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5.1 Surround Sound for FM HD Radio™ at NAB 2005
Telos/Omnia/Axia, Fraunhofer IIS, Broadcast
Electronics, Bose & ENCO Systems
Participate in First Live Demo
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4 April 2005,
Cleveland Ohio, USA
In an historic
presentation, Telos, Omnia, Axia, and Fraunhofer Institute for
Integrated Circuits join to provide attendees of the 2005 NAB Show with
a first ever live demonstration of non-matrixed 5.1 Surround Sound for
FM HD Radio™.
The end-to-end
demonstration will involve both the Axia and Telos/Omnia booths in the
NAB radio/audio hall. It will begin in the Axia booth (N3616) with an
ENCO DADPro32 delivery system and will be mixed in discrete 5.1 surround
sound using Axia’s new Element control surface. The signal will then be
passed over a BE Big Pipe STL link to the Telos/Omnia booth (N2816),
where it will be encoded for surround by Fraunhofer IIS software,
processed with an Omnia-6EXi HD+FM audio processor, and then broadcast
on an HD Radio channel using a BE FXi 60 HD Radio Exciter. A Visteon car
radio modified by Fraunhofer IIS will receive and decode the
over-the-air signal for 5.1 surround loudspeakers.
Telos / Omnia
/ Axia and Fraunhofer IIS will also present another over-the-air
demonstration of discrete Surround for HD Radio in a second display
located in NAB’s Surround Pavilion (Booth C3607D) in the Central Hall.
In a setup similar to that in the Radio Hall, visitors will be able to
audition Surround audio in an in-car environment, courtesy of a
prototype Bose 5.1 Cabin Surround™ sound system inside an Acura MDX SUV.
Steve Church,
Telos Systems Founder & CEO, says “We will show that genuine, non-matrix
surround is practical and doable today. There is no need to compromise.”
Further, “We expect that people who experience the demo will be not only
impressed with the quality of the audio itself, but surprised at how
simple and low-cost it can be to implement.”
The surround
encoder/decoder system has been designed by the German research
institute Fraunhofer IIS, inventor of MP3 and a world leader in audio
coding research, with USA partner Agere Systems. It is part of the
reference model of the currently ongoing MPEG Spatial Audio
standardization process. The key to the surround system is that all the
pieces of the audio that go to the surround channels are present in the
two stereo channels created manually by an artistic downmix.
Additionally, there is an ancillary data channel used for transmitting
spatial information. The surround decoder, if present in the receiver,
uses this information to move the pieces of audio to their respective
positions, recreating the original multi-channel sound.
Harald Popp,
Head of the Fraunhofer IIS Multimedia Realtime Systems Department notes,
“With the help of our long-time partner Telos Systems and our huge
experience in audio and video coding, we can prove the high quality of
the upcoming MPEG Spatial Audio standard already implemented in
real-life broadcast.”
Church
concludes, with regard to the Acura exhibit, “The car is the perfect
environment for the surround experience, and since that’s where a lot of
radio listening happens, we wanted to show what surround can bring to
radio’s party in the real world.”
Be sure to visit Telos Systems / Omnia at Booth N2816 and Axia at Booth
N3616 in the Las Vegas Convention Center from April 18-21 to see and
hear a wide range of demonstrations. Contact Caroline Dorsey at
+1-216-241-7225, or email dorsey@Telos-Systems.com for more information.
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About
the Demonstration Partners:
Axia Audio
is a new division of Telos Systems, specializing in networked studio
audio products. Using the Axia IP-Audio system, broadcasters can now
build audio networks of any size using standard Switched Ethernet to
connect a few rooms — or an entire facility. Axia audio networks can
carry hundreds of digital stereo audio channels over standard CAT-6
cables, doing away with much of the cost normally associated with wiring
labor and infrastructure.
Telos
Systems is a leading manufacturer of ISDN, coded audio and telephone
interface products for talk-shows, teleconferencing, audio production,
remote broadcasts, and intercom applications. Telos digital telephone
hybrids are standard equipment for such demanding broadcasters as
Premiere Radio Networks and XM Satellite Radio, and the ground-breaking
Zephyr family of ISDN Transceivers, the first device capable of
transmitting 20kHz stereo audio on a single dial-up ISDN phone line, is
the most popular codec ever, with over 10,000 units (and counting!) in
the field worldwide.
Omnia
Audio, a Telos company, is world-renowned for its digital audio
signal processing expertise. The Omnia family of digital audio
processors for FM, AM and the Internet have become the standard of
loudness, clarity and digital purity by which other are judged. Recent
surveys find Omnia in use on more than half of the 100 highest-rated FM
stations in the US (including the #1-rated FM stations in New York and
Los Angeles) – more than all other brands combined. Internationally,
Omnia processors are relied upon by Virgin Radio, NRJ, The BBC, Radio
Beijing, Sony, Deutsche Telekom, Bayerischer Rundfunk, WDR, RTL, Skyrock,
NRK, YLE and many other leading broadcasters.
The
Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits, today with 450 staff
members, reached international recognition with the development of the
audio codec MPEG Layer-3. It provides research services on contract
basis and technology licensing. Research topics are: Audio and video
source coding, digital radio broadcasting systems, analog and digital
integrated circuits, tools for design automation, high-speed camera
systems, industrial and medical vision systems, wireless, wired and
optical networks, nanofocus X-ray technology, and communications
technology in transport and logistics. Fraunhofer’s most famous
developments in the audio world are MP3 and MPEG AAC, which is at the
heart of Apple’s iPod.
ENCO
Systems is a leading provider of Digital Audio Delivery Systems
worldwide, and is headquartered in Southfield, Michigan with offices in
the United Kingdom. Products include digital audio automation and
delivery systems for radio and television both supporting 5.1 and 7.1
uncompressed surround, and automated closed captioning for television.
ENCO's client base includes broadcasters like Susquehanna, Salem, ESPN
Radio and TV, CNN Radio and TV, NBC, BSkyB, National Public Radio and
many more worldwide.
Broadcast
Electronics (BE) is the premier provider of mission-critical
solutions for over-the-air and Internet radio. BE products encompass
program generation, audio and data management, inter-facility transport,
and analog and digital transmission. For more than four decades, BE
pioneering developments have set industry standards for innovation and
reliability, while providing broadcasters with new options for
operational productivity and income generation. BE is headquartered in
Quincy, Illinois, and is represented worldwide by a network of local
representatives.
Bose
Corporation was founded in 1964 by Dr. Amar G. Bose. The company
today is one of the largest and best-known audio technology developers
and product manufacturers in the U.S. and throughout the world. It is
known for its home speakers and systems, the Wave® music system
products, premium automotive sound systems, Acoustic Noise Cancelling®
headphones for consumers and pilots, and sound for public places.. The
Bose Automotive Systems Division was the first automotive supplier to
provide a discrete 5.1 surround sound system in a production vehicle
with the DaimlerChrysler Maybach in 2002 and now offers production 5.1
systems in select Acura, Infiniti, and Cadillac vehicles.
HD Radio™
is a trademark of iBiquity Digital Corporation.
Telos Systems, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio
with offices in Europe and Canada, is a leading manufacturer of ISDN,
coded audio and telephone interface products for talk-shows,
teleconferencing, audio production, remote broadcasts, and intercom
applications.
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