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Barix Reflector Service

C

ChiefEngineer

Anyone using this? We have been experimenting since August with the service. It had been very reliable until yesterday.

The problem is no dount the result of buying additional equipment and making a committment to the platform. It just shut down and no amount of trying has brought it to life.

We power cycled the send unit Instreamer. This brought no results. No one from Barix support has responded to phone or email requests for help. This morning, nearly 24 hours after it stopped, we power cycled the equipment at the send end , again, and it started working.

Did Barix have a stream outage or server outage with Streamguys? Has anyone else used the service?

We have the equipment in place to do 2 streams for both our networks. When we enabled Network 2 at the send end, no problem. When we enabled it at the first receive site, dead audio. Thinking this was isolated we did it at site 2 and found both the original reflector path and reflector path 2 had stuttering. It appears you cannot use two decoders at once at one site. Any ideas on getting around this? Routing, etc? barix indicates there is no need to make routing changes.

Do I go back to my less reliable mp3 streams to my sites?
 
The Reflector service is dead again. We have green status lights everywhere and no audio.

The support for Barix is on Switzerland time and no replies from the overnight emails. There is a Minnesota support number but this was answering machine yesterday before closing time and no callback.

We had been using the exstreamers with computer mp3 encoders and then a switch at streemgeeks began cascading audio dropouts. The switch to all Barix was an effort to end the problems and it just seems a deep hole.

Is anyone else using Barix and in what configuration?
 
Barix support # 1 866-815-0866. email support at barix.com and live chat on their site, their support is really good. Got real good info from live chat.The Barix 500 is a red hot seller.dealers moving stock quickly.
 
I have never used the reflector service because I always setup a static IP address at either the send end or the receive end. I have had good luck with Internet providers giving me a Static IP address for free with a 3-year contract. So, I just push audio or pull audio directly from the static IP and I don't have to mess with Barix Reflector. I can give you the exact setup info if you'd like.

I use them in a point-to-point configuration for an STL at one station, and I use a BUNCH of them in a broadcast type setup to send sports shows to a lot of affiliates. I have to say, in 3 years I haven't had any trouble with any of them.
 
Lazy J said:
I have never used the reflector service because I always setup a static IP address at either the send end or the receive end. I have had good luck with Internet providers giving me a Static IP address for free with a 3-year contract. So, I just push audio or pull audio directly from the static IP and I don't have to mess with Barix Reflector. I can give you the exact setup info if you'd like.

I use them in a point-to-point configuration for an STL at one station, and I use a BUNCH of them in a broadcast type setup to send sports shows to a lot of affiliates. I have to say, in 3 years I haven't had any trouble with any of them.
Click to expand...
Chief,
I am using Barix instreamers and exstreamers (100's) on two paths and talked extensively with their two tech support guys getting them set up. I also conversed with one of their upper level sales guys regarding reflector. Here are my thoughts:
I am very happy with the performance vs price that Barix has given us. I have received very good tech support from them too at the 866 number given (press 1 for the US line, as noted they are on MN time). As for Reflector, it is primarily a StreamGuys product being marketed by Barix to promote the newer 500 series boxes. If I were you I would be on the phone to StreamGuys since your problem seems to be a network problem, not a hardware problem.

Given the sparse documentation with the Barix boxes, and the multiple choices of routers, ect that they need to work with, I see reflector marketed as an alternative to having an engineer/IT guy pull his hair out getting them set up. But that said, once they are set up, they pretty much hum along forever. The only crashes I have had in my network has been ISP issues, and a router taking a dump a couple of times- no problem with Barix. So, take the time and work through the setup issues up front with direct Barix to Barix STL (brtp) configurations, and during daytime hours when Barix US support is awake, and you will sleep easier later. And remember, you mentioned the investment in the Barix hardware. It can be reconfigured, might need new firmware, to work directly and not through the Reflector so if you ultimately find the external network to be the problem, you have the stuff to do it in hand.

