In Broadcast June 2012 - 28

WWW.INBROADCAST.COM | ISSUE 9 - JUNE 2012

InAUDIO
Developments In Comms Technology Systems Cont.
system. Dilocker sees AVB as “the technology for the near future”, as it is capable of AoIP. “Our Dante I/O boards can be seen as an intermediate until AVB is fully released,” he comments. “Our customers then only need to update the Dante boards to participate in the AVB standard.” But as Delec is a founding member of the OCA Alliance, Dilocker sees that technology as the more important step: “Delec and the other Salzbrenner Stagetec Media Group companies are supporting OCA in order to ease the integration and compatibility of systems of any brand.” As another participant in the OCA Alliance, through Bosch, Telex is already embracing the concept with its OMNEO media networking system. Nico Lewis describes it as “the ideal professional media network”. As Trilogy’s Barry Spencer points out, OCA makes sense for manufacturers like Bosch and the Stagetec group, which encompass a range of different product types, from loudspeakers to intercom to mixing consoles. Clear-Com is an observing partner with OCA and Simon Browne says the company is hopeful that some basic interoperability between systems will come about because of it. We all have open standards and so some common set of say, cross-point control, could be found to help customers control their varied systems based on differing manufacturer’s equipment,” he says. Other intercom manufacturers see AVB as the more compelling proposition. “AVB is really pushing the envelope of what is possible in regards to integrated systems distributed over simple Ethernet infrastructures,” comments Nils Quak at Riedel. “This will be a great leap forward in terms of installation design for the coming years. AVB will be one of the biggest if not the biggest development in regards to realising intercom systems.” Another proponent of AVB is ASL Intercom, which produces digital and analogue systems primarily for the live performance and events market, although in March it supplied equipment to TV production facilities company Virtual Spectator for the OB trucks being used on the Cricket Australia broadcast contract.

MCUK studio intercom

Traditional Concepts
All this talk of digital, IP and various networking concepts might suggest that the days of more basic two and four-wire systems are well and truly over. This is belied by traditional intercoms still being made today, not just by the big name companies but also specialised manufacturers. These include Prospect Electronics with its range of four-wire boxes and CTP Systems, which recently updated both its Talkback24 and four-wire desktop ranges. CTP Founder Chris Thorpe says One Box Television and Libyan state TV have each bought Talkback24 systems,

with strong sales still for the fourwire boxes. “And not an IP address in sight!” he comments. Simon Browne at Clear-Com says there will “always be a place for good old analogue four-wire as it is the lowest common factor all systems return to”. However, he adds, its dominance is being eroded: “There is a desire to use low-loss, interference-free digital and IP audio intercom. We have already seen MADI connection between audio and intercom systems, and now we are seeing a desire for standardised IP communication between systems, and until a standard emerges, yes we might still see four-wires today.” Nils Quak comments that there remains a need for four-wire as

an interface between systems, meaning that Riedel “does not see this technology disappearing soon”. Donald Dilocker at Delec observes: “The demand is decreasing but will not disappear completely until the last system in broadcast is replaced by one based on IP networking.” A major reason for the longevity of four-wire and other older technologies is, as Nico Lewis at RTS-Telex says, the reliability built into these systems. Digital and IP will doubtless increase their dominance in intercom but as long as there is the merest doubt about all this new fangled technology, the traditional wired communications connection and a reassuringly solid talk key will still be around. ■

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In Broadcast June 2012

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