WHITE PAPER

- — Delivering Next-Generation Media and Entertainment Innovate. with Dolby® AC-4 A white paper from Harmonic Inc. and Transform. Dolby Laboratories March 2019 Deliver.

harmonicinc.com Delivering Next-Generation Media and Entertainment With Dolby AC-4 WHITE PAPER

TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ...... 3

1. Introduction ...... 4

2. Evolution in Viewing ...... 4

3. Market and Industry Momentum ...... 5

4. Implementation of the Dolby AC-4 NGA Codec Natively in Media Processing Solutions and Services. . 6

5. Content Delivery Mechanisms for Dolby AC-4 ...... 7

6. Features and Benefits of Dolby AC-4 ...... 8 6.1 End-user benefits ...... 8 - Flexibility / Adaptability ...... 8 - Accessibility ...... 8 - Personalization ...... 9 - Immersiveness ...... 9 6.2 Operational benefits ...... 9 - Operational simplification ...... 9 - Operational functionalities ...... 9 - Bandwidth efficiency ...... 9 - Ease of regulatory compliance ...... 10

7. Rendering on Consumer Devices ...... 11

8. Conclusion ...... 11

Partnership between Harmonic Inc. and Dolby Laboratories ...... 12

2 Delivering Next-Generation Media and Entertainment With Dolby AC-4 WHITE PAPER

ABSTRACT

2018 will stand out as the year that the first generation of UHD services started to scale, with over 50 commercial services worldwide, more than 125 live TV channels with 4K resolution and thousands of hours of VOD programming. With the move to UHD, the consumer video experience keeps getting better. But it is not just the video quality that is getting better, it is also the services supported by UHD. These include features, such as high dynamic range imaging and next-generation audio, which together deliver a new and improved consumer experience. When it comes to audio, next-generation codecs such as Dolby AC-4 are enabling a slew of enhanced audio experiences (i.e., more immersive and personalized) that consumers have shown they want.

For anyone who is involved in the creation or delivery of media and entertainment experiences for broadcast or streaming, it is important to understand what these new audio features are and how they will be rolled out. This paper outlines the market and industry drivers that are creating the demand for next-generation audio codecs. It also describes how these codecs are being staged in both the network and in the end devices that deliver these experiences to the consumer, wherever they are viewing from.

As with any new technology, it is important to understand how the transition from today’s services will be orchestrated. This white paper will present Harmonic’s ongoing technology advancements for the native implementation of the Dolby AC-4 codec in its market-leading portfolio of media processing solutions and services. It will also describe the features, operational benefits and exciting new consumer experiences that Dolby AC-4 brings to next-generation audio entertainment services.

Finally, this paper examines how partnerships between companies such as Harmonic and Dolby are helping to fuel the transition from existing broadcast and OTT services, to future experiences enabled by these new technologies.

3 Delivering Next-Generation Media and Entertainment With Dolby AC-4 WHITE PAPER

1. INTRODUCTION

Driven in part by the Olympics and the World Cup, 2018 was a big year for next-generation TV concepts and features. Specifically, the first generation of UHD TV services were rolled out, with over 50 commercial services worldwide, 125 live 4K UHD TV channels and thousands of hours of VOD content. The industry has continued to raise the bar for the modern-day viewing experiences across platforms. Service providers are continuing to experiment with new features and functionalities that will surprise and delight consumers.

The demand for ever-higher picture quality, with more and better pixels, goes hand in hand with the quest for an equally compelling set of features and functionalities for audio. With the advent of audio codecs such as Dolby AC-4, service providers now have the tools they need to deliver these audio services and to make entertainment more engaging.

Consumers want better audio. A study by Pearl Group in the U.S., found that viewers are looking for a better experience that includes improvements in both video and audio. For audio, this means improved intelligibility, use of descriptive audio and being able to have a great experience on any device.

At the same time, user behavior is changing. Not all content is viewed in the home. Viewers are no longer chained to their TVs, and there is an ever-growing variety of devices being used to watch content.

Dolby AC-4 is a powerful new audio emission format that meets today’s content delivery requirements and supports video service innovations. Dolby AC-4 next-generation audio (NGA) transforms broadcast, providing viewers with a greatly improved quality of experience, which includes personalized, immersive and more lifelike entertainment. Dolby AC-4 enables NGA experiences to be delivered and paired with the enhanced visual experience that 4K UHD with HDR delivers.

The codec is only part of the story, however. To reap the benefits provided by NGA, the entire ecosystem and the new and modern workflows for delivering video and audio need to be ready to support these features. That is why companies like Harmonic play acritical role in the deployment of next-generation audio. By supporting the integration of Dolby AC-4 across broadcast and streaming for both hardware-based and cloud-based workflows, Harmonic is helping drive ecosystem innovation.

NGA revolutionizes audio quality for end users. Dolby AC-4, as delivered by Harmonic, is the way that broadcasters and streaming providers can leverage these revolutionary changes for delivering new and improved user experiences.

2. EVOLUTION IN VIEWING

Thanks to its rich feature set, Dolby AC-4 enables many applications that were difficult to deliver before.

The days of sitting down with the family for Thursday night TV are over. Viewers are increasingly expecting flexibility with regards to what, when, where and how they watch, including on what device and how they choose to engage with content.

Everyone Gets a Good Experience • Next-generation audio makes entertainment even more engaging, improving viewers’ experience and deepening their connections with the programming they enjoy.

Inclusive Experiences • TV viewers are getting older, illustrated by the fact that 16% of the U.S. population is over the age of 62. • Audio intelligibility is a growing concern and over 31 million people in the U.S. have hearing difficulties. • For the visually-impaired, current solutions offer a sub-optimal audio experience.

Watch and Listen, Everywhere • Consumers are increasingly using other viewing devices in addition to the TV and they are spending more time watching content outside of the living room. • 61% of consumers are watching TV and video on their tablets and smartphones, which is an increase of 70% since 2012.

4 Delivering Next-Generation Media and Entertainment With Dolby AC-4 WHITE PAPER

Customizeable Experiences • TV viewing is becoming more global. People want to watch programs in their native language. • Today, the home team fans have exactly the same experience as the away team fans, so a non-English speaker watching a broadcast show in the U.S. hears only English audio. • Consumers require more control and choices that meet their preferences.

3. MARKET AND INDUSTRY MOMENTUM

While unseen to end users, technical standards are critical to the ultimate success of new video services. Standards are the pillar of technology, as they ensure the interoperability and economies of scale that make mass market adoption possible. To this end, global standards bodies such as DVB and ATSC have developed standards that will govern the rollout of next-generation TV, including audio.

Standards were created to ensure smooth deployment and sustainable future for broadcast TV services delivered across a wide variety of workflows and to multiple consumer devices. These new standards have to be extensible, scalable and ready for an unknown future.

Dolby AC-4 is the audio codec of choice for many national broadcast standards. One of the key drivers behind the strong market momentum around Dolby AC-4 is its acceptance as part of the main transmission standards in many regions and countries throughout the world. To date, Dolby AC-4 has been adopted by standards bodies in 11 countries, including the U.S., Canada, Italy, the NorDig countries and the UK (Freesat). The acceptance from regulatory bodies in these countries, provides assurance that the growth of NGA as delivered by Dolby AC-4 will continue.

Dolby AC-4 is also supported by many global standards bodies covering multiple elements of the broadcast and OTT ecosystem. For example, the Ultra HD Forum has included Dolby AC-4 in its UHD Phase B guidelines, complementing the guidelines that were issued for the first commercial UHD transmission in 2016. The following chart provides an overview of the standards supported by Dolby AC-4.

