I have installed many Comrex Access systems and they seem to work very well. Anyone have any experience with the Tieline products? Their new Report IT and mic adapter has sparked an interest at a few stations. Thanks
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Tieline vs Comrex
- Thread starter fm-engineer
- Start date
AN AM in Columbus Ohio (Spanish) runs BRIC. Went there as our internet fed Barix no longer worked for a program we feed from Indiana. Listened on the way over and heard drop outs every so often to be annoying. Got there and found they had moved studios and were using a Mifi ATT device. (Cellphone with wifi essentially). Quality was good when it was active.
Every computer and the BRIC had a wireless interface to work with the mifi. Barix wouldn't play with it. This dropout wasn't a BRIC issue but I was amazed it would pick back up every time the crappy network dropped out without the need to reboot or some other act of God to make it work again. Imagine the product on a wired internet connection.
Every computer and the BRIC had a wireless interface to work with the mifi. Barix wouldn't play with it. This dropout wasn't a BRIC issue but I was amazed it would pick back up every time the crappy network dropped out without the need to reboot or some other act of God to make it work again. Imagine the product on a wired internet connection.
fm-engineer said:I have installed many Comrex Access systems and they seem to work very well. Anyone have any experience with the Tieline products? Their new Report IT and mic adapter has sparked an interest at a few stations. Thanks
I've found Comrex products to be nicely ergonomically designed, reliable, and very durable. I can't say the same for Tieline. While I've found Tieline gear to be good sounding, I've found most of it to have a rather boxy, "tin-canny" look and feel. And the rotary encoder/button menu interface leaves much to be desired.
We have a Comrex ACCESS Rack/Portable combo AND a Tieline Commander combo, and my end review would be:
Comrex ACCESS without a doubt.
Both have APPS to connect, Comrex works on the DROID as well.
Both have strong algorithms and reliability in the field, both sound great and have extreme flexibility.
Both once set up have ease of use and "one touch" connection abilities for high maintenance talent.
The interface for Comrex wins by a mile (touch screen, more logical less "geeky" layout for talent to modify).
Configuration for Comrex wins by a mile. It just makes more sense!
Comrex form factor is much more friendly for a hands-free, single reporter operation, and the plug-in mix module is brilliant for saving on extra wire clutter and making it easier to manage.
The battery/config setup/add ons for the Comrex is just better. The Tieline can do it, but with the Tieline, things seemed more like afterthoughts that they added on to keep up. The battery plug-in is cobby, adding new devices can be quirky, as opposed to the ACCESS where it is plug and play USB.
Connection options: Both do extremely well with wired Internet, POTS, both now do 4G (and of course 3G), and operate on fairly low delay when conditions are normal. If you want ISDN as well, I'd recommend the Tieline.
Comrex ACCESS without a doubt.
Both have APPS to connect, Comrex works on the DROID as well.
Both have strong algorithms and reliability in the field, both sound great and have extreme flexibility.
Both once set up have ease of use and "one touch" connection abilities for high maintenance talent.
The interface for Comrex wins by a mile (touch screen, more logical less "geeky" layout for talent to modify).
Configuration for Comrex wins by a mile. It just makes more sense!
Comrex form factor is much more friendly for a hands-free, single reporter operation, and the plug-in mix module is brilliant for saving on extra wire clutter and making it easier to manage.
The battery/config setup/add ons for the Comrex is just better. The Tieline can do it, but with the Tieline, things seemed more like afterthoughts that they added on to keep up. The battery plug-in is cobby, adding new devices can be quirky, as opposed to the ACCESS where it is plug and play USB.
Connection options: Both do extremely well with wired Internet, POTS, both now do 4G (and of course 3G), and operate on fairly low delay when conditions are normal. If you want ISDN as well, I'd recommend the Tieline.
I would have to say the Tieline Bridge-IT and the Report-IT App as a combo is very reliable. You just have to get the correct settings for your location. If you compare the Report-IT app with the Comrex Arc app the Report-IT app wins in my opinion. The ARC using G.722 which is an "ok" algorithm but you have to use it at 64Kbps, which will give you about 7 KHz audio :-(. The Report-IT app using their "Music" algorithm and will provide your 15 KHz audio bandwidth with much lower bit rate. The Arc does all SIP connections but only in G.722 and it is a pain in the ass to setup. The Tieline app is very straight forward in terms of setting it up. You don't have to worry about setting it up with a SIP server or anything. You just type in your static address and away it goes.
I also like the feature with the Report-IT app that allows you to just record audio and then later re-broadcast that same audio from my iPhone back to my Tieline Bridge-IT. I can also send that same file to a FTP site and edit it later if need be.
Of course you would need a Tieline codec at your studio if you got the Report-IT app. I think the Bridge-IT is one of the better codecs that Tieline offers. Unless you want (2) Report-IT apps broadcasting at the same time then you might want to look at the Tieline G3 codecs.
I also like the feature with the Report-IT app that allows you to just record audio and then later re-broadcast that same audio from my iPhone back to my Tieline Bridge-IT. I can also send that same file to a FTP site and edit it later if need be.
Of course you would need a Tieline codec at your studio if you got the Report-IT app. I think the Bridge-IT is one of the better codecs that Tieline offers. Unless you want (2) Report-IT apps broadcasting at the same time then you might want to look at the Tieline G3 codecs.
Like most things, there's good in both camps. My preference is Tieline. As others have mentioned, Tieline's menu system sucks. Also, their equipment is pretty boxy. What I do like though is that the boxiness also seems to have a bit more of a rugged feel to it. Also, real buttons can be programmed up to do specifc things for somewhat brainless talent. The Comrex touch-screen and stylus sort of scares me. It's small and seems a bit fragile. Also, I agree on the codec of the Tieline on my iPhone is actually a much better system than the g.722 Comrex mobile app solution. I think there's things like error correction the Tieline iPhone app will do that the Comrex won't. Both will connect to their respective units, but that's the only real similarity. The Tieline app is about like having a real Tieline inside your phone. I can't say the same about the Comrex. Having a real Comrex Access offers what the app won't. For STLs, I really think people might want to look at the Telos Zep One product. It can provide dynamic bitrates and delay to adapt to less-than-ideal conditions. With the Tieline product, you have to guess for the worst-case situation and set things at that level. With the ZepOne you don't. With the ZepOne you also get a free transversal server to get around firewall issues. Tieline likes to charge for theirs. I'm not sure about Comrex... Also, the delay possible on the ZepOne is much larger than Tieline if you would like to use it. For an STL for things that aren't super time-sensitive, why not use as much buffer as you can? Buffer covers over small, short outages. I've used all three products mentioned and actually prefer the Telos ZepOne for stl links. As side note, one very annoying thing about the Tieline Bridge-IT product is their use of Java. Java at times seems to have issues on various computer installations. It's slow, can glitch, and requires a lot of fiddling to keep it running right it seems. Also, the Bridge-ITs seem to need a power reset every so often to get them to behave where they will let you in through that java-based webgui. This situation is far from ideal. Telos and Comrex do not seem to have this issue.
Thanks for the input!
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