Dolby Podcast Episode 36, March 13, 2008
All about getting surround sound in a cell phone or personal media player with Dolby Mobile. Jack and Craig explain Dolby Mobile, which gives phones and personal media players the ability now to take any stereo source – Dolby Surround encoded or not – and listen to it in surround sound plus Dolby’s dynamic volume leveling - through any connected set of headphones. Jack helps JR from the United Kingdom get surround sound using his wireless Squeezebox device.
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Mentioned in this Episode
[intro music]
Jack Buser: Hello! And welcome to Dolbycast, the insider's guide to entertainment technology from the experts at Dolby Laboratories. I'm Jack Buser.
Craig Eggers: And I'm Craig Eggers.
Jack: And we're here to give you the straight talk on everything you need to please your ears.
[musical interlude]
Craig: Hey, Jack.
Jack: What's going on, Craig? Good morning.
Craig: Good morning it is. I've got to tell you, listeners, this is going to be the most invigorating podcast you've probably ever heard.
Jack: Absolutely. Craig and I are sitting here in the studio at eight in the morning.
Craig: Eight in the morning. But, Jack, I want to thank you for that 5:30 in the morning wakeup call.
Jack: Oh, man. To quote my three year old, "It's not wakeup time yet."
[laughter]
Craig: So, Jack, how's your home theater doing? Is it fully calibrated yet?
Jack: Yeah. After talking to Terry, I know that I need to get it done. I've got to call those ISF guys, and I haven't had a chance to do it since we chatted. But certainly, I've gone home and shed a tear that my projector wasn't calibrated.
Craig: Well, you're still welcome to come over to my house and see what it should look like.
Jack: That's right. You actually had yours calibrated...
Craig: That's right. That's right.
Jack: Oh, man.
Craig: So, listeners, hey, if you have had an ISF calibration, or if we have moved you to do an ISF calibration or have an ISF calibration done in your home, write us at...
Jack: Dolbycast...
Craig: At...
Jack: Dolby.com.
Craig: There you go.
Jack: [laughs]
Craig: Send us your comments. We'd love to hear your thoughts and your experiences with having your system calibrated.
Jack: Absolutely. I know I need to do it. I absolutely know I need to do it.
Craig: You do.
Jack: Well, today's episode is on something a little bit different. We're going to be covering Dolby Mobile, which I know you have been working on quite a bit, right, Craig?
Craig: We just launched Dolby Mobile for portable players, and we'll talk about that.
Jack: Very cool. And I know you had a big trade show that you just got done with, so I want to hear all about that.
Craig: Yes.
Jack: But before we go there, we've got a listener question, and actually a couple bits of pretty exciting news we're going to cover.
Craig: Yes.
Jack: First, the question, though.
Craig: So, Jack, this question's probably best for you. It's from a gentleman by the name of JR, from the UK . Hey, we've got UK listeners.
Jack: Alright.
Craig: All right. He says, "My music at home is streamed from SlimServer software Squeezebox adapters around the house."
Jack: SlimServer software to Squeezebox adapters.
Craig: Yes. Yes.
Jack: OK, got it. Got it, got it, got it.
Craig: "I have one of these that I listen to at night through headphones, to keep my wife happy and me alive." No comments.
[laughter]
Jack: What are you listening to? [laughs]
Craig: Oh, man. Really.
[laughter]
Craig: So, Junior Walker's question is, "Is there a plug-in, or extra software, that I can install on my SlimServer PC so that the music that gets streamed to my Squeezebox can deliver a surround sound experience through the headphones?" We know what the answer to this is.
Jack: OK. This one's hard, because I have the same setup at home for my kitchen. And for those of you that haven't checked out the delight and the wonder that is the Squeezebox, I highly recommend checking it out. Essentially, what it is, it's a standalone unit that you can hook up to any stereo in the house and stream music over your home network from your PC to this box.
It'll look at the music on your PC. It'll connect to Internet radio, so if you have a Pandora account, or you have an MP3 Locker where you have a bunch of MP3s stored online, or you just want to tune in to regular, old Internet radio, like my favorite station, Deepmix.ru. Everyone, tune in to that. [laughs]
Craig: Do they have that band that you were talking about on Super Bowl? Do they play that one?
