The EBU and its technology partners have announced a parallel production of the Eurovision Song Contest to be mixed and transmitted live with Next Generation Audio (NGA) in the MPEG-H Audio format.
The content is being made available to broadcasters for testing purposes via the Eurovision FINE network. An on-site demonstration is available to journalists and EBU Members in Tel Aviv.
NGA enables delivery of an immersive aural experience that can be fully personalised, to any device. The EBU has called it a “produce-once, deliver-anywhere scenario,” eliminating the need to create multiple dedicated mixes.
The technology allows adjustment of relative volumes of the performers, commentary and background ambience, plus switching between different languages. Headphone users can also be immersed in 3D binaural sound.
In addition, accessibility of media content can be improved, for instance by allowing end users with hearing difficulties to boost the commentary and reduce the background noise.
There are three standardised solutions for NGA: MPEG-H Audio, AC-4 and DTS-UHD. MPEG-H Audio was used for the parallel immersive and object-based audio production and transmission in this trial.
Read more about the production of Eurovision in the latest issue of TVBEurope.