You mentioned stuttering, less reliable mp3 streams, and problems with 2 decoders at one site. Do you have enough bandwith available there? With the Barix brtp configuration you can have up to 6 streams hooked up to one Instreamer (so I'm told). I have cable internet at our main studio sending our programming out but am hobbled with crappy DSL lines at our transmitter sites out in rural areas, again not a Barix problem. But considering I started out sending programming out via Windows Media encoder to computers with Media Players at our sites this has been a HUGE improvement in quality and reliability.

BTW I'm just a guy with a couple of small radio stations, but I was turned on to Barix by a long time friend and chief technology guru with a large group of stations in CA whose opinion I value very highly. I'm just sayin'.............
 
Nostalgia said:
...Do you have enough bandwith available there? With the Barix brtp configuration you can have up to 6 streams hooked up to one Instreamer (so I'm told)...
Click to expand...

Actually, per the Instreamer manual, BRTP can connect one Instreamer to 32 Exstreamers. I have one network with 40 affiliates and I split then between two Instreamers. The cable internet bill is a couple hundred bucks, but thats dirt cheap for a network that size.
 
Having done Barix support for almost 4 years now, I have found that 99.5% of the problems that people have are due to network problems-NOT the Barix units themselves.
The reflector service is a good way to deal with most firewall issues, since you are pushing to their network with your sender and pulling from it with your receiver. That said, I have seen firewalls in routers that blocked all UDP packets from even being pulled through them. Also more and more ISPs seem to be blocking ports and UDP (probably to stop Vonage and other VOIP services from working so you are forced to buy their IP phone service). At least once a week I get a call from someone whose units stopped working after a long time-and setting them up on TCP/IP most always brings things back.
Finally, do yourself a favor-DON'T use junk home networking stuff at your station! I can't tell you how many times people have called me with problems and when I ask what kind of router they have they tell me they are using a 20 dollar Netgear, Belkin, Trendnet or other house brand cheapo unit they bought at WalMart or online. Invariably, they replace it and things are all better. Use a Linksys WRT-54GL or BEFSR41 as a minimum-both can be had for about 50 dollars.
Some of the Linksys, ASUS units, and the high end Belkin and Netgear stuff can be loaded with DD-WRT or other third party firmware, making for a nice reasonably priced high performance unit. You wouldn't use Radio Shack coax to hook up to your antenna, why use junk networking gear in your STL?
 
My Instreamer 100 and Exstreamer 100 came in today. Set them up on the Reflector Service in fairly short order. Pretty cool stuff...

t123
 
Folks-

I wish to comment on LA_Guys comment about using quality routers. Folks, do yourself a favor and throw your Linksys, Netgear, Belkin, and the rest of the consumer trash into the garbage and move to a professional solution. My suggestion:

I made the change about two years ago to the Mikrotik routers and switches. Since then, I have deployed many and have never had a slow down, hang, or other problem. At one station, I have a Mikrotik router plugged into a UPS, and it has been running non-stop without issue for over 16 MONTHS! (yes, over a year). My other routers have been up for almost 10 MONTHS now. And, yes, these routers are used in harsh usage environments. Oh, and did I mention that the prices start at about $70, and the granddaddy (450G) costs only about $120??

These routers are so stable because they are built for the harsh ISP industry. My RB750G (only $70) has true QoS, VLAN, bandwidth limiting, subnetting and just about everything you can imagine. I have mine configured to subnet the station so that the computer segments are invisible to one another (192.168.22.xxx, 192.168.33.xxx, 192.168.44.xxx), and it has a built in NTP server that I use to time sync all computers. They just introduced a 5-port "smart switch" (250) that costs only $40.

The only downside is that they can be so complex that it takes awhile to learn to configure the routers. They can be plug-and-play, but if you wish to add advance features, then you'll need to learn the system. But your effort will be well rewarded.

Seriously, folks, use these routers and any router problems will be forever gone.

www.mikrotik.com

(I'm not affiliated with this company, only wish to pass along a great suggestion)
 
I have been working out kinks. A PM form Lazy J was helpful. I found that the dyndns usage is less than what I thought it would be. I am getting a static ip which i hope will help.

We have been using netgear routers for years. Setup is simple. I have had a few get hit by Zap the lightning king. Last I heard everything was working well.

There is a need to reload factory defaults which may have worked a few bugs out too.
 
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