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BARIX EXTREMER 110

M

menotti1

Guest
Announces aacPlus v2 Functionality in New Exstreamer 110 IP Audio Decoder


Barix Announces aacPlus v2 Functionality in New Exstreamer 110 IP Audio Decoder
Introduction of AAC+ decoding improves sound quality for customers, reduces network bandwidth required for streaming.

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND, February 14, 2008 — Barix AG, a pioneer in IP-based audio, intercom, control, and monitoring, announces the availability of aacPlus (v1 and v2) compression in its new Exstreamer 110 IP audio decoder this spring, bringing more cost and quality benefits to radio broadcasters for audio transport over IP. The Exstreamer 110 will be on display for radio broadcasters for the first time at NAB2008. (Las Vegas Convention Center, April 14-17, Booth #N8036).

Barix Exstreamer IP audio decoders are the de facto standard for low-cost decoding in the radio broadcast industry, with a large global installation base. aacPlus v2 builds on the success of MPEG-4 aacPlus, or Advanced Audio Coding, to significantly improve compression rates over the initial release as well as MP3. Radio broadcasters distributing content over the Internet to Exstreamer 110 decoders can use aacPlus v2 compression to significantly reduce bandwidth or improve audio quality.

The Exstreamer 110, a bargain at $249 U.S., is ideal for radio broadcasters who require point-to-multipoint distribution and wish to take advantage of the reduced bandwidth or higher quality afforded by aacPlus v2. Far less expensive than satellite distribution or other aacPlus-capable decoders on the market, broadcasters can save thousands of dollars distributing program audio over the Internet to Exstreamer 110 decoders at multiple destination points, such as studios or transmitter sites.

“Radio broadcasters can achieve the same quality as MP3 and significantly reduce their transport costs by cutting the required bandwidth in half using aacPlus version 2 in the Exstreamer 110,” said Johannes G. Rietschel, CEO and Founder of Barix AG. “The alternative is to significantly raise the audio quality by using the same bit rate with aacPlus v2 compression as previously used with MP3. This means broadcasters that upgrade from a 128 kpbs MP3 stream to a 128 kpbs aacPlus v2 stream will experience exceptional audio quality.”

The Exstreamer 110 retains all the functionality of the popular Exstreamer 100 IP audio decoder and adds a backlit 2×16 character LCD to display stream metadata or file information, such as station identification and artist/title information. The Exstreamer 110 also includes a built-in relay to trigger an EAS stream, station identification, or local announcement. A built-in remote control receiver enables channel selection from a variety of audio streams, ideal for redundancy protection.
 
oldiesstation said:
Same codec option on the new Barix 1000 would make it a HUGE seller at a great price point.Now we're talkin..
Click to expand...

I'll bet they do it. They'd be crazy not to.....and these guys are not crazy.....
 
I was told by the Stream Guys that the 1000's weren't shipping until late-May at the earliest due to "a major problem with the beta units". Anyone know if there's any validity to this? Fwiw, they didn't even know what I was talking about when I asked them for info on it - they had to call someone about it.
-D
 
Not speaking for Barix, it would not hurt them to get on this board and discuss their products, the 1000 is going thru beta testing which is what most manufactures do to weed out potential bugs.But when it is ready for prime time, i feel it will be a very serious player at a hard to beat price point.If Mr. Foti FINDS time to be ON THE BOARD ,SO SHOULD BARIX. IMHO
 
Barix is on the board!

The Exstreamer 1000 will introduce just after NAB. The Exstreamer 110 will have AAC, but I'm not sure if the 1000 will. I have emailed Switzerland for more information and should have it later today.

Disclaimer: I do Barix N. American tech support.
 
I heard from Zuirich and unfortunately the encoders will not have AAC+ encoding capability in the near future, though I'm told the Exstreamer 100 and 200 soon will (via a firmware update).

The problems are both hardware and licensing (the professional licensing fees for AAC+ are enormous, and Barix is a small company).
 
so the lower price Barix models will be able to encode and decode AAC+ and HE AAC ? i just don't care to use mp3 files for primary STL, but would not be opposed to the AAC codec at all, and not have to pay the money for the 1000 and use PCM.
 
sorry la guy,i misread your post.the barix 110 will only decode AAC not Encode.Correct??thanks, well heck...
 
You may want to include ADPCM such as apt-X on your preferred list. It is uniquely cascadable with the advantage over Linear PCM, of 4:1 compression.

It also has inherent error concealment in that its lack of framing means that dropouts are so short as to be virtually inaudible.

So please don't forget Enhanced apt-X, both in our hardware and other's, for high quality, excellent cascadability, and as many as 4 stereo feeds on a T1. We do offer MPEG too when higher compression ratios are required.

La Guy, is there psycho-acoustic error concealment on these products, or simply FEC or packet re-transmission schemes?

