SAN FRANCISCO - Agere Systems, Coding Technologies, Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS and Philips, the inventors behind the new MPEG Surround audio compression technique, will showcase their technology at Audio Engineering Society AES 121 on October 6-8.

 

The event follows by two weeks finalization of the specifications under the MPEG-D standard on September 22. Only formal approval by the national bodies remains in the MPEG-D standards process. MPEG Surround represents a feature-rich compression technique for multi-channel audio signals. Operating on top of a core audio codec, the system provides an unrivaled set of features such as full backward compatibility to stereo equipment and a wide scalability in terms of bit rate used for describing the surround sound image.

 

This compatibility enables an easy upgrade path for existing stereo broadcast systems to a more desirable surround sound listening experience. Advanced functionalities include an enhanced matrix surround mode, allowing generation of clean, stable and high-quality multi-channel audio based on a stereo signal; and a binaural mode, providing spatial rendering and reproduction of multi-channel audio on stereo playback devices such as headphones. With the finalization of the MPEG Surround standard, software for evaluation and development is being made available to customers and other parties interested in capitalizing on the benefits of MPEG Surround.

 

The first independent tests of the new technology are expected to be ready at the end of this year. MPEG Surround will be jointly demonstrated by all four parties at AES 121, October 6-8, Moscone Convention Center San Francisco, demonstration room #258.

 

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Press inquiries please contact:

 

Philips Applied Technologies
Joost Maltha
Tel.: +31 (0) 40 27 48882
E-mail: joost.maltha@philips.com
www.apptech.philips.com

 

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