VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Rick Riley

I have redundancy for every piece of equipment I use on a daily basis. Fortunately with the longevity of equipment these days, most is still sitting in a box. One piece I would like to get rid of, but would lose my redundancy, is a Musicam ISDN codec.

The reason for this is, while I don’t use them, there ARE alternatives to ISDN. Source Connect, ipDTL and probably something else I don’t know about. I love my Telos Xstream Codec and use it all the time. But if it suddenly went down, is it best to have another Codec to plug in, or would one of these other Internet Protocol methods work while it was being repaired? And would it be easy for me to continue sessions with the ISDN folks I deal with?

Keep in mind, when hooking up to another studio, I RARELY run into a request for Source Connect. It’s almost always, ‘What are your ISDN numbers?’ While others bemoan ISDN's death, it’s quick, convenient, and from what I perceive, still the industry standard. And it’s still the most reliable.

So back up ISDN Codec... Keep it around or ditch it? Your thoughts are appreciated.
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Bruce · Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2017 3:36 pm Post subject:

Anthony Mendez recently dropped ISDN altogether in favor of the paid iP/dtl service that offers bridging to and from ISDN. It's much less per month than the phone service we have here in Oregon and has never failed to be as good as ISDN he says. The only drawback is that you're assigned different SPIDs for the client to dial into every time you schedule a session. On the other hand you can dial into the client's SPIDs anytime. I'd give him a call if you'd like to know more. I'm very tempted to follow his lead.

B
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Rick Riley · Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2017 3:44 pm Post subject:

Kristin Lennox · Flight Attendant Joined: 30 Apr 2011 Posts: 858

Do you have a studio that uses you for ISDN that wouldn't mind testing the ipDTL bridge with you?

Line up a couple of them, then get an ipDTL Day Pass for $15. That gives you unlimited** outgoing ISDN calls for 24 hours, and you can test to your heart's content. I bought a pass for a scheduled ISDN session, then emailed several other studios asking if they could do a quick ISDN test with me, me calling them (saving them money)...? No one refused, and they all said it sounded great.

If they say it's a perfectly acceptable ISDN back-up for you, then you don't need to plunk down any money -- you can buy a Day Pass any time your ISDN goes wonky.

** sorry, you have two hours of outgoing calls, unlimited incoming calls... but what I meant is that you can call 15 studios, if you want, to test it, if the total connection time is under two hours...
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Bish · Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2017 5:35 pm Post subject:

I'm going to start with my usual ISDN position.... If a studio wants to work over ISDN, they want to do it because of the ISDN quality (primarily stability and latency), not just the physical connectivity. They choose ISDN because it is technically superior to a Google Chrome-based IP web codec. Yes... I am fully aware that ISDN is becoming difficult to get or overpriced in some ares leading to people (voice talent, not studios) telling anyone who will listen how wonderful ipDTL is.

Bridging services offer ISDN connectivity (not quality) to talents without ISDN. ipDTL has attacked this market hard with a lot of marketing and hard-sell.... but whichever way you look at it, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and you are effectively connecting to the remote ISDN studio via the internet. Some studios will not accept these connections, demanding SourceConnect as a minimum if ISDN is not available for any reason. Obviously, from what Kristin says, there are some that don't care if it's a back-up solution.

Rick, ISDN codecs are as cheap as chips nowadays and I doubt you'll raise more than $100/$200 for the Musicam ... so keep the bugger. I have a Telos Zephyr Classic as my prime and a Musicam Prima 110 as my backup. The only thing that can screw me is if the line itself goes belly up. Like you, I'm lucky enough for the service to cost me around $70... and I use it at least weekly.

