Harris Broadcast / The Harris Family of Advanced Audio Solutions

It can be difficult in today's complex infrastructures to maintain a high-quality "sound" across the audio workflow, as you juggle stereo and surround sound, as well as compressed and embedded audio. Complicating the situation further is that many countries are moving toward legislation to regulate loudness consistency levels.

Whether your requirements are for real-time audio processing or measurement and logging, Harris offers a complete set of advanced audio solutions that allow for better distribution, management and control of the audio signal throughout the entire transport chain. Our audio solutions reduce equipment costs and complexity in your facility, while improving the listening experience for viewers in the home.

The Harris portfolio of advanced audio solutions is unmatched in the industry:

Future Proof
Our platforms for advanced audio can readily adapt as audio formats and industry recommendations change over time.

5.1 and 7.1 Ready
For most of our offerings, software-only keys and code upgrades ensure that infrastructure built today can be upgraded to 5.1 and 7.1 seamlessly and economically, when needed.

Superior-Quality Audio Processing
We have collaborated with DTS, Dolby® Labs and TC Electronic to integrate industry-leading codec and baseband audio technologies into our product portfolio, resulting in a complete advanced audio processing offering.

The Harris Family of Loudness Management Products Includes:

Loudness Measurement and Logging
The Videotek® line of loudness measurement and logging products includes the CMN-LA loudness analyzer and LLM-1770 loudness logger and monitor

Contact Harris for the most recent updates that comply with the latest recommendation (ITU-R BS.1770-3) for measuring audio program loudness and true-peak audio level.

DTS Neural Loudness Control, DTS Neural Surround MultiMerge, UpMix and DownMix
Advanced audio processing technology from DTS Neural Technologies is incorporated within Harris signal processing products, including the 6800+™ modular platform, the X85™ multiple-application video/audio platform and the Selenio™ media convergence platform.

Harris products with the option for real time loudness control using DTS Neural Loudness Control technology provides signal handling for all worldwide recommendations for loudness measurement.

Country	Recommendation	Target Loudness	Allowable Variance	Suggested Preset
US	ATSC A-85	-24	+/- 2	Ultra Light, Light
Europe	EBU.R.128	-23	+/- 1	Medium, Aggressive
Japan	ARIB TR B-32	-24	+/- 1	Medium, Aggressive

For more information on DTS technology, check out our Up/DownMix, Loudness Control section.

Audio Processing: VDS (Video Descriptive Service) and AD (Audio Description)

Real time audio processing is a challenge these days, and aside from Dolby® decoding and encoding and loudness control, there are requirements for the VDS and AD:

VDS (Video Descriptive Service)
If the VDS audio channel is present at the input of the audio processing device, it can be detected and passed through to the SAP (Secondary Audio Processing) channel. If it is missing, it is possible to provide a “Smart Substitution” by processing the program audio content for substitution on the SAP channel. Program audio can be detected as Dolby® encoded or stereo PCM and decoded, downmixed, summed (if necessary), loudness controlled and output on the SAP channel. The Selenio FS and XD modules can be easily setup to substitute the VDS channel if it is not present.

AD (Audio Description)
AD is similar to VDS except that the audio content of the Audio Description has not yet been mixed with the program audio content. The APM6803+ provides a mixing (and voice-over) capability to mix the program content with the Audio Description whether it is Dolby® encoded, surround sound or stereo content.

Dolby® Support
Dolby® Codecs for Dolby® Digital (AC-3) and Dolby® E and Dolby Digital Plus decoding
Dolby Labs technologies for audio compression in file-based processing, monitoring, contribution and distribution applications are integrated into many Harris products.

For monitoring Dolby® signals, the Videotek line has many measurement products and options to choose from:

For encoding into Dolby® compressed signals, and for decoding from Dolby® to baseband audio signals, the following Harris solutions are available:

The NetVX™ video networking system is a modular video networking device that provides connectivity without complexity. NetVX modules combine standards-compliant audio, video, and data networking interfaces, including standard and optional Dolby® technologies. The following modules support Dolby® implementations:

The NetPlus™ M400 is a broadcast-grade integrated satellite receiver/decoder (IRD) that supports a wide range of global standards for video and audio compression. The NetPlus M400 also supports Dolby® implementations.

NetPlus™ M400 Integrated Receiver/Decoder

The 6800+ platform supports Dolby technology for multi-format decoding:

MFD6800+T Multiformat Decoder Module

For monitoring Dolby® Digital encoded in MPEG compressed video signals (MSA Series Analyzers), for IP, ASI and RF interfaces, the following Harris solutions are available: