The adoption of the technology in the PixHEVC-E4600HA encoder is timely as South Korea prepares for the launch of 4K/UHD television in February 2017. The MPEG-H TV Audio System will be the first Next Generation Audio system used over the air for television broadcasts based on ATSC 3.0. Thanks to its integration in PIXTREE’s PixHEVC-E4600HA encoder, broadcast professionals and consumers will benefit from the following unique capabilities:
- Interactive audio: Consumers will have the ability to adjust the sound mix to their preferences, for example choosing between different commentators in a sporting event, and;
- Immersive sound: Comparable to moving from stereo to surround sound, the system adds sound from above to deliver a truly immersive experience.
Furthermore, the MPEG-H TV Audio System enables cost effective delivery of streaming and television audio at comparably low bit rates for broadcasters and streaming services.
“The integration of MPEG-H Audio represents PIXTREE’s commitment to delivering a captivating entertainment experience with high quality audio,” said YB Thomas Kim, Vice-President of PIXTREE, Inc. “We’re delighted to work with the audio experts at Fraunhofer IIS, especially in advance of the launch of 4K TV in South Korea” YB Thomas Kim continued.
PIXTREE, Inc. provides specialized products to customers including UHD media, HEVC total solutions (UHD Realtime Encoder, UHD Transcoder, MPEG-2 TS Player, UHD Service Monitor), mobile DTV (T-DMB, S-DMB, ATSC Mobile DTV), headend equipment, multimedia framework engines and A/V codec solutions for smart devices. PIXTREE adopted the MPEG-H TV Audio software for its Realtime UHD encoder, PixHEVC-E4600HA, which supports UHD broadcasting – IPTV, Cable, DVB-T2 and ATSC 3.0 – as well as LTE broadband, in an effort to advance the product by integrating immersive and interactive capabilities.
“Including our MPEG-H TV Audio System in PIXTREE’s PixHEVC-E4600HA encoder will allow professional broadcasters to easily deliver content to viewers with all of the features of Next Generation Audio, including the ability to personalize the listening experience through the system’s interactive audio capabilities,” said Robert Bleidt, Division General Manager at Fraunhofer USA.
In addition to being part of the A/342 proposed audio standard for ATSC 3.0, the MPEG-H TV Audio System is integrated in the next-generation DVB UHDTV broadcast standard.
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