SAN FRANCISCO - Dolby was at NAB with two new rack units, both designed to ensure that the highest audio quality reaches television viewers.
The new LM100 broadcast loudness meter measures the subjective loudness of speech within broadcast programming. Broadcasters traditionally measured program levels using VU or peak program meters, neither of which measures subjective loudness. The LM100 measures the loudness and presents it in an easy to understand format on the 1 rack-unit's vacuum fluorescent display. The LM100 will be available in Q4 for $2,995.
Dolby's DP564 multichannel audio decoder can be used as a quality-control tool, allowing users to decode and monitor programs with Dolby Digital, Dolby Surround Pro Logic, PCM, Surround EX and Pro Logic II audio tracks. The unit allows for easy selection and monitoring of Dolby Digital's downmixing capabilities, listening modes and compression modes. This allows content producers to verify how material produced and transmitted in 5.1 will sound in Dolby Surround, two-channel surround stereo or mono.
According to Dolby, the DP564 will replace its 562 predecessor and will ship in August for $4,900.