Dolby has a long history of innovation in audio technologies spanning home theater, cinema, broadcast, and mobile entertainment. As consumer expectations for high quality audio rise and viewing of mobile video increases, delivering premium audio across all screens presents both opportunities and challenges for service providers. Dolby's end-to-end solutions for encoding, delivery, and playback help service providers overcome these challenges and provide consumers with a consistent, high quality audio experience regardless of device or content.

1. Bringing Consumers a Premium Audio Experience
Ellis Reid
Sr. Industry Marketing Manager
Dolby Laboratories

2. Dolby’s History of Innovation
noise
reduction
5.1-channel
digital audio
home theater
surround sound
for headphones
real-time
5.1 broadcast
3D Digital
Cinema
HD audio
for PCs
7.1-channel
cinema sound
mobile
entertainment
®
TM
Dolby Atmos
cinema sound

3. Dolby became the de facto cinema experience
28,000+ Motion Pictures have
been released using Dolby
technologies since Star Wars
PROPRIETARY + CONFIDENTIAL
Since 1977, every film that won
Best Sound at the Academy Awards
was released with Dolby audio
10 Academy
Awards to
Dolby Laboratories
3

4. Dolby is the de facto standard for HD broadcast
Since launch in Spring
1997 more than 12.5 billion
DVDs have been shipped
Dolby Digital technologies have been
incorporated in over 792 million DVD
players and over 117 million Blu-ray players
PROPRIETARY + CONFIDENTIAL
9 Emmy Awards to
Dolby Laboratories
4

5. Mobile is NEXT! Bring MOBILE ENTERTAINMENT to LIFE….
…and deliver the audio experience consumers will pay for
29% of consumers watched paid content on a handheld device in 2011*
39% of consumers are willing to pay more for higher quality audio*
PROPRIETARY + CONFIDENTIAL
*J.D. Power and Associates, Consumer Electronics Assoc. 2011 studies
5

6. Regular monthly viewers of
streaming TV shows and
movies on smartphones are
forecast to grow to over 412
million by the end of 2016.
By 2017 68% of U.S.
consumers in broadband
households will watch
premium video on their mobile
devices..
The use of video on
smartphones has doubled
from 2012 to2013 due to the
availability of Wi-Fi. Today,
mobile video accounts for
59% of all mobile data
usage.
The mobile entertainment experience is driving multiscreen
video as a focus area for broadcast service providers.
IDC Worldwide and US Smartphone and Media Tablet Mobile Video Users 2012-2016
Audio Quality’s Growing Value for Mobile Entertainment Smartphone, 2013 Parks& Assoc.
Streaming Video Consumption: 2012–2017, Cisco 2012
6

7. Sound Impacts a User’s Video Experience

8. Sound Amplifies Visual Response at a Neural Level
Image Only
Sound Only
Sound + Image
Sum response is greater
than component parts.
Driver and Noesselt, 2007, Neuron

9. Audio Makes Watching a Video an Experience
Highest correlation
with picture quality
satisfaction is audio
quality satisfaction
(compared to Brand,
screen size & warranty)
Correlation is .806
(-1 to +1)
IDC: ConsumerScape 360
Audio fidelity must be
guaranteed for good
subjective audio-visual
experience.
VEVO president and CEO Rio Caraeff says that
the sound quality is critical for the success of
any streaming venture, music or otherwise.
Small bitrate increase
in audio can result in
far greater value than
increasing the video
bitrate.
“We’ve seen that, historically, audio has
never been prioritized over video. Our
studies have shown that if you take poorly
compressed video but pair it with highquality audio, people perceive the video to
be of higher quality than it actually is.”
EBU Broadcast Seminar,
Audio Visual Quality on the Move 2011
Streaming Media Magazine interview August
– September issue 2011

10. Audio Quality Improves Perceived Video Quality
Higher quality audio can compensate
for degradations in the video image.
Less likely to consider an image impaired
with higher quality audio. Viewers
perception of the video quality is higher
when audio quality is not impaired.
The beneficial effect of higher audio
quality on perceived video quality is
particularly noticed in fast moving
sequences. In conditions when the
video quality is low (e.g., a low bit
rate image) higher audio quality can
significantly improve the perceived
video quality.
Audio Engineering Society
“The Influence of Individual Audio
Impairments on Perceived Video Quality”
2010
2nd International Symposium on
Wireless Communication Systems
2005
“Long ago we realized
sound was your ‘special
friend’ because sound
does at least 50% of the
job.”
— Francis Ford Coppola
Director
10

11. Consumers Value and Expect Premium Audio
 Consumer expectations are set by the cinematic surround sound experience they get
from the HD Broadcast and Blu-ray/DVD experience in their living room today
 Multiscreen consumers rank audio quality as an important factor when buying a
playback device
Importance of Sound Quality in Multiscreen Device Purchases
90
p
e
r
c
e
n
t
a
g
e
80
70
60
Important
50
Highly Important
40
Extremely Important
30
20
10
0
SMART TV
TABLET
SMART PHONE
“First, the quality of audio when watching video—whether on a smart TV,
tablet, or smartphone—matters.”
TDG Report
“Relevance of Audio Quality in
Smart TV, Tablet, and
Smartphone Purchases”
11

12. Opportunities and Challenges for Service Providers
BROADCAST & PAYTV
OPPORTUNITIES
Reduced OPEX (BYOD)
Improved Subscriber Reach
Higher User Satisfaction and
Reduced Churn
Higher ARPU
MULTISCREEN
COHESIVE BEST
EXPERIENCE
ON ANY SCREEN
CHALLENGES
>100 Fold Increase in Workflow
Complexity
Devices, Content Rights, DRM Management,
OS Support, APPS, Regulations, Interoperability
ETC.

