Experiences with multichannel sound for HDTV

The increased level of realism which can be achieved with HDTV has highlighted the shortcomings of stereo sound and this has re-kindled interest in multichannel sound systems using more than two channels. The BBC has been involved in many aspects of this work and since 1989 has produced a variety of HDTV programmes with multichannel sound. This has given both practical experience in programme production and an opportunity to assess the benefits which can be achieved with more complex sound systems. The author describes some of these experiences and the results emerging from this work, together with some of the issues yet to be resolved