Improvements In Audio Quality For Flat Panel Televisions
To be sure, there are many audio technologies that exist today to help television manufacturers improve audio quality and offer feature differentiation in each new generation of HDTVs. For example, class D digital amplification technology has made tremendous progress in recent years and now provides solutions to flat-panel TV’s primary challenges: obtaining high-quality audio in slim form factors while minimizing heat dissipation. Modern class D technologies, including ICs that combine the power stage and controller onto a single chip, achieve greater than 85 percent efficiency than traditional analog amplifiers, produce minimal electromagnetic interference (EMI) and don’t require the use of heat sinks. By implementing newer Class D ICs into system designs, LCD, Plasma and ultra-thin OLED HDTVs can deliver increased audio power – around 20 watts per channel – at overall very high levels of audio quality (eg. less noise, lower distortion, crisp sound). In doing so, your new flat-panel television can now deliver increased audio power and quality to better match the visual experience. Clearly, the trend toward class D audio in flat-panel TVs is becoming increasingly mainstream, and consumers and television manufacturers alike stand to benefit from its inherent benefits of small size, low heat and strong output and quality.
Having addressed the design challenges of limited space, heat dissipation and audio quality, TV manufacturers are now able to provide consumers with additional audio features – enabled through both semiconductor hardware and specialized software – that will give consumers not only a better audio experience but also greater control over their preferred audio settings. For example, one of the newer and promising features is intelligent volume control, which allows users to set their preferred audio listening levels no matter what the audio source is. With this feature alone, consumers no longer need to adjust their TV’s volume because of volume discrepancies between TV shows and commercials, or from channel-to-channel while surfing. In addition, this feature, made possible through specialized audio algorithms, can be employed to offer a “midnight mode” setting, which effectively serves to minimize bass frequency output. This feature is especially valued by neighbors as well as others in the house who are trying to sleep in an adjacent room while another person is watching an explosion-laden action-adventure movie.
Intelligent volume is just one example of many features OEMs can utilize to differentiate and add value to their flat-panel TVs. Some of the other features available include(but are not limited to)bass enhancement, virtual surround sound, speaker calibration, audio pre-sets for various viewing experiences (eg. live sports) and many standard audio post-processing algorithms (eg. Dolby, DTS, SRS, BBE). Naturally, if you connect your new flat-panel HDTV to a great surround sound system, then it will always sound better than with just the television speakers alone.
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