Jack: Oh, Daft Punk?
Craig: Yeah. They play that?
Jack: Yeah, they play Daft Punk on Deep Mix.
Craig: OK.
Jack: Deepmix.ru. For those of you that like good techno, you cannot beat that Internet radio station. Straight out of Moscow .
Craig: [laughs]
Jack: Anyway, the point is this: that you can stream either directly to this box from the Internet, or from your PC. And it sounds like JR is actually streaming music from his PC. And the question is, "Can I get that great surround sound Dolby Headphone experience?" And it's going to take a little bit if jerry-rigging to make this happen.
Craig: Because?
Jack: Because, essentially what's going to happen is the SlimServer is a piece of software that runs on your PC that essentially, as I understand it, just opens up a port so that you can stream music over your home network to the Squeezebox. And it'll basically point the Squeezebox to the correct directory to where your music sits. I actually use a Mac and use something a little bit different, but same, basic principle.
And your music on your hard drive is going to go over that network in such a way that if you do want to do Dolby Headphone encoding, you're going to have to do it after the Squeezebox. So I would recommend that little JVC adapter, the SU-DH1...
Craig: Right.
Jack: That does Dolby Headphone. It'll actually have Pro Logic II, which will expand your stereo MP3s into 5.1. And then it'll run that 5.1 into Dolby Headphone so that you can render that 5.1 over headphones, and it should sound pretty nice. So, JR, if you do get the JVC SH-DH1, they should be around 100 bucks [$100 –Ed.].
Craig: 100 bucks. And with the decline of the dollar, it's probably a real bargain, right?
Jack: I was going to say. I was going to make some joke about...
[laughter]
Craig: It's like $40.
[laughter]
Jack: So, anyway, it's about $100 here. So, if you can find one of those, those are very, very cool. There's also Pioneer, makes the SE-DIR800C, which is a Dolby Headphone unit that should also work with the Squeezebox. So you have a couple different options for Dolby Headphone, especially over there in Europe . Just do a Google for "Dolby Headphone." You should get a few products that will pop up that will allow you to do what you want to do.
Craig: Jack, why is SlimServer in your kitchen?
Jack: SlimServer's in my kitchen because I need to listen to Internet radio in the morning.
Craig: Oh.
Jack: It's actually sitting next to another very cool Internet device that I got, called a Chumby.
Craig: Yes.
Jack: And if you don't know what a Chumby is, you need to look it up.
Craig: Oh, you're not going to tell us?
Jack: I'll tell you. OK. It's a beanbag with a touch screen LCD monitor, 2 speakers. You can connect your iPod to it. And it basically is open source. It'll do any number of things. It's truly the strangest thing that I own. [laughs] But, man, is it cool. Whoever heard of a beanbag with a touch screen on it?
Craig: OK.
Jack: Just check it out. Just look it up: Chumby.
Craig: And you heard it first on Dolbycast.
Jack: [laughs]
Craig: So take us to the break, Jack.
Jack: Absolutely. We're going to go to the break. When we come back, we're going to do Dolby Mobile: how to get that great Dolby experience on the go.
Craig: But before that, we have some news.
Jack: Some news...
[musical interlude]
Craig: And we are back at Dolbycast. Hi, Jack.
Jack: How you doing, Craig?
Craig: So, for our listeners, we have some good news, I guess, and some bad news, actually. [laughter].
Jack: Interesting times!
Craig: Interesting times!
At Winter CE Show, Warner Brothers announced that they would suspend their support for HD-DVD later in this year. Basically, what has happened in the industry now is Toshiba has decided to pull its support for HD-DVD so, for our listeners now there is one format in the marketplace, Blu-ray.
Jack: That's right.
Craig: That's a good thing, because with one format in the marketplace, you end that confusion.
Jack: That's true.
Craig: You get a lot of support from hardware manufacturers as well as software manufacturers.
Jack: Everyone can rally around one format now, is the good news here. You know, I personally, use both formats.
Craig: So do I.