13. Premium Service Delivery Drives Converged Broadcast Workflows
13

14. Growing Workflow Complexity
Do service providers have enough time to care about audio?
Complexity = Ecosystem x Protocol x DRM
4
IPTV/DBS/Cable
TS
HLS
432+
Smooth
DASH
CFF
x
Client
DVB CAS
x
Device
STB Client

15. Service Provider Audio Considerations
Operational Requirements
Codec
Scalability
and
Efficiency
Adaptive Bit
Rate
Support
and Ad
Insertion
One Stream
for All
Devices
Device
playback
decoder
behavior
Business Requirements
Consumer
Device
Penetration
Consumer
Experience
Regulatory
Compliance
Industry
Demand

16. Service Providers Need an End-to-End Solution
CONTENT CREATION
Work with partners and provide
tools for content encoding
DISTRIBUTION
Provide and standardize formats
for content distribution
PLAYBACK
Provide products and testing to
deliver the experience on devices

17. Ecosystem and Workflow Support
Transcoding
DRM
CMS
CDN
Cloud
17

18. Codec Efficiency and Scalability
 High-efficiency performance
 Excellent quality (MUSHRA of 80) 5.1ch audio @ 192 kbps
 Scalability for higher quality levels and more channels
 Excellent quality (MUSHRA of 80) 7.1ch audio @ 384 kbps
 Perceptually lossless 5.1ch audio @ 768 kbps
 Support for all channel configurations and target quality levels
7.1
5.1
mono
2.0
2.0
5.1
HE AAC
mono
32k
64k
384k
640k
2M

19. Adaptive Bit Rate Support for Audio
QoE
Best
High
ABR Video
HUGE
GAP …
Medium
Low
ABR DD+
2.0/5.1
AAC 2.0
LEAST COMMON DENOMINATOR
Poor
Low
Medium
High
Client
Bandwidth

20. Seamless Audio Bit Rate and Channel Configuration Switching
Seamless Ad Insertion
With 5.1<>2.0 switching
Enhanced QoE/QoS with Adaptive Bit Rate
5.0Mbps
5.1
384Kbps
3.5Mbps
5.1
192Kbps
1.5Mbps
5.1
192Kbps
1.0Mbps
5.1
128Kbps
0.8Mbps
2.0
96Kbps
0.0Mbps
1.0
32Kbps
QoE
QoS
MPEG DASH
APPLE HLS
MSFT SMOOTH STREAMING

21. Seamless Multiscreen Ad Insertion Support
Advertising minutes per hour
2
Program
14
Network ads
44
5.1
Local ads
Cable operators own ~2 minutes per hour of ads
•
•
Unicast enables personalized ad insertion  $
• But … Ad Insertion must be “seamless”
5.1
5.1
2.0
2.0
5.1

22. A Single Stream for All Devices & Use Cases
Lower OPEX
7.1ch surround
5.1ch surround
2.0ch stereo
Enhanced stereo or surround for mobile speakers
Enhanced surround for headphones
HE AAC
HE-AAC requires multiple streams to accomplish what Dolby Digital Plus delivers in a single stream*
*Source: 9 years HE AAC – technical challenges using an open standard in real-world applications
AES 132nd Convention, Budapest, Hungary, 2012 April 26–29

23. Device Playback and Decoder Support
Surround Sound Virtualization
Dialog Enhancer
Immersive surround sound over: Stereo
headphones and speakers
Volume Leveling
Volume Optimizer
Fine Tune Speakers playback
Dialog volume boosted
background noise subdued
Surround
Decoder
Audio Regulator
Prevents Audio Distortion
5.1 Pass-Through
Connect to Home Theaters

24. Support for Regulatory Considerations

CALM Act
Loudness Measurement and Correction


Video Accessibility Act 2010
Audio Description (AD)Soundtrack production broadcast for the enjoyment
of deaf-blind individuals


Narration service that describes the visual content of each scene

Mixed with the main audio

25. Loudness Management
REGULATION COMPLIANCE
• Content distributor has control over audio level & dynamic range
compression
• Dolby decoders feature various output modes to address all listening
scenarios, from home theater to TV to mobile playback
DOLBY
ENCODER
DATA STREAM
AUDIO
DATA
METADATA
DOLBY
DECODER
AUDIO
DATA
USER SET-UP

26. Enhancing Accessibility Services with Immersive Surround Sound




Enables superior audio experience for all consumers
Provides surround descriptive audio for the visually impaired
Delivers increased intelligibility of services for the hearing impaired
Supported by Dolby multi-stream decoder solution with advanced
secondary audio stream mixing

27. End To End Ecosystem – The guarantee it Works?
Approval Program
ENCODER
ONE decoder Implementation
Tested by Dolby for all devices
END-TO-END SOLUTION
Encoder
Transcoder
HE-AAC
ENCODER
DECODER
1
X
MULTIPLE decoder Implementations
No guarantee it works
Poor QoE/QoS
HE-AAC
No testing framework
DECODER

28. Dolby Digital Plus Online Ecosystem
>1.3B
DEVICES
CHIPSETS
ENCODING
DELIVERY
FRAMEWORK
AND DRM
CONFIDENTIAL. Copyright 2013. Dolby Laboratories, Inc.
HLS
Smooth Streaming
28