While at the 2011 CEDIA EXPO, Home Theater Forum had the opportunity to talk with Chris Armbrust, Technical Program Director at THX Ltd. about their new Media Director product.
Media Director is a feature that allows content to identify itself to your audio and video playback devices and allow them to automatically select the playback settings that best represent the artistic intent of the content creator.
This simplifies operation for the end user, because the display and audio system will change to the appropriate modes based the settings the director or creator of the content wants to use. For example , audio could be set to the correct sound mode, volume could be set to reference level, the aspect ratio and correct picture settings could be set and the correct 2D/3D mode will be activated by the display, all to match the intent of the creator.
[SIZE= 11px]Image from THX.com[/SIZE]
Media Director works by having the creator specify the desired playback settings when the content is encoded for playback. The Star Wars Blu-ray release is the first Media Director encoded content. That metadata is passed down the line via HDMI to the playback devices that will either act on the information or pass it on if they can read the flag. If a device acts on the information contained in the metadata it modifies the metadata as it passes on so other devices don’t try to change those settings again. A good example would be if you have a Media Director equipped video processor that enables certain picture modes, it will change the data so the display doesn’t try to set those same options again.
[SIZE= 11px]Some of the Media Director metadata flags[/SIZE]
THX just announced agreements with Analog Devices, Sigma Designs, Silicon Image and Quantum Data, the manufacturers of the chips that are used by just about every audio and video gear manufacturer to support Media Director. It will still be up to the manufacturer to determine if they will support it and which metadata flags they will act on. Even if the Media Director isn’t a feature on the device, starting next year, any devices with these chipsets will at least pass through the metadata onto other devices.
Media Director isn’t just for Blu-ray. In their demo, THX gave us an example of pictures. If you had a Media Director equipped camera and played those pictures back on your Media Director equipped display, it would zoom into the correct pixel-by-pixel aspect ratio to avoid cropping, stretching or windowboxing your pictures, ensuring that it matched the wishes of the content creator, in this case---you!
Here is a video with more in-depth information and two Media Director content demos:
Media Director is a feature that allows content to identify itself to your audio and video playback devices and allow them to automatically select the playback settings that best represent the artistic intent of the content creator.
This simplifies operation for the end user, because the display and audio system will change to the appropriate modes based the settings the director or creator of the content wants to use. For example , audio could be set to the correct sound mode, volume could be set to reference level, the aspect ratio and correct picture settings could be set and the correct 2D/3D mode will be activated by the display, all to match the intent of the creator.
[SIZE= 11px]Image from THX.com[/SIZE]
Media Director works by having the creator specify the desired playback settings when the content is encoded for playback. The Star Wars Blu-ray release is the first Media Director encoded content. That metadata is passed down the line via HDMI to the playback devices that will either act on the information or pass it on if they can read the flag. If a device acts on the information contained in the metadata it modifies the metadata as it passes on so other devices don’t try to change those settings again. A good example would be if you have a Media Director equipped video processor that enables certain picture modes, it will change the data so the display doesn’t try to set those same options again.
[SIZE= 11px]Some of the Media Director metadata flags[/SIZE]
THX just announced agreements with Analog Devices, Sigma Designs, Silicon Image and Quantum Data, the manufacturers of the chips that are used by just about every audio and video gear manufacturer to support Media Director. It will still be up to the manufacturer to determine if they will support it and which metadata flags they will act on. Even if the Media Director isn’t a feature on the device, starting next year, any devices with these chipsets will at least pass through the metadata onto other devices.
Media Director isn’t just for Blu-ray. In their demo, THX gave us an example of pictures. If you had a Media Director equipped camera and played those pictures back on your Media Director equipped display, it would zoom into the correct pixel-by-pixel aspect ratio to avoid cropping, stretching or windowboxing your pictures, ensuring that it matched the wishes of the content creator, in this case---you!
Here is a video with more in-depth information and two Media Director content demos:
