Unit 4: Audio and Video Recording Systems

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Digital sound, sound recording, CD/ DVD player, MP3 player, Blue Ray DVD Player,
ITU-T(G) compression standards, multichannel/Dolby 5.1sound in DTV.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Digital sound:
Digital sound is not a recording of the actual sound, but rather a combination of binary code, the
utmost simplest machine language of zeros and ones, representing the sound's intensity and pitch at
precise intervals with relative accuracy. The binary code is arranged in a specific pattern informing
the computer how to recreate the sound itself. It is not a single wave the way analog sound is, but
rather a composite of multiple segments representing consecutive moments of intensity and pitch.
Where an analog recording is similar to the fluency of film, a digital recording is stop motion
photography.
Digital sound is missing bits of the sound wave, but as digital recording improves, the curve will
smoothen out and begin to resemble the analog sound wave.

sound recording:
Sound recording is the storage of sound so that a person can hear the same sound more than once. It
is a process wherein sound waves are captured by a machine. The machine converts the waves into
electrical signals or digital data, that are then stored on recording media (such as gramophone
records, cassette tapes, compact discs or computer hard drives). The sound can then be played back
by reversing the process.
Most recordings are of music, people speaking or singing, and sound effects. They are usually used
for entertainment (fun), or for scientific and historical reasons.
Sound is recorded onto a medium by different methods. The ways that recordings are made have
changed a lot since sound was first recorded.
CD player:

A CD player is an electronic device that plays audio compact discs, which are a digital optical
disc data storage format. A compact disc is a thin, circular disc of metal and plastic about 12cm
(just over 4.5 inches) in diameter. It's actually made of three layers. Most of a CD is made from a
tough, brittle plastic called polycarbonate. Sandwiched in the middle there is a thin layer of
aluminum. Finally, on top of the aluminum, is a protective layer of plastic and lacquer. The first
thing you notice about a CD is that it is shiny on one side and dull on the other. The dull side
usually has a label on it telling you what's on the CD; the shiny side is the important part. It's shiny
so that a laser beam can bounce off the disc and read the information stored on it.
CD- Material used, Size and Capacity

The CD is circular plastic coated disc of 4.75 inch that is 120 mm diameter On one side of disk the
audio signal are recorded and on other side the label indicating the content of the disk are printed.
CD thickness is 1.2 mm that contain the 70 minutes of audio information. On the CD player,
reading of audio information is done by using laser beam This laser beam is generated inside the
CD player by small power laser diode made of Aluminium gallium arsenide (AlGaAs).Material
used:- Plastic base reflective surface coated with aluminium layer. This reflective coating covered
with transparent plastic polycarbonate lacquire coating. CDs are made from an original "master"
disc. The master is "burned" with a laser beam that etches bumps (called pits) into its surface. A
bump represents the number zero, so every time the laser burns a bump into the disc, a zero is
stored there. The lack of a bump (which is a flat, unburned area on the disc, called a Flat/ land)
represents the number one. Thus, the laser can store all the information sampled from the original
track of music by burning some areas (to represent zeros) and leaving other areas unburned (to
represent ones). Although you can't see it, the disc holds this information in a tight, continuous
spiral of about 3–5 billion pits. If you could unwrap the spiral and lay it in a straight line, it would
stretch for about 6 km (roughly 3.5 miles)! Each pit occupies an area about two millionths of a
millionth of a square meter.
Block diagram and operation of CD player

