84 Dolby® DP570 Multichannel Audio Tool User’s Manual
A Guide to Dolby Metadata Metadata Overview
DolbyEisaprofessionaltechnologyusedforbroadcastapplications,suchasprogram
originationanddistribution;theDolbyEbitstreamcarriestheentiremetadataparameter
set.DolbyDigital,usedforconsumerapplications,suchastransmissiontothehomeorfor
DVDauthoring,employsasubsetofthefullmetadataparametersetcalledDolbyDigital
metadata;theDolbyDigitalbitstreamcarriesonlythoseparametersnecessaryforproper
decodingbytheconsumer.
Metadataisfirstinsertedduringprogramcreationormastering,andiscarriedthrough
transmissioninabroadcastapplicationordirectlyontoaDVD.Themetadataprovides
controloverhowtheencodedbitstreamistreatedateachsteponthewaytotheconsumer’s
decoder.
Thiscontrol,however,requirestheproducertosetthemetadataparameterscorrectly,since
theyaffectimportantaspectsoftheaudio—andcanseriouslycompromisethefinal
productifsetimproperly.Althoughmostmetadataparametersaretransparentto
consumers,certainparametersaffecttheoutputofahomedecoder,suchasdownmixing
foraspecificspeakerconfiguration,orwhentheconsumerchoosesDynamicRange
Controltoavoiddisturbingfamilyandneighbors.
FigureD1showsa5.1+2ProgramConfig,consistingofa5.1channelprogramanda
twochannelsecondaryaudioprogram(SAP).
Figure D-1 Metadata Flow from Production to Consumer