Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1546135
C I N E M A A U D I O S O C I E T Y. O R G 29 companies to assist in compliance with A/85. I will admit that after having spent the last decade arguing with mix recipients about what the correct loudness delivery should be, I take a small amount of Schadenfreude in being a contributing author to A/85. I promise not to lord it over anyone, though. WHAT SETTINGS SHOULD I USE? The key loudness takeaway from all my bluster is as follows: Recommendations for Program Loudness Measurement (ATSC A/85, 8 July 2026 Draft) For Long-form Content (feature films, episodic television, etc.) • Long-form Program Content, excluding commercials and interstitials, is to be measured using Dialogue (Speech)-Gated Loudness per ITU-BS.1770. Using BS.1770-1 Speech Gate should be ON Using BS.1770-2/3/4/5 Relative Gate should be OFF Speech Gate should be ON For Short-form Content. (commercials, PSA's, interstitial content, music videos, etc.) • Short-form Content is to be measured using Full Program Loudness per ITU-BS.1770. • Use BS.1770-03 or later Relative Gate should be ON Speech Gate should be OFF For both content lengths, the target loudness for content lacking loudness metadata should be -24 LKFS, ±2 LU. The True Peak limit should not exceed -2.0 dBTP, ±0.5 dB. The updated A/85 will contain an annex to address the impending enforcement of California SB576, which will recommend a streaming loudness target within a range designed to accommodate existing standards and metadata- based workflows, with the same gating intentions laid out above. ARE MY PLUGIN READINGS ACCURATE? A slight sidebar here regarding a question I've fielded a few times between the Sounding Board events and general con- versation, is why the various measurement plugins give dif- ferent readings when they are supposedly measuring using the same algorithms and base-code for BS.1770 and Dolby Dialogue Intelligence. Until recently, I could never answer this, but through all I've learned from the brain trust that con- tributed to our weekly meetings, and by playing with the settings in the various plugins, it's become clear that it is down to incorrect settings in the included presets. Most pre- sets for A/85 only include Full-Program gating, and if both Top, iZotope Insight 2 displaying Integrated Dialogue vs. the same content measuring Full Program. NUGEN's VisLM displays both at the same time. Next page, YouLean Loudness Meter 2 Pro displaying Integrated Dialogue (top) and Full Program. gates are enabled (dialogue and relative level), then it will give inaccurate mea- surements, along with inconsistent measurements between plugins. As you can see on this page and the next, when Nugen VisLM2, YouLean Loudness Meter 2 Pro, and iZotope Insight 2 are set up correctly, they give very consistent results. The ITSC outreach to the plugin manufacturers mentioned above will advise as to the correct settings to be accurate and compliant with U.S. loudness laws.