\
The CD player is also known as CLV or constant linear velocity system.
In a CLV device such as a CD player the rotation speed of the disc player is adjusted with the
movement of the reading mechanism on the disc surface.
Function of Block diagram in CD Player
Focus and Tracking coil:
Focus and tracking coil to focus the laser beam to the CD surface and to move the Assembly to
the proper track across the disc surface.
Optical Pickup Assembly:
The audio signal stored on the CD surface as pits and flats area are first picked up by the optical
pickup assembly made of lens assembly prism, photo detectors and Laser diodes assembly in the
Optical pickup unit.
Photodiode array convert light rays in electrical signal.
High frequency Amplifier:
The signal is very weak so high frequency RF amplifier circuit to bring signal to the proper level.
This amplified and filtered high frequency signal contain audio signal as well as synchronization
signals in 14 bit EFM ( Eight to fourteen modulated) format, this signal is sent to an EGM
demodulator circuit.
EFM Demodulator:
The EFM demodulator separates the modulated data and the timing signal from the signal
received at its input. It also removes the additional coupling nits and convert the 14 bit EGM
symbol to actual 8 bit data .
The amplified and filtered EGM signal from the high frequency amplifier is also given to the
clock generation circuit to the synchronization detecting and timing circuit.
These circuits are used to recover the bit clock and the sync pattern from the data . The timing
signal separates by this circuit is used to provide timing signal to the system.
ERCO circuit
Demodulated data from the EGM demodulator is send to an error correction (ERCO) circuit.
This demodulated data signal is also send to control and display decoding circuit, which recover
the control and display signals multiplexed into the signal received from the CD.
Interpolation and Muting
ERCO circuit is used for error detection and correction purpose any error found in incoming
data signal is send to interpolation and muting section by ERCO circuit.
The interpolation and muting section uses the following methods to correct and error on in the
data stream or read from the disc.
1. Muting
2. Last word held
3. Linear interpolation
Muting
In muting, when an error is detected in the data steam, the player will mute the sound is not send
to the speaker.
CLV using clock signal:
The ERCO also responsible for maintaining constant linear velocity of CD motar , for this the
ERCO circuit compares the clock signal derived from the incoming data with reference clock
frequency.
Digital filter and De- multiplexer
In this section, the signals are filtered and separate into left and right channel data.
D/A converter
The output of digital filter and de-multiplexer circuit is sent to a d / a converter. The right and
left channel signal are processed by separate D/A converters.
These converter convert the 16 bit digital signal into the original analog audio signal. Because of
the oversampling, done in the digital filter and De- multiplexer circuit a simple low pass filter is
used.
Loudspeaker : convert into sound signal.
Components used for CD Mechanism
Different components used for CD Mechanism
1. CD pick-up assembly
2. CD Lens:
Collimation Lens
Concave Lens
Objective Lens
Cylindrical Lens
3. Drive motors
Tray, loading motor
Slide, sled, feed motor
Splindle, disc, turntable motor.
4. Gear system
Optical pickup assembly

