ATSC unveils new digital audio specs

[Gregg Lengling]

WASHINGTON — The Advanced Television Systems Committee has approved two new candidate standards for improving the AC-3 digital audio compression spec for the U.S. digital TV standard.

ATSC said Wednesday (April 7) the new candidate audio standards would expand the digital audio capabilities used in digital broadcasts as well as cable, satellite and DVD applications.

"This is another example of our efforts to evolve ATSC standards in response to market place requirements," said ATSC President Mark Richer.

Enhanced AC-3 was first proposed by Dolby Laboratories in December 2002. Dolby Labs said E-AC-3 offers new coding tools to improve performance and new features that allow operation over a wider range of bit-rates and channels. E-AC-3 can also be converted into AC-3 for playback compatibility on consumer's existing A/V decoders.