Fons Adriaensen wrote:
Or snobs as the OP called them. And yes, I'd agree that the battle to
get 1st order into the consumer world has been lost. It was lost at
least ten years ago. I'm not going to sit in a corner and make myself
unhappy because of that.
Ciao,
However, there are now some (early!) attempts to introduce 3D audio into
cinemas, and maybe to define a standad for CE applications/home theaters.
If we speak about suround sound with height, Ambisonics is the "market
leader". (Current WFS doesn't include height. And it would prove to be
costly to do so, in every sense. O:-) )
The only competition are binaural recordings.
I have argued to introduce some "common file format" for 3D audio, for
example Ambisonics up to third order.
This standard could be based on the already existing FMH-Format.
Now, I am supposedly one of the "snobs"... But FMH is including B
format, or say FMH is superseding B format.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambisonics
(Table "Higher order B-format channels")
It is obvious that any translation from 3rd order Ambisonics to 5.1
works better than from B format to 5.1.(If 5.1 shall be "superseded" by
a 3D standard, we need backwards-compatibility to 5.1. 5.1 is the
established film standard, 10% of movies might use "7.1" suround, which
usually is 6.1.)
3rd order is a good compromise of number of channels/loudspeakers vs.
performance. And compared to WFS (also studied for cinema use),
Ambisonics certainly need less resources than WFS.
If B format is so good for everything: Why do they use 3rd order
Ambisonics in computer games, not B format?
http://etiennedeleflie.net/2008/06/24/codemasters-ups-their-useage-of-ambisonics-on-race-driver-grid/
I could imagine "why", but I don't want to disturb the discussion
between the "reasonable" B fomat adepts and snobistic "HOA" rocket
scientists...
Running away... :-D
Best,
Stefan Schreiber
P.S.: Speaking of B format recordings, there are the well-known issues
of sound quality. SNR? High frequencies?
A typical B format mic is good for ambience recordings, but maybe not
for orchestral recordings, or in fact any musical recoding with a group
of people playing.
(I have participated in quite some surround recordings. Not any
tonemaster I know would do an orchestral recording with just one B
format microphone. This is not the case because tonemasters supposedly
don't know Ambisonics. There are probably too many disadvantages and
limitations?
Just speaking from a practical point of view...)
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