Immersive Audio Standards Move Forward

摘要

Cinema sound formats were unshackled by digital audio technology. This led to a wave of immersive sound system developments, each with its own incompatible audio and digital cinema package (DCP) file formats. Moviemakers were keen to use the new formats to take advantage of the expanded sound presentation capabilities but found themselves mixing ever more versions of the same title, as no single format covered every theater’s situation. Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI), LLC and the National Association of Theater Owners (NATO), representing studios and exhibitors respectively, have each expressed a strong desire for a common, standardized method for delivering audio to cinemas that have expanded beyond the standardized 5.1 and 7.1 formats. NATO, in particular, expressed a desire for a solution to come to market as soon as possible to avoid the uncertainty represented by separate, incompatible, proprietary formats. The cinema industry looked to SMPTE to find a way to deliver immersive soundtracks in a common way such that they could be played in any immersive cinema system.