Demonstrating the continued momentum for high-definition (HD) television, MTV Networks Music Group launched its first HD channel, MHD, this past month with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio.
“MTV Networks is part of the innovative broadcast community that understands the advantages of coupling high-definition video with Dolby Digital 5.1-channel audio to provide a complete HD experience,” said Rocky Graham, Director, Broadcast Products, Professional Division, Dolby Laboratories.
“MHD is all about providing the ultimate HD live-music television experience in a way that only MTV Networks can do,” said Steve Kaufman, Senior Vice President, Production Operations and Technology, MTV Networks Music Group. “With Dolby Digital 5.1 audio complementing the full-resolution 1080i picture, MHD puts the viewer in the front row center at the most exciting music events on television.”
MHD will carry music-based native-HD programming including MTV Unplugged, VH1 Storytellers, and CMT Crossroads, music events such as the MTV Video Music Awards, new shows from its Vail studio including UnCompressed, and the exclusive concert series Music With Altitude featuring live performances from Dashboard Confessional, the Goo Goo Dolls, and country recording artist Gary Allan. All of the above programs will be broadcast using Dolby Digital 5.1.
To capture the full impact of sound from live concerts, special events, and talking with artists, MHD will leverage Dolby E, a professional-quality compression technology, to deliver the multichannel audio signal to their broadcast centers. The audio is then re-encoded into Dolby Digital 5.1 for transmission to cable head-ends and satellite providers, where it is passed on to viewers with HDTV receivers or set-top boxes.
Dolby Digital delivers up to 5.1 discrete channels of surround sound: Left, Center, Right, Left Surround, Right Surround, and Low-Frequency Effects (LFE). Dolby Digital 5.1 is the audio standard for North American HDTV and digital cable systems. It is an optional audio format for most digital video broadcast (DVB) applications worldwide, including North American Direct Broadcast Satellite systems. Dolby E is a compression technology designed for network distribution of up to eight channels of audio, plus metadata, in the space of two traditional audio channels.
To learn more about MHD, please visit http://www.mhd.tv.
About Dolby Laboratories
Dolby Laboratories (NYSE:DLB) develops and delivers products and technologies that make the entertainment experience more realistic and immersive. For four decades Dolby has been at the forefront of defining high-quality audio and surround sound in cinema, broadcast, home audio systems, cars, DVDs, headphones, games, televisions, and personal computers. Based in San Francisco with European headquarters in England, the company has entertainment industry liaison offices in New York and Los Angeles, and licensing liaison offices in London, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. For more information about Dolby Laboratories or Dolby technologies, please visit http://www.dolby.com.
