German technology research lab Fraunhofer IIS has introduced MPEG Surround which can deliver surround audio at low bit rates for Internet streaming. The technology is also being used for digital radio broadcasting overseas.
Earlier this year Fraunhofer partnered with Texas Instruments to make MPEG surround audio streaming available on its DSP platform. Now, in conjunction with the NAB Show in Las Vegas, Fraunhofer announced a partnership with Orban to make available the MPEG Surround and HE-AAC multi-channel audio formats in Orban’s professional Opticodec-PC streaming encoders.
MPEG Surround allows the cost-efficient delivery of surround audio at stereo bitrates as low as 64 kbit/s for 5.1-channels.
MPEG Surround is an ISO standard co-developed by Fraunhofer IIS. Software implementations for device and software player manufacturers are available for various operating systems and embedded platforms.
