Dolby Podcast Episode 9, March 1, 2007
Jack, Craig and Carlos B. Carbajal, Senior Product Manager for our Broadcast team at Dolby Laboratories tell listeners how to get HD TV broadcasts in surround sound, and recommend some of their favorite HD TV shows and stations. Listener, Bruno asks whether he should connect his Dolby Digital Audio 5.1 home theater system using an optical or a coaxial digital port.
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Mentioned in this Episode
Jack Buser: Hello, and welcome to Dolbycast, the insider's guide to entertainment technology from the experts at Dolby Laboratories. I'm Jack Buser.
Craig Eggers: And I'm Craig Eggers.
Jack: And we're here to give you the straight talk on everything you need to please your ears.
[music]
Craig: Hey, Jack, how are you doing?
Jack: I'm doing great, how about you, Craig? Welcome back.
Craig: It's good to see you again.
Jack: You've got it, man.
Craig: It's good to have a voice again.
Jack: It is, you sound well.
Craig: Truly, much better.
Jack: That's wonderful.
Craig: Much, much better. Hey, we've got a really exciting show today.
Jack: Yes, we do, as usual.
Craig: A special guest...
Jack: We do have a special guest. We've brought in Carlos Carbajal, who's the Senior Product Manager for our broadcast team here at Dolby. We're going to be talking all about HDTV broadcast.
Craig: Excellent.
Jack: It's going to be wonderful.
Craig: Good stuff.
Jack: What with March Madness coming up, and you know, the beginning of baseball season...
Craig: Super Bowl behind us.
Jack: Yes, Super Bowl behind us, everybody's talking about HD broadcasts, so it's going to be a very timely time to talk about...
Craig: And that one element of HD broadcasts that is so important to putting you right in the middle of the action.
Jack: The 5.1 sound system.
Craig: There you go.
[laughter]
Jack: But as always, before we get started on today's topic, we have a reader question. And let me tell you, Craig, this week when I went in and I checked out all of our reader questions — unbelievable, the response we're getting...
Craig: Isn't that cool?
Jack: We're getting people writing in from all over the world. Truly, this... we're reaching every corner of the globe, and it's just great to see so many folks who are fans of great sound. You know, we get gamers, we've got people who are into electronic dance music, which is a favorite of mine.
Craig: You got it.
[laughter]
Jack: We've got people just all over the world, just interested in all different kinds of aspects of sound and Dolby technology, and this just... it's wonderful.
Craig: We're really, truly gratified. Keep those questions coming.
Jack: Absolutely. Thanks to everyone who wrote in.
Craig: Thank you.
Jack: And again, we're going to try to answer as many of these on-air as we can, but obviously we can't do everybody...
Craig: So what we'll try to do is, if there's a bunch of them that are similar, we'll try to, you know...
Jack: Group them together.
Craig: Group them together.
Jack: Yeah, that's a good idea.
Craig: Yeah.
Jack: So today's question actually comes from Bruno, and Bruno's question is regarding broadcast television, so we figured we'd answer this question today. Bruno says, "Hi guys. First I'd like to say that I'm becoming a fan of your Dolbycast show, and I've listened to every episode released so far." So thank you, Bruno, and hopefully we'll keep the good stuff coming, so you stay tuned.
Craig: Thanks, Bruno.
Jack: Absolutely. He goes on to say, "Well, my question is, recently I got a new cable TV box from SkyPlus, and on its back I have two ports for Dolby Digital Audio 5.1: 1 optical port and 1 coaxial digital port."
Craig: Didn't we argue about this a little bit earlier?
Jack: We did argue about this.
Craig: Excellent.
Jack: And this is wonderful.
Craig: That's good.
Jack: Because now, this is actually in the context of cable TV, so...
Craig: Exactly.
Jack: Really, the question here is, does our advice that we gave here for DVD players also apply to a cable set top box?
