VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Bish]

I'm usually a nay-sayer with these so-called replacement technologies. You can do what you want with a codec, but if the pipe is not under your control, then all you're doing is polishing a t*rd.

I also appreciate that I'm in a fairly protected position... I have ISDN, and until they completely remove the service and rip out the copper (5+ years?) I can be an observer here... and what I'm observing is a VHS/Betamax, Cassette/8-track, HD/BluRay battle. There are a lot of contenders... and the winner may not actually be the best technical solution... but we need a winner that is a clear market leader. SC had that crown, but has done precious little to maintain it's lead in the face of the new upstarts. I think they are going to get flattened by hungry young businesses that live in the 21st Century.

I haven't got the time or energy to get all excited about the new/latest/greatest alternatives. Whoever wins will have a viable technical solution, a low barrier to entry and a killer UI. We may not have seen them yet. Wake me in five years.
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Bish a.k.a. Bish
Smoke me a kipper... I'll be back for breakfast.
I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls.

[ChrisMezzolesta]

Catching up with threads....this post is a month old, Google Hangouts is a train wreck. We have our WoVO exec board meetings on it and there's always someone who didn't get the invite, people dropping off the call, audio quality is abysmal, would not even think of trying to use it for a session....whereas SoundStreak is showing itself to be a much more sleek and usable solution - the EWABS demo a couple weeks ago proved that out - seems they are listening to feedback as well; having done a few test sessions with it, it is a great solution, easy to use, and based on the feedback on EWABS, the SoundStreak people are going to be doing some heavy pushing to the production side, at least that is what I had heard.
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Chris Mezzolesta, Voice Talent
800.356.5519 www.voiceatile.com

[jsgilbert]

Google will fix their issues. I know some of the people who are working on it and have a slight understanding of the resources that are now being thrown behind it.

There will be aspects of it that some commercial ventures may not like, such as it being another venue for delivering commercial messages. Security is doubtful to be an issue though.

Soundstreak has the potential of working if they move to a single fee or yearly purchase of the software, and back off their $24 for up to 30 minutes per session based pricing. The benefit that Soundstreak offers is true 24bit 48k (and above recording capabilities)

Google and the other VOIP solutions will all be using codecs of one fashion or another, which still places limitations on the quality of the audio that will be used in the end application.

Telos and other players in the ISDN space aren't sitting on their thumbs either and many of the newer ISDN boxes are also equipped for varying degrees of VOIP, enhanced by dedicated hardware solutions. There are also several flavors of non-ISDN, VOIP equipped boxes.

Growth and development will certainly hinge heavily on how and who is adopting.
For years, we've seen ISDN codecs, which aren't even truly CD standards being"good enough". If this is the case, then protocols like Google will prevail. If however, there is a desire for higher bit rates and sample rates, then protocols like Soundstreak will have heavy demand. Unfortunately, there is very little that one might see that is a proprietary solution being offered by Soundstreak, which means that other contenders offering delayed high bandwidth VOIP delivery systems could create very similar systems. Again, if this becomes and in-demand solution, the prevailing provider will be the one who offers the best price point (all things being equal).

The mentality that the voice talent will be the ones driving the train tends to break rank with how adoption has taken place in the past. When my clients begin to request services, then I consider their requests. I may make recommendations, such as Skype directed sessions vs. telephone, but ultimately it will be the clients who choose.

Let's also not forget how remote collaboration plays heavily in the music world. Right now there is an incredible recording program available for Cubase. It's called VST Connect and it's light years ahead of Soundstreak.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsflZh3YMkM

I wouldn't discount a solution coming from the music world, for an ISDN replacement.
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j.s. gilbert

js@jsgilbert.com
www.jsgilbert.com

"today is the first day of the rest of the week"

[ChrisMezzolesta]

As a recording musician and a Cubase user, I have no idea why I did not know about this! Will investigate & see if it's something viable...of course that'd mean an investment into a DAW of some sort but then again there are standalone VST programs. I still like SoundStreak quite a bit and hope they do reconsider that token system, they got a lot of valuable feedback in the EWABS demo and if they implement it properly, they should be able to at least gain some market share. Having us at least champion it to lead the production side ahead can't hurt.
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Chris Mezzolesta, Voice Talent
800.356.5519 www.voiceatile.com