Jack:...and I will probably continue to use both formats until every last one of my HD-DVD discs is on Blu-ray, but I think it's pretty clear now that if you're a consumer, and you're looking to invest in high-definition optical discs, now is definitely a great time, because there's a clear winner in the format war, and it is Blu-ray, and it looks as if buying a Blu-ray player right now is really safe, because it's going to be around.
Craig: It's a good investment and a lot of our listeners already have HD displays. I just want to underscore something I've said repeatedly, which is: if you want to get the very most from your 1080p HD display, it is through these formats.
Jack: Right. Well, through these format, we should say. [laughter]
Craig: Through this format. There you go. [laughter]
Jack: Now, buying a Blu-ray player if you do have an HD TV really does push that TV to the limit. There are very few pieces of content that will push your display or your audio system for that matter, the way that Blu-ray will. So definitely, if you haven't bought one of these players yet, now is the time. Go out there and get yourself a Blu-ray player. You've got a wide variety of choices, not the least of which is one that I use, the PlayStation 3. But there's a variety of manufacturers that make stand-alone players: Panasonic, Pioneer, Sony, Sharp, you name it. There are a lot of players out there. The cost is coming down, so it's a great time!
Craig: And when you speak about cost, I know that Toshiba's got a bunch of HD-DVD players that they're trying to sell.
Jack: [laughter] That's true, actually! They make great scaling computer boards.
Craig: And you know what? They make a great DVD player!
Jack: They do!
Craig: So, if you're thinking about just adding another DVD player to your system, there are some great prices being quoted out there on HD-DVD. And, to your point, they upscale and create an incredible picture with standard-def content.
Jack: And The Big Lebowski is on HD-DVD, so, if you want to want to watch The Big Lebowski in high-def, that's the only way to do it.
Craig: Right now. [laughter]
Jack: Right now, anyway. For me, anyway, I love that movie enough that I might actually make one of those.
Craig: So, the good news for our industry and for our listeners is: there is now one format that they can move forward with, and this'll be good. This'll be a great thing.
Jack: Do it! Do it! So, moving on, we've got to cover Dolby Mobile. We've been talking about home theater and we've been talking about big 1080p displays and Blu-ray players and all this, but there's a whole other trend going on in the industry right now, which is that people want their entertainment on the go.
Craig: And a little bit of history: You think back just a couple of years, the iPod experience, the MP3 experience. Now, that was all about people taking their songs, putting them on a portable device, and putting as many as 1000s of songs on that device. For years, that was essentially the marketplace in the business; the idea of exporting your favorite content, purchasing your favorite content, and making it portable. But those devices have really matured in recent years. Longer battery power, video playback, increased storage capability, bigger screens, color displays, and that. And all that really leads us to the personal or portable media player revolution.
Jack: A lot of them overseas actually supportmobile TV as well. You can actually pick up broadcasts on them.
Craig: Yes! Yes!
Jack: I've yet to see that really take off here in the US, but certainly overseas, you see that a lot!
Craig: So what began as just a basic portable media player with a display, has now migrated and matured into a device with a 3- inch or 4-inch color screen, lots of memory, lots of processing power. People are now downloading their favorite videos from YouTube. They're downloading television programming. They're even downloading movies onto these devices and watching them on the plane, on the train, or anyplace on the go.
Jack: In a box with a fox. [laughter] Sorry.
Craig: So, it was a great time for Dolby to look at the marketplace and say, how can we begin to replicate? How can we begin to bring that experience that people have come to expect in their home to the portable?
Jack: Well, I've got to tell you. As a user of one of these devices, and I am, I'm a regular user; I'm consistently watching TV and movies on my portable device. I've got to tell you, my one big complaint is not necessarily the small screen, because OK, fine, the device is small. I get that.
Craig: The picture quality's getting much better.
Jack: The picture quality's pretty good. I'll tell you what my complaint is. It's generally been the sound, because you're wearing these little bud headphones, and a TV or movie is mixed to be played back at least in a home theater environment, if not in a cinema. It just doesn't come over those bud headphones the way it's meant to.
Craig: But we have a solution for that now, don't we?
