This eBook is dedicated to the importance of premium sound for today’s multi-screen video viewers. It discusses many of the issues associated with delivering that premium audio experience.

1. Optimizing Audio and vide0 for
The Age of Multi-Screen Delivery
innovation series

2. presented by
Welcome to the first installment of the Dolby Innovation
Series, a tool to provide you with information on important
issues impacting the world of media and entertainment
processing.
Dolby has a long history of providing innovative user
experiences, and that ethic of innovation continues today.
From the original Dolby Noise Reduction to the recently
announced Dolby Vision, Dolby has continued to deliver new
and better user experiences.
This inaugural issue is dedicated to the importance of
premium sound for today’s multi-screen video viewers. It
discusses many of the issues associated with delivering that
premium audio experience. Future issues will cover new
developments in the entertainment experience as driven by
new technologies like Dolby Vision and object-based audio.
The Dolby Professional Solutions Innovation Series
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innovation series

3. presented by
3
innovation series
Audio and Video Content Processing in the Cloud4
Adaptive Bit-rate Video Shouldn’t Mean Lackluster Audio7
How Poor Audio Quality Impacts the Bottom Line9
Quality Sound Sets the Bar for Superior Online Video Experiences16
Addressing Workflow Complexity for Adaptive Bit-rate Audio12
Delivering a Premium Multi-screen Experience
with Multi-channel Surround Audio
18
Summary22
contents

4. As pay-TV operators roll out multi-screen initiatives, they are looking to
rapidly deliver these services in a cost-effective and reliable way. Many see
the cloud as a way to meet this challenge. Cloud computing allows them to
reduce media processing costs, increase revenue, improve service and
business agility, and generally enhance the entire customer experience.
One set of applications that clearly benefits from cloud-based services is
online video media processing and transcoding. For any video to be
streamed online, the video must first be transcoded and packaged for
delivery to the multitude of screens across the devices used in the home,
office, and on the go. As these services roll out, they drive the need for
media processing services, which benefit handsomely from the operational
efficiencies enabled by cloud-based transcoding services, especially when
compared with in-house solutions.
Audio and Video Processing in the Cloud
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Things are starting to change, as demonstrated by the fact that several of Dolby’s
partners have shown that transcoding and other content optimization and delivery
capabilities can now be effectively delivered via a cloud-based service. Companies like
Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Windows Azure Media Services, Akamai,
Encoding.com, Elemental Technologies, and Brightcove now deliver or plan to deliver
cloud-based media processing solutions, enabling the user to experience seamless high-
quality content delivered over the Internet.
The emergence of cloud-based transcoding services has led to a growing debate over
the efficacy of cloud-based transcoding services versus in-house transcoding services.
Let’s be blunt: moving specific functions to the cloud offers benefits that other solutions
simply cannot match. We begin with market addressability.
In spite of the many advantages of cloud-based media processing, media
companies have been slow to adopt cloud resources. There are real
differences between media processing and IT infrastructures, derived
primarily from the disparities in the workflow model. For example, running a
media delivery service requires high levels of reliability and synchronization
between audio and video content processing. Combined with the requirement
for high levels of content security and protection, there has been some
resistance to moving critical business applications to the cloud. So while the
move to the cloud in general IT environments is well underway, the move
has been much slower in the video processing ecosystem.

5. Market Addressability
The proliferation of playback devices and the consequent shift in viewing
patterns means the audience is not only wider, but more diverse in terms of
their access and consumption points. To reach this audience, providers must
transcode their video libraries to support the numerous screen sizes and
resolutions. Cloud-based services allow video suppliers to quickly and easily
expand their infrastructure to scale seamlessly with the changes in viewing
patterns and to support new initiatives around those patterns.
Furthermore, cloud-based services allow pay-TV operators to leverage their
content archives to drive increased user engagement. By using the cloud to
scale their transcoding capacity on-demand, content providers can address new
demand as it emerges.
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Lowered Capital Expenditures
Cloud transcoding can be significantly more cost-effective than those used today,
which are highly complex and daunting. In-house infrastructure must handle peak
demand, and for businesses that have cyclical or intermittent needs, this leads to
high levels of capital infrastructure that lies idle much of the time. Cloud transcoding
services can be implemented on a pay-as-you-go basis and thus easy to scale to
demand – a tremendous benefit when compared to in-house transcoding services.
Cloud transcoding services can also be plugged into a pay-TV operator’s backend
and seamlessly transcode without disturbing the operator’s front end.
Using cloud-based services, operators only need to pay for services when they need
them, on demand. So for video providers that are cyclical or experience spikes in
their media processing requirements, the cloud can help them avoid stranding vast
amounts of capital.
Reduced Risk
Cloud services offer a much easier path for service providers looking to deliver
services across multiple devices. According to a recent Accenture report, 20% of
consumers would be willing to pay more to be able to access services across
multiple devices. At the same time, the explosion of new devices increases risk
because transcoding needs can change on a dime as new devices come to the
market.
The emerging multi-screen ecosystem is creating new revenue opportunities for
archived content, but supporting the infrastructure for a one-time project to
convert a video library into new distribution formats can be cost prohibitive. The
inability to precisely determine the transcoding volume also means that operators
evaluating services do not know which devices or the volume of the transcoding
services needed.

