PBS Broadcasts ""A Capitol Fourth 2000"" In DolbyÆ Digital 5.1 Surround

Viewers Can Celebrate Independence Day In 5.1 Surround Sound

3-Jul-00

On July 4, 2000, PBS will broadcast ""A Capitol Fourth 2000"" in DolbyÆ Digital 5.1 surround sound. The extravaganza will feature a grand array of famous entertainers and conclude with what promises to be the most spectacular display of fireworks ever at the nation's capital.Dolby Digital, the standard for DTV audio technology, was created by Dolby Laboratories, who will have representatives on-site to ensure that this event is broadcast with the highest quality audio possible. Additionally, Dolby has lent PBS all the necessary Dolby Digital processing equipment, to allow them to broadcast the gala in 5.1 sound. ""We are so pleased to assist with this extraordinary event,"" said Ken Hunold, Broadcast Applications Engineer, Dolby Laboratories. ""Dolby Digital 5.1 technology will allow viewers to experience the celebration as if they were right there with the expected half a million spectators."" The celebration will focus on American music and will feature such entertainers as Ray Charles, Barry Bostwick, James Galway, Audra McDonald, David Benoit, and others, along with the National Symphony Orchestra. The 5.1-channel surround mix will replicate the acoustics of being part of the concert audience. Digital television programming is becoming increasingly reliant on Dolby Digital 5.1-channel sound to create a cinema-like experience right in the viewer's own home. Networks such as ABC, HBO, STARZ!, Showtime, DIRECTVÆ and DISH Networkô all feature Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. This event will be the first time that PBS will use Dolby E coding technology to carry the audio from the event site back to the PBS broadcast center. Dolby E is a professional coding system designed to distribute multichannel audio through the broadcast infrastructure.About Dolby DigitalDolby Digital, Dolby Laboratories' 5.1-channel discrete audio encoding/decoding technology, has become the sound standard for virtually every new digital consumer format, including digital versatile disc (DVD), digital cable and digital broadcast television. It is also quickly becoming the standard for direct broadcast satellite (DBS). Dolby Digital allows six discrete channels of high-quality audio to be stored or transported in less spectrum than a single channel of the pulse code modulation (PCM) audio found on compact discs. To date, more than 42 million consumer products incorporating Dolby Digital have been sold.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, Beijing, and Tokyo.