
NAB 2025 in Review: SVG Audio Roundtable Reflects On a Changing Industry Global sports, speech intelligibility, digital microphones are on the table By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Monday, April 14, 2025 - 10:49 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Now a staple at major industry events, the SVG Audio Roundtable (formerly the DTV Audio Group) has evolved much like the industry it supports, becoming leaner, palpably younger, and more diverse.
SVG Audio Roundtable Chair Roger Charlesworth emphasized the changing nature of sports media, especially the shift to streaming.
Gathering at NAB 2025, a group of 25 or so attendees and presenters, led by Chair Roger Charlesworth, was about half the size of some previous events and, at two hours, about half as long. But the content was just as good, with concise and informative presentations.
The Roundtable event - sponsored by Audio-Technica, Calrec, Dale Pro Audio, Dolby, the DTV Audio Group (sponsored by SVG), Lawo, Shure, and Telos Alliance - takes place off the record, with presentations and comments mostly not attributable. But trends do emerge.
It's a Global World Out There No, Yogi Berra did not say that. But one commenter who had made the transition from a conventional sports network to a streamer, did note that sports is now a global proposition, with some events reaching far beyond what has been typical, and cited the reported 65 million viewers for the Nov. 15, 2024, Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight on Netflix.
Underscoring the increasing globalization of sports media, it was noted that WBD Sports, whose Max streaming service provided Olympics coverage to Europe, delivered 90 events in 38 languages last year. Across both Max and Discovery+, Paris 2024 drove almost 1 billion streaming minutes, more than seven times that logged at the same point of Tokyo 2020 and already representing 75% of the total minutes from those Games, the broadcaster had reported earlier. That underscores, according to the commenter, the need to address audio services for sports in a broader manner.
To accomplish that, artificial intelligence (AI) and other new technologies will have to be part of the equation. AI could, it was established, derive as many as 50 translations from a single-language commentary - in real time. At the same time, machine-learning techniques can create auto-mix capabilities for audio, necessary to support an exponential number of new descriptive-audio streams.
The entire experience, however, will have to start with the best audio quality possible, said one participant. That includes being vendor- and codec-agnostic.
In fact, the person continued, achieving that will require the sports-media industry to rely even more on its vendors and equipment/technology developers and suppliers as technologies and formats proliferate.
A lot of what needs to be done along these lines is already a reality. The complicating factor for sports at this scale, however, is that it all needs to be done live, with as little latency as possible. As a result, another commenter noted, viewers may be more willing to forgive some types of audio glitches with live event production, not letting the pursuit of perfection limit the immediacy of live.
Feeds and Stems Among the new and improved technologies for processing audio discussed was the increasingly refined capability to separate sound sources into discrete stems. The need for this is two-fold: to enhance speech intelligibility (more people, including younger ones, are enabling closed captioning as television sound becomes more dense) and, as rightsholders become more aggressive in protecting copyrights, to strip out unauthorized and unlicensed background music.
AudioShake, whose algorithms are being used to do this in postproduction, expects to be able to accomplish those stem separations in real time later this year. Salsa Sound's representative noted that their company is working to do the same for noise reduction as well to be able to eliminate distractions, such as rain noise, during sports broadcasts in real time.
Digital microphones - the Great White Whale of pro audio - are a perennial topic at these conclaves. Efforts in that direction by Audio-Technica, Shure, and Voyage Audio (whose Spatial Mic 2nd Order Ambisonics VR microphone is currently capable of single-wire digital connectivity) were cited as making progress.
The conversation did come back to the viewers and, more specifically, to their devices - all 2 billion of them, by one estimation, none of which can accommodate and decode every possible audio format. Dolby's MS12 Multistream Decoder - which can decode virtually all worldwide and certain local broadcast standards, including Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Digital, Extended HE-AAC with MPEG-D DRC, all AAC bitstreams (including USAC), and Dolby AC-4 - was cited as a good start for what will be a Sisyphean undertaking.
More from Sports Video Group
23/05/2025
Live From the Indy 500: For IMS Productions and HD-5 Truck Revamped With IP and ...
23/05/2025
Live From the Indy 500: FOX Sports' Mike Davies on a Historic Production Eff...
23/05/2025
Live From the Indy 500: FOX Sports Revs Up the Audio for Its First Time Covering...
23/05/2025
SVG College Summit 2025: Technology Exhibits Preview, Part 2 By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Friday, May 23, 2025 - 9:01 am
Print This Story | Subsc...
23/05/2025
Live From the Indy 500: FOX's Zac Fields Says AR Is Set To Help Celebrate th...
23/05/2025
Live From the Indy 500: FOX's Motor Sports Engineering Team Is Ready To Shin...
23/05/2025
UEFA Women's Champions League Final 2025: DAZN on plans and challenges for t...
23/05/2025
Live from the Indy 500: IMS Productions Revamped HD5 Unit, with IP and HDR, All ...
23/05/2025
Live from the Indy 500: Mike Davies of Fox Sports on a Historic Production Effor...
23/05/2025
Prime Video Hits the Gas on First Season of NASCAR Cup Series Action On the agenda: pre/post-race shows, 70+ cameras, double-box ads, Key Moments, Rapid Recaps ...
22/05/2025
Live From the Indy 500: NEP Specialty Camera's Sean Seavers on a Historic RF...
