• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Comrex Access, Is it still the King of the remote possibilities??

W

WestsideBulldog

We are searching for the best possible way to cover our remotes.

We were given the following guidelines -

1. We are in need to remove the use of the cell phone sound on non studio LIVE production and reports.
2. Skype is not permitted.
3. All IP connections are to be the focus to bring recurring cost down and limit the need for pots lines.
4. Full 15k audio sound with low delay is desired for sports and live events. (AAC)
5. Easy, quick set-up and use.

We do have a comrex access rack unit used very little donated by past employee who retired.

Remotes consist of sponsor remotes (3-4 month) , live interviews (3-4 month), sports 20-30 year.

Of course Tieline and a few others out there besides Comrex, but I liked the idea of the Comrex Remote T Server which helps with the easy set-up with those using the portable unite in the field. Tieline does not offer this service or option as of yet and mentions it to be available for many months now.

Any opinions or option ideas welcome!
 
I'm obviously biased so I'll only offer the fact that new ACCESS now come with AAC upgrade at no extra charge. And your rack can already decode AAC modes without the upgrade. Which is good because AAC-ELD really is the best option for remotes. Oh, and we now support 4G dongles (Clear WiMAX and Verizon LTE)
Tom Hartnett
Comrex
 
WB, no contact is necessary. Any new order comes with AAC turned on. If you'd like to discuss, our crack support team has the details at 800-237-1776.
 
I am surprised you didn't mention Telos. They are the only real competitor to Comrex in terms of the sophistication of the technology. They also have an off-site-sever-based technology to overcome the firewall issues.

Yes, the Telos Z/IPs started with the large and showy, but they now have an Access rack mount sized box. Since your requirements do not include battery power, you should consider them.

Barix offer a service for easy setup. It it require adding hops to the audio path which is non-optimum, but it is a convenient option.

APT (now Worldcast Systems: APT; www.aptcodecs.com) has some interesting IP products for remotes (as well as very impressive multi-station STL options). The APT approach eschews all the adaptive features of the Comrex/Telos technologies. Instead it takes advantage of certain aspects of the apt-X algorithm that allows impressive performance. Not sure where they are in terms of getting around fire walls. I know there were some knowledgable users that found them the hands-on-winner in trsts, but only if you knew how to configure everything.

WestsideBulldog said:
We are searching for the best possible way to cover our remotes.

We were given the following guidelines -

<sNIP>
Of course Tieline and a few others out there besides Comrex, but I liked the idea of the Comrex Remote T Server which helps with the easy set-up with those using the portable unite in the field. Tieline does not offer this service or option as of yet and mentions it to be available for many months now.

Any opinions or option ideas welcome!
Click to expand...
 
The last station I worked for did a regular remote from an amusement park using a Telos Zephyr. I think it may have been ISDN it seems like it used two phone numbers. Does that seem right? I can tell you the sound was excellent, it sounded like studio audio.
 
Westside you mentioned sports. The Comrex ACCESS is a good choice but no 3G or 4G solution is a good choice where you have an unusual number of people in a single location (think college tailgate broadcast). You will still need some sort of dedicated solution (POTS or IP) to get the broadcast on the air.

Dr. Bob
 
@ Westside, Since you have an access why not just use it? Ther're plenty of solutions for local remote broadcast.Skype is widely used,the little Barix 100 units and the Tieline Bridge IT works great.I would suggest using dedicated IP where possible..
 
boiseengineer said:
TheManBehindTheMic said:
Curious, why is Skype "not permitted"? Skype can work very well with the appropriate connection and a small mixer... nearly studio quality (as you probably know)
Click to expand...
It is somewhat a PITA to make the required announcements when you use it for "Broadcast" purposes.
http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/legal/terms/broadcast/
Or is everyone just ignoring their EULA?
Click to expand...

YES!
The suits tell us and have spoken to the suits at Skype about the issue. We have been told in 2011 they will be enforcing the REQUIREMENTS for using Skype in Broadcasts without required announcements or placements. Have been told to expect new requirements and agreements will be released very soon for broadcasts.
 
Further to Dr. Bob's point, I would qualify the "no 3G or 4G solution is a good choice where you have an unusual number of people in a single location" and suggest that if you have coverage, my testing shows Verizon 4G LTE is currently providing an "ISDN-like" experience. Yes, that may well change as the service grows more popular, but a free ride is still a good thing while it lasts :)
 
RolfTaylor said:
I am surprised you didn't mention Telos. They are the only real competitor to Comrex in terms of the sophistication of the technology. They also have an off-site-sever-based technology to overcome the firewall issues.

Yes, the Telos Z/IPs started with the large and showy, but they now have an Access rack mount sized box. Since your requirements do not include battery power, you should consider them.

Barix offer a service for easy setup. It it require adding hops to the audio path which is non-optimum, but it is a convenient option.

APT (now Worldcast Systems: APT; www.aptcodecs.com) has some interesting IP products for remotes (as well as very impressive multi-station STL options). The APT approach eschews all the adaptive features of the Comrex/Telos technologies. Instead it takes advantage of certain aspects of the apt-X algorithm that allows impressive performance. Not sure where they are in terms of getting around fire walls. I know there were some knowledgable users that found them the hands-on-winner in trsts, but only if you knew how to configure everything.

WestsideBulldog said:
We are searching for the best possible way to cover our remotes.

We were given the following guidelines -

<sNIP>
Of course Tieline and a few others out there besides Comrex, but I liked the idea of the Comrex Remote T Server which helps with the easy set-up with those using the portable unite in the field. Tieline does not offer this service or option as of yet and mentions it to be available for many months now.

