Barix Announces First Exstreamer 1000 Installation

Standard Media Group transports morning program from L.A. to Phoenix using new Barix Audio over IP solution designed specifically for radio broadcasters

 

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND, April 6, 2009 — Barix AG, a pioneer in IP-based audio, intercom, control, and monitoring, announces its first Exstreamer 1000 installation in the U.S. heading into the 2009 NAB Show (April 20-23, Las Vegas Convention Center, Booth N8725).  The Standard Media Group, based in North Hollywood, Calif., is using the Barix Exstreamer 1000 to deliver its “Martini in the Morning” program over IP to 1480-KPHX-AM in Phoenix for local transmission.  The Barix Audio over IP solution provides an enormous cost-savings compared to satellite distribution and allows 1480-KPHX to maintain a local broadcast presence throughout the show.

 

The Barix Exstreamer 1000 is a professional Audio over IP device designed specifically for radio broadcasters.  The one-half, 19-inch rack mount solution combines Barix Instreamer and Exstreamer functionality in one device.  It is also the first Barix Instreamer or Exstreamer device to include contact closures to trigger and control local announcements.

 

1480-KPHX became the first terrestrial affiliate to carry the show as of January 1, 2009.  The Exstreamer 1000 encodes the live signal in L.A. and distributes it to Phoenix at the lowest possible compression rate.  A second Exstreamer 1000 at 1480-KPHX receives and decodes the audio along with data information to trigger local advertisements, station IDs and public service announcements from a Prophet NexGen automation system.  The result is a reliable, near CD-quality audio signal that allows the station to maintain a local on-air feel.

 

“Audio over IP is incredibly cost-efficient compared to satellite distribution.  We’re saving approximately $55,000 using the Barix solution to launch our first terrestrial affiliate,” said Brad Chambers, Chief Creative Officer of Standard Media Group and On-Air Host of Martini In The Morning.  “We’re looking to be in the 25-35 station range in the short term, and Barix will save us a lot of money compared to satellite.  The Barix solution also allows us to retain complete control of our end-to-end distribution system.  I can easily access the send unit in L.A. and the receive unit in Phoenix at the same time and adjust the settings without affecting our on-air signal.  You can’t do that with satellite.”

 

Chambers and Al Taddeo, his engineer, first used Barix Instreamer-100 and Exstreamer-100 devices to transport live, remote broadcasts from Universal Studios back to the North Hollywood studios.  Barix began developing the Exstreamer 1000 based on requests from Chambers and Taddeo to add professional broadcasting features.  The result is a complete encoding/decoding solution that adds balanced inputs and outputs; a high-quality A>D/D>A signal converter; a professional AES/EBU interface; and eight contact closures.  Taddeo added that Barix is also incorporating a feature that will allow radio broadcasters to transport completely uncompressed audio for a CD-quality signal.

 

“I have worked with a lot of vendors in the past, and I have never communicated with a company that is more flexible and dedicated to getting their products right for the end user,” said Chambers.  “The development efforts they put into the Exstreamer 1000 are well worth it.  The compression schemes are better and more versatile, and the closures are very important to our program.  We always acknowledge our true location, and with Barix we are live and local to the extent that we use closures to fire local content.”

 

Taddeo added that the show continues to use its Instreamer-100 and Exstreamer-100 devices to provide a confidence feed from Phoenix for live program monitoring.

 

All Barix products are inexpensive, low-power devices that are scalable to the growth of the operation; offer reliability through a PC-FREE design with no moving parts; and serve as a flexible platform for integration into virtually any operation requiring audio transport and delivery.   Barix also offers its programmable BCL standard open to all customers to easily tailor applications for specific needs.  Local control, audio relay, and low-latency streaming are a few examples of custom programs using Barix’ BCL software environment.

 

About Barix AG (www.barix.com)

Barix AG, headquartered in Zurich Switzerland, specializes in research and development of state of the art IP based communication and control technology. Barix products are stand-alone and able to remotely connect worldwide over standard networks / Internet offering new and improved solutions to the professional audio distribution, communication and automation industry. Barix products provide solutions in audio over IP (audio distribution and monitoring, communication, security) and automation (remote controlling, monitoring and maintenance).