This year, the company will launch key new products and features that will be available to all customers through upcoming software updates. In addition to this, effective immediately, the entire StormAudio MK2 line-up is now covered by a 5-year warranty.
StormAudio, specialist in the design and manufacturing of audio processors for high-end home cinemas, makes a strong statement of confidence in the longevity of its products and of commitment to customers, by announcing the extension of its product warranty to five years and cutting-edge proprietary features that will be released over the coming year.
A MODULAR PLATFORM MADE TO LAST
StormAudio introduced a major addition to its product line in March 2020, tagged MK2, these new DSP-based processors have increased computing power to support higher channel count, new immersive formats such as DTS:X Pro and IMAX Enhanced and other EQ and calibration features. One year on, StormAudio is proud to announce that all MK2 products are now retroactively covered by a five-years’ warranty (parts and labour). This move embodies StormAudio’s
philosophy of longevity and sustainability; along with its modular architecture with option slots that makes it possible to add modules that will meet the requirements of any installation and enables the same product to host new technologies over time.
PROVEN SUSTAINABLE INVESTMENT
Committed to bringing additional value to customers, StormAudio’s team of engineers are continually working on key developments for the ISP platform. Some announcements have just been made available, but there are more to follow this Summer.
StormXT – Beyond natively decoding a large number of channels, with the multiple formats available on the market and their different recommended speaker placements, it is not uncommon to have silent speakers when playing certain content. While this can be a choice, it can be frustrating not to use all speakers to improve immersivity. StormAudio engineers have been working on this challenge and developed a proprietary engine called StormXT that works hand in hand with existing up-mix algorithms to extract relevant audio signals from nearby speakers and redirect them to silent speakers. This new feature will be coming to the ISP platform free of charge in 2021.
Channel Remapping – In many installations, due to physical constraints of a room or because of the differences between different codecs’ placement recommendations, speakers might not be positioned in their ideal location. StormAudio has been working on its own proprietary solution to solve these challenges and will offer it to its customers as a software upgrade on the ISP platform. More information will come later this year.
Hardware
Audio over IP (AoIP). Until recently, AoIP was a technology mostly used in the professional audio and video industry, and its complexity made it difficult to be implemented in custom installation devices. To make the ISP platform universal and compatible with both professional and residential applications of AoIP, StormAudio decided to work on the creation of an optional module for its products to add full compatibility with the AES67 / Ravenna protocol on 32 inputs and 32 outputs. This technology will be included in two new models, the ISP.32 Digital AoIP and the AoIP Upgrade module. Both models are currently being tested with various sources and endpoints and they will be released at the end of Q2 2021.
HDMI 2.1 – Back in 2019, StormAudio says it was the first high-end AV processor to support eARC, one of the key HDMI 2.1 features. Through a partnership with Cypress Technologies, StormAudio is now developing a new HDMI card fully compatible with the HDMI 2.1 / HDCP 2.3 protocol. The intention is to offer this new card as an update to all MK1 and MK2 owners in late 2021.
With technical centres in Nantes (France), Los Angeles (USA), and Hong-Kong (China), a web based ticketing system available 24/7 and resources available on its website at www.stormaudio.com, StormAudio adds that it also offers best-in class support to its partners worldwide.