Figure. Optical pickup

assembly

The optical pickup assembly consist of A low power laser diode to eliminate the CD tracks. Lens
and prism arrangement to direct a laser beam and the CD surface and to direct the reflected laser
beam towards photodiode array. Photodiode array to obtain data, focus and tracking signal from the
reflected laser beam.Some optically units do not contain the tracking coil for example signal Beam
Redial tracking assembly,
Working:
In the optical pickup unit the laser diode emits laser beam from a small point into an elliptical or
conical distribution. This beam is pa ssed through various prism and lens to form a very small
diameter light beam on the disc surface at the centre on the track. The objective lens is controlled by
the tracking and focusing coil to keep the beam focused on the CD and to keep the condensed beam
at the centre of the track.This LASER beam is reflected back by the flat area and the pits on the disc
surface. This reflected beam is applied to a group of photo-diodes through objectives lens,
collimation lens , and some prism arrangement.
CD Lens
Collimation lens:
The function of collimation lens is to produce parallel beam of laser.
Concave Lens:
A function of concave lens is to concentrate the laser beam reflected from the disc surface onto the
photodiode array. This lens is mainly used for improve the sensitivity of photodiode array.
Objective Lens:
The main function of objective lens is to focus the laser beam on to the disc surface and to receive
the reflected LASER beam. Objective lens move up and down to achieve the focus of laser beam on
to the disc surface.
Cylindrical Lens:
The main function of cylindrical lens is to enable the reflected beam from the CD to assist in
creating the necessary signal to make sure that focus of laser beam on the playing surface of the disc
is maintained.
Drive motors
Tray, Loading (carriage) motor:
This motor moves the tray in and out for loading and unloading the disc. In most players, this
process is activated with a push button on font panel.
Slide, Sled, Feed Motor
The slide sled or feed motor moves the optical pickup assembly across the disc from the inside to
the outside rim of the CD keeping objective lens constantly in with the centre of optical axis or
track. The slide or feed motor move the laser pickup assembly from the centre to the outside rim of
the CD and its control with either or transistor or IC driven circuit Spindle ,disc, Turntable motor
Main function of spindle motor is to rotate the disc after it is loaded a small platform that is
mounted on the turntable motor shaft spin the CD at a variable Speed. the disc starts at
approximately 500 RPM and slow down to approximately 200 RPM as laser pickup assembly
moves towards the outer edge of CD.
Gear system
Mainly the gear system are used to control the speed of motor and keep the speed constant to cover
the constant distance. For example Tray loading motor used to load the CD on trey, when we press
open button on CD player that’s comes out of CD the motor rotates with constant speed and covers
constant distance. To vary the speed of motor in steps then more than one gear are used. The
number of grooves on gear diameter of gear also depend on speed type of motor used.
Function of Front Panel control on CD player:

 DVD player
 Figure. DVD Layer
 A DVD player is very similar to a CD player, with a laser assembly that shines the laser
beam onto the surface of the disc to read the pattern of bumps (see How CDs Work for
details). The DVD player decodes the MPEG-2 encoded movie, turning it into a standard
composite video signal (see How Television Works for details). The player also decodes the
audio stream and sends it to a Dolby decoder, where it is amplified and sent to the speakers.

Fig. Data Tracks on DVD

The DVD drive consists of three fundamental components:
A drive motor to spin the disc - The drive motor is precisely controlled to rotate between
200 and 500 rpm, depending on which track is being read.
 A laser and a lens system to focus in on the bumps and read them - The light from this
laser has a smaller wavelength (640 nanometers) than the light from the laser in a CD player
(780 nanometers), which allows the DVD laser to focus on the smaller DVD pits.
 A tracking mechanism that can move the laser assembly so the laser beam can follow the
spiral track - The tracking system has to be able to move the laser at micron resolutions.
Inside the DVD player, there is a good bit of computer technology involved in forming the
data into understandable data blocks, and sending them either to the DAC, in the case of
audio or video data, or directly to another component in digital format, in the case of digital
video or data.
 To work properly, the DVD player must focus the laser on the track of bumps. The laser can
 focus either on the semi-transparent reflective material behind the closest layer, or, in the
case of a double-layer disc, through this layer and onto the reflective material behind the
inner layer. The laser beam passes through the polycarbonate layer, bounces off the
reflective layer behind it and hits an opto-electronic device, which detects changes in light.
The bumps reflect light differently than the "lands," the flat areas of the disc, and the opto-
electronic sensor detects that change in reflectivity. The electronics in the drive interpret the
changes in reflectivity in order to read the bits that make up the bytes.
 The hardest part of reading a DVD is keeping the laser beam centered on the data track. This
centering is the job of the tracking system. As the DVD is played, the tracking system has
to move the laser continually outward. As the laser moves outward from the center of the
disc, the bumps move past the laser at an increasing speed. This happens because the linear,
or tangential, speed of the bumps is equal to the radius times the speed at which the disc is
revolving. So, as the laser moves outward, the spindle motor must slow the spinning of the
DVD so that the bumps travel past the laser at a constant speed, and the data comes off the
disc at a constant rate.
 An interesting thing to note is that if a DVD has a second layer, the start of that layer's data
track can be at the outside of the disc instead of the inside. This allows the player to
transition quickly from one layer to the next, without a delay in data output, because it
doesn't have to move the laser back to the center of the disc to read the next layer.

