QSC, Digital Harmony Announce Licensing AgreementPro audio manufacturer explores use of leading 1394 technology for audio
systems products September 29, 2000QSC
Audio Products, Inc. and Digital Harmony Technologies Inc. announced today a
licensing agreement that gives QSC access to Digital Harmony's
IEEE-1394-based technology for the development of pro audio systems
products.
By partnering with QSC, whose Ethernet-based control and signal transport
systems have made significant inroads in the sound contracting and live
sound industries, Digital Harmony continues to expand the adoption of its
technology from consumer products to commercial and residential systems
applications.
Under the terms of the agreement, QSC licensed the rights to use Digital
Harmony's Interface for Video and Audio (DHIVA(tm)) embedded 1394 interface,
software drivers, and professional production assistant (PPA) software
modules. In addition, built in to every DHIVA-powered audio device is an
auto-upgrading feature for system firmware enhancements. The DHIVA product
portfolio currently includes discrete interface cards and standards-based
firmware. In 2001, cost-reduced DHIVA interfaces will be released, taking
advantage of new node controller integrated circuits.
"Digital Harmony is the leading developer of 1394-based technology in
consumer electronics products," said QSC CEO Barry Andrews. "This
partnership is an indication of our continuing commitment to explore all
protocols that utilize open standards and off-the-shelf technologies."
"Digital Harmony is proud to be working with QSC, one of the world's top
sound system manufacturers," said Greg Bartlett, president of Digital
Harmony Technologies. "This technology partnership will ultimately provide
QSC customers some relief from the complexity of sound system design.
Digital Harmony continues to gain momentum in the professional audio market,
working now with the top three professional audio amplifier manufacturers in
the world."
The IEEE-1394 standard is one of several protocols QSC is exploring in the
development of non-proprietary network control and transport systems. QSC
was the first manufacturer to bring Peak Audio's CobraNet technology to the
market with RAVE (Routing Audio Via Ethernet), a digital signal transport
system capable of transmitting up to 64 channels of uncompressed 20-bit, 48
kHz digital audio over long distances. QSControl, a flexible,
computer-controlled audio networking system, is based on off-the-shelf
Ethernet technology.
A Digital Harmony-certified 1394 system can accommodate up to 1,023 separate
buses of up to 63 nodes each, allowing more than 64,000 devices on one bus.
Each node can include up to 256 terabytes of addressable space and be
located 100m from other nodes, using plastic optical fiber (POF) or CAT5.
Digital Harmony's DHIVA implementation of IEEE-1394 can carry more than 275
channels of uncompressed 24-bit, 48kHz digital audio at 400Mbit/s. For more information, visit their web site at www.qscaudio.com. | 
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