MPEG Multichannel Audio in DVB

DVB has adopted the international standards ISO/IEC 11172–3 and ISO/IEC 13818–3, better known as MPEG-1 Audio and MPEG-2 Audio respectively, for transmission of high quality audio accompanying MPEG-2 Video. These decisions were based on solid commercial requirements, formulated by the members of the DVB consortium. These include broadcasters, research institutions and manufacturers. — The paper will give a brief overview of the standardisation processes, both in MPEG and DVB. It will then discuss the fundamental requirements for audio in MPEG and DVB and motivate the major design decisions in both systems. The implications for e.g. the scalability of the transmission system and the receivers (cost and complexity issues) will be explained. — Forwards and backwards compatibility of the compression system was a major requirement during the development of both systems. The concepts and their implications for consumer products and plant operation will be examined and compared to systems where these requirements were not existing. Matrix surround systems are widely used in the consumer markets and quite some material is coded with one of these systems. MPEG has been designed to be compatible with matrix surround systems and can carry them in a transparent fashion. Examples from every day practice will be given. Special attention will be given to the sound quality issue. ITU and EBU tests document the high quality of MPEG audio. — Finally, interoperability between different services (cable, satellite and terrestrial, but also DAB) is of major concern to broadcasters. The DVB system addresses these concerns by using MPEG audio, video and systems.

Published

1999-07

Content type

Original Research

DOI

10.5594/M001173

ISBN

978-1-61482-948-5