Craig: Well, I think it does. I mean, the bottom line, Bruno, is: does it sound good? And I think from your letter, you indicated you really couldn't tell any difference between the performance of both of those. As we said before, there are positives with regards to the coaxial connection, there's positives with regards to the optical connection. The optical connection can be fragile, you don't want to step on those cables.
Jack: That's true, yeah, I've had a couple break on me.
Craig: That'll cost you a lot of money.
Jack: Yeah, that's true.
Craig: But the good thing about the optical connection is if you live in a place where there's a possibility of lots of RF — radio frequency interference...
Jack: Interference, yeah.
Craig: An optical cable just totally negates that.
Jack: That's true. It won't pick up interference, that's very true.
Craig: Now, the other side of the equation is, if you've got a very good coaxial cable with lots of insulation.
Jack: Sure.
Craig: It shouldn't be susceptible to that.
Jack: Well, it won't be quite as fragile as some of those optical cables that are out there. You know, there are also people that talk about audio quality of the signal that's actually being put through these two different cables. But really, our opinion is, you know, try them both out, see which one sounds better. They should sound the same; you really should have [laughs] a tough time, if you even can tell the difference in audio quality between the two.
Craig: Yeah, the real consumer benefit of coaxial is the fact that you could take virtually any RCA-type plug and use it as a connection.
Jack: You can use a cheap cable, yeah.
Craig: You know what? That's the negative. If you're going to do it, Bruno, get yourself a good cable, something that's...
Jack: Yeah, absolutely.
Craig:...that's well insulated, and free of interference from noise.
Jack: Absolutely, and the specific RF. And it also won't break. [laughs]
Craig: Exactly.
Jack: That's very important.
Craig: Exactly.
Jack: Because if the cable breaks, you're not going to get any sound.
Craig: So we're going to tell Bruno what?
Jack: Well, tell Bruno, listen, if you have a cable for the optical, use the optical. If you have a cable for the coaxial, use the coaxial. Just use a good cable.
Craig: High quality.
Jack: Yeah, exactly right.
Craig: That's it.
Jack: And then just choose whichever port is suitable for your receiver — and it sounds like your receiver has both — so pick one and use it. You should be fine.
Craig: So we've got that solved, let's move to a break and we're going to come back with a special guest.
Jack: Absolutely, see you soon.
[music]
Voiceover: If you have questions for the experts at Dolby Laboratories, email us at dolbycast@dolby.com. For more information, and links pertaining to today's topic, be sure to log on to dolby.com/dolbycast.
[music]
Jack: All right, everybody, welcome back to Dolbycast. Here in the studio, we are very honored to have our very own Carlos B. Carbajal, Senior Product Manager for our Broadcast team here at Dolby Laboratories.
Craig: Hey, Carlos.
Carlos Carbajal: Hey, Craig.
Craig: I know something, and you know something, that apparently Jack doesn't know.
Jack: Uh-oh.
Carlos: I noticed that.
Jack: Uh-oh.
Carlos: A lot of expertise on cables.
[laughter]
Carlos: But not a lot of expertise on cable TV.
Jack: Oh, no.
Craig: What is a SkyTV box after all, Carlos?
Carlos: It is satellite.
Jack: Oh, and I said cable. [laughs]
Craig: A satellite box.
Jack: Oh...
Craig: Dun dun dun dun!
Jack: Now that's over in the U.K., that's where it is...
Carlos: That's right.
Jack: That's right. Well, I stand corrected. Listen, you can't know everything, right?
Craig: Listen to that, people.
[laughter]
Craig: Jack made a mistake. Can you believe that?
Jack: Listen, all right? I stand corrected. Listen, Carlos, thank you so much for joining us here today. Today's topic, as you know, is getting HDTV broadcast in your house, in the best possible way. And that means really, to us here at Dolby, one big thing, which is 5.1 channel surround sound.
Carlos: That's right.
Jack: Absolutely.