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Summary
Media processing in the cloud will be a force with
which to be reckoned, both on the part of pay-TV
operators and content providers. It is clear that cloud
computing and distributed storage technologies are a
viable solution for implementing a digital media
architecture that is sustainable and future-proofed. In
the end, the question is not whether the pay-TV
industry will leverage the cloud for new services, but
when and how they will begin.

7. 1 Michael Greeson, The Relevance of Audio Quality in Smart TV, Tablet, and Smart Phone Purchases (TDG, 2013).
© 2014 TDG
ABR Doesn’t Have to Mean Lackluster Sound
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Adaptive bit-rate (ABR) streaming has
revolutionized the delivery of video
online. Without it, companies such as
Netflix and Hulu simply would not be able
to deliver the quality of experience they
do today. Unfortunately for service
providers, creating and maintaining all
the different video formats necessary to
support their customers’ devices has
become a major headache. As if that was
not enough, they have to worry about all
the different audio profiles, as well. And
worry they must, because skimping on
audio quality could derail consumer
demand for their video service offerings.
The Diffusion Group recently queried net-
connected device owners regarding the
importance of audio in their device
purchases. Among smart TV owners, for
example, more than 85% of respondents
rated audio as an important consideration
in deciding between competing television
sets.
For a device dedicated to delivering a
high-quality entertainment experience,
this is not a big surprise. That said, for
tablets and smart phones—devices that
handle a multiplicity of tasks—consumers
were only slightly less demanding in this
regard: 68% of tablet owners and 63% of
smart phone owners said audio quality
was important in their purchase decision.1
Clearly, audio quality is a critical feature
for consumers looking to buy new
devices. Being certain the quality of audio
measures up to audience expectations is
thus a key concern. Does this mean that
service providers must optimize sound for
each device they target?

