LA-5300 Broadcast Audio Processor

LA-5300 Broadcast Audio Processor Features

Dolby® AC-4 encoding from PCM for stereo, 5.1, and Dolby Atmos® services
Transcoding from Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital Plus to AC-4
Optional encoding / transcoding into Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital Plus
AC-4 / Dolby Digital / Dolby Digital Plus decoding for watermarking and bitstream analysis and monitoring
Linear Acoustic UPMAX® ISC upmixing
Optional Verance or Nielsen watermarking
Dolby Real-Time Loudness Leveler when encoding to AC-4
Linear Acoustic APTO™ loudness control when encoding to Dolby Digital / Dolby Digital Plus
Dual 3Gb/s HD/SD-SDI, 5 pairs of AES-3 I/O, and AES67 I/O in support of SMPTE ST 2110-30 and -31 workflows
Optional Quad-Link 3Gb/s SDI I/O for supporting 4K workflows or MADI I/O (mutually exclusive)
Dual 1000BaseT Ethernet connections (AES67 and control)
SNMP alarm and status reporting
Web-based user interface provides comprehensive setup, configuration, routing, control, and metering

LA-5300 Broadcast Audio Processor In Depth

A Complete ATSC 3.0/NEXTGEN TV and ATSC 1.0 Audio Solution

The roll-out of ATSC 3.0—better known to consumers as NEXTGEN TV—offers great benefits for both the broadcaster and the viewer alike. New features such as personalization, dialog enhancement, and immersive audio all bring a more enriching experience to your audience. For the broadcaster, ATSC 3.0 helps generate revenue with watermarking. While ratings watermarking is not new, modern implementations of watermarking yield ratings data that is consistent and reliable ATSC 3.0 also brings with it a unique set of requirements, challenges, and opportunities for television broadcasters.

The Linear Acoustic LA-5300 provides a single solution for loudness control, upmixing, decoding AC-4 for audience measurement watermark insertion, bitstream analysis, and monitoring, transcoding of Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital Plus to AC-4, and Dolby AC-4 encoding.

The LA-5300 can also handle all of your audio processing needs for today’s ATSC 1.0 services and feeds to MVPDs with an optional software upgrade that uses the same processing techniques available for ATSC 3.0 paths with the final encoded signal being Dolby Digital or Dolby Digital Plus instead of Dolby AC-4.

The ability to handle up to 4 programs means one LA-5300 can provide unique encoded streams for the main program audio, SAP, and video descriptive services—all in a single 1RU solution. A decode and monitor-only version is also available which omits upmixing, watermarking, and AC-4 encoding.

I/O for Any Facility

The LA-5300 comes standard with 5 pairs of AES-3 I/O, dual 3G SDI I/O, and AES67 I/O to support SMPTE ST 2110-30 and -31 workflows. Options include Quad-Link 3G SDI for facilities utilizing 4K workflows, or MADI I/O. Two Gigabit Ethernet ports are provided, one for AES67, and one for remote control via the web-based GUI.

Ready for Today, Ready for Tomorrow

The LA-5300 meets the immediate requirements for NEXTGEN TV/ATSC 3.0 audio right out of the box, with channel-based AC-4 encoding, loudness control, and upmixing to either 5.1 or immersive audio (Dolby Atmos) configurations for multiple programs. As ATSC 3.0 adoption grows, support for its additional features and benefits such as object-based audio, interactive consumer control, personalized audio, and multiple presentations within a single stream will be incorporated into the LA-5300 via software updates.

MVPD Turn-Around Workflow

ATSC 1.0 / 3.0 Simulcast

AC-4 Encoder Block Diagram