DTS premiers audio tools

DTS is offering a preview of its DTS-HD Master Audio Suite v1.6, says TV Technology.

The audio tool set is built on a foundation provided by the company's earlier products and includes what it says are significant advances in digital downloading and streaming, including new stream types and support for additional bit-rates, including the bandwidth-adaptive DTS Express encoding format.

This latest version, it says, also features a dramatic increase in audio content encoding speed, using multi-processor technology to attain speeds of up to 48 times faster than real-time.

Dolby Laboratories is showcasing the latest developments to its open specification for broadcast 3D delivery at IBC and is making a software development kit (SDK) available free of charge at its booth, states Broadcasting&Cable.

The new SDK is designed to make it easier to implement Dolby into 3D broadcasters by minimising development work for broadcast encoder vendors and TV display manufacturers.

Also in Amsterdam, Dolby is offering its first demonstrations of the full HDTV-compatible audio description services enabled with Dolby Digital Plus. The Dolby solution allows visually-impaired viewers to enjoy HDTV surround sound programming complete with optional audio descriptive tracks.

A government advisory body has cast doubt on the prospects for digital radio switchover by 2015 and warned the industry not to "bully" or "scare" consumers into taking up the new technology, says The Guardian.

The Consumer Expert Group, which was set up to advise the government on digital TV switchover and has had its remit extended to radio, said the target switchover date of 2015 was "far too early".

Raising the possibility that digital radio switchover might not be feasible or even desirable, the report said a "full cost-benefit analysis from a user perspective must be carried out as a matter of urgency".