Rolf Taylor

Applications/Support Engineer

APT North America Laguy did you get a response from Zurich on the post about using pcm for stl on the 1000 model barix?
 
menotti1 said:
sorry la guy,i misread your post.the barix 110 will only decode AAC not Encode.Correct??thanks, well heck...
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Yes, the decoders will decode AAC+, just like the present decoders will decode Windows Media (wma) streams. The licensing cost for the encoder is MUCH higher then for the decoders (like 40 or 50 times).
 
if they could do the aac codec (decoder) on the 1000 ,would it not be possible to use another product like comrex,apt-x,tieline to do the AAC encoding at the studio end and still realize a good cost saving.
 
Yes the 1000 with AAC and AAC+ would be an awesome product. I understand that any AAC+ product normally does AAC as well as AAC+ is an addon to the AAC standard.

This would allow a buget STL link using the 1000 at the Studio and an Exstreamer 110 at the TX.

Considering the delays Barix are now facing on the 1000, perhaps they can use this time to license and implement AAC/AAC+ encoding in the firmware. I'm sure it would really boost the sales of the product as MP3 is so outdated these days, especially for an STL application. AAC @ 128k however would be extremely usable and at AAC @ 192k is regarded as 'CD Quality'.

Even if this means an increase of $100 to cover the cost of the AAC license, it definately wouldn't cost sales of the product considering the big boost in quality and functionality!
 
BofH said:
Yes the 1000 with AAC and AAC+ would be an awesome product. I understand that any AAC+ product normally does AAC as well as AAC+ is an addon to the AAC standard.
Even if this means an increase of $100 to cover the cost of the AAC license, it definately wouldn't cost sales of the product considering the big boost in quality and functionality!
Click to expand...
I'd even go an additional $200+/per as the feature is that important to the app I am considering. Perhaps make it option? Can AAC licensing be purchased per product by Barix? Or would they need to purchase a blanket license then keep a running total for the units sold with it?
-D
 
Barix needs to think"outside the box".i don't think they realize what a budget STL and other applications could do for them with both an ACC encoder and decoder.They are probably thinking the Barix 1000 with the PCM would be better and offer uncompressed wav for STL.Just my thoughts on the issue, one thing it may do is drive down the prices of these other units like tieline,apt,comrex,etc..and some engineers still think the old analog STL is still the way to go,hard to believe with today's technology,but i know it's Tried and True...
 
BofH said:
Considering the delays Barix are now facing on the 1000, perhaps they can use this time to license and implement AAC/AAC+ encoding in the firmware. I'm sure it would really boost the sales of the product as MP3 is so outdated these days, especially for an STL application. AAC @ 128k however would be extremely usable and at AAC @ 192k is regarded as 'CD Quality'.

Even if this means an increase of $100 to cover the cost of the AAC license, it definately wouldn't cost sales of the product considering the big boost in quality and functionality!
Click to expand...

There is little wrong with MP3 that isn't quite well resolved by using a bit more bandwidth. A decent encoder runnning at 256 kbps + is just fine.

AAC is better, but AAC+ should be used only where there is not other option.

In any case, the higher the compression ratio the more you need to worry about multiple passes of coding. I am assuming the guys who are advocating AAC at 128 for STLs (not you LA Guy, the end users) have fully linear airchains/source up to the STL? If not, you had better ramp up the rate or you will have periodic bouts of poor audio depending on the pedigree of the piece.

And if you DO ramp up the rate, then MP3, MP2 and APTX all become good options as the rate goes up.

Also don't forget that none of the algorithms are designed to deal with hyper compressed material.

These algorithms are expensive, so it is far better to have a few, carefully selected, than to give you more choice, assuming you want an "econo" box. AAC+ in particular requires a large amount of processing resources so that works agaonst you as well.
 
RealityCheckr , so i guess we're back to this setup. the Barix 1000 ,PCM mode, ubiquity power station 5 ethernets radios,short 1500 ft to tower, clear line of site, dedicated path, which laguy and i agree should work fine, Your thoughts,please.
 
One codec that has been thrown into the discussion is Ogg Vorbis. This codec works well at 128K and being freeware, would not add significantly to the cost of the unit. I have used this codec and found it quite good sounding. Has anyone else used it and have an opinion?
 
i bet if you took a cut off a cd,encoded it to ogg vorbis and aac, they would be so comparable you could not tell the difference.would Flac work just as well? good point about the ogg vorbis. is that the same codec that Otsjuke uses?
 
FLAC

FLAC is a lossless codec, but generally only offers 2:1 compression.


MP3 at the quality level of 7 (the highest that the Instreamer allows) is a 192 kbps variable bit rate stream. It compares well to a 256K constant rate bit stream. Golden ears have not been able to tell the difference between this stream and linear (CD) audio. It's quality is far superior then FM broadcasat quality (and WAY better then the 96K IBOC-FM codec).
 
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