Multi-channel Audio ACT

raymondjpg · Post by **raymondjpg** » Wed Apr 22, 2020 10:01

As I have been a regular complainer about the lack of multi-channel audio in the ACT I thought that I should note that I came across a multi-channel audio broadcast last night by chance on 9HD (Southern Cross Austereo). The program was "The Bad Seed" which by no stretch of the imagination would I regard as a high profile or special broadcast. I confirmed the broadcast audio format with a quick recording.

ID : 1762 (0x6E2)
Menu ID : 2247 (0x8C7)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Commercial name : Dolby Digital
Codec ID : 6
Duration : 16 s 192 ms
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 384 kb/s
Maximum bit rate : 444 kb/s
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel layout : L R C LFE Ls Rs
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Delay relative to video : -541 ms
Stream size : 759 KiB (6%)
Language : English
Service kind : Complete Main

I also found that 9HD was still broadcasting 6 channel audio this morning during Today Extra. I wish I could say it is a portent of better things to come, but from what I could see no other HD TV channel in the ACT was broadcasting multi channel audio, either last night or this morning.

I find it curious that it would be Southern Cross Austereo that has broken ranks like this. SC10 was the only network that refused to implement stereo audio in the analogue era, crying poverty. On the other hand I can't really see why what is broadcast in the ACT wouldn't just reflect what is being provided over the major metropolitan networks, if content is just being streamed to the ACT by cable.

prl · Post by **prl** » Wed Apr 22, 2020 12:03

Like you, I've never seen any evidence of multi-channel in the ACT before. Perhaps it was a slip-up at SCA?

raymondjpg · Post by **raymondjpg** » Wed Apr 22, 2020 12:17

prl wrote: ↑
Wed Apr 22, 2020 12:03
Like you, I've never seen any evidence of multi-channel in the ACT before. Perhaps it was a slip-up at SCA?

One would be tempted to think that!

6 channel audio was transmitted live in the ACT about ten years ago. As I recall it was early in the days of 9HD and Sea Patrol, although I might be wrong about the broadcast channel. Also about that time a series Young Lions was broadcast, also with 6 channel audio, but in that case from what I could tell it was from DVD recordings rather than live broadcast. It led me to think perhaps that the Sea Patrol broadcasts were also from a format ultimately destined for DVD release.

In any case multi channel audio disappeared from the ACT shortly after that, never to be seen again by me until now. If it is indeed a slip-up at SCA we might expect it to disappear again once the execs realise their mistake. I really hope not.