8. But is not there already a standard for that? MPEG HE AAC, introduced in 2004, provides
support for encoding audio for applications including multi-channel and stereo delivery.2
It is widely supported in many devices, as well as popular ABR solutions such as Apple
HLS, Microsoft Smooth Streaming, and MPEG DASH. So use HE AAC and you’re done,
right?
Not so fast. New research suggests there are problems with relying on HE AAC.3 Though
the standard promises much, actual implementation falls far short. This is due primarily
to the fact that each company that implements this standard does it in a slightly different
way. As noted in a recent paper, “Nine Years HE AAC,” these inconsistencies have
qualitative consequences: “…there is a significant difference in quality between different
HE AAC Implementations. Some of these are easily noticed even by consumers.”4 As a
result, many pay-TV providers resort to sending the lowest common denominator audio,
stereo HE-AAC, and forgo providing their customers with the benefits of a truly high-
quality audio experience.
Luckily, there are alternatives that do not suffer from the inconsistencies of HE AAC.
Dolby Digital Plus is an advanced audio codec that will support the connected devices
that customers will use to consume content. Within a single audio stream, everything
from high-quality 7.1 channel surround to 2.0 stereo is supported. The codec even
includes enhanced surround sound for mobile speakers and headphones. It also supports
all the popular ABR streaming technologies.
When it comes to delivering streaming video to your subscribers’ connected devices,
figuring out how to make sure your customer gets a great picture can get complicated,
and fast. Fortunately, providing a superior audio experience doesn’t have to add to that
complexity.
2 Stefan Metzer and Gerald Moser, “MPEG-4 HE AAC v2 – Audio Coding for Today’s Digital Media World,” EBU Technical Review,
January 2006.
3 Martin Wolters, Gregory McGarry, Andreas Schneider, Robin Thesing, “Nine Years HE AAC – Technical Challenges Using an Open
Standard in Real-world Applications,” Audio Engineering Society Convention Paper 8650, April 2012.
4 Ibid., p. 10.
Ideally, service providers would like to keep things simple by encoding the
audio once and generating different audio profiles automatically for all targeted
devices. Moving from top-quality 384-Kbps 5.1 surround sound for the smart
TV, all the way down to 64-Kbps stereo for a smart phone on a mobile network,
should be a seamless, hands-off process.
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9. Gone are the days when a viewer would put up with poor video or audio quality
online. In the age of quantum video—the multi-conduit, multi-context, multi-
screen universe in which we now exist—a vast array of entertainment choices is
available at the flick of a finger. Fail to deliver the quality of experience to which
the viewer is accustomed and punishment is dispensed swiftly. For example, in
2011, a 1% increase in the time a video was stalled resulted in a consumer
watching, on average, three minutes less video. In 2012, that grew to eight
minutes. In 2013, the same 1% increase in delay resulted in viewing 11 minutes
less.1
As an online video provider, particularly if you sell ads, these numbers should
strike fear into the heart. If viewers watch eleven minutes less video, they see
two or three fewer ads, meaning the consequent loss of revenue can add up fast.
For a site with 100,000 viewers a day, for example, this could mean a loss in
revenue of over $1.4 million a year. This is tangible proof that, in an online world
of wafer-thin margins, a quality video experience could be all that is standing
between you being in the black or the red.
Audio plays a crucial role in and has a far broader impact on the video experience
than is widely acknowledged. For example, 41% of US tablet users and 32% of
smart phone users believe having audio and video in qualitative sync is extremely
important.2
How Poor Audio Quality Impacts the Bottom Line
1 Conviva, Viewer Experience Report (Conviva, 2013).
2 Rovi, Rovi Insights Volume 2 (Rovi Corp, 2013)
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Bad Sound Quality Can Cost You Your Audience!

10. The same holds for game consoles, which for all intents and purposes are
high-powered broadband entertainment systems. With 85% of game consoles
connected to the Internet,3
delivering a high-quality OTT multimedia
experience is imperative to user satisfaction – and that means both audio and
video quality must be at their best.
Interestingly, providing high-quality audio can actually help compensate for
poor video quality. Your viewer’s sensitivity to poor picture quality such as
pixilation and desaturation actually diminishes if the audio quality remains
satisfactory.4
The converse is also true: if the sound quality is poor, your
viewers will be more sensitive to picture problems.
These expectations are not confined to in-home stationary AV experiences.
Today’s consumer also expects an excellent sound experience from their
mobile devices. According to research from TDG, 70% of pad users and 63%
of smart phone owners say audio quality is one of the primary reasons they
purchased their specific device.
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Any way you look at it,
the quality of sound matters.
3 Michael Greeson, Video Behavior in the Age of Quantum Video (TDG, 2013).
4 Leslie Gaston, Jon Boley, Scott Selter, Jeffrey Ratterman, “The Influence of Individual Audio Impairments on Perceived Video Quality,” Audio Engineering Society Convention Paper, May 2010, p7.

11. More often than not, however, the audio quality of video ads is vastly different
from the shows into which they are inserted. Often ads are too loud, distorted, or
streamed in mono while the shows themselves are in pristine Dolby Digital quality.
For viewers that are streaming audio and video to mobile devices connected to
their home stereo systems, this can result in them noticing an annoying change in
the quality of the audio or, worse yet, audible clicks and pops as the system moves
from surround sound to mono or stereo and back again, as an ad starts and
finishes.
Connecting mobile devices to one’s home entertainment system to enjoy OTT
video is more common than many believe. In fact, 37% of laptop owners, 33% of
tablet owners, and 22% of smart phone owners report connecting their mobile
device to their home entertainment system for this very purpose.5
Given the
regularity of this behavior, it should be a legitimate concern for service providers.
This difference, while distracting when watching on a television, can actually be
painful for viewers listening through ear-buds on a tablet. Given the fickle nature
of online viewers, one bad experience with an ad on a tablet or smart phone could
mean losing a significant segment of your audience.
The message is clear: provide a consistent, high-quality sound experience
for shows and movies is critical to audience satisfaction, both on its own
and to help compensate for streaming video issues.
5 Michael Greeson, Relevance of Audio Quality in Smart TV, Tablet, and Smart Phone Purchases (TDG, 2013).
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Can you afford to provide video services without great sound?
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% Users that Connect Device to TV to Watch Online Video

12. Watching a TV show on a tablet or mobile phone
and streaming Internet-delivered content to the
TV in the living room have become the new
normal. With the wide availability of video-
enabled devices – including tablets, game
consoles, smart phones, and Internet-enabled
set-top boxes and televisions – consumers have
come to expect their favorite media will be
available on any device, over any network
connection, and delivered at the same high
quality they have come to expect from traditional
broadcast and cable television services.
As a result, multi-screen video has become a
must-have service for traditional pay-TV
operators. Forward-looking digital TV operators
around the world have already begun to employ
alternative video delivery technologies for over-
the-top (OTT) video to complement their
traditional broadcast services. In some cases,
operators have gone beyond their managed
network footprint to “unmanaged” third-party
networks to support their subscribers when on
the go, and to reach new subscribers that do not
have access to the operators’ managed network.
Addressing the Workflow Complexity of ABR
The Technological Evolution
of Multiscreen Entertainment Models
While tremendous advancements to the broadband delivery network infrastructure have been made in the
last decade, the bandwidth requirements of video traffic in many cases still represent a challenge for the
delivery of high-quality video. This challenge has given rise to new methods of video transport that can
provide a consistent quality of video experience to consumers on any device and across any network over
which their content is delivered.
The evolution of video delivery transport has led to a new set of de facto standard and standards-based
adaptive bit-rate delivery protocols from Apple, Microsoft, Adobe, DECE Ultraviolet, and MPEG-DASH that
are now positioned for broad adoption. Adaptive bit-rate (ABR) streaming technologies are of particular
interest to operators as they look to roll out new multi-screen services. It is an effective and
complementary delivery method over both managed and unmanaged networks that have varying levels of
bandwidth availability.
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With the rise of these new delivery methods and rapid growth in the number of
video-enabled devices has come a considerable increase in the complexity of the
workflows needed to support content delivery.
Among the challenges facing multi-screen content delivery is the number of
frameworks that must be supported and the fragmentation of implementations
inherent to those frameworks. Operators have to support a very wide variety of
different devices and device ecosystems, each with its own framework and specific
implementations.
For example, there are numerous ways to stream video content to a device,
including formats such as:
• RTMP,
• Progressive download,
• HTTP live streaming (HLS),
• Smooth Streaming, and
• HTTP dynamic streaming (HDS).
As well, different devices come with different screen sizes, DRM systems, packaging
protocols, operating systems, and playback clients. This drives an increase in
complexity of the content delivery by over two orders of magnitude compared to
traditional pay-TV content delivery workflows.
Netflix, for example, supports more than 900 different devices and multiple delivery
options and, as a result, encodes 120 different version of every movie it provides.
While frustrating, it gets worse when an operator looks at all the permutations that
come along with each ecosystem. At this time, there are over 2,500 versions of the
Android operating system available, and being able to guarantee support for just a
fraction of these versions would raise tremendously the number of variants required.
Complexity of the Video Streaming Chain
CFF
HLS
A Paradigm of Complexity

14. Broadcasters and OTT providers are
both investing heavily to lower this
operational complexity and make it
easier to deliver high-quality audio
and video to their customers. Not
only will this reduce operational
costs, but it will also allow operators
to focus on working with content
creators and their own production
teams to bring amazing new
experiences like glasses-free 3D and
Dolby Vision to their customer’s
homes.
To date, service providers have been
focused on video delivery when it
comes to setting ABR profiles. In
general, audio has been something of
an afterthought for their service
delivery chains, and in many cases
service providers have resorted to
providing only a single profile for
audio. For example, in looking at
Apple’s specifications for total bit-
rates, it recommends 40 Kbps for all
audio streams. Many other services
recommend the same and, in cases
where service providers do switch
between different audio profiles,
many just use two sets of audio
parameters (one mono, one stereo)
that share the same sample rate and
bit depth.
The obvious negative to today’s
approach is that audio quality does
not scale with video quality. This
should be a concern for service
providers in movies, TV shows,
concerts, and similar media where
audio quality is a significant
component of the overall experience.
Consumers using mobile devices are
are unfortunately presented with a
lower quality of experience than the
immersive surround sound they enjoy
with their home services over the
traditional delivery network. This
dichotomy can be rationalized, but
only until that point where consumers
realize that there are services
available to ensure that their mobile
audio and video synch to optimize
the experience. This is what audio
ABR technology does.
Simple Sets You Free
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15. Dolby® Digital Plus – Supporting Dynamic Audio Assignment
A key reason that some operators are hesitant about providing
multiple audio profiles is their concern that switching from one
profile to another will result in audible pops that may occur when
switching between streams using different audio parameters or
various audio solutions. This is one of the issues that Dolby
Digital Plus addresses. As shown on the left, Dolby Digital Plus
allows operators to switch from mono to stereo to multichannel
surround sound as the bandwidth available goes from low bit-
rates to high bit-rates.
Dolby Digital Plus provides an end-to-end solution that enables
seamless audio adaptive switching across bit-rates and channel
configuration changes that protects against the audible clicks and
pops that operators are trying to avoid. It provides unparalleled
distribution model support for both file-based and live multiscreen
delivery across a broad set of frameworks including MPEG-DASH,
HLS, Microsoft Smooth Streaming, Apple HLS Adobe HDS, and
DECE UltravioletTM.
Dolby Digital Plus enables the delivery of high-quality audio to
any compatible device and any distribution workflow, including
broadcast, over-the-top (OTT), and on-demand. It includes
scalable, adaptive, and bandwidth-efficient multichannel coding
designed for bandwidth-constrained delivery networks. It also
provides technologies such as loudness control and device-
playback sound optimization that further enhance the end-user’s
audio experience. Widely supported within the digital
entertainment ecosystem, Dolby Digital Plus enables service
providers to deliver high-quality multichannel audio
entertainment to consumers on any compatible device while
addressing the increased complexity of new content delivery
formats and lowering their operational costs.
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16. 1 Ian Walker, BBC iPlayer Monthly Performance Pack (BBC Communications, April 2013) http://
www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns827/networking_solutions_sub_solution.html (accessed on August 16, 2013).
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Delivering high-quality video and audio experiences would not be nearly as
difficult if consumers just stopped moving the goal posts!
It seems that every six months there is yet another new device to which service
providers must deliver video. This means new operating systems and platforms
replace the older, standardized versions to which we have finally become
accustomed. For example, in its latest iPlayer Performance Pack, the BBC said
that iPlayer TV show requests coming from PCs fell from 52% in April 2012 to
39% in April 2013.1
In that same period, the share of requests coming from
tablets more than doubled from 8% to 19%, while smart phone request shares
grew just as strongly, doubling from 9% to 17%.
It is no longer enough to simply say you ‘deliver video’ to multiple devices: your
customers expect a high-quality experience, which presents an enormous
challenge for video service providers. The open Internet comes with a lot of
baggage that makes delivering a high-quality online video experience a hit-or-
miss affair.
In this environment, what is the best strategy to optimize the video experience
to every device, regardless of its operating and transcoding systems? To answer
this question, we must first understand how streaming video is delivered on the
Internet.

17. Most streaming video is currently delivered using adaptive bit-rate (ABR)
technology. Using this approach, when available Internet bandwidth shrinks, the
quality of video is degraded so that the bandwidth used to deliver the video fits
what is available at the time. To date, this is only done for video, meaning the
service provider never really delivers a high-quality audio experience. They tend to
default to using just 64kbps stereo without variance.
While this presents an “okay” audio experience, subscribers who have access to
high-data rate access are unfortunately left with a suboptimal experience. This
does not have to be the case. Service providers could easily optimize the
experience for their viewers and lower the audio rate should such degradation be
required.
But this begs an important question: is it best to deliver equivalent audio and
video together or sacrifice audio quality to maintain video quality? Most would
respond “save the picture quality.” Not so fast! There is compelling evidence that
audio quality is as, if not more, important than video quality.
In a paper for the IEEE, a team of scientists compared the overall viewer
experience of a video clip at different video and audio quality settings. What they
found was surprising: viewers reported the best experience when audio and video
quality were at their highest. However, if the video quality was lowered and the
audio quality maintained, the overall experience was much better than if both
were degraded together. This effect became even more pronounced as video
quality was lowered.2
This is very good news for video service providers. Video typically uses 10 to 20
times more bandwidth than audio. If Internet conditions get tricky, lowering video
quality will reduce the bandwidth needed to deliver the show much more than
lowering audio quality, yet maintaining audio quality has the biggest positive
impact on overall experience. This is the reverse of what common sense would
suggest.
In the world of Internet streaming, you cannot predict ahead of time how much
bandwidth will be available to deliver a show or movie. However, you can optimize
any video experience by maintaining audio quality while allowing the video quality
to change with bandwidth fluctuations.
Adapting to the Challenges of Internet Video Delivery
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2 Michal Ries, Rachele Puglia, Tommaso Tebaldi, Olivia Nemthova, Markus Rupp, Audiovisual Quality Estimation for Mobile
Streaming Services, Proceedings of the 2nd International Symposium on Wireless Communication Systems, September 5-7,
2005, p4.
Mean Opinion Scores for Video Clip with MPEG for / AAC Encoding

