Netflix offering 'high quality' audio

[Grayson Dere]

Just today I received news that Netflix will soon be offering higher bitrate audio streaming for surround sound users.

https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/01/netflix-launches-high-quality-audio-for-tv-viewers/

My natural skepticism comes from this statement below that Netflix makes regarding their compression:

"...high-quality sound is not lossless, but is “perceptually transparent” — meaning that even though the audio is compressed, it’s indistinguishable from the original source, Netflix claims."

Bitrates will be up to 640 kbps for 5.1 surround and up to 768 kbps for Dolby Atmos users. I was curious to what Blu-ray offers in bitrate for Dolby TrueHD Atmos and according to the Dolby Developers website it averages a whopping 6,000 kbps!!

source: https://developer.dolby.com/blog/dolby-audio-over-hdmi-part-1-codecs/

If I misinterpreted something please correct me : )

What are your thoughts to Netflix's claim about their streaming audio being indistinguishable from the original source?

 

[tripplej]

Listening is believing. Will see once I hear it.

 

[ddude003]

"is not lossless" = Lossy compression... Much like MQA, I wonder why... If its their own propriety encoder/decoder then its about content control...

 

[Grayson Dere]

I would be interested in digging deeper into Netflix's technology they're using for their compression...of course it would make sense if that kind of info, if proprietary, would remain secret in their labs.

I did come across a neat little piece from clicking on the link that directs to the website 'Medium' which features the Netflix Tech Blog that had a little more from Netflix's perspective on their new high-quality audio.

"...Based on internal listening tests, listening test results provided by Dolby, and scientific studies, we determined that for Dolby Digital Plus at and above 640 kbps, the audio coding quality is perceptually transparent. Beyond that, we would be sending you files that have a higher bitrate (and take up more bandwidth) without bringing any additional value to the listening experience."

https://medium.com/netflix-techblog...th-high-quality-audio-at-netflix-eaa0b6145f32

If their internal listening tests + Dolby's concluded their latest audio streaming bitrate is indistinguishable from the original source I am genuinely impressed!

 

[Todd Anderson]

I wonder what kind of rig they used during those tests?

Streaming audio has been so substandard... we really need something that can hit with authority and accuracy. Call me very skeptical.

 

[ddude003]

"the audio coding quality is perceptually transparent"... Wonders what the heck that really means beyond marketing speak... And... "Beyond that, we would be sending you files that have a higher bitrate (and take up more bandwidth) without bringing any additional value to the listening experience." More marketing speak... Hey, bandwidth is cheap, quality is not... And value is in the eye, and ear, of the consumer...