One of the reasons why we exhibit in China is the continuous growth of the internet community in East Asia. The 33rd Statistical Report on Internet Development in China of the Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) from the end of December 2013 confirmed a rapid increase of internet users in China. In 2013, the number of internet users reached 618 million and a 45.8 % penetration rate. 500 million Chinese internet users and thus 81% surf the internet via mobile devices, which confirms the growing importance of smartphones in China. 247 million of those mobile users use their mobile devices to stream movies, videos, and music.
One technology, which supports all these services, is the audio codec HE-AAC, which was co-developed by Fraunhofer IIS. Over the last couple of years, HE-AAC has become one of the most important enabling technologies for state-of-the-art multimedia systems for broadcasting and streaming. Thanks to its ability to provide excellent audio quality at high and very low bit rates, HE-AAC is the perfect audio solution for new adaptive streaming standards such as MPEG-DASH. In China, our visitors experience the high quality performance of HE-AAC in combination with the new video codec HEVC and MPEG-DASH. The HE-AAC codec performs well and delivers an excellent audio quality on congested networks and with unstable bit rates. As the only mandatory codec for Android, the world’s most popular mobile operating system, our visitors can expect not only stereo sound, but also immersive 5.1 surround sound. Therefore, we will connect an android device via HDMI to a home theater system.
The ideal complement of HE-AAC multichannel is our Fraunhofer-Cingo technology, which brings impressive sound to small devices. Cingo offers excellent surround sound on smartphones or tablets by using headphones or the built-in stereo loudspeakers. Due to the unique sound, Google has chosen Cingo for their Google Nexus family devices.
Furthermore, we will show extended HE-AAC (xHE-AAC), one of the successors of HE-AAC, and therefore, the fifth generation MPEG audio codec. It´s the ideal candidate for radio services, and for the first time, one technology is able to handle both speech and music at very low bit rates (up to 8 kbit/s). At our CCBN booth, visitors can experience the direct comparison with other audio codecs and see how well our codec xHE-AAC performs while listening to a talk radio program or a music radio program. Users will see how xHE-AAC delivers high audio quality at very low bit rates.
Our codecs are used not only for radio broadcasting, but also for digital TV broadcasting. For example, HE-AAC is part of the DVB toolbox and is being used in several European and South American countries. To make the future of television more attractive, we will show at CCBN our Dialogue Enhancement technology. This technology gives TV and radio audiences the unique chance to influence their program’s audio balance. For example, users can change speech or ambient background sounds according to their preferences. With its coding efficiency, it is possible to transport the required additional information for Dialogue Enhancement within the audio data stream.
We’re looking forward to the CCBN tradeshow, and the many interesting conversations and excellent business contacts that await us there!
Header image © Matthias Rose – Fraunhofer IIS