DTS Neural 6 - 5.1 surround radio broadcasts

[TLS Guy]

I'm going to post a link to a thread I stated in the musical goodness category yesterday, to make people aware of this interesting development. That is the ability to broadcast 5.1 surround via a two channel broadcast system using a novel matrix.

For the more technically inclined, DTS have a collection if interesting white papers on this and other topics.

One white paper, Improving Content "codability" with Lossy Codecs, I found extremely interesting, as it has to do with how to mic and mix content to be compatible with lossy codecs. This provides insight for me into the huge variability of recordings in their susceptibility to degradation when subjected to lossy codecs.

Jamie in particular, needs to read this white paper if he hasn't previously.

 

[skers_54]

Nice article. From what I gathered, modern recording tendancies (especially for pop music) are incompatible with lossy codecs since they actually eliminate the aural effects that the codecs rely on to mask the compression artifacts. Is that correct?

I was surprised to read that dynamically compressed music fairs worse with data compression than properly-mixed music. It certainly makes sense in retrospect, since the errors are those of commission rather than omission.

 

[TLS Guy]

Nice article. From what I gathered, modern recording tendancies (especially for pop music) are incompatible with lossy codecs since they actually eliminate the aural effects that the codecs rely on to mask the compression artifacts. Is that correct?

I was surprised to read that dynamically compressed music fairs worse with data compression than properly-mixed music. It certainly makes sense in retrospect, since the errors are those of commission rather than omission.

One of the most interesting aspects to me was the issue of panning. Of course a spot mike is mono, and its location is very much at the discretion of the mix engineer. According to the author, lossy codecs can not cope with a spot panned other then center, hard left or hard right. That will exclude an awful lot of archived material!

The overriding issue, is how much these wretched codecs are going to restrict artistic creativity and freedom.

 

[skers_54]

I thought that detail and timbre would take the biggest hit, but the author makes it clear that the spatial effects suffer at least as much. It seems that it takes a very disciplined engineer and near-ideal listening environment to make lossy codecs work. It baffles me that they are still so pervasive, since storage and download bandwidth are so plentiful now.

I also enjoyed the link to MPR's streaming site. I grew up near Sioux Falls and have a couple friends who really like their broadcasts. Now I know what I've been missing!

 

[TLS Guy]

I thought that detail and timbre would take the biggest hit, but the author makes it clear that the spatial effects suffer at least as much. It seems that it takes a very disciplined engineer and near-ideal listening environment to make lossy codecs work. It baffles me that they are still so pervasive, since storage and download bandwidth are so plentiful now.

I also enjoyed the link to MPR's streaming site. I grew up near Sioux Falls and have a couple friends who really like their broadcasts. Now I know what I've been missing!

I think they are pervasive because of the limitations of transmission bandwidth. iBiquity IBOC HD radio only supports 90 kbs, and of they cram a lot of channels can get as low as 20 kbs!

However that white paper explains a lot of problems I have noted.

I'm glad you are enjoying the MPR stream.