At the recent Beijing International Radio TV & Film (BIRTV) Equipment Exhibition 2007 in China, Neural Audio showed its Neural-THX Surround audio solutions for stations making the transition to digital television. The MultiMerge feature enables DTV broadcasters to seamlessly manage the transition from stereo to 5.1 surround from a network or other sources. With MultiMerge installed before STL paths, Dolby E or AC-3 encoders, original surround content is passed unaffected while original stereo content is rendered into 5.1 surround. Combined with Neural-THX Surround DownMix, the system can enable surround in stereo-only facilities, eliminating the need for costly physical plant upgrades.
“By installing MultiMerge, local affiliates can all but eliminate the interoperability issues that they were facing on a day-to-day basis. Ultimately, this means a very seamless listening experience for viewers, whether it is mono, stereo or surround,” said Mark Seigle, Neural COO and president. “This technology will allow any new or existing Chinese TV station to start broadcasting SD or HD content in full 5.1 surround sound without the need to buy expensive equipment, a major cost incentive to upgrade infrastructure prior to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.”
Neural-THX Surround enables a bit rate-efficient and stereo-compatible representation and broadcast of multichannel audio content for analog and digital radio and television. The technology accommodates the transmission of surround sound, even for applications with analog mixing constraints, audio compression and limited bandwidth such as digital audio and video broadcasting and Internet streaming.
For more information, visit www.neuralaudio.com.
