Today at the 2011 International CES, Dolby Laboratories unveiled an
entirely new suite of audio technologies as part of the fourth
generation of the Dolby PC Entertainment Experience program.
Acer will release the first products utilizing these new technologies
in its high-end Aspire Ethos consumer multimedia notebooks, which
Dolby will demonstrate at CES in the Central Hall, booth 7853. The
Aspire Z Series all-in-one PCs from Acer will also feature new Dolby
PC Entertainment Experience technologies.
The latest generation of Dolby PC audio technologies creates a
solution to the growing number of challenges associated with
providing a high-quality PC audio entertainment experience. These
issues include those caused by stereo content that lacks cinematic
surround sound, poorly mixed content with unintelligible dialogue,
and inconsistent volume levels across entertainment sources. In
addition, laptop speakers are typically small, not loud enough, and
cause distortion when volume is maximized.
The Dolby PC Entertainment Experience program offers two technology
suites, Dolby Home Theater v4, which delivers surround sound and high
fidelity audio for all forms of entertainment content, and Dolby
Advanced Audio v2, which delivers a consistent listening experience
and virtual surround sound via built-in PC speakers as well as
high-fidelity audio for all forms of entertainment content.
The following features are included in Dolby Home Theater v4:
* Surround Decoder: converts stereo content into 5.1- or
7.1-channel surround sound and converts 5.1 surround sound into 7.1
surround sound
* Surround Virtualizer: creates a virtualized surround sound
experience over the PC?s built-in speakers or over headphones
* Dialogue Enhancer: improves intelligibility of dialogue across
all types of content
* Volume Leveler: maintains a consistent volume across all
content and applications according to where the user sets the volume
level
* Volume Maximizer: boosts the level of the audio signal so users
can turn up the volume without causing noise or clipping
* Intelligent Equalizer: monitors and adjusts audio to match the
user?s chosen preset
* Graphic Equalizer: lets consumers tailor audio to their exact
specifications using high-quality digital filtering
* Dolby Digital Output: provides real-time encoding of PC content
into the Dolby Digital format over S/PDIF or HDMI outputs; users can
then enjoy audio content from their PCs in surround sound on their
home theater systems
* Audio Optimizer: improves the frequency response of the PC?s
built-in speakers so content sounds true to the creator?s
intent
* Audio Regulator: eliminates or reduces distortion caused by the
combination of overdriven speakers and amplifiers
Dolby Advanced Audio v2 offers Surround Virtualizer (for built-in
speakers), Volume Leveler, Volume Maximizer, Graphic Equalizer, Audio
Optimizer, and Audio Regulator.
Dolby also created a new consumer interface app that provides people
easy access to enable, disable, and customize the new audio
technologies on their laptops.