Dolby Digital Plus audio will be South Africa's national standard for digital terrestrial television (DTT) which will be required to be incorporated into set-top boxes (STB's) for free-to-air digital terrestrial television.
"We are delighted to see the inclusion of Dolby Digital Plus in the South African standard," says Andreas Spechtler, the regional vice president for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region for Dolby Laboratories.
According to Dolby, the performance and flexibility of Dolby Digital Plus is ideal for limited-bandwidth environments such as terrestrial broadcasts, because it allows broadcasters to deliver authentic, high quality audio in a single, bandwidth-efficient stram. "It is designed specifically to adapt to the changing demands of future entertainment delivery, while maintaining backwards compatibility with the existing Dolby Digital 5.1-channel home theatre systems in use today.
Dolby, with consultants Inala Broadcast, has worked closely with the DTT Project to help frame the audio elements of the latest specification.
"Dolby Digital Plus will allow terrestrial broadcasters in South Africa to use a combination of multichannel and high quality stereo broadcasts in Dolby Digital Plus to free up bandwidth and provide outstanding quality audio for terrestrial viewers,'" says Tarif Sayed, the regional director for the Middle East and Africa at Dolby Laboratories.