Craig: So Carlos, we often speak about the 3 critical ingredients of an HD experience. Can you speak to some of those?
Carlos: Yes. Content is a critical one.
Craig: Content's very important.
Carlos: That's right.
Craig: And content comes from Hollywood, and from a lot of independent sources today.
Jack: That's right, broadcast networks. Now, how do you get at that content? You've got to subscribe to cable or satellite.
Carlos: That's right. Call your cable or satellite provider — and actually, in some parts of the United States, there's a new service called IPTV...
Jack: Yeah.
Carlos: Which is not Internet TV, so it's actually key to get that difference. It uses an IP network, but it's a private network, so it's actually not sharing bandwidth with the Internet.
Jack: Wow.
Carlos: And so actually, there's actually close here, Sacramento, has a pretty large deployment from a company called Surewest.
Jack: Now, with an IPTV service, or a satellite service, or a cable service, I often have to subscribe to the high definition packages. Is that how it works in most of these services?
Carlos: Yeah, that's often how it works, although some high definition is actually free over the air just like we used to have the rabbit-ear antennas.
Jack: The rabbit-ear antennas, you can pick up HD over the air with the antennas. Now when I first got my very first HD TV, that's what I did. And it was tough, actually, to get a signal. Has that changed at all? Is it pretty easy if you have a tuner built into a TV, can you pick up that HD over the air?
Craig: The signals are getting more robust.
Jack: Yeah.
Craig: When we talk about broadcast TV, I think one really good service we can do for our listeners is remind them that broadcast HD signals will become 100% effective in April of 2009 [it is February 17, 2009 as of February 15, 2008 – ed.]
Jack: Is that right? Yeah.
Craig: Analog's going to go away. So if you have an old analog television set with rabbit ears, or connected to an antenna, you're going to need an adapter after April 2009.
Carlos: That's right.
Craig: Because they're going to do away with all of the analog broadcasts and go to 100% digital broadcasting.
Jack: Now if you're out there looking for a TV today, and you're thinking about getting over-the-air broadcasts, I mean, you really want to make sure you get an HD TV with a tuner built in.
Carlos: That's right.
Jack: I remember when we did our section, we talked a lot about the displays that was one thing we really recommended, is getting an HD TV...
Carlos: That's excellent.
Jack:...with a tuner built in.
Carlos: That's right.
Jack: Gives you the most flexibility, as it were.
Carlos: So when you're at Best Buy, just be sure and ask them, you know, make sure it's a TV and not a monitor.
Jack: Yeah. So that is the second element. So we've got our service, we've got our display, which is the second element. You have to have an HD display.
Carlos: That's right.
Jack: OK, so assuming we have those two things, what is the missing third element?
Carlos: My favorite part, which is Dolby Digital surround sound 5.1.
Jack: Heck, yeah! Now, most HDTV shows, do these have 5.1 surround sound?
Carlos: That's correct.
Jack: Or stereo, what's going on?
Carlos: Most of them, particularly sports events, are 5.1 surround sound. We saw that this year with World Cup, March Madness, Super Bowl, all these.
Craig: Yeah. And digital television, the standard that we have here in the United States, the ATSC standard, specifies Dolby Digital. Now, Dolby Digital could be a 2.0 signal, it could be a stereo signal...
Carlos: That's right, it could be stereo.
Craig: But a lot of your premier content, and a lot of the content that's out there like Lost, and...
Jack: The big network TV shows.
Carlos: HBO.
Craig: 24 and CSI and your football. That's all delivered in 5.1 immersive surround sound now.
Jack: Yeah, I noticed that, actually, I have Comcast out here in San Francisco . And I was just surfing through the high-def channels, which are up above 700 here in San Francisco, and man, I couldn't believe how many high-def channels they've been adding to the service. It's just great. They have MTV high-def. That was very, very cool. Music videos...
Craig: I find myself watching MTV high-def more than anything else these days.
Jack: It's cool. It's very, very cool.