DVD Player Features

Supported Formats
 DVD movies Just about all players play DVD movies.
 Music CDs Most players also play music CDs.
 Video CDs Some players can handle this format, which is used mostly for music videos and
some movies from foreign countries.
 CD-Rs Some players can play content that you create on your own computer.
 Audio DVDs A few players can handle this format for high-quality audio.
MP3 player
'MP3' is the abbreviation for 'MPEG Audio Layer III' ('MPEG' stands for 'Motion Pictures Expert
Group'). It's a compressed digital audio file. A player stores these files on a memory chip so that
you can play it back at your leisure.
 The MP3 project began in 1977 in Germany, and the patent for its use was finally granted in
1989.
 The first MP3 player was produced in Korea in 1998.
 Apple produced the iPod in 2001. It has since become the most popular MP3 player in the
world, although it actually converts MP3 files into its own file format.

Features and benefits of an MP3 player

 Contains a miniature hard disk drive, which can store huge quantities of data.
 MP3s usually contain music, but the format is also used for general audio files such as
audiobooks and podcasts.
 MP3s can be listened to with earphones or headphones, or played through speakers via an
external amplifier – for example, a 'dock' with speakers or through a stereo system.
 MP3 players allow the user to play music, podcasts and so on anywhere.
 Music is easily stored and managed on the MP3 player, including skipping tracks or, on
some models, arranging playlists.
 The different types of MP3 player
 Memory flash players: small, easy to use and relatively inexpensive, ideal for joggers but
have a limited storage capacity. Batteries are replaceable.
 Micro hard-drive players: smaller than hard drive players but more portable.
 Hard-drive players: much larger capacity, holding thousands of tracks, but their rechargeable
batteries can’t be replaced.
 Multimedia players: larger and heavier, but allow the user to watch movies; usually have a
large colour screen.
Blue Ray DVD Player
After the invention of the Digital Versatile Disc [DVD], the true digital sound effect and high
clarity video effects were brought to all homes. But the hunger for high-definition videos and audio
along with a high-capacity storage disc led to the invention of the Blu-ray Disc [BD]. They have the
same capabilities of a DVD, storing audio, video as well as photos.
Blu-ray is the next-generation digital video disc. It can record, store and play back high-definition
video and digital audio, as well as computer data. The advantage to Blu-ray is the sheer amount of
information it can hold:
 A single-layer Blu-ray disc, which is roughly the same size as a DVD, can hold up to 27 GB
of data -- that's more than two hours of high-definition video or about 13 hours of standard
video.
 A double-layer Blu-ray disc can store up to 50 GB, enough to hold about 4.5 hours of high-
definition video or more than 20 hours of standard video. And there are even plans in the
works to develop a disc with twice that amount
 Blu-ray discs not only have more storage capacity than traditional DVDs, but they also offer
a new level of interactivity. Users will be able to connect to the Internet and instantly
download subtitles and other interactive movie features. With Blu-ray, you can:
 record high-definition television (HDTV) without any quality loss
 instantly skip to any spot on the disc
 record one program while watching another on the disc
 create playlists
 edit or reorder programs recorded on the disc
 automatically search for an empty space on the disc to avoid recording over a program
 access the Web to download subtitles and other extra features
 Unlike current DVDs, which use a red laser to read and write data, Blu-ray uses a blue
laser (which is where the format gets its name). A blue laser has a shorter wavelength (405
nanometers) than a red laser (650 nanometers).
 Blu-ray has reduced the track pitch from 0.74 microns to 0.32 microns. The smaller pits,
smaller beam and shorter track pitch together enable a single-layer Blu-ray disc to hold more
than 25 GB of information -- about five times the amount of information that can be stored
on a DVD.

