Next Generation Video Telephony on SmartTVs by Fraunhofer IIS

SmartTVs are all set to be used as primary communication devices in your living room. To make this a reality, Fraunhofer IIS (News - Alert), provider for audio and multimedia technologies, is showcasing next generation video telephony on SmartTVs at IFA 2012. The audio codec Enhanced Low Delay AAC (AAC-ELD) provides CD-like audio quality for an unrivaled communication experience.

To date, AAC-ELD is the only Full-HD Voice technology that is widely used. Taking audio communication to a new level, Full-HD Voice is the future quality benchmark for audio communication. Full-HD Voice phone calls sound as natural and clear as talking to a person in the same room.

According to a statement, visitors at IFA TecWatch can experience how video calls made on SmartTVs can be enhanced by the implementation of AAC-ELD. Full-HD Voice is the highest audio quality standard for communication applications. Whereas legacy telephony is limited to an upper limit of 3.4 kHz audio bandwidth, Full-HD Voice capable audio codecs support audio bandwidths of 14 kHz and more which covers the full audible audio bandwidth. Consequently, only Full-HD Voice audio codecs, such as AAC-ELD, can provide a realistic communication experience just like a conversation in the same room.

"Thanks to our AAC-ELD software, communication apps for SmartTVs will allow for conversations at a level of audio quality which so far has been limited to high-end video conferencing or telepresence systems," says Harald Popp, head of the Multimedia Realtime Systems department at Fraunhofer IIS. "As AAC-ELD is already part of all leading smartphone operating systems including iOS and Android (News - Alert), it is high time to finally introduce Full-HD Voice quality to the living room."

AAC-ELD is a communication codec based on the commonplace music codec AAC which is used by major music download and streaming platforms and provides CD-like audio quality for video and telephone calls at very low bit-rates. Many professional video conferencing, telepresence systems as well as consumer video telephony applications such as Apple FaceTime (News - Alert) are using AAC-ELD.

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2012, taking place Oct. 2-5, in Austin, TX.  Stay in touch with everything happening at ITEXPO (News - Alert). Follow us on Twitter.