1. Loudness 201
Review of Loudness 101 & Advanced Loudness Discussion
Andrew Sachs Jennifer Knutel
VP. Product Management Sr. Dir of Marketing

2. How to Participate Today
1.
1. Open and close your Panel
2. Submit text questions
2. • Q&A addressed at the end of today’s session
• Everyone will receive an email within 48 hours with
a link to view a recorded version of today’s session

3. Agenda
• Loudness 101 Review
– Why loudness?
– Specs/Regs including BS.1770-2,
– Gating – reflecting perception, avoid gaming
• Advanced Loudness
– Changes in Regulations – ITU & Countries
– Network Certification – What is this?
– International Carriage Considerations
• Volicon Solution Overview
• Q&A

4. Why Loudness?
• Tragedy of the Commons
Difference
• Level according to peaks is much
larger
• Users pay more attention to loud content PGM PGM PGM
than
with analog
– Advertising recognition is higher Ad Ad
– Advertisers KNOW and use this
• Users feel they need to adjust volume
– Detracting from their overall QoE Volume
Adjustments
– Solution:
• Level according to “loudness perception” No Volume
Adjustments
• Content flexibility with good user experience
– Now, what is “loudness perception”?

5. Loudness Specifications & Regulations
Specification
BS.1770-2 LKFS gated
What is loudness?
Recommended
Practices
How to use loudness R128
Tech 3341/2/3 A/85 RP TR-B32
Regulation
How it is enforced

6. Loudness Specification
• BS.1770-2 (03/2011) -Loudness, True Peak & Gating
– Not all frequencies are equal
– Not all (surround) channels are equal
• Rear Surrounds are overweighted +1.5 dB
• LFE is not counted
– One loudness meas for all channels combined
– Gating to not count quiet periods
• Don’t allow gaming of measurement
• Level gating is in BS-1770-2, Dialog gating is not

7. Gating Review - What’s the big deal?
• Gating is critical
– Ensure correlation with loudness perception
– Helps prevent gaming by advertisers x.y
LKFS
• Gating is specified 2/3 different ways:
gate
– BS.1770-2, EBU, Most of the world – Cascaded level -10dB
– ATSC
• Short Form: No Gating, measure everything
• Long form (>2m) : Dialog Level – aka Dialog gating
• Measurements with different gating – need agreement with:
– Regulatory authority – What is being enforced
– Partners – Studio, Network, Broadcaster, Pay-TV operator
• Troubleshooting Apples v. oranges is not productive

8. Changes in Regulations
• Many countries moving forward with loudness regulation
– Brazil, France, …
– Almost all countries are using EBU /BS.1770-2 measurements
– Commercial v. Channel is regulated by all
– Other different items may be regulated
• Absolute channel tolerance or channel to channel difference (many)
• 5 day channel loudness drift – Italy
• Max S Measurement, - France
• Min Loudness Range – France
• Enforcement is starting….
– Italy- active, US - Dec 2012, many in 2013
– Time to get real

9. Considerations for International Carriage
• Content going to one country?
– Design and measure and alarm using local gating and regulations
• Content going to multiple countries?
– Same Gating – possibly different thresholds
• Measure with one gating,
• Alarm on most restrictive thresholds -24 LKFS
– Different Gating – e.g. Dialog and Cascaded level
• Measure content twice – once with each Gating
– Differences are unpredictable, no applicable rule of thumb
– -24 LKFS is NOT -23 LUFS!!!
• Apply tightest thresholds for each gating method (by country)

10. ATSC Network Certification – Why?
• Where does the blame fall in the chain?
– Programmer, Network, Broadcaster, MVPD?
Enforces Protects
Regulates
Network
Broadcaster
MVPD
Cable Blame
Programmer Satellite
Cable IPTV
Network

11. ATSC Network Certification – Why?
• To allow broadcasters and MVPDs to
– Guarantee what they deliver
– Respond to complaint inquiries
– Not redo work performed by others
• Two step process if you do insert ads
– Get certification on Network
– Or certify it yourself
– Guarantee your ad inserts are compliant

12. ATSC Network Certification – What?
• Accessible
– Made generally available by Network (web)
– Allows all Broadcaster and MVPDS to access
• Content
– Not regulated – but must convince FCC/MVPDs
– Several approaches
– Legal statement certifiying compliance
– Measurements showing compliance
PGM1 -23.6 LKFS
COM12 -24.0 LKFS
PGM2 -24.1 LKFS
– Either require backup - Volicon! ..

13. ATSC Network Certification – Who
• Who is to provide certification?
– Anyone who wants to help their downstream partners
– Practically – (Cable) Networks
Protects
Regulates
Network
Broadcaster
MVPD
Cable
Programmer Satellite
Cable IPTV
Network

14. Observer Loudness Monitoring
• Loudness measurements -LKFS and LUFS -with gating
• Short (S), Medium (M) and Interval (I) measurements
• Up to 7 Short-form Interval (SI) - e.g 10s, 15s, 20s, 30s
• Up to 7 Long-form Interval (LI) - e.g. 6h, 1d, 5d
• Loudness Range (LRA) to measure audio companding
• Detailed 10Hz measurements - with Audio & Video

15. Observer Loudness Monitoring
• Graphing of S, M and I measurements over time
Multiple channel, multiple meas.
Graph <=> video time navigation
• Export :
Logged measurements as csv
Affidavit - A/V with burned in measurements
CSV values report
• Programs Certification Report export
With As-Run-Log Integration
Loudness of Every Asset
A/V affidavit
With meas Burn-in
• Alarming (SNMP, email, visual)
Customizable alarming profiles based on SI and LI measurements

16. Observer Loggers with Loudness
• Software module available on
– Observer, Observer TS, RPM
• Observer family of products are loggers at the core
– Records audio, video & loudness measurements
continuously
– 3 to 365 days of storage
• Logger + measurement is very powerful
– Speeds troubleshooting, unambiguous affidavit
– Eliminates Network Station MVPD back and forth
Loudness logging is not a sea of numbers. It means
recording the audio, video,
and the loudness measurements.

17. Loudness Detail - specs
a85 rp 2011
• ATSC A/85 RP
• ITU BS. 1770-1 BS.1770-1
BS.1770-2 BS.1770-2
• EBU R128 Tech 3341
EBU R128
Tech 3342
Tech 3341 Tech 3342
• Tech 3343 Tech 3344
Tech 3343 Tech 3344
• FCC Findings Dec 2011 – FCC Calm Act
11-182A1
• Cable Labs summary of CALM Act
– For Cable Operators only
CALM act
summary
17

18. Q&A
Andrew Sachs Jennifer Knutel
VP. Product Management Sr. Dir of Marketing
andrew@volicon.com jennifer@volicon.com
Please contact us for
additional product information

19. For more information please
contact us (info@volicon.com)
+1 781 221 7400
Andrew Sachs Jennifer Knutel
VP. Product Management Sr. Dir of Marketing
andrew@volicon.com jennifer@volicon.com