Product category:
Networking Hardware
News Release from: Barix | Subject: Instreamer and Extreamer
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 25 May 2006
IP-based network is affordable for home
multimedia
Nowadays, systems for multiple-room IP-based audio and video are not only being used in commercial buildings, but in private residences too.
Nowadays, systems for multiple-room IP-based audio and video are not only being used in commercial buildings, but in private residences too They are fast becoming as commonplace as lighting or integrated data networks
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 7 Mar 2006 at 8.00am (UK)
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For the consumer, this means more choice, higher quality audio, higher performance, and easier handling, at lower cost.
The rapid proliferation of the Internet is making audio over IP the next big remote broadcast revolution, and offers the opportunity to deliver near real-time, high-quality audio and "personal choice" radio.
Within a house or estate, connections can be simplified using standard Cat5 (Ethernet) cable and standard network switches, or even wireless (Wi-Fi) installations.
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Traditionally, multiple-room audio has been based on one central source of music that is able to play only one radio station or CD at the same time.
This style of audio distribution around the home does not truly allow the delivery of personalised music simultaneously in every room or area.
Modern technology however, can offer choice by streaming audio content onto a LAN or WAN network, and because a single-channel CD player or tuner is no longer needed, every room can get a different programme from a multichannel source such as a hard disk or the Internet.
Today's technology can transform audio from analogue or digital sound sources into signals that are delivered to the wired or wireless network and sent to their destinations - be these sources next door or half way around the world.
This technology can therefore be used to deliver personalised music to every room at any given time.
Although video distribution over IP is achievable and is in widespread use in the commercial security monitoring market, in residential applications affordable solutions that meet the demands of HDTV, which are practically all nonwireless, are only just emerging.
Excellent video quality needs a bandwidth of several megabits per second, compared with compressed audio which only requires 200-300Kbit/s.
Although you can easily transport several simultaneous audio streams over a typical home network, it gets tricky with video, especially if wireless technology is used.
For the moment therefore, we will concentrate on audio distribution rather than video.
Most equipment available to the consumer, installer and professional market is based on IP (Internet Protocol).
Although proprietary use of Ethernet structured wiring, such as EtherSound and CobraNet, also exists, products using these technologies are mainly found in commercial studio, recording and theatre environments where many simultaneous channels of audio must be transported with absolute synchronicity at very high speed and low delay.
These proprietary protocols are not routable over IP, and products based on them are relatively expensive.
As an example of an IP-based solution, we will look at the Barix multiple-room audio distribution system.
This aims to deliver crisp, high-quality audio over a standard network infrastructure using well-known standards such as MP3, IP, and RTP, and products that can be used with standard home network technology.
The content is 100% digital and distributed and managed across a building's Cat5 LAN/WAN network or standard wireless IP equipment.
Thus, networked audio products can coexist and be controlled by other networked devices such as PCs/laptops, palmtops, PDAs, IR remote controls, or home automation systems.
The source of the music can be files on a server, as well as analogue or digital legacy sources such as a CD player, tape recorder, tuner, or radio.
These legacy audio signals are converted by the network-based IP Instreamer audio encoder for digital audio streaming into high-quality MP3-streams.
These streams are transmitted via the wired or wireless network and sent to their destination in real time, independently of the location.
As the audio is streamed as fully digital high-quality MP3 encoded data, no signal attenuation or noise problems will degrade the sound quality, irrespective of whether the speakers be feet, miles or continents away.
At the destination points, the intelligent network-based Exstreamer MP3 player pulls the digital audio from the network and converts the MP3-streams into music or voice.
Users are able to control a central sound server from any room or area throughout the network by using this device.
Its built-in audio synchronisation technology also allows more than one unit to be installed in big rooms or halls.
A synchronisation function allows the user to play the same music in every room if they so wish, without that irritating time delays between signals that are characteristic of some digital systems.
Management of the multiple-room audio distribution system is also possible using a PC.
This allows the user to set up the different zones, access Internet radio stations, manage a huge audio collection, and generate playlists.
Such a network-enabled audio installation offers a number of advantages.
As it only comprises two devices, namely an Instreamer and an Extreamer, it is easy to set up.
It is also an affordable investment, costing approximately GBP120-300 per device, depending on the version.
Using the Barix Instreamer/Exstreamer solution, the bandwidth required for the highest quality audio setting is only around 200Kbit/s, and for typical FM radio quality, is only around 64Kbit/s.
Intelligent "loss recovery" algorithms and robustness against network jitter, mean that the products can be used over existing network connections without the need to upgrade the connection.
The solution easily routes audio to anywhere the network reaches, which means that with the rapid proliferation of IP connectivity, audio can be provided almost everywhere - seamlessly, reliably and affordably.
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