Verance Content Recognition Integrated With Linear Acoustic Audio Processing

Verance (Booth N5738), a supplier of premium watermarking solutions, has partnered with Linear Acoustic to integrate Verance’s VP1 open solution for first-screen ACR (automatic content recognition) into the Aero family of real-time and file-based TV-station audio processors. Verance will be demonstrating embedding of VP1 in broadcast audio using a Linear Acoustic Aero unit.

VP1 was submitted to Advanced Television Systems Committee in May 2014 in response to its Call for Proposals for ACR Watermarking Systems. The ATSC TG3/S33 Specialist Group on Management and Protocols recommended VP1 for standardization within the ATSC 3.0 specifications, which are expected to be issued next year.

VP1 enables delivery of a suite of broadband-enabled next-generation television features, including personalized viewing, onscreen interactivity, dynamic advertising, and viewing measurement.

For viewers tuned into an over-the-air broadcast, these broadband-enabled features will be activated in their receiver via signaling included in the broadcast signal. For viewers who receive their broadcast content via cable, satellite, and OTT services, existing delivery systems and consumer-electronics interfaces provide no mechanism for carriage of this signaling information.

Linear Acoustic Aero audio processors are deployed in hundreds of television broadcast stations, providing loudness management, Nielsen embedding, and emission-coding functions. VP1 embedding has been activated in Aero devices for use by broadcasters participating in technology trials during the standardization process and will become more broadly available as VP1 specifications are finalized.

“VP1 integrates seamlessly with the existing Aero-device functionality and the ATSC 1.0 environment,” says Tim Carroll, CTO, Telos Alliance/founder, Linear Acoustic, “so our customers can begin exploring the capabilities of the technology today. We have been impressed with the maturity, sound quality, and accuracy of the Verance technology and look forward to working with our broadcast customers as they introduce VP1 to enable the next generation of video services.”

Verance Chief Executive Nil Shah adds, “Our partnership with Linear Acoustic is a critical step toward fulfilling ATSC’s vision for delivering a powerful new platform for broadcasters. VP1 can bring all of the benefits of modern digital platforms — interactivity, personalization, dynamic advertising, and viewer measurement — to every next-generation broadcast viewer, regardless of how they receive programming.”