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Is linking your studio to your transmitter as easy as just running an MP3 streamer and player? Most others within the industry seem to think so, but the answer is no.
Simple things, such as soundcard clocks drifting, MP3 recoding issues, link dropouts, etc, all mean that it is impossible to maintain a reliable, completely interruption-free link with simple "streaming" based software or hardware. Instead a multi-layered approach is required.
Due to the pioneering nature of our solution we are not detailing all aspects of our software online. However please get in contact for more information or to obtain a full datasheet. However some of the key aspects are:-
Powerful data loss correction By carrying a low bitrate sub-stream that is able to traverse even the worst performing networks, this acts as a "helper" signal to the main stream, allowing us to correct longer and more severe packet loss scenarios with marginal loss in quality. We can provide intelligible music and speech that would be considered "reasonable" and is equivalent to AM radio quality at as high as 90% packet loss.
Unique source-based audio CODEC Our source-based audio codec avoids the nasty distortion encountered when transcribing from MP3 to MP3 for a link. It also uses a fraction of the bandwidth of uncompressed PCM, but subjectively provides the same quality (as assessed by many industry professionals). Furthermore the CODEC is designed with corruption and packet loss in mind, lending itself towards seamless reconstruction.
Forward Error Correction Our advanced forward error correction and packet loss recreation techniques mean that we can handle up to 2.1 second complete break in communication, or 11% packet loss with absolutely no reduction in audio quality. We don't just simply synthesize the lost packets, we recreate them 100%, so they are absolutely identical to the original.
Powerful inbuilt backup tape There is an inbuilt powerful backup tape jukebox that maintains a normal commercial radio format, with randomly selected jingles and music. If you have a problem, there is nothing worse than advertising it to the world. You can even load it up so that after 10 minutes of the backup tape being on air it will play a different jingle, such as "Now - non-stop music" to explain the lack of adverts or live presenter.
Logging and fault reporting Link BER is logged every 5 minutes, showing any patterns to signal interruptions or drop-outs. Text messaging alerts you to link performance problems, even before your listeners would realise there is a problem!
Constant sample rate calibration By using advanced PLL techniques, discrepencies in sample rate between Studio and Transmitter soundcards is completely eliminated, giving a dropout-free performance.
Unfortunately we can't go into details online about what really makes our software unique, but we can assure you that stations using our software have stayed on air, without listener complaints, during even the worst link failures and interruptions. This software is absolutely ideal for license-free links, such as 5.8ghz, or scenarios where switching between main and backup connections takes a few seconds and occurs frequently.
Please call us to discuss your requirements further