STANDARD ADOPTION

5 Delivering Next-Generation Media and Entertainment With Dolby AC-4 WHITE PAPER

KQED was the first television station in the U.S. to broadcast live audio encoded with Dolby AC-4, using Harmonic’s Electra® X2 advanced media processor. This broadcast demonstrated the high quality at low bandwidth that could be achieved and positioned the technology as an essential element to the future of KQED. Since then, there have been many trials featuring next-generation audio features delivered using Dolby AC-4. For example, Dolby AC-4 is live in Chicago at Weigel (WCIU), with native AC-4 audio encoding on the Harmonic Electra X2 media processor through packaging done on the Harmonic Electra XOS live video processor into Triveni Digital ROUTE encoder. The same is true in Paris, where French broadcaster NRJ conducted broadcast tests for UHD 4K, HDR and Dolby AC-4 over DTTV in Paris and other regions across France (as well as by satellite) on three DTTV channels over the course of two weeks. The first service was in UHD 4K HDR HLG 50p (over 24 Mbps high-speed broadband), while the second and third were in HD+ 1080p50 HDR HLG at different, lower rates. NRJ combined each of these video flows with a stereophonic audio component, encoded natively in the Harmonic Electra X media processor in Dolby AC-4.

Globally, service providers are working to test the services delivered by next-generation TV. This is critical for ensuring that supporting infrastructures will continue to provide existing services with the same levels of robustness and reliability that they currently have and that they will allow new services to be rolled out cost-effectively and seamlessly.

In Europe, for example, the EBU led trials with several union members and industry partners of production workflows to capture, process and distribute live UHD video content with NGA at the 2018 European Athletics Championships in Berlin. The trial included NGA sound in the form of 7.0.4 channel and scene-based beds, with four additional interactive mono object signals for two commentaries and two audio descriptions. Dolby AC-4 was used to provide immersive experiences, as well as enabling additional features, such as personalization, accessibility and interactivity.

In the U.S., two major trials are underway in model markets to test ATSC 3.0 services, consumer response to the offerings and the simultaneous delivery of ATSC 1.0, which was mandated by the FCC for stations launching ATSC 3.0 services.

A major ATSC 3.0 trial is currently on-air with Pearl TV Business Alliance in the Phoenix area, where the station is broadcasting UHD video with Dolby AC-4 audio. The goals of the Phoenix Model Market project are to test ATSC 3.0 television service and new business models, to develop a framework to facilitate nationwide deployment of ATSC 3.0 services (including best practices), to test consumer devices and to collect real-time consumer input through surveys and focus groups. As part of this trial, Dolby AC-4 will be used to deliver next-generation audio and will help validate associated workflows for these services. As part of the comprehensive ecosystem with technology partners, Harmonic will provide participating stations in Phoenix with its Electra X ATSC 3.0 media processor. This solution integrates Harmonic’s market-leading encoding solution for video and Dolby AC-4 audio and statistical multiplexing technology, as well as a DASH packager, to ensure seamless distribution of ATSC 3.0 broadcasts.

In January 2018, Sinclair Broadcast Group and its partners announced that they would broadcast ATSC 3.0 signals in Dallas, Texas. This trial is viewed as a first step toward a national service launch in some or all of Sinclair’s 100 U.S. markets.

4. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DOLBY AC-4 NGA CODEC NATIVELY IN MEDIA PROCESSING SOLUTIONS AND SERVICES

To ensure that Dolby AC-4 is seamlessly incorporated into next-generation service workflows, it is critical that it be integrated into the media processing platforms that deliver these new experiences to the home. To this end, Harmonic has partnered with Dolby Laboratories to integrate AC-4 NGA into its market-leading portfolio of media processing solutions and services. In 2015, the two companies made history when they worked to deliver the first live on-air transmission of Dolby AC-4.

Harmonic offers solutions for video delivery via the widest possible deployment types, from hardware appliances to cloud services (SaaS). Through Harmonic’s video encoding, audio encoding and ancillary data processing solutions, service providers can deliver a complete end user entertainment experience.

As far as audio encoding is concerned, Harmonic recently added Dolby AC-4 native encoding to its solutions. This complements the existing support for encoding in MPEG 1 Layer2, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, AAC, and HE-AAC. Pass-through of pre-compressed audio, including Dolby AC-4, is also supported.

There are several advantages for embedding Dolby AC-4 encoding within the video encoder.