How Blu-ray Reads Data

Figure.CD VS
DVD VS Blu
ray writing

The Blu-ray disc overcomes DVD-reading issues by placing the data on top of a 1.1-mm-thick
polycarbonate layer. Having the data on top prevents birefringence and therefore prevents
readability problems. And, with the recording layer sitting closer to the objective lens of the reading
mechanism, the problem of disc tilt is virtually eliminated. Because the data is closer to the surface,
a hard coating is placed on the outside of the disc to protect it from scratches and fingerprints.
The design of the Blu-ray discs saves on manufacturing costs. Traditional DVDs are built by
injection molding the two 0.6-mm discs between which the recording layer is sandwiched. The
process must be done very carefully to prevent birefringence.
Blu-ray also has a higher data transfer rate -- 36 Mbps (megabits per second) -- than today's
DVDs, which transfer at 10 Mbps. A Blu-ray disc can record 25 GB of material in just over an hour
and a half.

Figure.Blue RayDVD Player

ITU-T(G) compression standards:
An International Telecommunications Union (ITU-T) standard for for audio (speech) compression
and decompression that is used in digital transmission systems, and in particular, used for the
coding of analogsignals into digital signals.
G.722 is an ITU-T standard codec that uses sub-band adaptive differential pulse code modulation
(SB-ADPCM) within a bit rate of 64 kbit/s. The system is referred to as 64 Kbps (7 kHz) audio
coding. SB-ADPCM splits the frequency band into two sub-bands (higher and lower) and the
signals in each sub-band are encoded using ADPCM. Extensions to the G.722 standard include the
following;
 G.722.1 - Is the ITU-T standard for low-complexity coding at 24 and 32 kbit/s for hands-
free operation in systems with low frame loss.
 G.722.2 - Is the ITU-T standard for coding at 24 and 32 kbit/s for hands-free operation in
systems with low frame loss.
The G.7xx family of standards are comprised of speech and audio codecs that are primarily used in
cellular telephony and Internet telephony including VoIP communications. There are several
specifications (protocols) in the G.7xx family of G Series ITU Recommendations, including the
following:
 G.711 - Also known as Pulse Code Modulation (PCM), it is the ITU-T international
standard for encoding telephone audio on a 64 kbps channel. PCM samples the signal 8000
times a second; each sample is represented by 8 bits for a total of 64 kbit/s. There are two
versions of the this standard codec.
 G.721 - An ITU-T standard codec that uses Adaptive Differential Pulse Code Modulation
(ADPCM); a form of Pulse Code Modulation (PCM), to produce a digital signal with a
lower bit rate than standard PCM. This ITU standard for speech codecs uses ADPCM on a
32 kbit/s channel.

 G.722 - An ITU-T standard codec that uses sub-band adaptive differential pulse code
modulation (SB-ADPCM) within a bit rate of 64 kbit/s. The system is referred to as 64 Kbps
(7 kHz) audio coding. SB-ADPCM splits the frequency band into two sub-bands (higher and
lower) and the signals in each sub-band are encoded using ADPCM. Extensions to the
G.722 standard include the following;

 G.722.1 - Is the ITU-T standard for low-complexity coding at 24 and 32 kbit/s for hands-
free operation in systems with low frame loss.
 G.722.2 - Is the ITU-T standard for coding at 24 and 32 kbit/s for hands-free operation in
systems with low frame loss.

 G.723 - An ITU-T standard codec that uses Adaptive Differential Pulse Code Modulation
(ADPCM) standard for speech codecs on a 24 and 40 kbps channel. NOTE: G.723 was first
introduced in 1988. In 1990 this standard was folded into G.726 along with G.721.

 G.726 - An ITU-T Adaptive Differential Pulse Code Modulation (ADPCM) standard speech
codec used for the transmission of voice at rates on 16, 24, 32, and 40 kbit/s channels.
G.726 supersedes both G.721 and G. 723 as it includes both of these standards plus includes
the new standard for the 16 kbit/s rate. G.726 was the standard codec used in Digital
Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) wireless phone systems.