Craig: Definitely.
Carlos: You know what else is cool? Is how Comcast puts that little double-D symbol that tells you exactly if it's in surround sound or not.
Jack: It even tells you if it's 5.1 or if it's stereo Dolby Digital.
Carlos: That's right.
Jack: It's very cool, I got to say.
Craig: So we're seeing IPTV adopt 5.1 as well?
Carlos: That's right.
Jack: Now explain about IPTV. This is relatively new to me. I get the satellite, I get the cable thing, but what's going on with IPTV? This is interesting.
Carlos: Well, a lot of it has to do with the telecom industry. And you've got big players in the telecom industry. And they're seeing competition from cable companies that are providing, not only television service, but cable is also providing telephone service and broadband access. So, if you are a telco company, one of the things you want to provide that you're not providing now, is television.
Jack: And so these companies that are rolling out these IPTV services are also capable of high-definition video and 5.1 channel surround sound. Is that right?
Carlos: That's correct.
Jack: Oh wow. That's very cool.
Craig: One thing we have to also add because we are global with this, IPTV is not a North American phenomenon.
Jack: Right.
Carlos: That's right. It's more common in other parts of the world. France has a pretty large deployment. There's one in Spain . And we're certainly seeing it rise in Asia .
Jack: Wow. Now, is it true no matter if I'm in Europe or I'm in the United States, I'm going to be able to also get 5.1 channel surround sound? That is the case?
Carlos: That is the case. And one thing I should mention on Dolby Digital Plus, which is the newest version of Dolby surround sound technology, it actually has scalable audio bandwidth. So, if you're an IPTV operator, you can get bandwidth savings that allow you to provide more channels to your subscribers, which is...
Jack: That's what people want. I've got to tell you, I've been subscribing to high-def through cable for a long time, but what I want is more. Give me more. I'm totally hooked. I want more channels. I want more shows.
Carlos: Me, too.
Jack: I was hearing you guys talk about Dolby Digital Plus, and I think, man, that's just great, because you're able to provide that same 5.1 channel DVD-quality sound. But you're able to deliver more of it, because it's much more efficient.
Craig: Precisely. Precisely.
Jack: That's very, very cool.
Carlos: Yeah.
Jack: That's what I want. Listen, we're going to go to a musical break. When we come back we're going to be talking about some of our favorite shows in 5.1. So, see you in a bit.
[music]
Voiceover: Questions for Jack or Craig? Email dolbycast@dolby.com. For more information and links pertaining to today's topic, be sure to logon to dolby.com/dolbycast.
Craig: And welcome back to Dolbycast. Hey Jack, we have a special guest today, Mr. Carlos Carbajal.
Jack: That is right. Thank you so much again for joining us.
Carlos: Hi guys. Thank you.
Craig: He's our Product Manager for our broadcast side of the consumer group [of Dolby Laboratories – ed.].
Jack: I'm so ready to just drill this guy with what his favorite shows are. I mean, here we have a broadcast professional here in the studio. What do you watch, Carlos?
Carlos: I love HBO.
Jack: HBO, huh?
Carlos: In high-def.
Jack: Yeah, so what shows do you watch on HBO?
Carlos: I have to admit that I've been a big Sex and the City fan.
Jack: Is that right?
Carlos: I like Rome.
Jack: In 5.1?
Carlos: In 5.1.
Jack: Both of them?
Carlos: Always, always.
Jack: Very cool. So, what happens in Rome in 5.1? They have such high production values. I mean, it must be pretty fantastic, huh?
Carlos: When in Rome, as they say, it's...
[laughing]
Jack: Very cool, very cool. How about Sopranos? Sopranos in 5.1?
Carlos: Oh, yeah.
Jack: Really?
Carlos: Yeah, definitely.
Craig: I don't know about you Jack, but I'm a big, big fan of Lost.
Jack: Yes, I love Lost.
