- SoundCode for Dolby Digital 2. Mastering-quality AAX plug-in workflow tools that enable you to preview, encode, and decode Dolby Digital (AC-3) audio directly within Pro Tools, without the need for dedicated Dolby hardware.
- The Dolby Atmos Production Suite offers sound editors, mixers, designers, and virtual reality (VR) content creators working in Avid Pro Tools a complete solution for creating immersive Dolby Atmos experiences for film and episodic TV pre-production, as well as VR and linear gaming production.
Dolby B recordings are acceptable when played back on equipment that does not possess a Dolby B decoder This is my recollection. IIRC Dolby B was deliberately designed so that if you have a Dolby B encoded cassette and no Dolby B deck to play it on, you can get 'acceptable' results by turning down the treble control on your stereo.
Why It Matters?
Many valuable audio contents are only available on specific media of their era, for example, cassette tapes in '70s ~ '90s. They deserve extended live in digital age and being easily appreciated via contemporary media. When being digitized, the cassette tapes with Dolby-B/C encoded contents may come with extra advantage, which is lower noise — in theory. But the reality often goes to the opposite due to the risk of Dolby-B/C tracking errors at decoding end, aka: mistracking. At least three factors may cause the unexpected mistracking: 1) regular service (calibration) of both recorder and player; 2) tape degradation over time; and 3) inconsistencies among Dolby-B/C implementations. People who are not fully aware of or not properly equipped to control the tracking errors may suffer inferior results, or even give up.
Fortunately, Dolby-B/C mistracking is easily audible to human ears — it doesn't require lab instruments to identify. It typically manifests as excessive muffled sound after being decoded. However, fixing the problem is another story, which is much harder than detecting it, because almost all Dolby-B/C systems in cassette players were not adjustable by users. In other words, they were not designed flexible enough for processing off-standard inputs. So, in order to properly restore the original audio, an user-adjustable Dolby-B/C decoder would be needed, but such an adjustable decoder was hardly available in the real world for decades.
Many people do believe that Dolby-B/C decoding can be done in digital domain. This is true but not because digital is any good at implementing Dolby-B/C system. Actually, Dolby-B/C system is a rather unique analog audio companding system that is very challenging to emulate in digital domain by a discrete algorithm. The long absence of such a algorithm already spoke for the challenge. But once it is done, the advantage is also significant because of the way a computer works. Mitigating Dolby-B/C tracking errors is not a one-shot deal. It is a trial-and-error decoding workflow which replies heavily on user's hearing feedback. A computer with modern DSP engine and graphic user interface (GUI) is an ideal platform that allows the job being done in an interactive, progressive and cost-efficient way.
Steinberg discontinues DTS and Dolby Digital Encoders
March 26, 2008
Steinberg today announced that it has decided to discontinue its DTS and Dolby Digital Encoder products. However, a final maintenance update has now been released and is available for download.
Dolby B Decoder Vst Plugin Freeware Plugin
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