Immersiveness is turning out to be the catch phrase of the century's second decade. The term reflects new audio formats that provide additional channels both on the sides of and above listeners, offering a richer sense of audio cues and, with object-based audio, the potential for increased personalization of sound.
In sports, the evidence of immersiveness is everywhere, from VR goggles for looking at content available only through a venue's WiFi to massive 360-degree halo video displays, such as the one currently being fabricated for the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, home of the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United FC.
Jeffrey Riedmiller, VP, Sound Group, Dolby Labs
Immersiveness will be broadcast audio's latest inflection point, after stereo in the 1990s and 5.1 surround a decade ago. Earlier this year, the ATSC's 3.0 standards project announced both Dolby AC-4 and MPEG-H as candidate standards for ATSC 3.0; more recently, the North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) board approved the Dolby AC-4 system as its recommendation for the next-generation audio standard for NABA's membership (in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico), the sonic counterpart to the 4K/UHD that will be its video format.
AC-4 can support up to 11 channels of audio, including two to four on a new axis: height. It also supports object-based audio, which represents sound as a set of individual assets along with metadata describing their relationships and associations. This radical new approach to sound not only means that audio elements can be placed in a 3D space but also offers the potential for allowing home viewers to rearrange the relationships of those elements, adding personalization to audio's new frontier.
Nuts and Bolts
But the details for making that work are still in progress. Take, for instance, monitoring the audio for an 11-channel production. It would be almost impossible to set up 11 discrete audio channels in the space usually reserved for audio on remote-production trucks, which have just about completed a years-long industry-wide upgrade to accommodate the six channels of 5.1 surround sound.
There's no space in the truck [for the monitoring array] that you would need beyond 5.1, observes Chris Fichera, VP, Group One, whose product offerings include Blue Sky speakers and Calrec and DiGiCo audio consoles. But we have seen it starting to show up in [broadcast] flypacks.
He adds that Blue Sky is working on developing modular 7.1.4 (the typical five-channel LCR and stereo rear arrays plus two stereo side and two overhead channels, plus an LFE channel) monitoring arrays that could be scaled up or down, depending on the size and needs of the mixing environment. The expectation is that this will eventually evolve into a scalable product line, based on Blue Sky's MediaDesk line, allowing someone with multichannel monitoring needs - videogaming as well as conventional sports - to buy a basic system and expand it as demand in broadcast and other vertical markets increases.
The real challenge will not necessarily be in the number of speakers in a system, says Fichera, but in managing them. Blue Sky's AMC speaker-control system will be able to be scaled to adapt to larger speaker arrays. Speaker management has been an area of development in recent years for a number of manufacturers, including JBL and Genelec, two other brands often found in remote and plant broadcast facilities. With the number of speakers needed for immersive broadcast audio, he says, you'll need systems that can handle room optimization and other processes automatically.
Capture
Microphones have been following a similar track on the sound-capture side of the equation. Longtime entrants in the multichannel transducer sweepstakes, like Holophone and Soundfield, are being augmented by new products, such as Sennheiser's Ambeo VR microphone and Schoeps's ORTF-3D plug-and-play array.
Sennheiser's Ambeo VR microphone is designed to stand up to outdoor applications and has a widely used interface.
Brian Glasscock, user experience researcher at Sennheiser's Strategic Innovation division, describes the Ambeo multichannel capture system, which will be available for sale in the U.S. this month, as having been designed with input from members of Sennheiser's Creators Program, which includes several national television networks that broadcast sports programming. He says he can not reveal which ones they are, citing NDAs, but notes that they contributed to Ambeo's design by emphasizing the need for a robust microphone that can stand up to outdoor applications and has a widely used interface to accommodate broadcast workflows. In this case, that meant fitting the Ambeo's four mic elements with XLR-type outputs jacks.
Users looking for immersive sound, for VR and next-generation broadcast applications, wanted both of those criteria met, he explains. A number of spherical-capture microphones are delicate or even flimsy. That won't work for broadcast and especially not for sports.
Glasscock stresses that immersive audio capture will have to work in concert with conventional audio techniques and tools. The shotgun microphone isn't going to go away, because the need to capture specific sounds isn't going to go away, he says, adding, VR and other immersive applications will mark a major shift in broadcast sports. We're in the equivalent of early days of film with this. We're trying to figure out the techniques and tools we're going to need for storytelling in the immersive age.
Partnering
Although Dolby has developed the Atmos and AC-4 format, it will rely on a number of development partners for AC-4 implementation. Harmonic's Harmonic Electra X2 AC-4 encoder, for example, was used as part of the first live ATSC 3.0 broadcast of a major profession
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
29/05/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
29/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press re...
29/05/2026
The days are getting longer, the temperatures are rising, and playlists are filling up for the season. With summer around the corner, Spotify's global edito...
29/05/2026
New retro-inspired MPC announced
There are few devices that have gained the status held by Akai Pro's MPC range, and in recent years, the company have s...
29/05/2026
Save up to 30 on acclaimed titles
Following a successful launch at Superbooth 2026, Bjooks have revealed that they will be continuing the Kickstarter campa...
29/05/2026
Binaural monitoring application improved
Genelec have just released an update that brings some powerful new features to their HRTF-based binaural headphone ...
29/05/2026
6 June 2026 at SAE Institute, London, UK
IMSTA FESTA 2026 is almost upon us, with some of the biggest names in pro-audio set to descend upon SAE Institute i...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, died April 12, 2026, at his home in...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Comparing 5 AI Video Enhancers for Restoring Old Video Quality
Kate Luvis May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Digitizing VHS, MiniDV, and other legacy formats doe...
29/05/2026
Studio Hamburg Builds New Post Pipeline with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Workflow replaces a patchwork of legacy tools...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
At the Intersection of Music and Dance, an Epic Collaboration Boston Conservatory musicians and dancers found creative parallels in their recent performance o...
29/05/2026
Back to All News
Latino Film Institute Fellows Screen Their Short Films at the Egyptian Theatre
The Inclusion Fellowship and Spark Animation Grant uplifts 15 ...
29/05/2026
GLOOKAST LAUNCHES CINNAFILM TACHYON PLUGIN FOR MEDIA PRODUCER AND MEDIA SERVICES
This release first appeared here.
Visit our Tachyon product page or contact...
29/05/2026
May 29 2026, 09:00 (PDT) Dolby and rednote Bring More Immersive Storytelling to...
29/05/2026
Something fundamental has shifted in how people consume media. Audiences aren't abandoning television or radio content; they're just expanding how, wher...
29/05/2026
Youtube exclusive special drops today
Watch now
UKTV today announces another e...
29/05/2026
Back to All News
The Official Trailer of Physical 100 Italy, on Netflix From Se...
Immersiveness is turning out to be the catch phrase of the century's second decade. The term reflects new audio formats that provide additional channels both on the sides of and above listeners, offering a richer sense of audio cues and, with object-based audio, the potential for increased personalization of sound.