Jack: Yes! And that's what I actually wanted to lead into, because I've got to say, what you're about to talk about, Dolby Mobile, is more than just a feature, if you will. It's like oh well, it sounds better!
Craig: It's an experience!
Jack: Well, it's an experience, but actually it's solving a real problem here, in my mind. These movies, these TV shows are not necessarily meant to be played back over those little bud headphones. So tell me, tell me.
Craig: Well, the marketing person in me would say that Dolby Mobiles is a suite of technologies that are designed to: A. give us better bass reproduction.
Jack: So better bass, which you need, right? [laughs]
Craig: Expand mono content into stereo content for listening on stereo headphones.
Jack: So that's for downloading a movie off of YouTube, or something that's been done in mono. So I actually can create – I have to hit the mic every episode – it will actually spread the mono out into a sort of virtual stereo. OK, I get that. What else?
Craig: OK. There's a dynamic leveling technology, so that it gives you consistent volume experiences from your different sources in your content.
Jack: So, if I have lots of music from lots of different CDs, or lots of TV shows from different sources, and lots of...
Craig: Files.
Jack:...files, OK. It'll essentially play those back, all at a consistent volume.
Craig: Yes.
Jack: Definitely. Well, that's not totally unlike Dolby Volume.
Craig: That's not totally unlike Dolby Volume, but it's not as sophisticated.
Jack: OK, I get that.
Craig: Then there's the coup de grace, which is the ability now to take any stereo source and listen to it in surround sound through any connected set of headphones.
Jack: Now, that's what I'm talking about.
Craig: That's very cool.
Jack: That's what I'm talking about because most of those downloadable movies, wherever you happen to be getting them from, are actually encoded using Dolby Surround. We've actually talked about this on previous podcasts.
Craig: Yes.
Jack: But, essentially, most of the files that you are going to be downloading today, whether they are movies or TV shows, actually have stereo soundtracks. Right? But, the cool thing about those stereo soundtracks is that they are encoded using Dolby Surround meaning there is hooks, special little hooks in there, so that a Dolby Mobile device will know what to do to turn that stereo soundtrack back into something resembling the original 5.1 source.
Craig: Exactly. Then the other aspect of Dolby Mobile is if you have just stereo programming that might not be Dolby Surround encoded...
Jack: Right.
Craig:... there are audio cues in there...
Jack: Right.
Craig:....that enable that processor to unwrap surround information that's contained in the basic stereo signal. So, your stereo music, your stereo programming, anything virtually you can now listen to it in surround sound.
Jack: Absolutely. For me this is huge, because finally you are going to go from a mobile experience, where you are just listening on 2 little bud headphones, to something in stereo, to something that is going to kind of resemble what it is you are getting in your big home theater system. I say “kind of resemble”, but really the impact of these technologies when you are actually listening on a portable device, shouldn't be understated because it's really, really amazing to me.
It finally allows me to kind of—oh what's the word I'm looking for—sort of let go and forget that I am looking at a little 2-inch or 4-inch screen.
Craig: Right.
Jack: You kind of lose yourself in the experience, because audio is so powerful.
Craig: That's the goal, right?
Jack: Absolutely it is the goal. I've found myself when I was playing around with Dolby Mobile for the first time on a portable device, actually forgetting that I was watching something on a portable.
Craig: We actually introduced Dolby Mobile at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and some of the reviews that we've seen from people who, to your point, put the headset on, listen to it, experience it, it's like...
Jack: And go “whoa”. [laughs]
Craig: It's the major wow factor, you know.
Jack: Absolutely. Well listen, we've got to go to a break and when we get back we are going to talk about some devices that are going to be supporting Dolby Mobile, or already support Dolby Mobile, and what went on at Mobile World Congress.
[musical interlude]
Announcer: If you have questions for the experts at Dolby Laboratories, email us at dolbycast@dolby.com. That is d-o-l-b-y-c-a-s-t@dolby.com.
Craig: We are back at Dolbycast talking about Dolby Mobile.
Jack: Yes.
Craig: And Mobile World Congress in Barcelona .
