DirectOut guarantees the best Dolby Atmos 7.1 audio in sports broadcasts

2024 has been a big year for sport: from the Olympic Games to Euro 2024, the summer has been packed with sporting events. At these high profile events. DirectOut has guaranteed that the sound Dolby Immersive and critical Atmos 7.1 can be streamed constantly, along with 4K images.

Digital content is delivered through multiple channels, not only on broadcast media designed for home televisions, but also on digital outlets such as smartphone apps and browser-connected streaming devices.

The amount of data required by content puts enormous pressure on computer networks, so the industry has responded by developing the protocolo SMPTE ST2110, a new way to transport audio, video and metadata over a computer network. It works by dividing data into three streams, called essences, which limits the size of the information by sending only active streams and minimizes the need for decoding hardware.

Nicolas Sturmel, Senior Network Technologist at DirectOut, highlights that “the Prodigy.MX DirectOut is at the heart of this type of networks, since it is capable of translating the different protocols perfectly. Thanks to the modular design of the Prodigy series, cards can be added or removed as needed to increase ease of use. Network modules like the Ravenna card include an NMOS interface specification, which defines data models and ensures that devices can be controlled by any software that supports it.”

Presented at IBC 2024, a new NMOS mode Out-of-band offers even more flexibility to the end user. By leveraging these specifications within the hardware, we are finding a balance between complex networking capability and overwhelming audio engineers who need to use the equipment effectively.

"Until recently, the norm was to use proprietary networking protocols such as Dante. The end user benefits from its simplicity and ease of use, but is offered limited versatility. Broadcasts such as those of the Olympic Games require a much more complex network system to deliver additional content, which requires more networking knowledge to facilitate them. As the use of Audio over Internet Protocol (AoIP) increases, the number of sound engineers with computer skills increases," he adds.

For large-scale sporting events, such as the Olympic Games, which are broadcast around the world and then adapted locally in various ways, audio equipment can also use globcon to create local submixes within Prodigy, if necessary. Prodigy.MP's AutoMix feature is very useful in this application, allowing engineers to mix and monitor audio sources without the need for an additional mixing desk.

In Paris, the team France TV was able to mix all broadcast audio streams at once, including HD video content and 4K content with Dolby Atmos. Engineers switched monitoring between the two streams directly through globcon, without the need for an additional mixing console. When sound engineers have the ability to mix audio with art, but also invest time in setting up and controlling software like globcon, there is no limit to what can be achieved.

"Once the infrastructure is in place and broadcast is underway, the equipment may need to remain in use for many weeks, running effectively without needing to be shut down or restarted. At DirectOut, we conduct testing to ensure our solutions can operate for long periods in the toughest environmental conditions, ensuring our end users can leave their units running for months without worry," says Sturmel.

"Taking advantage of the reliability of the Prodigy series allows engineers to focus on producing excellent content without worrying about the performance of their equipment. This reliability is essential for sports broadcasters, especially for large-scale, multi-venue sporting events. By producing hardware capable of interacting with all devices on the network, transporting and converting large amounts of audio data and simplifying the interface, DirectOut has ensured that sports broadcasters can continue to deliver innovative and exciting content to millions of sports fans around the world," he concludes.