pctechguide.com

Digital Video Television Sound

The standard sound format for European digital television comes in the form of MPEG-2 Stereo. This system can carry two channels of CD quality digital audio. The quality of audio this delivers is little different to that possible using the NICAM Stereo Audio system for digital stereo sound with used by terrestrial analogue television broadcasts in the UK television programmes for the last few years.

As with NICAM, the MPEG-2 Stereo sound can be encoded with the 4-channel Dolby Surround audio suitable for any home Dolby Pro-Logic decoder. Unfortunately, the technology for encoding and transmitting digital surround sound – such as Dolby Digital or even MPEG-2 Multichannel – has not been included in the first generation hardware and software, and is currently incompatible with the digital television systems in use at the turn of the millennium. The official explanation as to why Dolby Digital has been excluded is because the terms of the UK Digital TV standard prevents the use of a proprietary sound system above the MPEG-2 technology used for both picture and sound data compression.

The situation is different elsewhere around the world, however, with several countries having adopted Dolby Digital as the sound format for DTV. The FCC standard for HDTV in the USA includes Dolby AC-3 audio in the specification. This allows for surround sound made up of 5.1 channels of audio, each of which can be sent to up to five separate speakers and a subwoofer.

 

Filed Under: Digital Video

Latest Articles

How to Remove Anti-Malware Lab

Easiest Removal Option: Remote Repair: Paying an expert to remove this threat is always the easiest option. It's also the most expensive. PCTechGuide.com has reviewed several remote computer repair companies and we recommend http://www.pcninja.com This is a small computer repair company (Two … [Read More...]

Gigabit Ethernet

The next step in Ethernet's evolution was driven by the Gigabit Ethernet Alliance, formed in 1996. The ratification of associated Gigabit Ethernet standards was completed in the summer of 1999, specifying a physical layer that uses a mixture of proven technologies from the original Ethernet … [Read More...]

Guides

Recent Posts

Motherboard Removal

Disconnect and remove your existing motherboard as follows: First, take the precaution of entering Setup and checking your current system's BIOS … [Read More...]