First Implementation of Dolby Digital Plus for HD Terrestrial TV

France's new national high-definition terrestrial broadcasters for the Television Numerique Terrestre HD (TNT HD) platform, which launched in October, are transmitting their programming using Dolby® Digital Plus and Dolby Digital audio streams. This is one of the first major terrestrial high-definition platforms on the air in Europe, and the first major broadcast application to use Dolby Digital Plus. Initial services available on TNT HD include the popular channels ARTE HD, Canal+ HD, France 2 HD, M6 HD, and TF1 HD.

Prior to the launch of this HD platform, TNT broadcast using an MPEG-2 standard-definition free-to-air terrestrial service, which garnered a very positive response from the French public. The new service is expected to do the same for HD. Currently, major European retailers are promoting HDTVs with integrated TNT HD tuners. For example, the French electronics retailer Darty features a line of Samsung television sets with Dolby Digital Plus logos and TNT HD stickers.

The TNT HD platform broadcasts Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby Digital audio in both 5.1-channel and stereo streams. Because the Dolby Digital Plus signal includes the 5.1 stream as well as a stereo downmix, there is no need for the simulcasting of a second signal. This is a critical asset for bandwidth-limited applications. Bandwidth can be further minimized if necessary, as Dolby Digital Plus supports extremely low bit rates. (It can also scale up to the much higher bit rates used for packaged HD media such as the Blu-ray Disc^™ format.)

According to Gilles Maugars, CTO of TF1's Technology and IT Division, "With three channels in one 24 Mbps multiplexed signal, the Dolby codecs are critical to save the scarce resource of bandwidth in this constrained environment." In addition to scalable bit rates and high-quality audio, the creation and archival of programming for TNT HD is enhanced through the use of Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby Digital. File-based work flows developed with the broadcasters using Dolby metadata ensure a consistent quality of audio delivered to viewers’ homes.

The French HD forum specification required that, beginning in December 2008, all HD-ready television sets for sale in France include Dolby Digital Plus and High-Efficiency AAC (HE AAC) audio. The forum also expressed the preference of broadcasters for Dolby technology to deliver this experience, due to its compatibility with their current production processes. There are already several HDTVs from a wide range of manufacturers available in France with integrated Dolby Digital Plus and HE AAC, as well as a number of similarly equipped set-top boxes. French consumers now have a wide choice of options to access the new TNT HD services available to them.