- Dolby Multichannel Audio Tool User's Manual

90 Dolby
®
DP570 Multichannel Audio Tool User’s Manual
A Guide to Dolby Metadata
Speech
MaxBoost:15dB(below–50dB)
BoostRange:–50to–31dB(5:1ratio)
NullBandWidth:5dB(–31to–26dB)
EarlyCutRange:–26to–16dB(2:1ratio)
CutRange:–16to+4dB(20:1ratio)
None
NoDRCprofileselected. Thedialoguelevelparameteris
stillapplied.
ThesechoicesareavailabletothecontentproducerforbothLinemodeandRFmode.The
contentproducerchooseswhichoftheseprofilestoassigntoeachmode;whenthe
consumerordecoderselectsaDRCmode,theprofilechosenbytheproducerisapplied.
InadditiontotheDRC
profile,metadatacanlimitsignalpeakstopreventclippingduring
downmixing.Thismetadata,knownasoverloadprotection,isinsertedbytheencoderonly
ifnecessary.Forexample,considera5.1channelprogramwithsignalsatdigitalfullscale
onallchannelsbeingplayedthroughastereo,downmixedlineleveloutput.
Withoutsome
formofattenuationorlimiting,theoutputsignalwouldobviouslyclip.Correctsettingof
theDialogueLevelandDRCprofilesnormallypreventsclippingandunnecessary
applicationofautomaticoverloadprotection.
D.5 Downmixing
DownmixingisafunctionofDolbyDigitalthatallowsamultichannelprogramtobe
reproducedoverfewerspeakerchannelsthanthenumberforwhichtheprogramis
optimallyintended.Simplyput,downmixingallowsconsumerstoenjoyaDVDordigital
televisionbroadcastwithoutrequiringafullblownhometheatersetup.
As
withstereomixingwherethemixismonitoredinmonoonoccasiontomaintain
compatibility,multichannelaudiomixingrequirestheengineertoreferencethemixto
fewerspeakerchannelstoensurecompatibilityindownmixingsituations.Inthisway,
DolbyDigital,usingthemetadataparametersthatcontroldownmixing,isan“equal
opportunity
technology,”inthateveryconsumerwhoreceivestheDolbyDigitaldata
streamcanenjoythebestaudioreproductionpossible,regardlessoftheplaybacksystem.
Itisimportanttoconsidertheoutputsignalsfromeachpieceofequipmentthatcanreceive
aDolbyDigitalprogram inthehome.Table D2showsthe
outputtypesfromdifferent
equipment.
Note: DRCprofilesettings aredependentonanaccuratedialoguelevelsetting.Improper
settingofthedialoguelevelparametermayresultinexcessiveandaudible
applicationofoverloadprotectionlimiting.
Table D-2 Outputs from Different Equipment Types
Equipment
Output
Digital
5.1-Channel
Analog
2-Channel
Analog
RF
Remodulated
5.1channelamplifier
Thestandardhometheater
A/Vamp
××
5.1channeldecoder × ×