DolbyÆ Laboratories Unveils New Broadcast And Production Products At NAB 2000

New DP570 And DM100 Are ShownDolbyÆ Also Demonstrates Products Used For Broadcast, Theatre Sound, And DVD Authoring

12-Apr-00

DolbyÆ Laboratories, the world leader in multichannel sound technology, showed two new products and demonstrated a variety of uses for new and existing Dolby technologies at the 2000 National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show, in Las Vegas, Nevada.""This yearís NAB convention presents Dolby with a fantastic opportunity to debut our new DP570 Multichannel Audio Tool and DM100 Portable Audio Monitor,"" said Tom Daily, Marketing Manager, Broadcast Products. ""We will also hold several demonstrations that really show off the capabilities of our professional audio product line.""DP570 Multichannel Audio ToolThe new DP570 enables producers and DTV broadcasters to enhance the presentation quality of their multichannel audio mix. It combines the features of Dolby Digital metadata selection and receiver emulation to enable the creation of audio metadata for multiple programs, and it also provides monitoring capabilities. The DP570 also includes many useful features that simplify the creation of multichannel audio programs. These features include multiple speaker selection, audio channel routing (which eliminates the need for an external router), separate inputs for Pro Logic decoding and 5.1 channel monitor configuration. Throughout the show, Dolby representatives demonstrated the postproduction authoring capabilities of the DP570.DM100 Portable Audio MonitorDolby Laboratoriesí new hand-held DM100 Portable Audio Monitor will allow audio system integrators and service engineers to quickly test the integrity and composition of Dolby Digital, Dolby E, and PCM signals in a production facility, broadcast facility, or home theatre. The DM100 also generates Dolby Digital, Dolby E, and PCM test bitstreams. It has a built-in speaker and a headphone output for monitoring any two channels simultaneously.Dolby Digital 5.1-Channel AudioDolby Laboratories provided a number of other demonstrations to educate broadcasters and other NAB attendees on the wide range of applications for Dolby products. One demonstration given in our booth showcased Dolby Digital 5.1 channel audio. Convention goers were treated to a thrilling, theatre-like experience, and witnessed the full capability of the system as it is used today.DVD AuthoringDolby staff also demonstrated the process of producing Dolby Digital (.ac3) files for DVD-Audio mastering. File preparation was accomplished using the Dolby Digital Recorder and the Dolby Remote software utilities, running on a Windows-based PC with a digital I/O soundcard. A DP569 Multichannel Dolby Digital Encoder and DP562 Multichannel Dolby Digital Decoder were also used in this process.Broadcast SolutionsAnother demonstration outlined a typical broadcast chain and described how producers could use Dolby E and Dolby Digital as the end-to-end solution for multichannel audio broadcasts, using the DP571 Dolby E Encoder and DP572 Dolby E Decoder. In particular, attendees saw how easy it was to integrate multichannel audio into an analog audio network affiliate station. Designed to ease the transition from two-channel to multichannel audio, Dolby E products enable producers and broadcasters to encode up to eight channels of high-quality audio, as well as Dolby Digital metadata. The encoded signal can then be distributed via a two-channel digital pair or recorded onto two audio tracks of a digital video tape, digital audio tape, or video server. Designed to accommodate standard broadcast operations, Dolby E can tolerate, without degradation, ten tandem encode/decode cycles, which is sometimes required during the contribution, postproduction, and distribution stages of a DTV program. In addition, Dolby E technology audio frame rates match video frame rates, enabling precise video picture cuts without mutes, glitches, or restrictions.About Dolby LaboratoriesDolby Laboratories is the developer of signal processing systems used worldwide in applications that include motion picture sound, consumer entertainment products and media, broadcasting, and music recording. Based in San Francisco with European headquarters in England, the privately held company also has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Shanghai, and Tokyo.