[BC] Internet tuner

[Greg Ogonowski]

Many of the currently available Internet Radios do not support HE-AAC, or if
they do, it is not supported correctly.
The SBR(v1/v2) and PS(v1) components of the codec are necessary for high
fidelity.

Then there is the issue of streaming transport. Actually this comes first,
then the codec. Simply stating that an Internet Radio or Software supports
HE-AAC is not enough information.
These are the streaming transports currently in use for HE-AAC:

HTTP/ICY : SHOUTcast
HTTP/ICY : Icecast2 and its custom derivatives
RTSP/RTP/ISAM/MPEG4 : QuickTime/Dariwn Streaming Server
RTSP/RTP/3GPP/LATM : QuickTime/Darwin Streaming Server - Used for
Standards-Based Multimedia Mobile Devices
RTMP/MPEG4 : Adobe Flash Media Server / Wowza Media Server
HTTP/FLV : Adobe Flash Progressive Downloads - This fakes out the Adobe
Flash Desktop Player into playing HE-AAC, but also writes the data to the
user hard disk.

There are three basic HE-AAC profiles:
AAC : Basic Core AAC LC Codec
HE-AACv1 : AAC LC with SBR : aka aacPlus / eAAC
HE-AACv2 : AAC LC with SBR and PS : aka aacPlus v2 / eAAC+
These profiles can use implicit or explicit signaling, further complicating
things.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Efficiency_Advanced_Audio_Coding

In order for an Internet Radio to work correctly for the consumer and
produce the high fidelity audio it is capable of, it is necessary to support
ALL of the above. Not just some of it.
It seems that there is no acceptance of any kind of streaming standards
here. And then the PAD/metadata is another problem with yet another complete
lack of standards.
Many Internet radios only connect to MP3 streams because they do not support
the necessary transports to deliver HE-AAC streams. Consequently, these MP3
streams are usually either high bitrate, which doesn't work for mobile well,
or LoFi and give Internet Radio a bad name either way.

As it turns out, almost every major and even minor broadcast group is now
streaming with HE-AAC in one transport or another, with known exceptions
being Cox and Cumulus. The most popular transport is HTTP/FLV for commercial
broadcasters. There is a reason for this, but best for another thread.
Using HE-AAC gives the content provider/station audio quality that can be
better than HD Radio or satellite radio, simply because the HE-AAC codec is
better.

I will be posting some detailed information shortly about a new iPhone/iPod
touch/iPad App called StreamS HiFi Radio that supports all of the above.
Plug the iPhone/iPod touch/iPad into a dock, AirPlay, HiFI Bluetooth, or a
cable into your car or home stereo system, and enjoy the ultimate Internet
Radio with StreamS HiFi.
And you can even take it with you and run other applications on the same
device, so your investment in hardware is efficient.
More information here:
http://www.indexcom.com/iphone
There is technical information at these sub-links:
http://www.indexcom.com/iphone/specifications.html
http://www.indexcom.com/iphone/hfsabasics.html

I will also be posting the HE-AAC results of the broken Adobe Flash Player
on Android devices shortly as well.

Hope this helps in the technical details of all of this.

And Dana: "It's now your 'Q' to call in and win."

-greg.
ORBAN
Modulation Index

------ At 02:55 PM 11/24/2010, Dana  Puopolo wrote: -------

>Oh, one more thing...if you buy this at the Grace web site
>(www.gracedigitalaudio.com)  and use the discount code: grace40 you'll get
40%
>off your order-so the unit only costs 78 dollars, shipped free.

I like the tuner. I'm just wondering why there's a need for coax and 
optical outputs. Internet audio isn't high enough quality to demand a 
digital connection. I can only guess that the digital output might 
include the cover art and liner notes data if it feeds a device that 
can display them.

Though it doesn't say, I assume the USB port is an input for flash 
drives or firmware updates.

I have a C. Crane WiFi radio that receives almost everything and has 
a line out so I can make use of my Sony IBUZ table radio. It has an AUX
input.

Rich

_________________________________________________________
Greg Ogonowski
VP Product Development
orban

First to bring HE-AAC audio streaming to the Internet
MORE Audio - LESS Annoyance