Dolby Mandatory on both HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc

[erdega79]

http://www.d-silence.com/headlines/D...ay,%20HD/19337

Dolby Labs announces that their audio technologies have been selected as mandatory formats for both High-Definition Digital Versatile Disc (HD DVD) and Blu-ray Disc. The DVD Forum has selected Dolby Digital Plus and MLP Lossless as mandatory audio formats for HD DVD. Also, the Blu-ray Disc Association announced that Dolby Digital will be a mandatory technology on its new format, the Blu-ray Disc.

Dolby Digital Plus offers bit-rate and channel extendibility and is an extension of the popular Dolby Digital format, which is the audio standard for DVD-Video worldwide and North American high-definition television (HDTV). The DVD Forum's selection of Dolby Digital Plus as a mandatory audio standard assures future compatibility of HD DVD software media and playback devices with the more than 39 million A/V receivers equipped with Dolby Digital in homes today. Additionally, DVD-Video software titles will retain full audio compatibility with next-generation HD DVD-Video players.

For instances where higher bit rates can be allocated for audio playback, such as HD DVD, Dolby Digital Plus delivers the highest quality audio performance possible from a highly sophisticated perceptual coding process. Dolby Digital Plus is designed to offer discrete channel coverage beyond the current 5.1 standard.

Dolby Digital Plus offers coding efficiencies for systems where bandwidth is at a premium or limited, such as next-generation cable, broadcast, and satellite systems. Earlier this year, the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) nominated Dolby Digital Plus as a Candidate Standard for future robust channel transmission. In anticipation of future packaged media business models and format flexibility, Dolby Digital Plus' efficiency will also enable simultaneous streaming of audio content and software playback. This capability would enable consumers to watch a movie while listening to artists' or directors' commentary streamed directly from the studio website, for example.

MLP Lossless technology, licensed by Dolby Laboratories, has also been selected as mandatory audio standard of the HD DVD by the DVD Forum. MLP Lossless reproduces every nuance of an original performance, including elements that may have been previously lost or masked in CD playback. Because it delivers the highest audio fidelity possible without compromising picture quality or video bit rates, MLP Lossless is the perfect complement to Dolby Digital Plus. With MLP Lossless as a mandatory audio format, consumers can experience, for example, their favorite prerecorded concert performance at the highest level of audio fidelity and quality possible on an HD DVD. The DVD Forum's selection also ensures that consumers with HD DVD players will be able to play DVD-Audio discs.

The core audio technology behind multichannel DVD-Audio, MLP Lossless, enables content providers to encode multiple channels of 24-bit/96 kHz surround sound or 24-bit/192 kHz stereo content onto a DVD. Playback of content encoded in MLP Lossless is bit-for-bit identical to the studio master; nothing is lost during the encoding/decoding process. The result is the most realistic and involving high-fidelity audio available for packaged media.

The Blu-ray Association selected Dolby Digital as a mandatory audio standard for the Blu-ray Disc format, ensuring that Blu-ray Disc software and hardware will be compatible with the 39 million A/V receiver products worldwide that feature integrated Dolby Digital technologies.