DTVAG Forum

Special Events

Moderator:
Roger Charlesworth, DTV Audio Group - New York, NY, USA
Panelists:
Tim Carroll, Dolby Laboratories - San Francisco, CA, USA
Stacey Foster, Saturday Night Live
Jackie Green, Alteros - Stow, OH, USA
Scott Kramer, Netflix - Los Angeles, CA, USA
Sean Richardson, Starz Entertainment - Denver, CO, USA
Tom Sahara, Turner Sports Vice President, Operations and Technology, Turner Sports - Atlanta, GA, USA
Steve Silva, Vice President of Technology and Strategy, Fox Networks - Los Angeles, CA, USA
Jim Starzynski, NBCUniversal - New York, NY, USA; ATSC Group - Washington D.C.

Television in Transition: Expanding Possibilities for Audio 

The entire television consumption and distribution ecosystem is being transformed at breakneck speed. Ubiquitous and cheap wireless and broadband networking; smart TVs and mobile devices; and massively-scalable cloud computing are building a completely new entertainment distribution system practically overnight, upending the traditional broadcast model, and changing viewing habits forever. This transition from “hardwired” to “virtualized” distribution is expanding the possibilities for television audio innovation, further raising the bar on ultimate quality of premium viewing experiences, while presenting creative challenges in translating these experiences to an ever-widening range of devices. 

“The rule book for television distribution is being completely re-written. The migration away from traditional broadcasting to IP delivery will continue to accelerate the uptake of advanced encoding solutions and sophisticated audio services. This transition creates new challenges in providing quality and consistency across an ever-widening range of device and environments. Please join the DTVAG for a discussion of these and other important television audio issues.”~ Roger Charlesworth, Executive Director, DTV Audio Group 

Forum topics will include: 

Chasing Quality 
The advent of affordable consumer 4K and HDR on TVs and other devices is transforming the home viewing experience. Combined with the story-telling power of premium episodic content, upscale home viewing is supplanting cinema as the ultimate Hollywood entertainment consumption experience. Audio has been front and center in this transition as more and more premium content becomes available in Dolby Atmos. Is this trend sustainable? How are broadcasters and others responding to the demand for premium audio content? 

Surround Virtualization 
An important aspect of next-generation audio systems is the ability to virtualize surround presentations over a range of devices and environments. Consumers are already being offered increasingly sophisticated immersive-audio-capable soundbars and TV sets; what are the prospects for enhanced surround virtualization on headphones, earbuds and mobile devices? 

Infrastructure and Workflow for Next-Generation Audio 
Next-generation audio services greatly increase network operations payloads with additional immersive channels, alternate languages, accessibility features, and all their attendant metadata. Can linear routing systems keep up with these demands or is SMPTE ST 2110 IP media infrastructure arriving just in time to save the day? If so, where are we on the attendant standards and operating protocols to make next-gen audio work in the IP domain? We will debate the issue and take an expert look at the standards crafting work going on behind the scenes. 

The Wireless Spectrum Crunch Marches On 
Carriers are quickly rolling out services in their newly-acquired 600 MHz blocs making life difficult for wireless mics and other low-power users in many parts of the country. As the rollout in open blocks continues, stations are beginning to exit their existing allocations and head for new frequencies in an already over-crowded 500 MHz TV band. What is the long-term feasibility of operating in what remains of the UHF TV band, and are there practical alternatives on the horizon? 

Presenters and Panelists Include: 

Roger Charlesworth, Executive Director, DTV Audio Group 
Tim Carroll, Senior Director Technology, Sound Group, Office of the CTO, Dolby Laboratories 
Stacey Foster, Coordinating Producer, Saturday Night Live 
Jackie Green, President and Chief Technology Officer, Alteros 
Scott Kramer, Manager Sound Technology, Netflix 
Sean Richardson, Executive Director and Principal Audio Engineer, Starz Entertainment 
Tom Sahara, Vice President Operations and Engineering, Turner Sports, Chairman Sports Video Group 
Steve Silva, Consultant Technology Strategy, Fox Networks Engineering and Operations 
Jim Starzynski, Director and Principal Audio Engineer, NBC Universal, Chairman DTV Audio Group 

The DTV Audio Group Forum at AES is produced in association with the Sports Video Group and is sponsored by: Calrec; Dale Pro Audio; Dolby Laboratories; Lawo; Sanken; Plus 24