Notes
The Quality Standard for Mono or Stereo TV Audio
Quality and Consistency
Television audio presents a particularly difficult challenge due to the varying quality of different sources: live studio, live remote, satellite feeds, videotape, and film-to-tape transfers. All of these signals must be controlled to achieve consistent loudness, pleasing spectral balance, and high intelligibility on TV receivers of all types and sizes. This should be accomplished without introducing any audible artifacts.
Orban has applied over two decades of experience in broadcast audio processing to solving the problems of TV audio. The solutions are incorporated in a single, fully-integrated television audio processor: OPTIMOD-TV 8182A.
Four Level Control Functions
Master control operators tend to concentrate on video and often neglect audio levels. The 8182A addresses this with gentle gain riding over a 25dB range to achieve consistent sound quality on air.
The 8182 also provides adjustable control of dynamic range to maintain an ideal dynamic range between loud and soft passages. This produces intelligible and natural-sounding results on small portable sets, yet maintains a remarkably open and natural sound for home theater systems.
The 8182A's Automatic Loudness Controller effectively restrains commercials that are perceived as annoyingly loud even though actual measured level would not indicate a problem. The sophisticated circuits that handle this task are based on over 20 years of psychoacoustic research at the CBS Technology Center.
Finally, the 8182A incorporates Orban's patented Hilbert-Transform Clipper and FCS Overshoot Compensator to provide effective peak limiting with absolutely no audible artifacts.
The Result
With OPTIMOD-TV, home viewers enjoy sound that is consistently natural and pleasant, no matter the source. Local news is more intelligible over dinnertime noises, movie soundtracks have more impact, and fewer commercials are totally silenced by remote controls. OPTIMOD-TV contributes to a total TV viewing experience that often translates, over the long term, into positive ratings trends.