MPEG-H Audio supports several use cases for interactivity of object-based audio, such as defining of switching groups or presets for selection by the end-user. MPEG-H metadata contains all relevant information for reproduction and rendering in arbitrary reproduction layouts: information about the audio components inside the bit stream and their hierarchical structure, as well as restrictive metadata by which the content creator can allow or limit the interactive possibilities that can be accessed by the consumer. Together with video and audio, the metadata is used for encoding, followed later by decoding on the receiver side.
The MPEG-H Authoring Plug-in works with all popular Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) and facilitates the workflow of MPEG-H Audio content production. The plug-in enables the creation of MPEG-H scenes and the related metadata in postproduction where the producer can define specific parameters, instantly listen to configuration changes and – once the authoring and monitoring of the audio scene is complete – export these settings either in the form of an XML file, or a so-called “control track” – depending on the distribution workflow. The latter is a mono PCM audio signal, which can be distributed with the audio content over conventional audio signal paths, ensuring a secure transmission of the content with the metadata through the broadcast facility to the MPEG-H emission encoder.
The MPEG-H Authoring Plug-in is available free of charge for professional users in TV broadcasting at the following link: www.iis.fraunhofer.de/mhapi
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