The Codec Has Become a Swiss Army Tool Gawley says users want remote control, simple connections, cloud access and more mix them in live on-air or FTP files back to the studio. As an example, we have a large national broadcaster in the United Kingdom that has set up a live mixing studio for both radio and TV programs from an engineers’ lounge room due to COVID-19 lockdown restrictions using two ViAs each in triple mono mode. They are connected to four presenters on ViAs in their own homes — all mixed in the lounge room with program audio sent to a Merlin PLUS multichannel codec in Master Control. A producer is connected over Tieline’s Report-IT app to the Merlin PLUS, where a comms channel is fed
Charlie Gawley is VP Sales APAC/EMEA of Tieline. RW: Charlie, what’s the biggest trend in this segment of our industry? Charlie Gawley: Remote control and simple connections are paramount these days. The pandemic has accelerated this demand, but thankfully Tieline was already wellplaced to put remote control of all equipment at the engineer’s fingertips. From a network control perspective, cloud management of all devices is expected. As an example, Tieline’s Cloud Codec Controller Charlie Gawley lets engineers fully configure and remote control all their codecs remotely from the studio or home. Our Report-IT app can be connected, monitored and allow remote input level adjustment as well. This has been extremely important during the pandemic, as a broadcast engineer can adjust remote audio levels and other settings as required from their own home. Simple connections are also facilitated by a traversal server like Tieline’s TieLink, which allows creation of call groups, displays codec “presence” and facilitates NAT traversal.
to the talent off-air. RW: How about this year’s “big story,” the sudden explosion in remote and at-home broadcasting? Gawley: Codecs have played a crucial role in facilitating home broadcasting and keeping stations on-air after the pandemic forced networks to send people home. For the seasoned Tieline user broadcasting remotely for over two decades, broadcasting from home is just another venue. However, for studio-based talent it would be foreign to them. There have been two dominant use cases. One involves broadcasters at home using full-featured codecs like the Tieline ViA with record and playback capability and the ability to integrate live callers in a home studio. These codecs also delivered redundant streaming over multiple IP interfaces like cellular and wired interfaces and data aggregation technologies. The second use case involved rapid deployment to multiple people in an affordable and simple way. Our ReportIT Enterprise app for iOS and Android allowed users to
RW: How do you see codec technologies being deployed now in clients’ facilities? Gawley: Today there are demands to do more with less — essentially looking for that Swiss Army tool in your broadcast kit. The ViA portable IP mixer/codec has enabled broadcasters to essentially set up a remote operational studio where they can take live calls over SIP, Skype, WhatsApp and mix directly live on-air. Users have been able to do their pre-recorded interviews or commercials and either
TRENDS IN CODECS & STLs Radio World | July 2020
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