I understand the whole ipDTL thing has become a contentious issue, but the fact is that it can only be as good as the IP cloud between points A & B. It is, in essence, a Skype link with a better codec... and we all know what can happen to Skype links... they work just fine. Until they don't.
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Rick Riley · Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2017 6:43 pm Post subject:

Kristin, I like the idea of a Day Pass for ipDTL, but as Bish has noted, it’s still Internet based, and while it doesn’t happen frequently, every once in a while I’ll look down and my modem has reset and I’ll have to reboot. This is when I usually talk out loud to myself. What a pain. Shut down Pro Tools, any scripts you have, web pages that are open, links that are running, and start all over. What if I had to do that during a session? I rarely work sessions where there’s not multiple people on the other end. And you can’t tell them what happened because you’re connection is gone. I couldn’t even imagine. So I’m with ISDN as long as everyone else is.

And to Bish, sure the money (Prima LT with TA301 Card on eBay from $379 to $755) would be nice for something sitting that I don’t need, but the darn thing is PURPLE. I have it hidden so no one will see. PURPLE! Why on earth...? If it weren’t PURPLE I’m sure it would be worth a lot more, but... it’s purple.

So the fact that is worth something, it’s taking up space and it’s PURPLE, is why I’m asking. And it would only be while I’m getting the Telos repaired.
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Dave Waters · Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2017 7:22 pm Post subject:

I got ipDTL while I still had ISDN simply to "play around" with it. I wanted to be up to speed if and when ISDN went away or the cost went through the roof. Being comfortable with the technology when the time came was a main consideration.

AT&T went from $80.00 to more than $600.00 in a little more than a year. That was about the time ipDTL became a solid platform so I switched.

Sessions have improved from very reliable to extremely reliable. Had a 90 minute session with a studio in Dubai last week and the engineer said it was as solid as ISDN and sounded better.

By the way, the quality of my Apple TV gets better and better every year and is an internet based product. It doesn't work very well on ISDN. Just sayin'...
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Kristin Lennox · Flight Attendant Joined: 30 Apr 2011 Posts: 858

There are studios who only want ISDN. There are studios who only wanted ISDN two years ago, who are now equally fine with Source-Connect. There are studios who only wanted ISDN two years ago that were finally priced out of it, and had to give it up, and they now only want Source-Connect. And there are studios who still want ISDN but are open to bridging solutions, having tried them and finding them to be solid for their needs.

The trick is to find out which kind of studio you're working with. If they only want ISDN, you've got your purple doorstop as backup. Smile

And if they're open to trying a bridge, I think it's worth experimenting with... However, I don't experience random modem shut-downs, so that may indeed be problematic, I don't know...
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Philip Banks · Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2017 1:14 am Post subject:

I have a CDQPrima110 and for emergencies or if I want to wear my Red Beret I have AudioTX. Both work fabluss!

Demand for UnISDN so low it can only be heard by Blue Whales.

samowry · Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2017 4:11 pm Post subject:

Last week I was working at a studio for an ISDN session. There was a pronounced hiss, identified as the originating studios problem (everybody rebooted and such). It was a hard half hour session and we were running out of time. The originating studio didn't have Source Connect Standard (we did) and out of panic, they tried Source Connect Now (both engineers were dubious). It worked flawlessly and we got the session done on the money timewise, everyone happy with the audio quality.

I have SC Standard, go to studios for ISDN, and imagine there will always be problems as long as people and technology are forced to work together.

Happy voicing.

melissa eX · Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2017 9:34 pm Post subject:

I have my Zephyr Xstream and I also have a Classic for back up. In all honesty I picked up the Classic at a time I had 2 residences and ISDN in both. Now that I only have one, I have a backup Codec.
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ConnieTerwilliger · Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2017 2:42 pm Post subject:

I have been keeping an eye on the alternatives. Here is a blog post with a chart I created in September.

http://voiceover-talent.com/2016/12/03/the-irony-of-isdns-inevitable-demise/
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Deirdre · Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2017 8:39 pm Post subject:

I'm super happy to hear about IP-DTL's ISDN day pass. I never thought it would happen with any service!
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NorthEndVoice · Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2017 1:20 pm Post subject:

Rick, if you're looking for ABSOLUTE SUPER TERRIFIC redundancy...I have a Musicam Roadrunner that needs a new home !! Wink

Rick Riley · Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2017 4:07 pm Post subject: