NBC has found some of the high-tech electronics it needs to broadcast the Beijing Olympics in a place halfway around the world:
Tim Carroll (left) and Erik Booth display Linear Acoustic's upmixer (top) and audio processor.
A former shoe factory in Lancaster City.
In the renovated brick building is a small business named Linear Acoustic, which makes state-of-the-art pieces of audio hardware called upmixers.
NBC will use 38 of the North Prince Street company's upmixers so that its entire Olympic broadcast is in "surround sound."
Although the live portions will originate in "surround sound," the upmixers will convert segments that were pre-recorded or edited in stereo into "surround sound" too.
That way, viewers will get a broadcast with seamless audio quality and be spared a jarring shift between the two types of sound.
"We're a small part of getting the audio to match the high-definition picture that will be coming back (to America) and seen internationally as well," said Tim Carroll, president of Linear Acoustic.
Carroll, who will leave July 21 for a month in Beijing, said Wednesday the deal with NBC is worth several hundred thousand dollars, although he declined to be specific.
"In terms of dollars, it's not the biggest" contract for Linear Acoustic, he said from his office in the former Haddad Shoe factory. "In terms of reputation and notoriety, it is."
Upmixers are about the size of desk drawers. They measure 1.75 inches high, 19 inches wide and 12 inches front to back, a configuration that allows them to fit inside a standard audio-gear rack.
The upmixers that Linear Acoustic is supplying to NBC for the Olympic broadcast, Aug. 8-24, range in value from $6,000 to $9,000, depending on their features.
The 38 units, which include some spares, are being rented, not bought, by NBC. As part of this project, NBC also bought Linear Acoustic audio processors for permanent use in the U.S.
NBC, which had Dolby Laboratories upmixers on previous Olympic broadcasts, has used Linear Acoustic equipment for years on its "Saturday Night Live" and "Today" broadcasts.
But nothing compares to its Olympic broadcast, Carroll said.
"This is the most complex live broadcast in the world. It has no equal," he said, citing the number of venues involved and the distance between Beijing and America.
"It's mind boggling," he said. "I've had to keep myself focused on our little piece of things."
Linear Acoustic was established by Carroll in 2002 after he left Dolby, where he was a product manager in its professional audio division.
The Beijing Games mark the first time Linear Acoustic has had a role in Olympic broadcasts, though Carroll had experience with Olympic broadcasts during his seven years at Dolby.
In Beijing, Carroll will serve as his firm's technical representative, being a troubleshooter if needed. He won't be operating the Linear Acoustic hardware. That task will go to NBC's contractors.
NBC, as it has done with prior Olympics, will broadcast the Beijing Games with high-definition pictures and "surround sound," which has 5.1 audio channels, compared to two channels for stereo.
To get the full effect, a viewer will need a high-def TV with an audio-video receiver and speakers, like those that come with home-theater systems.
However, the Beijing broadcast will be receivable by all televisions, including those that have stereo or mono speakers, Carroll said.
"It's a single signal that can be played back on equipment of any sophistication," he explained.
The Linear Acoustic upmixers, designed and assembled at the North Prince Street location, carry the brand name UPMAX:neo. They incorporate a technology developed by DTS Inc. of Agoura Hills, Calif.
They will be deployed at the numerous Olympic venues and in the NBC Olympic broadcast center's audio control rooms, edit rooms and quality-control rooms.
Linear Acoustic is a 15-employee company that designs and makes equipment to manage multi-channel "surround sound" audio and loudness issues in digital broadcasts.
Established in Morris Plains, N.J., it moved to Lancaster in 2004 and was acquired by Telos Systems Group this April.
Staff writer Tim Mekeel can be reached at tmekeel@LNPnews.com or 481-6030.
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