Harmonic support Dolby Digital Plus

Dolby Laboratories, has announced that Harmonic, a leading provider of digital video, broadband networking, and IP-delivery systems, plans to support Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby’s next-generation audio technology for high-definition programming, in Harmonic’s future products.
Harmonic and Dolby are closely collaborating on cost-effective, integrated solutions that would streamline the audio/video service provider’s delivery architecture with several key advanced audio features. “Our industry leading DiviCom HD and SD encoders, the most widely deployed in their categories, set the benchmark for innovation, integration, performance, and video quality,” said Arnaud Perrier, Senior Product Marketing Manager for Advanced and HD Encoding at Harmonic. “As we look at the needs of the broadcast industry, and particularly considering the move to an all-HD world, audio plays an important role in the overall TV experience. Dolby Digital Plus is a key audio technology that can improve the viewer’s listening experience while helping to reduce overall bandwidth utilization. As a result, we are planning to integrate Dolby Digital Plus into our future high-definition products.”
Dolby Digital Plus offers the same quality available today with Dolby Digital but requires less bandwidth while maintaining compatibility with millions of existing Dolby Digital receivers. Built on Dolby Digital, the sound of DVD and HD broadcasts worldwide, Dolby Digital Plus was designed for the delivery formats of the future, including H.264 and VC-1. All Dolby Digital Plus decoders provide an output stream fully compatible with all current A/V receivers. (CD/CL)