DTS Eyeing 2018 for Connected Radio Platform That Would Enable Hi-Res Downloads
LAS VEGAS -- DTS’ upcoming Connected Radio platform likely will involve a subscription, Jeff Jury, general manager of the company's HD Radio and Automotive Group, told us at CES. The platform, which Jury said will debut in 2018, will include music discovery, hi-res audio and local caching of music that will remain in the vehicle. The company used the show to make other HD Radio announcements (see the Jan. 6 issue of this publication).
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Discovery is a key part of the Connected Radio concept, along with hi-res audio, said Jury. “If you like a certain type of music -- classic rock and a certain artist -- the system can deliver to you hi-res versions of similar songs that you can play back in the car.”
Those songs would “probably have to be downloaded through a Wi-Fi connection” when the car is stationary or through a cellular modem in the car, Jury said. The goal is to bring back a hi-res music option to the vehicle. “As CD mechanisms are coming out of the car and everything is either streaming or low bit rate, the question is, how does someone get the high-res version?” he said. “There isn’t really a way to do that in many cars today.”
The hi-res offering will be done in concert with music labels and content providers, said Jury. Details are still being worked out, including who will provide the service. “It wouldn’t be a stream,” said Jury, because of the low bit rate of streaming in a moving vehicle. “Tracks will be downloaded, behind the scenes, not real time,” he said. “We would do it, or we would work with partners to do it.”
The Connected Radio platform has benefits to car companies, radio stations and consumers, Jury said. Car companies adopting the platform can offer a new feature to car owners. It can give radio stations a compelling presence in next-generation vehicles, he said. “Our first objective is for radio to stay preeminent in the dash." The platform allows for a graphical upgrade for the in-dash head unit, which will be able to show the logos of radio stations -- rather than just call letters -- and read out what’s playing on each station that has signed on to the platform in that market. Users can see what’s playing on each station and choose the one they want to hear. How extensively that capability is implemented will be determined by carmakers, which have to weigh driver distraction, said Jury. Other features that could be on the interface: artist information, including local venues where an artist is playing nearby, and a “like” button consumers could tap for a song, which would send that feedback to radio stations, said Jury.
On what’s required on the radio station’s end to be ready for the DTS platform, Jury said it’s a matter of software that would allow them to send out information over IP or a cellular connection. An interactive feature such as the like button would require a cellular connection for a return data feed. Costs “should be part of a reasonable software upgrade they’d do for studio automation equipment,” Jury said. “I don’t envision it being a huge capital investment at all.”
The platform is still in development. DTS will test the system in different countries and with different carmakers over the next year, said Jury. He cited NextRadio as a similar technology that’s currently available on mobile handsets, calling NextRadio “part of the ecosystem that would enable this kind of capability.” DTS wants to take the functionality worldwide because automakers don’t want to invest in a technology that’s available only regionally, he said.
On why the download service would be available only for song discovery, Jury said DTS research shows that’s what consumers want. “There are other ways they can get the exact song they want,” he said. Songs will be downloaded in a way that ensures they reside in the vehicle. Users will be able to recall downloaded songs, he said, but they won’t be able to take them outside of the car.
On whether the road map calls for tying in the Connected Radio platform with DTS’ Play-Fi ecosystem in the future, Jury said, “anything is possible, if it makes sense for all the parties involved.” DTS is “open to different ideas, but this is intended to be a product that the car companies can embrace, the consumer can embrace and content providers can embrace.” Creation of the platform stems from “the idea is that everybody has a phone and everybody has a radio in the car,” said Jury. “So we want to combine the two to create a better user experience.”