The first advantage is density. With the integration, the combined solution requires less resources and less equipment (in case of appliances), or less CPU (when using a software solution). By embedding, the interfaces are mutualized for all processing requirements. This creates economies on space, power and cooling. If a software solution is used, this saves on required resource allocation.

6 Delivering Next-Generation Media and Entertainment With Dolby AC-4 WHITE PAPER

Then comes the quality. By embedding audio and video encoding, setup is simplified and risks of configuration errors are reduced. This minimizes common issues, such as audio and video synchronization (i.e., lip sync) errors. Similarly, native audio encoding facilitates and simplifies tasks such as ad insertion.

Reliability is another advantage. When audio and video encoding are embedded, there is only a single unit or service that requires redundancy. Otherwise, redundant units for both the video encoding function and the Dolby AC-4 encoder would be required.

A key advantage of Harmonic’s solutions is that they enable Dolby AC-4 to be available on all deployment cases with the same advanced characteristics. These deployments include appliance, on-premises, cloud, public cloud and SaaS applications.

By integrating the Dolby AC-4 code into its common software foundation, Harmonic enables the functions to be used with all deployment flavors. Users can then enjoy the same appealing feature sets and reliability, no matter what the deployment architecture.

Dolby AC-4 native encoding is available with the following Harmonic products and solutions: VOS®360 SaaS, VOS® Cluster, Electra® X and Electra® XOS.

VOS360 – media processing SaaS platform VOS360 is a highly agile media processing platform for OTT, channel origination and distribution 2.0. It is a software as a service (SaaS) solution that is hosted in the public cloud, while being maintained and monitored by Harmonic. It enables simple, agile, cost-effective and scalable operations. One of the major benefits with the solution is the fast time to market for launching new channels and services. All that is needed to start engaging with audiences is to define sources, upload assets and set distribution policies.

VOS Cluster – for hybrid cloud operations VOS Cluster is a solution for transforming traditional video preparation and delivery architectures into hybrid cloud operations. It capitalizes on Harmonic’s expertise in media processing and advanced micro-services such as ingest, compression, encryption, packaging and channel origination. The advantages include streamlined and consolidated workflows, for rapid, consistent configuration, with seamless integration into existing operations. New services can easily be added to, or removed from, existing workflows in a matter of minutes.

Electra X – Advanced Media Processor for Broadcast and OTT delivery Electra X is an advanced media processor which is also the industry’s first fully converged platform for broadcast and OTT delivery. It is available in several deployment models, including a virtual machine with XVM. The Electra X handles uncompressed video over IP workflows, with optional SMPTE ST 2022-6 ingest, EyeQ™ content-aware encoding and dynamic ad insertion (DAI). With its superior video quality, function integration, bandwidth efficiency and workflow flexibility, the Electra X supports the launch of new revenue-generating services. This multi-service, multi-codec, multi-function platform simplifies infrastructures and reduces operating costs.

Electra XOS – live video processing for Broadcast and OTT delivery Electra XOS is a high-performance live video processor for broadcast and OTT delivery. It is available in several deployment models, including as a software application on standard IP infrastructure, or on a standard server with optional SDI interfaces.

This software-based solution is continually updated with the latest technology innovations. Artificial intelligence, deep tuning for Intel® processors and strong expertise in video algorithms, enable the Electra XOS processor to pack more SD, HD and UHD channels into a limited amount of bandwidth, while delivering exceptional video quality.

5. CONTENT DELIVERY MECHANISMS FOR DOLBY AC-4

Dolby AC-4 can be used with a variety of video distribution architectures. All distribution workflows can benefit from the improvements offered by Dolby AC-4 to help deliver programing that will keep viewers engaged. These delivery architectures include over the air broadcast (OTA), over the top (OTT) received through internet connections, satellite, IPTV and cable.

To achieve this level of flexibility, the Dolby AC-4 syntax can be adapted to the different transmission mechanism, whether it is a transport stream, or file based. The codec has been standardized for most container formats used today: • Like Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby AC-4 can be carried over AES3, using formatting as per SMPTE ST-337. This extends to carriage over SDI (Serial Digital Interface) and its derivatives, such as those defined in SMPTE ST-2022-6.

