[OT] Surround sound DAB tests from October

["Mark McCall" <lists@xxxxxxx>]

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds11776.html

Surround sound DAB tests from October
19:49 BST, Saturday 13th September 2003 -- by James Welsh
Microsoft, Capital Radio, ntl Broadcast and RadioScape have announced plans
to begin test transmissions of 5.1-channel surround sound on DAB Digital
Radio in London from October.

A six month trial will take place on ntl Broadcast's experimental multiplex
available on L-Band in the capital. However, don't expect to be able to
pick
up the transmissions using your current standalone receiver - the surround
sound tests will be conducted using audio transmitted in the Windows Media
Audio 9 Professional codec. Most existing receivers are only equipped to
decode MP2 transmissions. MP2, or MPEG-1 Layer 2, was the predecessor to
the
now-infamous MP3 audio format. MP2 has come under fire for being outdated
and, according to some, unable to deliver acceptable audio quality at the
bitrates used on some multiplexes.

Jonathan Usher, director of Microsoft's Windows Digital Media Division,
explained: "This trial enables us to work alongside industry leaders
in the
United Kingdom, including Capital Radio, NTL, and RadioScape, to take the
first steps in delivering high-quality 5.1-channel surround sound over DAB.
This trial illustrates how Windows Media 9 Series can work with current
open
digital broadcast standards such as DAB to help drive new business models
and consumer services."

The test transmissions will involve content from Capital Radio being
streamed in WMA Pro format from a Windows Server 2003 back-end and then
broadcast in IP datacasting over the DAB transport stream.

Dave Hawkins, business manager for digital radio at RadioScape, which
already has two receiver designs capable of delivering datacasted
5.1-channel surround sound in commercial production (Modular Technology's
L-Band DAB PCI card and the Gyro-1112 DAB receiver module from GyroSignal),
said:

"This is a major innovation for DAB and provides listeners with a
greatly
enhanced DAB listening experience. Windows Media 9 Series offers an
excellent compression system and partners well with our software-designed
DAB radio architecture to enable us to add 5.1 audio capability to our
family of module designs in the future."

It is indicated a bitrate of 128kbps could be successfully used to deliver
5.1-channel surround sound using the WMA Pro codec due to compression
advances over MP2.

Nathalie Schwarz, director of strategy and development at Capital Radio,
said:

"Capital Radio is extremely pleased to be participating in this DAB
trial,
as our listeners will for the first time be able to hear Capital in London
broadcasting in CD quality with surround sound. We are excited to be the
leading content partner on this innovative trial with NTL using Windows
Media 9 Series and believe there will be demonstrable benefits for both our
listeners and advertisers."


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