18. Delivering a Premium Multiscreen Experience with Multi-Channel Surround Audio
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Audio Quality Matters
The market for multi-screen entertainment has exploded, leaving many
service providers struggling to find clear competitive differentiators to help
them acquire and retain subscribers. To this end, they are now focusing on
delivering high-quality video as a lead element in their customer outreach
and service differentiation, where ‘quality’ is measured as a function of the
quality of service (QoS) provided, as well as quality of experience (QoE).
When looking at both QoS and QoE, it is important to note that this entails
not only examining video quality but also audio quality, where both are
measured across a variety of listening and viewing environments.
Unfortunately, among video service providers audio quality has been an
often-overlooked component of the end-user’s experience, this despite the
fact that consumers place high value on the sound quality during video
viewing. Their expectations impact the entire ecosystem for delivering multi-
screen entertainment; from the studios creating the content to the
manufacturers delivering the end-user devices that play the content.
It is clear that many content creators understand this and have included the
development of a compelling audio experience in their original vision. Great
entertainment experiences are created by a combination of sight, sound, and
story. In order to recreate an artist’s original vision for their movies, the
entire multi-screen ecosystem has to be prepared to deliver not only high-
quality video but high-quality audio, as well.

19. Opportunities & Challenges in Delivering High-quality Sound
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1 Cisco, Cisco Visual Networking Index (Cisco, 2013).
According to the 2013 Cisco Visual Networking Index,1 more than 88% of Internet traffic is
delivered to the home over broadband connections and the bulk of that traffic is video. Yes, it
is true that consumers increasingly use their tablets and smart phones to watch online video.
However, the primary point of entertainment content consumption remains the TV and the
home theater system, an environment where consumers are accustomed to an exceptional
sound experience delivered in 5.1 Surround Sound.
Unsurprisingly, the home experience sets the bar for portable and mobile sound experiences
– a very high bar indeed. This has important implications for content owners and multi-
screen service providers looking to ensure that their customers are getting the quality of
experience they have come to expect from traditional broadcast and cable services.
The opportunity for delivering high-quality multi-screen entertainment is enormous and
growing, as mobile devices become a preferred playback platform for many connected users
(tablets, in particular, with over 225 million units expected to ship globally in 2013). In spite
of the fact that audio is an important element of the user’s experience, there is a huge
opportunity for improving the quality of audio on mobile devices. As the variety of end
devices on which users consume content has expanded, and as the number of consumers
that engage content using mobile entertainment devices has grown, the ability to deliver
high-quality audio has failed to keep pace. This at a time when service differentiation is
becoming increasingly difficult….