7 Delivering Next-Generation Media and Entertainment With Dolby AC-4 WHITE PAPER

• Dolby AC-4 can be carried with compressed video in a similar way to other audio codecs. Dolby AC-4 is standardized in DVB for transmission in MPEG-2 transport streams and is the recommended audio format for ATSC v3.0 in North America. ATSC v3.0 uses either the MPEG DASH streaming model with ROUTE for unidirectional delivery, or the MPU (Media Processing Unit) streaming mode and (MPEG Media Transport Protocol) MMTP for unidirectional delivery.

When streamed over the internet, Dolby AC-4 can be carried via MPEG DASH and HTTP Live Streaming. It can also be used to support hybrid delivery using transport streams and DASH. This gives service providers the flexibility to choose the transport media best-suited to a given service offering and the local infrastructure.

6. FEATURES AND BENEFITS OF DOLBY AC-4

Dolby AC-4 provides benefits with any existing content, whether 5.1 or even stereo. So, without generating content any differently, Dolby AC-4 offers an enhanced experience, with excellent quality, at lower bitrates.

In addition to optimized encoding efficiency, Dolby AC-4 also enables new features for all content, as listed below.

KEY BENEFITS OF NGA

IMMERSIVE ADAPTABLE ACCESSIBLE ADJUSTABLE

Compelling sound Optimal playback on Audio Description, Adjust or customize to experience with sound every device Dialog Enhancement, the listener’s preference from all directions Multi-Language

6.1 End-User Benefits

• Flexibility / Agility Dolby AC-4 provides flexibility and agility like no other audio codec before. First, it enables rendering on multiple devices, providing consistent and premium speaker playback across all screens from stereo TV, to home theatre, to mobile device, to headphones. This agility is achieved with a single stream that saves data and ensures always-perfect synchronization. Multiple presentations can be carried in a single bitstream, enabling numerous versions of the audio experience — such as different languages or commentaries to be delivered — but using less data.

Finally, Dolby AC-4 produces an optimized output, for an enhanced experience on any device – whether it be a TV, laptop, tablet, phone – or potentially even a watch.

• Accessibility Harmonic and Dolby recognize the fact that users want the freedom to view television in their chosen way and, in this respect, Dolby AC-4’s accessibility is another key advantage. Dolby AC-4 has integrated a feature called audio description that allows a voice to describe the video scene. It is possible for the end user to adjust the relative levels of this descriptive voice and the main audio of the video content to ensure their own chosen balance between the audio description and the video content atmosphere.

Dialog in the content can also be enhanced. Depending on the listening conditions, the user may decide to boost the dialogs above background sounds, for better comprehension.

Dolby AC-4 enables the delivery of enticing new user experiences, where the content creator can enhance audio way beyond the traditional stereo or 5.1 mix.

8 Delivering Next-Generation Media and Entertainment With Dolby AC-4 WHITE PAPER

• Personalization Harmonic and Dolby recognize that users have their own unique preferences and that they appreciate customized video experiences. Dolby AC-4 provides audiences with the power to choose between different audio experiences, such as alternative languages, or director’s commentaries. They can even select their favorite sports team announcer. Sports fans can change the audio balance to focus on the announcer, or to listen to the ambient noise at the stadium so that they can feel like they are in the stands.

Dolby AC-4 also delivers high-quality multiple-language playback options. This feature does not take up much bandwidth, as only the voices are separately coded. The background sounds remain common to all languages.

• Immersiveness Immersiveness is a key element of audio, and Dolby AC-4 enables a more lifelike experience in this respect, providing three- dimensional sound with Dolby Atmos® premium sound. Dolby Atmos® provides a three-dimensional immersive audio experience, with moving audio that fills the room and flows around end users, with a new sensation of sound coming from overhead. Thanks to this new technology, content creators can mix in a 3D space, using a hybrid of static and dynamic audio objects. The produced audio stream is compatible for playback on any device from stereo TV to sound bar, home theater, PC, and headphones

6.2 Operational benefits

In addition to end user benefits, Dolby AC-4 brings a number of advantages to operators, such as:

• Operational simplification Dolby AC-4 brings simplicity and cost savings to the operator, whether for stereo or 5.1 content.

