The Studer D21m I/O system, used on the Studer Vista and OnAir 3000 digital consoles, has been further enhanced by an optional I/O card for signals encoded with Dolby E. Studer is one of the first console manufacturers to offer such an expansion. A single optional I/O card accepts any AES/EBU stream containing signals encoded with Dolby E or Dolby Digital, decodes the stream within the input stage and then provides up to two sets of eight channels to the console.
Dolby E is a professional audio coding technology developed to assist the conversion of two-channel broadcast and other facilities to multichannel audio by providing eight audio channels in the same space normally used for two. Among other benefits, audio encoded with Dolby E can be edited, decoded and re-encoded many times without audible degradation.
One D21m I/O frame can take up to 12 of the new I/O cards in a 3U rack space, and each card may contain up to two decoders, making it possible to decode up to 24 Dolby E streams in just 3U of rack space. Dolby Digital or Dolby E encoded signals may be directly connected to the card’s front panel or patched via the console’s internal software patch window. Used in combination with Studer’s D21m SDI de-embedder card, it is possible to decode Dolby E signals originally contained within an SDI stream.
The dual Dolby Digital and Dolby E decoder card also features an automatic switch to a second AES/EBU PCM input in case there is no Dolby E or Dolby Digital encoded signal detected on the main input.
For more information, please visit www.studer.com and www.dolby.com.
