Category: Audio
-
/
What Devices And Software Support The Opus Audio Codec? Here Is A List
Continue Reading: What Devices And Software Support The Opus Audio Codec? Here Is A ListWhat devices support the Opus audio codec? What softphones? hardphones? call servers? Obviously given that Opus is the “mandatory to implement” audio codec for WebRTC, it will be in many web browsers… but what other I was asked this question by a colleague recently and when I couldn’t easily find a list on the Opus codec web site, I turned to the VUC community inside of Google+ and posted there. The great folks there naturally were a huge help, and quickly came up with this list: UPDATE: No sooner had I hit “Publish” then I discovered that Wikipedia has a list of devices and software supporting the Opus codec. As that list is much longer than this one below, I’d encourage you to look at that list.
- Web browsers supporting WebRTC:
- Google Chrome
- Mozilla Firefox
- Softphones:
- Blink
- Counterpath Bria
- Jitsi
- Linphone
- Mumble
- (Maybe Skype? They talked about it.)
- “Hard” IP phones:
- Mobile applications:
- Acrobits (iOS)
- Counterpath Bria (iOS)
- csipsimple (Android)
- Switches / Call Servers / IP-PBXs:
What other devices or software supports the Opus codec? (Or what other lists are out there listing devices supporting the Opus codec?) Please do let me know either by comments…
- Web browsers supporting WebRTC:
-
/
Linphone On iOS Now Supports The Opus Codec
Continue Reading: Linphone On iOS Now Supports The Opus CodecWhen updating my iPhone this week, I was extremely pleased to see the message in the attached screenshot that Linphone now supports the Opus audio codec. Somewhat strangely, I don’t see any mention of this Opus support (or even the 2.1 release for iOS) on the Linphone news page or even on the Linphone features page, but the mention of a “Linphone Web” release does also mention Opus, so I’ll assume this is real.I’ve written before about why the Opus code is so incredibly important if we want to truly deliver a richer and better communications experience than we’ve had with the traditional PSTN and so it is great to see this support coming in to Linphone. Linphone is certainly not the first SIP softphone to support Opus – there are a number of others out there, including Jitsi and Counterpath’s Bria (and X-Lite) – but it’s definitely great to see another softphone added to the mix. Hopefully we’ll also see this Opus support move to the desktop versions of Linphone (for Windows, OS X and Linux) as well.
Congrats to the Linphone team on making this happen!
P.S. Linphone also supports IPv6, ensuring that it will continue to…
-
/
Reminder – Opus Codec Presentation Streaming LIVE From IETF 87 in 2 Hours
Continue Reading: Reminder – Opus Codec Presentation Streaming LIVE From IETF 87 in 2 HoursWant to learn more about the Opus codec and why it is so important? As I mentioned at the end of my last post about why Opus matters, there will be a special presentation about Opus as part of the IETF 87 Technical Plenary happening in about 2 hours starting at around 17:45-18:00 in Berlin, Germany (Central European Summer Time, UTC+2, 6 hours off of US Eastern time).
There are three options for watching and participating live:
- using a WebRTC-capable browser (latest editions of Chrome and Firefox) and connecting to: http://www.meetecho.com/ietf87/tech_plenary
- listening to the audio stream at for either Potsdam 1 or Potsdam 3 (the plenary is in the combined room and I don’t know which stream will be used)
- watching a video live stream at: https://new.livestream.com/internetsociety/ietf87techplenary
The technical plenary begins at 17:40 but there are some other reports before the Opus section. The agenda can be found online and includes:
1. IAB Chair Report
2. IRTF Chair Report
3. RSE and RSOC Chair Report
4. Technical Topic: Opus Codec
a. Introduction
…
b. Overview of Opus
c. Testing
d. History of Opus in the IETF
e. Opus Deployment Panel
f. Future Work -
/
Why The Opus Codec Matters – Even If You Don’t Care About Audio
Continue Reading: Why The Opus Codec Matters – Even If You Don’t Care About AudioWhat makes the Opus codec so interesting? Why is there such a buzz about Opus right now? If you are not in telecom or doing anything with audio, why should you even remotely care about Opus?
In a word…
Innovation!
And because Opus has the potential to let us communicate with each other across the Internet with a richer and more natural sound. You will be able to hear people or music or presenters with much more clarity and more like you are right there with them.
Opus can help build a better user experience across the Internet.
You see, the reality is that today “real-time communication” using voice and video is increasingly being based on top of the Internet Protocol (IP), whether that communication is happening across the actual Internet or whether it is happening within private networks. If you’ve used Skype, Google+ Hangouts, any voice-over-IP (VoIP) softphones, any of the new WebRTC apps or any of the mobile smartphone apps that do voice or video, you’ve already been using IP-based real-time communication.
Dropping The Shackles Of The Legacy PSTN
Part of the beauty of the move to IP is that we no longer have to worry about the…
-
/
T-Mobile Rolling Out HD Voice (Wideband) In US Mobile Network
Continue Reading: T-Mobile Rolling Out HD Voice (Wideband) In US Mobile NetworkMarking a huge step toward moving beyond the limitations of the legacy phone networks, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this week in Las Vegas T-Mobile announced that HD Voice is now available nationwide on its US network. This will give people the richer, fuller voice experience similar to what many of us have gotten used to experiencing while making Skype calls.There is, of course, the caveat that HD voice (also called “wideband audio”) is only available using specific smartphones:
To experience HD Voice, both parties on the call must use capable T-Mobile 4G smartphones such as the HTC One™ S, Nokia Astound and Samsung Galaxy S® III
TheNextWeb also suggests that the iPhone 5 should support HD Voice when T-Mobile makes it available on their network sometime this year.
