jumping back and forth between different interfaces and compression technologies by allowing seamless video streaming over IP-based workflows”. For the broadcast industry, the rollout and integration of the codec into professional studio environments and broadcast systems will “reshape content creation and live production for years to come.”

Three different licensing models will be available: licensing for cloud-based or any type of on-demand or time-billed professional services; licensing for any type of professional equipment; and licensing for use in consumer devices, like TV, tablets or smartphones.

ATLANTA – Fraunhofer IIS and Jünger Audio have announced that they have partnered on a prototype multi-channel monitoring, authoring and loudness processor for the MPEG-H TV audio system, the Level Magic. Using Jünger Audio technology, broadcasters can use the processor with the MPEG-H system can maintain compliance with loudness regulations while avoiding processing artifacts of traditional loudness control approaches.

Level Magic

With the new MPEG-H system, content can be tagged to indicate it has been processed or leveled for proper loudness control. This allows the system to only apply loudness control on unprocessed content, preventing degradation of multiple leveling passes. This occurs in real-time as the content is broadcast. This feature is integrated into MPEG-H Audio Monitoring and Authoring Unit from Jünger Audio, in collaboration with Fraunhofer IIS.

The Level Magic algorithm is highly adaptive to the structure of the incoming audio and requires only a small number of parameters be set by the user.

Fraunhofer IIS and Jünger Audio showcased the processor at the recent ATSC 3.0 audio demonstration in Atlanta.