Volume 5
September 14, 2007
Digital Broadcasting
IT’S CALLED THE 'ROADWARRIOR' FOR A REASON!
You can't even look at Musicam's RoadWarrior without thinking, "That thing is cool," but sleek design aside, this gem is the gift that keeps on giving for those wishing to have smooth remote broadcasts with the highest possible audio quality. Basically, the RoadWarrior is two codecs in one: IP and ISDN. You may be perfectly content with your ISDN codec with another backup ISDN line, but how many times have you arrived at your broadcast .site and the phone companies have not delivered what they promised on their end? Now you have problems and stress, and, not to mention, you're behind the technology curve by not opting for IP. Oh, and you're paying more money for that ISDN line you love so much!
We know, it may be a culture change to embrace IP, but it’s time to get with the program – literally and figuratively. It's just as easy as foregoing your fax machine for an email with a PDF attachment. Remember how fun and easy that leap was? This is very similar.
Instead of having two ISDN lines and hoping the phone company has some recollection of your request, the RoadWarrior has both IP and ISDN, so you have diverse paths of audio. One huge benefit of IP is that it's available almost everywhere broadband connections are found, whereas ISDN lines require installation and hefty costs. Plus Musicam makes your transition to IP extremely smooth! You can use the IP as your primary connection and keep your ISDN line as a backup. However, if you lose your IP connection, the RoadWarrior automatically switches to ISDN.
Still having doubts? Read what Ken Pursley had to say about using the RoadWarrior at the US Open:
"Covering the US Open tennis, in Flushing Meadow New York, most broadcasters were using ISDN for their
commentary and coordination circuits; however, we seem to be in a transition period and are slowly using IP
transmission more and more. This year, for the first time, I used the Road Warrior and Suprima codecs in both
ISDN and IP mode. The RoadWarrior was used on ISDN for the main program feed with the Suprima running over IP
as a backup. When using IP, the Mpeg Layer 2 format not only gave me the high quality signal, but also saved
money by no longer having to use long distance carriers. Ordering a single DSL line allowed me to share the
circuits with 3 laptops. Once the distant end was called, the codec locked, framed, and was stable for the
entire event. I especially liked the packet loss graphs, which allowed me to monitor the circuit when streaming.
For studio use the Suprima is the way to go, but when on the road, I would recommend using the RoadWarrior
because of its built-in audio mixer."
- RoadWarrior key features include:
- Portable IP & ISDN audio codec (software upgrade via FTP)
- 5-channel mixer with 4-channel IFB talkback
- Automatic ISDN failover
- Supports G.722, MPEG L2/L3, AAC LC, MPEG4 LD, apt-XTM Std & Enh, PCM, and AAC-HE
- LAN interface 10/100 base-T Ethernet for control and audio transmission
- 2-GPIO remote contact closures
- SIP compatibility
Musicam USA has rolled out new software for its IP codec family, including the RoadWarrior, to maximize
flexibility and optimize bandwidth pathways. The new upgrade supports Multi-Unicast connectivity and offers the
AAC-HE algorithm to provide near-transparent audio at relatively low data rates, so you can conserve bandwidth
while preserving your program quality.
Most importantly, real-time information is now available, displaying the jitter and Quality of Service (QOS)
during a connection. So how does this help you? By making use of the RoadWarrior IP buffers, you can manage your
network jitter issues and minimize your audio dropouts with a simple adjustment. Plus this data includes a time
and date stamp that can be used with an alarm or audio logging system to check if audio interruptions were due to
a network disruption.
MUSICAM HAPPENINGS
Sales of Musicam's RoadWarriors and Suprimas are hoppin'. Are you in on the IP action? Voice of America, NPR,
and the Department of Veterans are; they've recently purchased Suprimas and RoadWarriors to make Multicasting
and broadcasting over IP as seamless as possible. Welcome aboard! We're also happy to report our RoadWarrior
facilitated the 9/11 broadcast for 1010 Wins Radio in New York City. More on that in next month’s newsletter.
Not sure what the best audio-IP solution is for you? No problem.
MUSICAM USA associates are here to help you and discuss demo opportunities.
Call 1-732-739-5600, visit us at www.musicamusa.com
or email us at info@musicamusa.com.