22/05/2025
PWHL Wraps Up Sophomore Season With Focus on Storytelling, Graphics Presentation...
22/05/2025
MSG Network's XR Studios Heat Up Manhattan as Knicks Heat Up the NBA Playoff...
22/05/2025
The triangle: Bringing the International Northwest 200 motorcycle race to BBC Sp...
22/05/2025
SVG College Summit 2025: Technology Exhibits Preview, Part 1 By SVG Staff
Thursday, May 22, 2025 - 12:15 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlight...
22/05/2025
2025 Sports Emmys: NBC Sports' Chad Hudson & Wade Echer on the 2024 Paris Ol...
22/05/2025
2025 Sports Emmys: FOX Sports' Bardia Shah-Rais on FOX MLB: The Postseason By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, May 22, 2025 - 1:08 pm
...
22/05/2025
2025 Sports Emmys: NBC Sports' John Jelley on the 2024 Paris Olympic Games By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, May 22, 2025 - 1:14 pm
...
22/05/2025
2025 Sports Emmys: UFC's Craig Borsari on For Mexico, For All Time with Noch...
22/05/2025
SVG College Sports Media Awards 2025: Outstanding Social Media Video, Outstandin...
21/05/2025
PGA TOUR's Live Drone AR Snags the George Wensel Technical Achievement Award...
21/05/2025
2025 Sports Emmys: ABC/ESPN's Phil Dean on SEC on ABC By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Wednesday, May 21, 2025 - 2:33 pm
Print This Story | ...
21/05/2025
2025 Sports Emmys: NBC Sports' Molly Solomon on the 2024 Paris Olympic Games By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Wednesday, May 21, 2025 - 2:40 pm...
21/05/2025
2025 Sports Emmys: FOX Sports' Matt Gangl on Rickwood Field: A Tribute to th...
21/05/2025
Paris 2024 Olympics Top 46th Sports Emmy Awards With 10 Wins; NBC and ESPN Lead ...
20/05/2025
NBA Western Conference Finals: ESPN's InsightCast' Features Avatar Shot...
20/05/2025
Broad strategy: DAZN on creating the perfect ecosystem between broadcasters, spo...
20/05/2025
Storytelling, monetisation and engagement: Making the pitch for AI in sports bro...
20/05/2025
FanDuel Sports Network Rolls Out WireCam in Cincinnati; Milwaukee Is Next, With ...
20/05/2025
UEFA Europa League Final 2025: Broadcast facts and camera plan for Tottenham Hot...
20/05/2025
NBA Eastern Conference Finals: TNT Sports Bids Farewell With Upgraded Tech, Onsi...
20/05/2025
NBA Western Conference Finals: ESPN's InsightCast' Features Avatar Shot...
19/05/2025
F1's Dean Locke on getting closer to the action with drones, new camera angl...
19/05/2025
F1 continues IP advances and centralises AR tracking and RF control By George Bevir
Friday, May 16, 2025 - 10:29
Print This Story
Away from the MTC and in...
19/05/2025
F1's new Ghost Car comparison feature aids broadcaster race analysis By George Bevir
Friday, May 16, 2025 - 10:18
Print This Story
Max Verstappen and ...
19/05/2025
F1 TV Premium offers UHD HDR and multiview in new era of personalised race viewi...
16/05/2025
The FA Cup Final: Telling the Story With Graphics Technology Manchester City meets Crystal Palace on Saturday in this years FA Cup Final By SVG Staff
Friday,...
16/05/2025
PBR's Wild 11-Day Stretch Culminates in World Finals at AT&T Stadium The operation will have produced 250 streams and broadcasts across 10 platforms By Mar...
16/05/2025
SVG Cloud Production Forum Draws 200 to NYC to Tackle One of the Industry's ...
16/05/2025
Eurovision Song Contest: Behind the scenes with Eurovision Services By Jo Ruddock
Thursday, May 15, 2025 - 09:41
Print This Story
Credit: SRG SSR
The 69t...
16/05/2025
NEP mobilises European network for Eurovision Song Contest 2025 By George Bevir
Thursday, May 15, 2025 - 10:29
Print This Story
NEP camera operator Tomas ...
16/05/2025
WNBA Tip-Off 2025: ESPN Elevates Coverage Through Expanded Remote-Production Wor...
16/05/2025
WNBA Tip-Off 2025: Scripps Sports' Friday Night Spotlight' Features Mor...
16/05/2025
FloSports Debuts The Athlete's Lounge' Alternate Broadcast for Wanda Di...
15/05/2025
PGA Championship: CBS Sports Rolls Out 5G-Powered AR, FlyCams, RailCam, 4K Bunke...
15/05/2025
PGA Championship: ESPN To Produce 225+ Hours of Live Play on Multiple Platforms Expanded ESPN BET' telecast, live SportsCenter' segments add to a full...
15/05/2025
This City Is Ours: The Continuing Evolution of Manchester City's City Studio...
14/05/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Live Media Group's Ryan Jones on Exponential Growth, New Produ...
14/05/2025
PGA Championship: T-Mobile's 5G Advanced Network Powers Wireless Cameras on ...
14/05/2025
NBC Sports Shows Off Features For NBA Streaming Experience on Peacock The NBA returns to NBC Sports this fall By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Wednesday...