Volume 6
October 19, 2007
1010 WINS Radio, NYC
Musicam's RoadWarrior is not just an IP codec with a hot, sleek design. It's also a solution for saving money, having peace of mind, and knowing you’ll have the highest possible audio quality when you arrive at your remote broadcast destination. Basically, the RoadWarrior is two codecs in one: IP and ISDN. You may be content with your ISDN codec with another backup ISDN line, but who wants to risk arriving at a broadcast site, only to find the phone company hasn't delivered what it promised? And why be behind the technology curve at the same time?
IP is here, it's hot, and it saves you money, not to mention stress! With IP, you don't have to pay long distance carriers to be connected. In fact, all you need is an internet connection! Sounds pretty good, huh? And it's painless to embrace IP! It's 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.
Here's what Engineer Chris Tobin had to say about using the RoadWarrior at the WTC 9/11 broadcast:
"I was presented with a challenge for the NYC 9/11 Memorial service because we could not broadcast from the traditional location, Zuccotti Park, due to the live media embargo during the ringing of the bells. Because I was faced with an office location that did not support ISDN, the solution was to opt for Musicam's RoadWarrior using MPEG 2 over IP.
The IT staff at the office of our alternate location enabled us to access the internet through their Firewall DMZ, allowing me to connect the RoadWarrior to our studio Suprima the night before the broadcast. During the 12-hour test period, I accessed Suprima's internal web server from my home laptop to verify the status of the connection. The following morning on 9/11, we arrived to find our studio connection still fully functional. We began the process of deploying our wireless microphones and IFBs in order for our three street reporters to roam the WTC/Ground Zero area freely.
I made use of the split-codec feature to allow MPEG 2 audio for the broadcast and the low-latency G.722 for the return “IFB cues.” The result was outstanding broadcast-quality audio and our six-hour broadcast went off without a hitch. Everyone was pleased with the outcome! It's good to know there’s a product this reliable!
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- 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
The RoadWarrior, a member of Musicam USA's IP codec family, comes with a software upgrade that supports Multi-Unicast connectivity and the AAC-HE algorithm. Now you can maximize flexibility and optimize bandwidth pathways, while providing near-transparent audio at relatively low data rates.
Most importantly, real-time information is also available, displaying the jitter and Quality of Service (QOS) during a connection. You can manage your network jitter issues and minimize your audio dropouts with a simple buffer control 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
Those who have purchased Musicam's RoadWarriors and Suprimas know our IP codecs really pack a punch. When it came down to choosing the right one for the Taylor vs. Pavlik boxing match, the Suprima got a ringside seat to broadcast all the action September 29th from Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ! We were kind of jealous.
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.