 G.727 - A specialized version of the ITU-T G.726 protocol that is intended for packet-based
 systems using the Packetized Voice Protocol (PVP). G.727 uses 5, 4, 3 and 2-bit/sample
embedded adaptive Differential Pulse Code Modulation (ADPCM). (See also ADPCM).

 G.728 - An ITU-T speech coding standard that uses Low Delay Code Excited Linear
Prediction (LD-CELP) operating at 16 kbit/s compression at a sampling rate of 8,000
samples per second. The algorithmic coding delay of G.728 is 0.625 ms. G.728, when
compared to G.726 delivers close to the same voice quality but uses only one-half the
bandwidth.

 G.729 - An ITU-T audio data compression standard that operates at 8 kbit/s using a
conjugate-structure algebraic-code-excited linear-prediction (CS-ACELP). This algorithm
for voice compresses voice audio in 10 millisecond frames. G.729 is commonly used in in
Voice over IP (VoIP) applications because of its inherently low bandwidth requirement.
Extensions to the G.729 standard include the following;

 G.729a (G.729 Annex A) - Compatible with G.729 Annex A specifies a coder with several
simplifications, including code book search routines. These modifications are known to
often result in a slightly lower voice quality.
 G.729b (G.729 Annex B) - Compatible with G.729, Annex B specifies a coder that uses
Discontinuous Transmission (DTX), Voice Activity Detection (VAD), and Comfort Noise
Generation (CNG) to reduce bandwidth usage. Bandwidth is reduced by preventing the
transmission of non-voice during periods of silence.

Multichannel/Dolby 5.1sound in DTV:

Dolby Digital provides five full-bandwidth channels, front left, front right, center, surround left, and
surround right, for true surround sound quality.
A low frequency effect (LFE) channel is included that provides the sound needed for special effects
and action sequences in movies.
The LFE channel is one-tenth of the bandwidth of the other channels and is sometimes erroneously
called the subwoofer channel. This multichannel scheme is known as 5.1 channel.
Because not everyone has the equipment needed to take advantage of Dolby Digital's 5.1 channel
sound, developers included a downmixing feature that ensures compatibility with any playback
device.
The decoder in the playback device delivers the audio signal specific to that particular device's
ability. For example, a 5.1 channel audio signal is delivered to a mono television.
The playback device's decoder downmixes the 5.1 channel signal to a mono signal allowing the
television to use the received audio signal. Because the playback device does the downmixing,
producers do not have to create multiple audio signals for each playback device.
To take advantage of Dolby Digital 5.1 channel sound for satellite broadcasts, a satellite receiver
that provides a Dolby Digital output is necessary. For cable users, all digital set-top boxes are
equipped with a Dolby Digital two-channel decoder. To use 5.1 channel sound, a 5.1 channel-
compliant set-top box is needed or an external 5.1 channel decoder unit. The proper sound
equipment is also necessary.
Benefits

 A Global Standard
Every DVD worldwide and all HD broadcasts in the United States use Dolby Digital® (also
known as AC-3). Dolby Digital 5.1 has evolved into Dolby Digital Plus™, delivering up to
7.1 channels of surround sound in devices ranging from TVs to mobile phones.

 5.1 Multichannel Sound:

With 5.1 channels of high-quality audio, Dolby Digital places you in the center of the action.
It expands the left and right traditional stereo channels to deliver an enveloping 360 degrees
of sound.

 Cinema, TV, DVDs, and Games;

The same audio technology that revolutionized the cinema enables the sound in all DVDs
and US HDTV broadcasts. Even many video games feature Dolby Digital surround sound.

 Automatic Stereo Version:

Dolby Digital automatically provides a stereo version of the audio tracks so your favorite
movies, TV shows, and other entertainment will sound great on any device.

 Compatible with the Future:

As new audio formats like Dolby Digital Plus appear, you can be sure that your Dolby
Digital content will remain compatible for years to come.