Over on AnandTech, Brian Klug dives into a bit more detail about T-Mobile’s HD Voice, specifically naming the AMR-WB codec, and relays some of his own testing that confirmed that it is live now.
This is an excellent step forward, even with the caveat that it only works on T-Mobile’s 4G network and only with specific smartphones. As more and more people get used to the richer and better…
-
/
Video: What’s New in Voxeo Prophecy 11 and VoiceObjects 11?
Continue Reading: Video: What’s New in Voxeo Prophecy 11 and VoiceObjects 11?Want to know the newest ways to build communications apps using Voxeo products? Want to know about IPv6, wideband audio, fax support and large-scale management of servers?In a recent Voxeo Developer Jam Session, I explained what is new in Voxeo’s Prophecy 11 and VoiceObjects 11 and how you can use them to build even larger-scale communications apps than before.
The session is available for download, as are the slides. It is also available for viewing on YouTube. If you don’t know anything about Voxeo, this is also a great way to learn more about its core products.
Oh, and when you’re down watching, you can download Prophecy 11 or VoiceObjects 11 for free for Windows, Linux or Mac OS X. 🙂
If you found this post interesting or useful, please consider either:
-
/
Free Webinar Today – “How Do You Hear Me Now? The Power of Wideband (HD) Audio”
Continue Reading: Free Webinar Today – “How Do You Hear Me Now? The Power of Wideband (HD) Audio”You know how great the audio quality can sound in a good Skype call? Almost like you are right there in the room with the other person?That’s possible because Skype uses what is called “wideband audio” (or “HD audio” by some).
In about 3 hours I’ll be presenting a Voxeo Developer Jam Session on “The Power of Wideband Audio“. The session is at:
Thursday, June 9, 2011
11:00 AM US Eastern, 8:00 AM US Pacific, 5:00 PM Central European
I’ll be talking about why you should care about wideband audio, what you can do with it, and how you can get started. Here’s the abstract:
What is “wideband” or “HD” audio? What are the benefits of wideband audio? What are the advantages and disadvantages of using wideband? With all the buzz out there, what does wideband or “HD” audio really do for you in a business setting?
In this Developer Jam Session, Dan York, Director of Conversations at Voxeo will explain the basics of wideband audio, discuss the various versions of wideband audio deployed in the industry, explain why it is important in terms of business value. Additionally, he will talk about how wideband audio is implemented in…
-
/
How to use a USB headset with the Apple iPad
Continue Reading: How to use a USB headset with the Apple iPadAs I note over on the Voxeo web site, I recently posted a video showing how you can use a USB headset with the Apple iPad. The video is available on YouTube and you can see it directly here:WHY might you want to do this? Well, primarily if you want better audio quality when using VoIP on your iPad… and if you are like me and always find Bluetooth headsets sucking up too much battery power, it’s nice to have a wired option.
Next up, figure out what else can be plugged into that USB connector… 😉
If you found this post interesting or useful, please consider either subscribing to the RSS feed, following me on Twitter or subscribing to my email newsletter.
-
/
Google buys GIPS for $68 million – to take on Skype? Apple? Microsoft?
Continue Reading: Google buys GIPS for $68 million – to take on Skype? Apple? Microsoft?The big news out this morning was that Google is acquiring Global IP Solutions (GIPS) for $68 million USD. GIPS may not be a familiar name to many folks, but for us in the communications / telephony space, they are widely known as the supplier of audio codecs (and increasingly video) to companies creating real-time communication products, including Yahoo, AOL, IBM and many others. Many of us, though, knew them best as the initial provider of the wideband iSAC codec to Skype.To put this in more normal language, if you know how good a Skype conversation can sound… how rich the audio can be… how it can sound like the person on the other end is right there in the room with you? The quality of that audio connection is because Skype uses a “wideband codec” to send the audio from one end to the other. Up until 2007, GIPS provided the primary wideband codec that Skype used.
At some point in there, Skype realized that, particularly giving away a free product, it needed to control more of its technology stack and stop paying licensing fees to GIPS and so it bought a company, Camino Networks, that had its…
-
/
Large-scale conference calls with *better* voice quality than the PSTN (using Skype)
Continue Reading: Large-scale conference calls with *better* voice quality than the PSTN (using Skype)One interesting development in the world of Skype last week which I’ve seen little mention of is the fact that the folks at Highspeedconferencing.com have rolled out a Skype Extra that lets Skype users have large-scale conference calls. Like most such large conference bridges, they have moderation/”hand-raising”, call recording, email invites, etc. However, the key point to me is that their conferencing bridge uses the wideband audio supported by Skype! That is the key. You now have conference calling with audio quality that is far better than the PSTN! This is where we start to get into the space where VoIP can offer a truly different – and better – user experience than traditional telephony. The Skype blog touches on this:HighSpeed Conferencing is the only audio conferencing service available to Skype users that offers high-definition (HD) voice quality. There’s no degradation of audio quality, no matter how many Skype users participate in a conference call. And with unlimited usage during a conference call, you can talk as much as you want. Some people stay on the conference bridge all day.
I’ve not yet used the service as right now I’m not involved with large conference calls, but at the…