Any opinions or option ideas welcome!
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Thanks for the ideas. Here is what I have encountered,

Retail Pricing listed on varies sites for Telos equipment alone is far more than that of the Comrex so was not even considered.

The Barix 100 has been tested but never can get it to work properly thru reflector service. Still working on it.

Third week waiting for an answer on when or if a server/reflector solution from Tieline is an option.
 
comrex said:
Further to Dr. Bob's point, I would qualify the "no 3G or 4G solution is a good choice where you have an unusual number of people in a single location" and suggest that if you have coverage, my testing shows Verizon 4G LTE is currently providing an "ISDN-like" experience. Yes, that may well change as the service grows more popular, but a free ride is still a good thing while it lasts :)
Click to expand...

Comrex,

Since we now have Clear Wi-Max in our area of many remotes we will be doing, what USB doggle/modem have been seen working well? What mode were they running (ACC?)
 
Firmware version 2.8 (due out in a week) supports what Clear calls the "4G Mobile USB modem". We currently can't support the S series modem, (that's the round one) but we're working on it.

Another choice is to use the desktop style modem and cable it to the codec via ethernet. This may have some advantage since WiMax runs at 2.4GHz and building penetration can be a challenge if the signal is weak. That way you can place the modem near a window.

WiMax delivers somewhere between 500K-1Mbit on the upload side. So any encoder in the box short of linear PCM should be fine. AAC-LD would be a pretty good choice, or ELD if you use it a lot and have a data cap on your plan.

Tom Hartnett
Comrex
 
We use the Tieline gear. I prefer the Tieline field unit to the Comrex based solely on the layout. The Tieline has large knobs and works well when wearing gloves.

There seems to be a move towards smaller and smaller, which I believe is a mistake. The smaller units make displays more difficult to see and more attention must be given when pressing buttons, grabbing knobs and turning them. In real world applications, most operators are in a hurry and are multi-trasking: the larger units with larger displays and larger spaced knobs and buttons accomodate this environment better.

Some of the half rackmount units would be easier to use if they were simply expanded to single rackmount units and, thus, the displays and controls were larger. An example of this is the JK Audio Remote Mix 4. Yes, it's compact, but it would be easier to use on cold days (wearing gloves) if it were larger and the controls were spacer farther apart. To me, the BRIC is also a little too small, even for a studio unit. What these units gain in size reduction, they lose in usability in a hurried environment, IMHO :)

All that said, I think Comrex excels at customer service. If I had an equipment issue, I would much rather talk to Comrex than Tieline. Our choice of Tieline was based solely on our demo field reports. Our folks just prefered the larger Tieline units.
 
WestsideBulldog said:
YES!
The suits tell us and have spoken to the suits at Skype about the issue. We have been told in 2011 they will be enforcing the REQUIREMENTS for using Skype in Broadcasts without required announcements or placements. Have been told to expect new requirements and agreements will be released very soon for broadcasts.
Click to expand...

Skype is based on SIP technology, even though it is not standard SIP. There is no reason that you cannot create a peer-to-peer wideband SIP connection that operates identically with Skype but without going through their server. I'm exploring doing just that using a SIP client, such as X-Lite. The technology has been around a long time, but it's new to me. People are probably already doing what I'm suggesting, but I haven't seen them yet. Skype is just going to take themselves out of the running.

By the way, a Gmail-to-Gmail voice chat is very close to Skype quality. Don't knock it before you try it. Google does not have the same terms of service that Skype does. Bonus thought: I wonder if you have to give Skype credit if you pay for the service, like I do. In any case, high quality audio is easy now. Video is a lot tougher.
 
SIP (and its companion protocol SAP) have to do with setting up connections (and codecs). There is a lot more to Skype (and Pro IP codecs like Comrex and Telos) than call establishment.

SIP by itself does not address most firewall-related issues

The vast majority of Pro Audio codecs now support the EBU "ACIP (Audio Contribution over IP) Standard". This calls for SIP as the call establishment layer.

Unfortunately, the folks at the EBU assume that users will have proper "purpose-built" networks that include QoS mechanisms. Consequently, the clever stuff (error concealment, adaptive buffering, and adaptive bit rates) is not part of the standard and remains more-or-less proprietary. That said, because of the ACIP standard the vast majority of IP codecs out there do have the ability to communicate.

pellmell said:
Skype is based on SIP technology, even though it is not standard SIP. There is no reason that you cannot create a peer-to-peer wideband SIP connection that operates identically with Skype but without going through their server.
Click to expand...
 
comrex said:
Firmware version 2.8 (due out in a week) supports what Clear calls the "4G Mobile USB modem". We currently can't support the S series modem, (that's the round one) but we're working on it.

Another choice is to use the desktop style modem and cable it to the codec via ethernet. This may have some advantage since WiMax runs at 2.4GHz and building penetration can be a challenge if the signal is weak. That way you can place the modem near a window.

WiMax delivers somewhere between 500K-1Mbit on the upload side. So any encoder in the box short of linear PCM should be fine. AAC-LD would be a pretty good choice, or ELD if you use it a lot and have a data cap on your plan.

Tom Hartnett
Comrex

Thanks Tom for the news. Looking Forward to using our unit with Wi-Max.
Click to expand...
 
We're impressed with the credit card sized Sprint 3G/4G WiFi Hotspot! The Access WiFI card likes it.
Used it to broadcast a last minute press conference Monday (Petersen announcing he is staying at Boise State). Flawless for the hour & sounded like the L3 ISDN.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom