Newsletter – May 2019

 


 


 

Postcards from NAB

 

The NAB Show in Las Vegas provided another great opportunity to meet with suppliers and customers from around the world. It’s always refreshing to see the latest innovations and workshop new ideas with like-minded people.

 

 

 
Sonifex_logo

Celebrating 50 Years of Innovation!

 

For 50 years Sonifex has designed and manufactured broadcast equipment for the radio and television industry. Founded in 1969, Paul Brooke designed a mixer he could sell to film and recording studios in London. Through the 70’s and 80’s Sonifex became well known for their bespoke electrical products and cart machines.

Since Paul’s son Marcus Brooke became the MD in 1994, Sonifex has continuously reinvented itself to stay ahead in a technology-based industry.

With over 150 different product lines to manufacture in their purpose-built factory in Irthlingborough, Sonifex has refined their production and purchasing methods to build small batches of products, with a policy of continuous improvement and efficiency.

It’s estimated there is a quarter of a million Sonifex products in service worldwide.
Flashlog 8 Software Update

 

Flashlog release 8.04r13 includes additions to HLS internet stream logging. Https secure transport in both playlist and media URLs is now supported, but be wary of increased processor load if logging many such streams. Basic support for the MPEG-2 TS transport layer has also been added, enough to allow the MP3 or AAC audio frames to be extracted. Keep in mind that using the TS layer for audio-only streams is officially discouraged because of the substantial amount of overhead it adds; instead, the HLS encoder should be set for just an elementary stream.

Please note we’re unable to support https on Shoutcast/Icecast streams as that protocol is incompatible with the Windows http libraries even though it’s loosely based on http.

Click here to download the update >

Tieline Unveils NEW ViA Dual Active SIM Module

 

Tieline has developed a new internal Dual Active SIM Module for the ViA remote codec supporting two active cellular connections. Designed to perform in the most challenging production environments, the new module supports using SIM cards from different Telcos simultaneously for diversity when using Tieline’s industry-leading SmartStream PLUS dual redundant streaming technology. The two SIM cards can also be bonded to create additional bandwidth using a single robust Fuse-IP link.

“The new ViA dual internal modem will deliver more choice to Tieline customers for wireless remote broadcasting,” said Charlie Gawley, VP Sales APAC/EMEA. “The ViA already supports connecting two air cards using USB, however many customers requested an internal module with dual modems to avoid using external dongles. This innovation also means there will be seven different IP interface options from which to choose when going live.”

Inovonics SOFIA 568 wins Best Of Show award at NAB!

 

The winner is… the SOFIA 568 FM/HD Radio SiteStreamer+! The first in a new series of elite SiteStreamers with advanced features for critical monitoring situations.

“It is very gratifying to be able to introduce a product that radio engineers have been asking for. With features like displaying HD Radio album artwork, remote site monitoring, streaming, and AoIP, the SOFIA 568 provides a unique solution for HD Radio stations,” said Ben Barber, President & CEO of Inovonics, Inc.

Gary Luhrman and Zach Calden were on hand to demonstrate the new SiteStreamers at the show (pictured below).

More new products from Inovonics!

 

In our March newsletter we debut two of the new products Inovonics were showing at NAB. Below we introduce the next two, the INOmini 661 DAB+ Monitor Receiver and the award-winning SOFIA 568 FM/HD Radio SiteStreamer+!

The INOmini 661 is Inovonics’ second-generation, small form-factor off-air monitoring receiver for EBU-specified DAB and DAB+ digital radio broadcasts.

The 661 provides high-quality confidence monitoring and delivers a dual audio feed with independently-adjustable analog and AES digital audio outputs. Front-panel and remote alarms indicate transmission problems, and the compact size of the INOmini 661 allows the mounting of three units in a 1U rack space.

The SOFIA 568 provides analog, AES3-digital and AoIP-streaming audio outputs. It collects histograms of signal parameters and displays HD Radio™ album artwork, station logos and similar visuals via the Web interface.

Multiple stations can be sequentially monitored using the programmable StationRotation™ feature. The SOFIA 568 includes a built-in BandScanner™, a real-time clock and full SNMP functionality.

Do you want to reduce your power usage?

 

Modulation-Dependent Carrier Level (MDCL) control technologies or algorithms, long used by international broadcasters operating high-powered AM transmitters to reduce transmitter power consumption, is now available in Nautel AM transmitters.

At NAB this year Nautel demonstrated how you can significantly reduce the power usage for AM transmitters using the MDCL Calculator. Nautel has provided MDCL power-saving technology as a free, standard pre-installed software feature (vs. optional circuit board) in all NX Series transmitters.

Click here to find out how much you can save. Please note: The calculator displays results in US dollars. The current AUD/USD exchange rate is 0.69.

Orban Adds Bass Impact Engine to FM Processors

 

Orban now offers a way for FM broadcasters to deliver powerful bass response while ensuring optimal musicality of program material. The Bass Impact Engine is included in all new OPTIMOD 8600Si, 8600 FM/HD and 8700i  units, and is also available as a  free firmware upgrade for existing owners of these products.The new Bass Impact Engine replaces this older technology with a limiter that generates carefully time-aligned, bandwidth-controlled harmonics that minimize the peak level of the bass so that very low frequencies can actually exceed 100% modulation. It does so without adding objectionable distortion in the upper mid-bass and lower midrange frequencies. “Our goal is not to blow doors off cars or knock out windows with the low end,” said David Day, Orban President. “Rather, we want to make sure a station’s bass consistently sounds great, regardless of the material being played, and brings the proper ‘punch’ to music without objectionable artifacts. That’s why we’re adding the Bass Impact Engine at no extra cost to our high-end processors.”
Upcoming Events

Suntec, Singapore
Stand : 4H3-03
18 – 20 June 2019
https://www.broadcast-asia.com

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