Jack: Pretty cool. Now, did you go to Barcelona ? I did not go to Barcelona .
Craig: I wanted so bad to go to Barcelona .
Jack: Man. I'll tell you what. We need to ask the industry to start having more tradeshows in Barcelona . Don't get me wrong. I love Las Vegas . For those of you that aren't in the industry, most of our tradeshows happen to be in Las Vegas .
Craig: Yeah.
Jack: I'll be heading back there for NAB, the National Association of Broadcasters. But let me tell you, Barcelona, I'll go to a tradeshow there anytime. Not a problem.
Craig: OK. So tell us about Sharp, tell us about DoCoMo, and tell us about Barcelona, Jack.
Jack: Well what was cool about this, the announcement of Dolby Mobile, is that we actually had a couple of products on display that are actually featuring Dolby Mobile technology.
Craig: We actually introduced Dolby Mobile in November at the CEATEC show in Japan .
Jack: Oh, that's true. That is very true.
Craig: So, the announcement that we made in Barcelona was really the application of Dolby Mobile for portable movie players.
Jack: Got it. Got it, got it, got it. Well the devices we had at the Mobile World Congress— which were very, very cool — they were basically devices that were brought to market by NTT DoCoMo and the manufacturer was Sharp. Essentially these are the Foma, F-o-m-a-, SH905I and SH905ITV and these phones are the coolest things.
Craig: Because?
Jack: Because these phones have these screens that look like a normal phone but then you can actually take the screen, twist it around, and then fold it back on itself so that it looks like nothing else but a screen. You are just sitting there like just holding the screen. Then you can unfold it and twist it again and it looks like a normal cell phone.
Craig: That's cool.
Jack: It's the coolest thing. Bundle that with Dolby Mobile technology, so you can get a rich, vibrant surround sound experience and we are talking about a real, real entertainment experience on the go. I mean this thing is just too cool.
Craig: It's interesting how these technologies are really merging. A cell phone now is no longer just calling somebody. You are texting, you are watching videos, you are listening to your music.
Jack: Yeah. It's a full entertainment device.
Craig: Personal media players give you a bigger screen to work with.
Jack: That's so cool. Now, I should mention that this phone is available from NTT DoCoMo and Sharpe, meaning that if you are listening to us from Kansas, please do not call...
[laughter]
Jack: This is a Japan-only phone. You should expect to see Dolby Mobile devices released worldwide. But, our initial announcement was with NTT DoCoMo and Sharpe and this is a Japan phone. So if you are listening to us from Osaka, please run right out and get this phone because it is just the coolest thing.
Craig: Yeah.
Jack: It's just the coolest thing.
Craig: The whole process is we announce a technology, we demonstrate the technology, then we work with the people who make the silicon that goes into these devices and we are getting a lot of support there. So, I expect we'll see Dolby Mobile integrated into personal media players in the future.
Jack: And this is what I've been waiting for, Craig. Finally.
Craig: And me too. Me too.
Jack: You can watch a TV show, watch movies on the go, get a home theater-like experience, you can lose yourself in the movie or TV show on the go or music for that matter, and finally forget that you are watching on a portable device or listening on a portable device and just enjoy it. That is what I've been waiting for. I cannot wait for Dolby Mobile to be integrated into devices here in the States, so I can pick up one immediately. I'm counting the moments.
Craig: So listeners in the future, Dolby Mobile technologies on your cell phone, on your personal media player. Go out, purchase a Blu-ray player - get the most for your HDTV...
Jack: Now's the time.
Craig:...best audio, best video experiences possible.
Jack: Absolutely. Don't forget to pick up a Squeezebox those things are super cool.
Craig: And...
Jack: And...
Craig: If you have a kitchen...
Jack: Lest we forget the Chumby.
Craig:...don't forget the Chumby.
Jack: Chumby.com, people. If you don't know what it is, it's a beanbag with a touch screen [laughs] LCD display. Say no more.
Craig: You said that earlier.
Jack: I know it's just the coolest thing. Well listen, without any further ado, I'm Jack Buser.
Craig: I'm Craig Eggers.
Jack: And together, we form Dolbycast.
[music]
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