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Need Help: IceCast streaming - Omnia A/XE or Orban

N

nayan

Guest
I need to broadcast 25+ audio channels on to internet, iOS devices and Android. I am planning to do IceCast streaming since it is supported by all the mobile devices. I also need to do RTMP flash for website. I am researching two vendors: Orban Opticodec and Omnia A/XE. There is a huge price difference between these vendors. Just wondering if I need to have 99.999% uptime, does Orban make more sense or Omnia still do the job? Also does anyone know which broadcaster or radio station uses what: orban vs. Omnia? any list available on net? I know, Clear Channel uses both products. Any help here please? Thanks
 
I use AX/E... never had any downtime and the price is right.

Use a SSD for your hard drive for the boot drive and you'll be fine.
 
Clear Channel "standardized" on Orban PC 1101 for streaming.
 
There's not only a price difference... The sound of Omnia AX\E doesn't even come close to the sound of the PC1101.
How many sources (stations?) are offered. What are you feeding AX\E or PC1101 with? Processed audio, leveled audio (from for example a Compellor or Ariane) or unprocessed audio from the board?

You could also consider a virtual PC/Server setup with multiple instances of Breakaway Live. Since you are streaming you can send audio through virtual cables and would only need one soundcard per source. It offers the sound of the PC1101 for the price of Omnia AX/E. It does require a bit more effort to set up the streaming though. Or you could combine Breakaway Live (processing) and Omnia AX/E (streaming)...
 
Thanks all. My plan is to feed AES/EBU Livewire Audio (Audio Over IP) to either Orban or Omnia. Since price is a huge difference, I am thinking to go with Omnia but if quality is a big difference then I need to rethink. Do anyone know any open link that I can compare between Omnia and Orban? My understanding is, AAC+ quality would be same regardless of vendor.

Since you have been using Omnia for many channels, what are the link that I can try to listen? Thanks
 
I might be wrong but I was always in the impression that the PC-1101 does processing for one source? Like traditional processing. So I don't really see why people would come up with the PC-1101 in relation to the AX/E. PC-1101 is hardware based, AX/E is software based. With AX/E you can do multiple sources and have multi instances. And Omnia AX/E will do multi codec encoding to support multi device. No the processing won't be near an pc-1101 but this might not be what you need at all. If streaming/codec choice is what you're asking go for the Omnia.
 
richard.vanderveen said:
There's not only a price difference... The sound of Omnia AX\E doesn't even come close to the sound of the PC1101.
Click to expand...

We use Omnia A/X E and our streams sound as good, or better than those whom are using the Orban product.
 
Is your Omnia A/XE streams available for me to listen? Can you let me know the link? Thanks
 
You will need 25x PC-1101 cards if you go with Orban and have 25 PCIe slots in you PC(s) to slot those cards in. I think the motherboards on the market max out at 8x PCIe slots. So you're looking at 3 or more PCs with these extensive motherboards. With Omnia A/XE (as it's a software and a quite efficient one) you could almost run all instances on the same, albeit powerful, PC.

Omnia has a built-in Livewire driver so with it will just be the cases of selecting your sources. With Orban, you will have to figure out how to feed the PC-1101 cards with Livewire. Either a Livewire multichannel driver + something like VAC (and 25 of those). Or a hardware solution (like Axia AES nodes). Both options incur additional cost.

To me, Omnia A/XE seems like a much more elegant solution... Not to mention more affordable.


Regards,
Goran Tomas
(associated with Telos Alliance)
 
I agree with Goran... You are coming out Livewire and I *personally* don't think you will hear *enough* of a difference to justify the Orban build out.

The only thing I may offer (if you really want to do Orban) is that you could get an external PCI-E cages. There are pretty much 32 lanes on every modern motherboard. I'm pretty sure the Orban card is 1x, so you could break them up over your PC's.
 
Thanks all. I will buy at least one Omnia AXE software and try it first. I will post my audio link soon. Q
 
Listened to both... for a true fair comparison, the peak levels need to be matched going out. How about -3dBfs for the both?

The bass is a bit better on the Orban.

What settings/preset are you using on the Omnia? I've gotten decent sound out of AX/E, it involves playing around with the release times of the 3 band section and not necessarily having them all be the same.

The Orban is more like a 5500 with the clipping/stereo generator section gone. There's a lot more to play with there, but the price is also a lot higher than the AX/E software.
 
Nayan, at around 7pm CT USA I'm comparing via two instances of Winamp. I assume the stream labelled "MC-Icecast" is the Omnia? I've increased the output level of that player to somewhat match the other.

Nice selection of classic rock, but soft intros on Pete Townshend, Wet Willie and Police songs reveal that the Orban is set to "stand on" the audio, versus what seems to be a pretty neutral -- and pleasant -- level control on the Omnia.

While the Omnia clearly wins my nod, it's not a fair comparison. Turn down the Orban, and let the music breathe.
 
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