2 minute read
Increased Quality, Less Bandwidth
Shane Toven on how codecs are becoming more powerful and useful
Shane Toven, CSRE CBNT, is senior rural areas were limited. broadcast engineer at Educational Once IP connectivity started Media Foundation. becoming more ubiquitous and there were an increasing number Radio World: What’s the most of IP codec options on the market, important trend you see in the design I took advantage of that to execute and performance of codecs for some very complex remotes, one of remote or STL use for radio broadcast which involved live events at two facilities? different venues, and full talkback Shane Toven: I see a trend toward facilities between the studio and combining multiple codec chanthe two venues. nels in a single unit. This helps with The latest application for codecs consolidation of facilities where at my current facility has been conmultiple content streams and verting multiple channels of audio locations are involved. I also see on the AoIP network at the studio codecs becoming more powerful as to encoded audio for carrying newer and more efficient encoding Shane Toven. “The biggest advantage of a software-based solution is ease of use and across lower bandwidth links. This options are available. reduction in hardware costs.” conversion is done entirely inside
The most exciting development the codec itself without any actual that I see is increasing quality with less bandwidth usage. transition to AES or analog audio. Livewire I/O on one As broadcasters shift toward consolidating more facilities interface, codec I/O on the other interface. It really makes and interconnecting remote talent, this will be an important for a very nicely integrated solution. consideration for balancing quality versus bandwidth cost. RW: What role are codecs playing in this new world of RW: How are today’s technologies solving problems in at-home broadcasting? creative ways, or being deployed in your own facilities? Toven: Codecs have been critical in this role, though not Toven: Codecs have been an invaluable tool for me, in the traditional hardware sense. Some broadcasters going all the way back to the original POTS codecs. have chosen to deploy hardware codecs for this purpose, Unfortunately, ISDN was not an option in rural Minnesota but many others are using services such as CleanFeed where I started my career. I purchased a Comrex Vector or ipDTL. Both have advantages and drawbacks, but the at my first station when that technology became availbiggest advantage of a software-based solution is ease of able. It made a significant improvement in the quality of use and reduction in hardware costs. I could also envision remote broadcasts when the options for connectivity in a scenario where the codecs themselves become an integrated software component of a virtual infrastructure. Your smartphone becomes your codec and the talent can work from anywhere with very little hardware.
The most exciting development that I see is increasing quality with less bandwidth usage.
RW: How have AoIP technology developments been reflected in the look and function of codecs?
