Las Vegas – Dolby technologies of various stripes will appear in multiple new
products here at International CES, where Motorola announced plans to
incorporate volume-leveling Dolby Volume technology in a line of cable-TV set-top
boxes.
In cable boxes, the
technology maintains a consistent perceived volume level when channels are
changed and a TV program transitions to a commercial. Dolby Volume also
dynamically and automatically compensates for the human ear’s lower sensitivity
to bass and treble sounds as volume levels decrease, ensuring that low- and
high-frequency sounds are audible when a program’s volume is automatically
lowered to a user’s preset listening level, Dolby said.
Dolby Volume already
appears in audio products from ARCAM, Harmon Kardon, Sherwood, Bryston,
Emotiva, Parasound, Onkyo and Integra. In these products, Dolby Volume also
controls volume levels when switching among connected sources, such as Blu-ray
players and cable boxes. The technology will also appear in new TVs to be
announced this week at CES by a supplier that adopted the technology last year.
In cable boxes, Dolby
Volume will appear in Motorola’s DCX
family of set-top boxes for the North American and Latin American markets. The
currently available DCX3400 HD-DVR
and DCX3200 HD can be updated with
Dolby Volume by cable operators. The DCX700
and DCX3300 HD set-tops will ship
with Dolby Volume included. Consumers would turn on Dolby Volume through the
settings menu of the DCX set-tops.
In other Dolby news, at
least one more A/V receiver (AVR)
maker will launch its first AVRs with Dolby Pro Logic IIz, which adds
front-height channels to 5.1- and 7.1-channel home theaters. AVRs from Denon,
Integra, Marantz and Onkyo already offer the technology.
In addition, at least two
laptop makers, one PC maker and some netbook makers will launch new products
incorporating the company’s Dolby Home Theater suite of technologies, Dolby
said. Their names will be released in coming days. The Dolby Home Theater suite
of technologies is already used by HP, Toshiba, Sony, Lenovo and Acer, Dolby
said. The Home Theater suite of technologies consists of Audio Optimization,
High-Frequency Enhancer, Natural Bass, Dolby Headphone, Sound Space Expander,
Dolby Pro Logic IIx, and Dolby Digital Live which converts soundtracks to Dolby
Digital in real time.