Ad insertions are greatly simplified, thanks to the alignment of audio frames to video frames. If operators need to insert different content at a specific video frame, the audio insertion can be done at the same frame, with no need to re-encode audio at splices and in head-end turnarounds.

Even audio loudness is taken care of with Dolby AC-4, thanks to automated loudness and dynamic range management.

Naturally, Dolby AC-4 provides better compression efficiency, which can translate to more programs in less space. More details about this aspect will be described in the next section.

• Operational Functionalities One of the most striking aspects of Dolby AC-4 is the rich functionalities that it brings, and it is the only audio codec to provide such complete feature set.

The table below compares these features with other audio codecs used in content delivery.

Feature AAC/HE-AAC DD DD+ AC-4 Stereo X X X X 5.1 surround sound X X X X Bitrate efficiency X X For all content Integrated loudness management X Improved ad workflows X Dialog enhancement X Personalized audio X For immersive or Dolby Atmos® immersive audio X X personalized content Immersive headphones X

• Bandwidth efficiency Dolby AC-4 is a breakthrough audio compression codec. Dolby Digital Plus had already pushed the boundaries, but Dolby AC-4 goes a step further, with its pristine audio quality and enhanced performance. Dolby AC-4 economizes bandwidth thanks to two major characteristics. First, it is a superior codec, and the AC-4 algorithm is much improved compared with what was previously available. The table below shows the compression performance comparison between Dolby AC-4, Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby Digital.

9 Delivering Next-Generation Media and Entertainment With Dolby AC-4 WHITE PAPER

DOLBY CODEC EFFICIENCY COMPARISON

Audio Playback Data Rate Usage Comparison

72 Headphones

256 Atmos® 384

128 5.1 192 384 40 Stereo 96 192

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450

AC-4 Dolby Digital Plus Dolby Digital

Secondly, Dolby AC-4 requires less bandwidth for multi-lingual or multi-audio delivery. With a conventional approach, multi- lingual delivery requires the full audio experience for each of the different required languages. With Dolby AC-4, the main audio and commentary are separate. For multi-lingual requirements, the commentaries can be encoded as mono tracks. This reduces the overall data rate requirement. The following table compares the performance of Dolby AC-4 against the conventional approach.

Conventional Approach Presentation

Stream Datarate/kbps Stream Datarate/kbps

English 5.1 144 English commentary 1.0 40

Spanish 5.1 144 Spanish commentary 1.0 40

Chinese 5.1 144 Chinese commentary 1.0 40

5.1 Clean ambiance and effects 144 5.1 Clean ambiance and effects 144

Total 576 Total 264

Saving 54%

• Ease of regulatory compliance A specific requirement for audio broadcasting is the need to comply with regulations. As this concerns services to the general public, it has to follow specific rules.

Dolby AC-4 includes the following:

– End-to-end loudness management, to ensure compliance while preserving the user experience – The provision of audio descriptive services that exceed regulatory requirements by delivering immersive sound – Works in tandem with audible captions and emergency alerts

10 Delivering Next-Generation Media and Entertainment With Dolby AC-4 WHITE PAPER

7. RENDERING ON CONSUMER DEVICES

The needs and expectations of TV audiences are changing. At the same time, the number of devices used within each household has reached the highest point ever. Dolby has a long history of working closely with TV and other consumer playback device manufacturers to enable new experiences. Dolby AC-4 continues to follow this model, and the resulting collaborations will bring innovative experiences to consumers and enable viewing devices to better meet the needs of all audiences.