Craig: And Lost in high-definition on ABC, and 5.1 surround sound. You're on that island with those refugees.
Jack: That's a demo that we actually use at a lot of trade shows when we go. We usually show that Lost clip of where they first crash on the island, and the engine falling out. I fly a lot. I shouldn't even talk about this.
Craig: That's absolutely incredible.
Jack: Yes, that's very, very cool, you forget you're watching a TV show, it's like this is a movie, not a TV show.
Craig: That's a cool thing, you're no longer just a passive viewer, you become a participant, you become immersed in it...
Jack: What are the prime time shows at 5.1?
Carlos: ESPN has an HD channel, all at 5.1, Discovery...
Jack: So what stuff is on Discovery, it's got the nature shows, what else, I don't watch enough on Discovery, I'm too busy watching MTV.
[laughter]
Jack: But Discovery is cool to just flip it on, but are there any particular programs?
Carlos: I'm not that familiar with Discovery, but I think there was a show called Wings, which profiles all kinds of different aircraft, with flyovers.
Jack: Very cool, so we've talked a lot about prime time shows. It seems to me that virtually every single prime time show these days is in 5.1, would you say that's a fair statement?
Craig: Well, you think of 24,CSI, Lost, all the big ones.
Jack: Well, I heard a statistic the other day that there are over 50 prime time shows here in North America alone with 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound.
Craig: In addition to that, you and I are big fans of MTV HD. I find myself watching that, quite frankly, more than anything else these days, but on a lot of the different service providers, for example, Comcast gives you INHD, a lot of independent content, travelogues, informational things, interviews, sometimes music.
Jack: It's a great point, there was a show on NHT, it was right before we traveled — my wife and I actually took a trip to Cambodia and Vietnam — and there was a travel show in high definition and it was great, like being there, you know!
Craig: The coolest thing I saw was an IMAX production about a guy who goes to flight school in San Diego . They put you in that jet and it's phenomenal in 5.1. The jet goes overhead and the low frequency woofers rattle, the room, you know, it's very cool.
We've got to give a shout out to our friends at HDNet also. We do a lot of work with them at trade shows, they're also found on the DBS channels.
Jack: Yes, if you're looking for what Dolby is up to at the trade shows, a lot of times these guys will come in with their hi-def cameras and that's absolutely cool!
So let's see, we talked a lot about prime time shows, but what about sports? We're going to have a future podcast on sports, specifically, a lot of people talk about, "Geez, you know, the real reason why I set up my 5.1 system was my cable or satellite boxes so that I could watch my sports like I'm sitting there in the stadium."
Carlos: Sports is always a huge driver for HD television purchases.
Jack: What sports sound good in particular on 5.1?
Carlos: NFL games are always awesome.
Craig: I've seen some great use of mixing at the football games, for example, at the Super Bowl, during the pre-game you've got the announcer speaking in the stadium. What a really good mixer will do is he or she will position the announcer at the front soundstage, and that's what I have.
And in my rear soundstage with my 7.1 system, I had all of the ambience of the stadium. It was like, I had it all there. I had the clarity of the announcer right in front of me plus the whole ambience behind me.
Jack: For those who are interested in that kind of thing, we're going to have a future podcast, we're going to have a very special guest who works behind the scenes doing a lot of work doing 5.1 in sports.
Craig: This guy might have the coolest job in Dolby.
Jack: Quite possible!
Jack: But also probably the most stressful! It's tough doing sound with 5.1 sports, but it just sounds so great, it's like you're there at the game.
Listen, thank you so much, Carlos, for coming on the show.
Carlos: Thanks, Jack. Thanks, Craig.
Jack: We'd love to have you back and talk some more, more detail over the air, cable satellite, IPTV broadcast, glorious Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, as always...
Craig: I'm Craig Eggers.
Jack: And I'm Jack Buser. If you have any questions...
Craig: Contact us at dolbycast@dolby.com. Thank you so much for listening, we'll see you next time.
[music]
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