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Codecs recommendation?
- Thread starter mbrg
- Start date
What, specifically is your application? High School Football? Saturday Car Dealership remotes? Live news from the field? Talk show in a remote studio?
There are several very nice products from Telos, Comrex, Tieline, etc...but they all have their strengths and weaknesses. Are you wanting something that will work with 3G? Wifi? Both?
How many input channels do you need in the field? Do you need to transport any remote control contact closures?
With a little more information on your application, I'm sure many users on this board can provide a solid recommendation for you.
There are several very nice products from Telos, Comrex, Tieline, etc...but they all have their strengths and weaknesses. Are you wanting something that will work with 3G? Wifi? Both?
How many input channels do you need in the field? Do you need to transport any remote control contact closures?
With a little more information on your application, I'm sure many users on this board can provide a solid recommendation for you.
Good points. We'd put the Codec to work on our client remotes; those being a couple times a week, sometimes inside a bar, sometimes out on the car lot, so 110 wouldn't always be available. We'd need a battery accessory.
60-90 second reports 3 to 4 times an hour, basic audio requirements; 1 or 2 mics and headphones.
Verizon Wireless is our provider of choice, and all the Wi-Fi hot spots look attractive, so Both modes for connectivity.
One concern I have is at the studio; the "studio" unit won't necessarily be very portable, so we'll have to dedicate a particular studio to record the reports I assume.
60-90 second reports 3 to 4 times an hour, basic audio requirements; 1 or 2 mics and headphones.
Verizon Wireless is our provider of choice, and all the Wi-Fi hot spots look attractive, so Both modes for connectivity.
One concern I have is at the studio; the "studio" unit won't necessarily be very portable, so we'll have to dedicate a particular studio to record the reports I assume.
A portable Tieline Commander G3 will run on a battery and has two inputs and two headphone jacks. It will work with both a wired Internet connection as well as a Mobile Broadband connection. It will also work on a POTS line.
The Comrex Access portable will also run on a battery. Will work on Ethernet, WiFi, 3G or POTS. Only has one input unless you add the portable mixer option.
The Telos Zephyr IP Mixer does not appear to run on a battery. Works on all the standard connection minus POTS. Multiple inputs.
I am most familiar with the Tieline. I have used it on a wired connection with good results. I tried out an Access when they first came out with poor results. I believe that was due to poor Internet connections on my end. I have a friend that has had good results with the Access using a Mobile Broadband connection. The same friend tried out the Zephyr IP with very poor results. Your mileage may vary...
As for the studio end...I normally mount my studio unit in a rack room. The output feeds a DA to feed the different studios. The input is fed by a switcher. I take the mix minus talkback feeds from each studio to feed the switcher. You just need to make sure the correct studio is switched to the unit...
t123
The Comrex Access portable will also run on a battery. Will work on Ethernet, WiFi, 3G or POTS. Only has one input unless you add the portable mixer option.
The Telos Zephyr IP Mixer does not appear to run on a battery. Works on all the standard connection minus POTS. Multiple inputs.
I am most familiar with the Tieline. I have used it on a wired connection with good results. I tried out an Access when they first came out with poor results. I believe that was due to poor Internet connections on my end. I have a friend that has had good results with the Access using a Mobile Broadband connection. The same friend tried out the Zephyr IP with very poor results. Your mileage may vary...
As for the studio end...I normally mount my studio unit in a rack room. The output feeds a DA to feed the different studios. The input is fed by a switcher. I take the mix minus talkback feeds from each studio to feed the switcher. You just need to make sure the correct studio is switched to the unit...
t123
We have the Tieline and the Comrex. Both work well. Demo them in your situation and purchase the one you like best.
Be sure you have the latest ver of firmware in both - they have advanced consioderably since we bought them.
If you sdon't need portability without AC power, the Telos has a bit more comprehensive mixer.
Be sure you have the latest ver of firmware in both - they have advanced consioderably since we bought them.
If you sdon't need portability without AC power, the Telos has a bit more comprehensive mixer.
I have a sports talker and several other clients that have the tieline stuff. They love it. They have very few issues, and when they do have problems it's compliments of the wireless provider.
My money is on a tieline setup. Keep in mind all you really HAVE to have at the studio these days is the Bridge-IT if you don't intend on using any pots telephone lines. That's the biggest difference if you're pricing out the studio end. Also, the commander can do two at the same time, if configured properly.
A nastly little trick I've learned is to get a nice Cradlepoint router like the one sold at Best Buy these days and get more than one wireless company's USB stick. You'll usually find that one of the other will work at nearly any location. You can pick which one works for your particular remote. Yes, it'll cost you more per month, but one lost remote should pay for extra cost and embarrasment really.
Good luck!
My money is on a tieline setup. Keep in mind all you really HAVE to have at the studio these days is the Bridge-IT if you don't intend on using any pots telephone lines. That's the biggest difference if you're pricing out the studio end. Also, the commander can do two at the same time, if configured properly.