Millions of Dolby AC-4 decoders have already been deployed in a wide range of consumer products. All of the major TV manufacturers support Dolby AC-4 in selected models, and there are an increasing number of models shipping with Dolby AC-4 support. TV and set- top box manufacturers that support Dolby AC-4 include Bang & Olufsen, Hisense, Huawei, TPVision, Vizio, LG, Panasonic, Sagemcom, Samsung, Sharp, Skyworth, Sony and TCL. The market share of devices with Dolby AC-4 will continue to grow, and it is estimated that by 2020, the majority of all new UHD TVs in Europe and the U.S. will support Dolby AC-4.

As the NGA codec for delivering immersive audio, Dolby AC-4 will continue to support the delivery of Dolby Atmos®. For TVs, soundbars and home theater systems featuring Dolby Atmos®, Dolby AC-4 decoders will support conversion to Dolby Atmos® bitstreams that are supported in these devices. This means that a consumer that purchased even one of the first Dolby Atmos® home theater systems can get an exceptional immersive experience via Dolby AC-4.

In addition, an increasing number of mobile phones are shipping with Dolby AC-4 as a standard codec. This includes devices from Samsung, Huawei and Sony, amongst others. Broadcasters and operators also have the option to include Dolby AC-4 decoding software directly into their apps, allowing them to quickly reach millions of consumers with the efficiency and new experiences that Dolby AC-4 delivers.

8. CONCLUSION

Next-generation video services need enhanced audio experiences, and Dolby AC-4 has been developed to satisfy these requirements. Whether the delivery pipe is broadcast, IPTV or OTT, more consumer-friendly experiences can be now delivered at lower bit rates.

Dolby AC-4 delivers advantages to consumers and to service providers. For consumers the benefits of consistent loudness levels, accessibility features, and immersive and personalized content remove the pain points of existing platforms and increase their engagement with the content. For service providers the greater coding efficiency, flexibility and enhanced ad insertion support make it simpler to monetize content. This will only get easier to access as more organizations join those in the 11 existing countries that have included Dolby AC-4 in their local standards. Services such as KQED and NRJ have led the way in successful real-world deployments. Thanks to the native implementation of Dolby AC-4 in Harmonic’s market-leading portfolio of media processing solutions and services, it is now an easy move to make.

The ecosystem to support NGA is growing rapidly. Millions of devices are already deployed featuring Dolby AC-4, including many models of UHD TVs and mobile devices. And while Dolby AC-4 brings great benefits to stereo and 5.1 content, the amount of content mixed in Dolby Atmos®, or created in a personalized format, is continuing to grow. Nevertheless, none of this will be successful unless this great content can be encoded efficiently and reliably. That is where the partnership between Harmonic and Dolby is completing the ecosystem.

Harmonic is a pioneer in media encoding and processing solutions, and this paper has provided an overview of its ongoing technological advancements regarding the native implementation of the Dolby AC-4 codec. Dolby AC-4 is enabled across Harmonic’s wide range of deployment models, from appliances to SaaS. By integrating Dolby AC-4 with its video encoding solutions, Harmonic enables compelling NGA features to be delivered simpler and easier.

11 Delivering Next-Generation Media and Entertainment With Dolby AC-4 WHITE PAPER

PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN HARMONIC INC. AND DOLBY LABORATORIES

Harmonic Inc and Dolby Laboratories have a long-standing relationship that spans over 20 years. During this period of time, they have delivered many innovative entertainment experiences for a wide range of applications. Harmonic has integrated Dolby technology into many of its solutions — particularly video encoders and transcoders.

1999 2006 2017 2018 AC-3 encoding on Dolby E decoding and E- Dolby E encoding in Dolby AC-4 in Harmonic Harmonic MV50 encoder AC-3 encoding on Harmonic Harmonic Spectrum X VOS360 SaaS and Electra Electra media processor media server X/XOS live video processor

© 2019 Harmonic Inc. All rights reserved. Harmonic and the Harmonic logo VOS and Electra are trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks of Harmonic Inc. in the United States and other countries. Dolby is a registered trademark of Dolby Laboratories in the U.S. and/or other countries. and/or other countries. All product and application features and specifications are subject to change at Harmonic’s sole discretion at any time and without notice. 04.08.19 12