Dolby Authoring/Mastering Solutions for DVD and High-Definition Media
Overview		DVD-Video and DVD-Audio		HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc

Dolby Technologies for High-Definition Disc Media

Upcoming optical disc formats with much greater capacities (HD DVD, Blu-ray Disc) will bring high-definition video to packaged media. Dolby has developed new technologies, Dolby^® Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD, which offer comparable advances in audio for these HD optical media, as well as for hard-disk-drive (HDD) applications. These technologies combine exceptionally high-quality audio performance with the flexibility and efficiency for expanded channel configurations. Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD have both been selected by the DVD Forum as the standard for HD DVD, and both are also optional formats for the Blu-ray Disc.

Dolby Digital Plus, for HD media, extends the capabilities of Dolby Digital, allowing higher data rates (up to 6 Mbps) and up to 13.1 discrete channels of audio. The actual channel configuration is dependent on the format chosen. At present, HD DVD and Blu-ray support up to 7.1 audio channels. Home listeners can hear the same pristine mix created in the studio. As with Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus includes metadata that allows content producers to optimize listening experiences for consumers.

Dolby Digital Plus is also ideal for interactive delivery of audio to accompany future packaged-media applications. For example, viewers can watch a movie while listening to the director's comments streamed from the studio website.

Dolby TrueHD is a lossless audio technology designed for the new high-definition packaged media. Only Dolby TrueHD guarantees lossless HD audio playback from every HD DVD player and from supporting Blu-ray Disc players, and Dolby TrueHD also offers the most efficient lossless coding available. It supports up to eight channels (7.1-channel surround) of 24-bit/96 kHz audio, with expandability to accommodate more channels in the future while retaining compatibility with all Dolby TrueHD decoders. (For fewer than eight channels, Dolby TrueHD allows sampling frequencies as high as 192 kHz.) Dolby TrueHD gives content creators new capabilities to position sounds for the most realistic effects. And with audio playback that is bit-for-bit identical to the highest-resolution studio masters, listeners experience sound as stunning as the high-definition picture.

Click here to view a larger comparison chart of Dolby technologies for packaged media.

Both Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD bitstreams are transportable over version 1.3 of HDMI™ and are compatible with HDMI v.1.1 as decoded PCM output signals for A/V receivers. HDMI is the new single-cable digital connection for high-definition audio and video that eliminates the confusion of multiple connectors.

For detailed descriptions and capabilities of the Dolby audio technologies for high-definition disc media, follow these links:

Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital Plus
Dolby TrueHD

Return to top of page

Dolby Media Producer: A Comprehensive Software Solution for DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, HD DVD, and Blu-ray Disc

Dolby Media Producer, our new suite of professional software DVD and HD creation tools, is the ultimate authoring tool for DVD and HD packaged media formats. It supports today’s DVD-Video and DVD-Audio formats, and the new high-definition optical media formats such as HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc. It is also designed to support any future HD media.

The Dolby Media Producer product line consists of four separate software programs designed to work together or separately: Dolby Media Encoder, Dolby Media Encoder SE (Stand-alone Edition), Dolby Media Decoder, and Dolby Media Tools. All four Dolby Media Producer programs feature an intuitive graphical interface on the Mac OS^® X platform (version 10.4.2 or higher) and can be run on both Power PC and Intel^® Macs. The products are being updated to Universal applications that will roll out progressively during the summer of 2007. These will allow the programs to run natively on Intel and Power PC systems alike, and give all Mac users the best possible performance. Current Dolby Media Producer users can register their products at dolbysupport.com to obtain information on Universal applications updates.

There are two versions of the Dolby Media Producer encoder programs available. The Dolby Media Encoder package includes three Media Encoder Clients and one Media Encoder Server. Each Media Encoder Client allows an operator to set up and submit jobs via a network to a central facility server. The Media Encoder Server can also be installed on the same computer as a Media Encoder Client to allow for local encoding. Additional Media Encoder Clients can be purchased for the Dolby Media Encoder software version. Dolby Media Encoder SE (Stand-alone Edition) is the cost-effective encoder choice for use on a single computer. Both encoder versions support all Dolby technologies for mastering the audio files for DVD and HD media formats. Click here to view a larger comparison chart of the features supported in the Dolby Media Encoder and Dolby Media Encoder SE products.

Dolby Media Encoder will initially support up to 5.1 channels of encoding for Dolby Digital Plus. Support for Dolby Digital Plus beyond 5.1 channels will be available via a free software upgrade in the future.

Dolby Media Decoder provides decoding and monitoring for all the Dolby Digital consumer audio formats, and it supports all Dolby consumer listening modes. It is optimized to run locally on a single computer. Dolby Media Decoder supports the Sony^® P2 9-pin protocol and Apple^® QuickTime^® for synchronous file playback of the audio tracks with video, and ASIO/Core Audio format for external I/O connection.

Dolby Media Tools is an invaluable utility program that allows users to repair and update previously encoded files without having to reencode them. Its features include metadata editing, file trimming, timecode striping, and file concatenation. It also is optimized to run locally on a single machine.

Dolby Media Tools will initially only support Dolby Digital files. Support for Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD will be available via a free software upgrade in the future.

The complete spec sheet for Dolby Media Producer is available here.

Return to top of page

S06/17391