A nastly little trick I've learned is to get a nice Cradlepoint router like the one sold at Best Buy these days and get more than one wireless company's USB stick. You'll usually find that one of the other will work at nearly any location. You can pick which one works for your particular remote. Yes, it'll cost you more per month, but one lost remote should pay for extra cost and embarrasment really.
Good luck!
Did you mention that you are recording your reports? Heck just outfit a decent laptop with a verizon PC card and a good mic/interface setup..and EMAIL the remote segments directly to the board-op. If they have to record them at the station anyway..just eliminate that extra step..record your cutaways, and send them in 128kbps mp3 format..90 sec would only take about 1 min or so to upload and send..use Adobe audition or Audion to record..get a mic interface like a mic port pro and any really good mic of your choice and you will have an outstanding sounding remote system..If you need two micas and a headphone setup nearly any USB mic interface box like the ones made by M-Audio or Cakewalk will fill that need..at under 250.00!
At a station I do work with..we use a Sennheiser wireless mic system. I start the recoding, and go out to do my thing..come back and edit it..send it..and it is on the air in FULL quality in less than 5 min.
Don't get me wrong..I am a huge fan of the Comrex Access system..but to save a boatload of money..do it on a laptop..and email your audio.
At a station I do work with..we use a Sennheiser wireless mic system. I start the recoding, and go out to do my thing..come back and edit it..send it..and it is on the air in FULL quality in less than 5 min.
Don't get me wrong..I am a huge fan of the Comrex Access system..but to save a boatload of money..do it on a laptop..and email your audio.
Yep, we've looked at a bunch of alternatives; recording then e-mailing or transferring via PCAnywhere (would allow automatic importing), Windows Media Encoder, Skype, etc.
Management wants a seemless operation at the remote and pro-looking gear and the minimum the announcer has to worry about; goodbye Marti and aiming the yagi towards the receive site!
We got a quote on a Tieline pair (thanks OKC for the heads-up about the studio end btw) $800 for a Verizon 3G card (specifically, a plug in module(?)). If I went with Telos, wouldn't I just get a USB device or SIM card from Verizon? Good suggestion about having 2 different providers' "sticks" at a remote to give some options/redundancy, so would I be "tied" down to Tieline and Verizon with that $800 module?
thanks for bringing me along,,,
g
Management wants a seemless operation at the remote and pro-looking gear and the minimum the announcer has to worry about; goodbye Marti and aiming the yagi towards the receive site!
We got a quote on a Tieline pair (thanks OKC for the heads-up about the studio end btw) $800 for a Verizon 3G card (specifically, a plug in module(?)). If I went with Telos, wouldn't I just get a USB device or SIM card from Verizon? Good suggestion about having 2 different providers' "sticks" at a remote to give some options/redundancy, so would I be "tied" down to Tieline and Verizon with that $800 module?
thanks for bringing me along,,,
g
Yes. If you bought the internal module you'd be tied to that provider. You may be able to swtich between two different GSM providers by changing SIMs. that I don't know. I don't think there's any good way to change between two CDMA guys though. I wouldn't think even changing sims would be a great idea really. Here's something else I forgot to mention to you. If you already have an iPhone in the company with the old unlimited data plan, you can use a 350 dollar iPhone app to connect to a tieline back at the station. You could still get another service, maybe one of those hotspot units like the mifi from VZ or the sprint little wifi unit. The iPhone would then connect to that other service via WIFI as an alternate to ATT. The nice thing about that is there would be less cost and the number of cords, etc. would go wayyyyy down. 
Good luck!
Good luck!
Also remember that the tieline can use a standard RJ45 for Internet. So if you have the verizon card and its not working you can always pug in to the clients Internet or have a wifi gate way to attach to there hot spot and convert to wired. We have several tielines and have been fairly happy with them. Also configured properly you can run two field units to one studio with discrete feeds to the "Left" and "Right" sides
You can also plug the TieLine/Access into a laptop with a crossover cable & "share" the connection from the laptop's internal Sprint/AT&T/WiFi/etc. modems.
Re: Codecs recommendation/Stereo?
So I have my 2 G3 Commander Demo units (both field models as per Tielines' policy) and am pretty much good-to-go, albeit just in time for the weekend (flipping to Christmas Friday and 5 remotes over Sat & Sun).
One of the remotes will have 2 talents. I'd love to use stereo and give them a little separation on their mics; just pan Mic 1 a bit left and Mic 2 a bit right. Can I do that on a 2 channel Commander with out an extra mixer?
I may get the answer from my first question, but do these units work for stereo "STL", specifically the separation?
I may be missing the answer without having the actual studio unit.
Thanks,
g
So I have my 2 G3 Commander Demo units (both field models as per Tielines' policy) and am pretty much good-to-go, albeit just in time for the weekend (flipping to Christmas Friday and 5 remotes over Sat & Sun).
One of the remotes will have 2 talents. I'd love to use stereo and give them a little separation on their mics; just pan Mic 1 a bit left and Mic 2 a bit right. Can I do that on a 2 channel Commander with out an extra mixer?
I may get the answer from my first question, but do these units work for stereo "STL", specifically the separation?
I may be missing the answer without having the actual studio unit.
Thanks,
g
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