Dolby Rolls Out Streaming and Encoding for Games

Dolby Laboratories has announced the launch of the Dolby Interactive Content Encoder, a technology that dynamically encodes multichannel audio into Dolby Digital 5.1. The first technology of its kind, the Dolby Interactive Content Encoder enables low-latency Dolby Digital encoding for games, set-top boxes, and home networking systems for playback through any home theater or speaker system equipped with Dolby Digital. The Dolby Interactive Content Encoder has a low latency of less than 50 milliseconds and offers encoding of one to 5.1 channels of audio into Dolby Digital for interactive game play. This allows gamers to use high-quality home theaters or personal surround systems for a cinematic experience. For home networking systems, the Dolby Interactive Content Encoder converts up to 5.1 channels of audio into a Dolby Digital stream, which enables streaming from one device to another over current and future bandwidth-constrained home networking systems such as wireless and digital powerline. It is ideal for home-networked devices such as media appliances and set-top boxes. The new technology allows different audio formats to be combined, encoded, and played back through home-theater and personal-surround speaker systems equipped with Dolby Digital. The Xbox video game system from Microsoft and the Nvidia Media Communications Processor (MCP) will be among the first products to feature the Dolby Interactive Content Encoder.