For years now, possibly since the advent of the DVB-T system,
broadcasters have sent the audio description track for visually impaired
viewers completely separate from the program audio. It's then mixed in
by the receiver, at least on Freeview. The aim of this, frankly
convoluted, system was to enable viewers to adjust the volume of the
program and the audio description independently of each other to suit
their needs.
The end result, though, was that approximately only two of the thousands
of Freeview devices on the market implemented this control. Meanwhile
the cable and satellite systems use a pre-mixed broadcast stream anyway.
This is a long way round of saying that while this trial is impressive,
the only way this will reach your television any time soon is if it's
mandated by OFCOM. Even then, end-user decoders like VLC almost
definitely won't support it.
Regards,
James Scholes
On 26/07/2019 at 2:10 pm, RS wrote:
On 25/07/2019 11:13, Jim web wrote:
Which then leads to the conundrum that iPlayer TV becomes the poor
relation
when it comes to music broadcasts like Proms. A mere 128k aac compared
with
the 320k aac of R3 and the 5.1. surround of HDTV DVB-T2, etc! I doubt
bandwidth is the issue because the 320-128 difference compared with the
rate required for the 'best' video is small.
You are probably right that bandwidth is not an issue on the iPlayer. I
understand it is an issue on the DVB-T2 HD channels, so that there is
only enough bandwidth for the 5.1 AC3 sound stream and not enough for an
accompanying downmixed 2.0 stream. In the 5.1 stream most of the
dialogue will be directed to the front centre speaker, but many of the
receivers being used will not have a centre speaker. The result is
articles like the one in The Times today accusing actors of mumbling.
The BBC has proposed a solution here.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/taster/pilots/casualty-ae-audio
If you want to listen to the trial you will have to hurry. It is only
on for another 4 days.
There does seem to be a reduction in the number of drama programmes
being made with surround sound. ITV now seems to be transmitting some
films on satellite with only a 2.0 sound stream.
Best wishes
Richard
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