The ATSC plans to release publicly Tuesday its call for proposals on audio codecs for the next-gen ATSC 3.0 broadcast system, sources close to the ATSC told us Monday. Release of the call for proposals, which had been expected for the past month (see 1411060033), is a major step toward building the audio and video compression components of ATSC 3.0. When coupled with its new physical layer, ATSC 3.0's video and audio codecs will make for a next-gen system that will be "far more efficient, far more robust and far more flexible" than the existing ATSC DTV broadcast system, its framers said. HEVC likely will be the backbone video codec for ATSC 3.0, they said. ATSC’s "S34-2" ad hoc group on ATSC 3.0 audio is charged with drafting specs that would allow an "immersive" experience, said the group’s chairman, Jim Starzynski, director and principal audio engineer at NBCUniversal Advanced Engineering, at an ATSC 3.0 "Boot Camp" conference last spring. ATSC 3.0 audio is expected to have two parts, its "personalization" aspect and its immersive home theater surround component, the ad hoc group said. For ATSC 3.0 surround, the ad hoc group for months has been "zoning in" on an object-based, height-rich format it calls "7.1 plus 4," which includes four height speakers, it has said. The announcement to be released Tuesday stresses the personalized and immersive audio experiences ATSC hopes to gain through ATSC 3.0. "Personalization includes enhancement to the control of dialog, use of alternate audio tracks and mixing of assistive audio services, other-language dialog, special commentary, and music and effects," it quotes ATSC President Mark Richer as saying. "Plus, the system will support both the normalization of content loudness and contouring of dynamic range, based on the specific capabilities of a user's fixed or mobile device and its unique sound environment." As for its "immersive audio functionality," it’s hoped ATSC 3.0 will envelop "the listener with precise sound source localization in azimuth, elevation and distance, and provides an increased sense of presence," Richer says in the announcement. "These features can be supported over the listening area, without the need for a large number of physical speakers." Systems submitted in the call for proposals "will be judged discretely and in their entirety, as comprehensive, end-to-end systems for emission of the ATSC signal," the announcement will say. It requests that proponents submit "only complete audio solutions that satisfy ATSC 3.0 system needs, because the ATSC does not intend to develop the ATSC 3.0 audio system out of independent components from multiple sources." The ATSC 3.0 audio system is expected to support audio with video content as well as audio-only content, it says.

There has been "progress" and "a lot of discussion" on high dynamic range and wide color gamut within the ATSC’s S34-1 ad hoc group assigned to write specs for the video component of the next-gen ATSC 3.0 broadcast system, said ATSC President Mark Richer in an interview. "I don’t believe there are any final decisions" on HDR and wide color gamut, Richer said. "But these are areas that the whole industry has been looking at." The "production community" has been looking at HDR and wide color gamut, as have standards groups like the ITU and the Society of Motion Picture and TV Engineers as well as CE manufacturers, he said. "There’s also other work around the world," such as at the European Broadcasting Union, "where they’re taking a look at the ramifications," he said. "The one thing I can say -- and this is not specific to ATSC -- but the industry is coming to the realization that it isn’t just about more pixels, it’s about the quality of those pixels and how we can make them better. So there’s real interest in those things, and exactly where we’re going to end up in ATSC 3.0, I really can’t say yet. But we certainly will address the issue, and we’re communicating with the other standards organizations to make sure what we’re doing complements what they’re doing."