20. To succeed in this new multi-screen
world, service providers must address
the business and operational challenges
created by the growing variety of
distribution models and the rapidly
expanding variety of end-user playback
devices. For example, each file-based or
adaptive streaming protocol requires a
dedicated version of each stream,
meaning each device requires content to
be encoded in different video and audio
formats.
Taken together, these factors drive
increased cost and complexity in the
systems needed to deliver online
entertainment across the multi-screen
entertainment ecosystem.
Another key challenge that accompanies
the rapid expansion in the number of
devices is platform interoperability.
Service providers do not control the end-
user devices and consequently have no
control of the device decoder
implementation.
Consequently, operators often cannot
guarantee that the end-to-end solution
will work as planned, meaning service
providers cannot guarantee the quality of
experience for their users.
This in turn erodes the service provider’s
ability to differentiate themselves on QoE
and gain the commensurate increase in
customer satisfaction and reduction in
service churn that accompanies such
enhancements.
Turning Challenges into Opportunities
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21. To address these challenges, Dolby has created Dolby Digital Plus, a trusted audio platform that
works across the entire multi-screen ecosystem. From content creation to distribution to the
final HD experience, Dolby Digital Plus delivers premium multichannel audio that is as close to
the original sound mix as it can get.
The Dolby Digital Plus ecosystem for service providers addresses the needs of any video
operator, whether it involves OTT, online, mobile, cable/IPTV/DBS, or broadcast delivery. It
includes solutions for content encoding, content distribution, and device playback, and supports
the enhanced playback experience that will address the need for high-quality audio delivery.
Leveraging Dolby’s innovative home theater technology, Dolby Digital Plus provides optimized
audio that delivers on the content creator’s vision for high-quality sound on all devices, across
all networks, regardless of limitations. Dolby has long been the sound of HD in living rooms and
among over-the-top services, and with Dolby Digital Plus is now the sound for playback on any
device.
Dolby Digital Plus produces clear, high-definition audio that allows service providers end users
the following benefits:
Delivering Premium Multi-screen Audio with Dolby® Digital Plus
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• Delivers a natural headphone surround experience for video;
• Provides enhanced volume and better performance from tablet speakers;
• Maintains consistent volume at the level set by the consumer for hassle-free
listening;
• Enhances dialogue and suppresses unwanted sounds, so every word of a story can
be heard; and
• Offers easy connectivity from tablets, game consoles, PCs, or mobile phones to
existing home theater system for authentic multi-channel surround sound that can
scale up to 7.1 channels.
Dolby® Digital Plus

22. In today’s multi-screen universe, service providers are challenged to provide high-
quality video to each and every consumer screen, regardless of location or device.
Given the qualitative variations inherent in delivering IP-based video over the open
Internet, operators are turning to cloud-based adaptive bit-rate solutions to help
deliver the best video experience possible.
Unfortunately, for most video providers adaptive bit-rate audio is an afterthought,
which leaves their customers with two choices: mono or stereo. In today’s multi-
screen, multi-device universe, this is hardly adequate.
As discussed in this issue of Dolby’s Innovation series, audio quality:
• Is a primary consideration in consumer decisions to purchase specific brands
and types of video-enabled devices, and
• Plays a tremendous role in the overall quality of video experiences, so much
that most consumers will turn away from a video with poor audio quality.
Legacy video providers have long understood the necessity of high-quality audio in
creating a compelling television experience. This same logic applies to smaller
screens, but even more so. In fact, high-quality audio can compensate for poor
video in ways never before acknowledged.
Yes, having Dolby-quality sound in a theater setting or on a big-screen TV is a no-
brainer. But ensuring that your mobile and portable viewers have the best audio
experience possible can be a critical differentiator in an increasingly competitive
multiscreen market space.
The message is clear: a consistent, high-quality sound experience for shows and
movies is critical to audience satisfaction, both on its own and to compensate for
streaming video issues – whether that involves broadband TV, online, mobile,
legacy, or broadcast delivery. Dolby’s multiscreen audio solution, Dolby Digital Plus,
includes solutions for content encoding, content distribution, and device playback,
regardless of the device and its the contextual parameters.
summary
22
innovation series
With almost 50 years of history in advancing the quality of media, it is not surprising
that Dolby is the industry leader in delivering superior audio and visual experiences.
Whether on the small screen (like a smart phone, tablet, or PC) or the big screen (be it
a television or in a theater), Dolby technology is likely behind it.

23. 23
About The Diffusion Group (TDG)
TDG provides actionable intelligence on the quantum shifts impacting
consumer technology and media behaviors. Since 2004, our market
research and advisory services have helped hundreds of technology
vendors, media companies, and service providers understand how
consumers access, navigate, distribute, and consume broadband media—
whenever and wherever they may be.
For more information about The Diffusion Group,
visit www.tdgresearch.com
innovation series
About Dolby
Dolby is changing the way we experience entertainment by
delivering the next generation content encoding, distribution and
playback innovations for audio and video. Building on decades of
innovation, industry know-how and extensive partnerships across
the ecosystem, we are partnering with Broadcasters, PayTV
operators and OTT service providers to ensure consumers get to
immerse themselves in the narrative like never before.
For more information about Dolby,
visit www.dolby.com
Produced for Dolby® by The Diffusion Group, Inc., 2014. All rights reserved.