Dolby Audio Bridge Download

[Meghan Beas]

ThePillars of a Successful and Meaningful Meeting

By Biju (Brad) Oommen, Network SolutionsConsultant Biju Oommen

Network Solutions Consultnt Originally published in AudioConferencing MagazineAudio is not only a pillar, but the foundational piece for a great meeting. Our goal should be to create a productive and intuitive conferencing experience. Today, there are many options and solutions on the market. However, often we find that setting up a conference session means navigating multiple complex interfaces and, when you get going, poor quality audio experience hampers and gets in the way of effective communication between stakeholders, especially remote attendees. For this discussion we will focus on two themes: ease of use of the technology and understanding the audio pillar/foundation aspect - especially given Dolbys expanding presence in the space and reputation for audio quality. The Dolby Conference phone shown inFigure A comes equipped with many features.

Dolbys design focuses on providing the best audio experience possible (that is as close to being there in person as possible). Dolby started by looking at the interaction in group meetings and found that groups are often highly interactive and talk over each other. When we are present in-person, our brains can process all of the audio streams, and we can decide what we want to listen to based on visual and audio cues. With existing conference room audio solutions, it is not possible to completely replicate the audio from the far end of the room because the designs are optimized to detect the loudest voice and switch the microphone to focus on that talker. With highly interactive meetings, information can be lost.

Dolby approached the problem in a different way, looking at how to completely replicate the in-room experience over a distance. The end result was the development of a new conference phone design that can capture all the audio in a room simultaneously (3 simultaneously active microphones) as well as play that audio out on the far end (three speakers), preserving the position and audio separation of the original talkers.

To preserve this information, Dolby also came up with its own codec, DVC-2. Understanding the need for interoperability, the Dolby Conference Phone supports SIP and standard codecs as well. In this standard mode, it can provide a great experience. When using the Dolby codec end to end, the experience is truly lifelike.

The Dolbyconference phone datasheet includes all the specs.

It is a dual-mode device that can function as an endpoint for a Dolby Voice enabled hosted conferencing service or a SIP conference phone for IP telephony or both. The value proposition is that you can make your normal calls through any IP-PBX or a hosted call control platform and also join Dolby Voice meetings. The Conference phone possesses voice placement capability when connected to a Dolby Voice enabled conferencing service. It picks up all the voices in the room and presents them clearly to the remote conference call attendees as if they are coming from specific distinct locations in the room. That immensely helps the remote conference participants to feel and effectively participate in the ongoing conversations as they are able to identify the speakers and follow their conversations.

The device has an intuitive, touch-screen interface to start, join, and manage meetings. Even as conversations overlap in a meeting room it continuously maps the room, canceling out noise while boosting the audio of quiet or distant talkers, so that everyone is heard clearly. Dolby provides management software that aids with firmware upgrades, bulk provisioning and management of the conference phones. The choice is yours, you select the audio mode based on your needs, applications and the required setup.

Functional Testing

Let us now deploy and functionally test some of the key features of the Dolby Conference phone with a view to delivering an easy to use and a good quality audio Conference session through a hosted call control platform and also join Dolby Voice meetings. Please refer to the connectivity diagram inFigure B for the functional testing setup.

Figure B: Dolby Conference Phone Functional TestingSetup

We connected the phone to a Power over Ethernet (PoE)-IEEE 802.3af capable network switch port and configured the requisite parameters. For the test setup, we had the Dolby Conference phone operating in dual mode as a SIP Conference phone that successfully registered with a hosted call control platform via an on-premises eSBC and also the BlueJeans Cloud service with Dolby Voice.

The phone configuration was easy and straightforward for our testing:

The phone essentially pointed to the Patton SmartNode SN5570 eSBC. Now we had just one device that permitted inbound/outbound calling through the SIP PBX/SIP trunk and we were also able to join meetings using a BlueJeans bridge meeting ID and moderator code. The solution also supports calendar integration and with the JOIN button enabled a one-touch meeting experience.

It is a tap and go device. We just had to tap the touch screen icons on the home screen to navigate the phones features and functions. It allowed us to start, join, and manage the meeting as well as share content. There were no numbers to dial to join a meeting .We just had to tap on the Join icon on the phones colour touch display and we were prompted to enter our meeting or event ID (passcode being optional). After entering the meeting ID, you can join the meeting as a participant or a moderator. If you tap on the People icon on the phones display, you are presented with a list of meeting participants and controls. If you tap on the Share icon, the phone provides a link that a user can type into their browser to share their desktop or application in a BlueJeans meeting.

Referring to the pictorial representation in figure C and figure D, we were able to register with the public SIP trunk and successfully placed inbound/outbound calls from the Dolby Conference phone in IP phone mode through the Patton SmartNode SN5570 eSBC. The LED halo on the phone is a quick visual indicator. The halo lit up blue when we were on an active Dolby Voice call and green when on a standard SIP call. As expected, the halo lit up red when the call was muted.

Axis C8110 is a device that lets you connect and combine analog and IP audio systems. Using this network audio bridge, you can bring existing analog paging speakers into an IP paging system. C8110 has Axis Audio Manager Edge preinstalled, giving you fine-grained control over the connected analog speakers, including zone management and content scheduling.

As a SIP device, C8110 is an open standard solution, letting you integrate it with third-party devices and systems. It connects to the network via a standard Ethernet cable and can be powered by POE (Power Over Ethernet). It also has I/O connections for buttons and relays.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Morbi ut blandit risus. Donec mollis nec tellus et rutrum. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Ut consequat quam a purus faucibus scelerisque. Mauris ac dui ante. Pellentesque congue porttitor tempus. Donec sodales dapibus urna sed dictum. Duis congue posuere libero, a aliquam est porta quis.

Curabitur vel sem mi. Proin in lobortis ipsum. Aliquam rutrum tempor ex ac rutrum. Maecenas nunc nulla, placerat at eleifend in, viverra etos sem. Nam sagittis lacus metus, dignissim blandit magna euismod eget. Suspendisse a nisl lacus. Phasellus eget augue tincidunt, sollicitudin lectus sed, convallis desto. Pellentesque vitae dui lacinia, venenatis erat sit amet, fringilla felis. Nullam maximus nisi nec mi facilisis.

Nam tempus turpis at metus scelerisque placerat nulla deumantos solicitud felis. Pellentesque diam dolor, elementum etos lobortis des mollis ut risus. Sedcus faucibus an sullamcorper mattis drostique des commodo pharetras loremos.Donec pretium egestas sapien et mollis. Pellentesque diam dolor cosmopolis etos lobortis.

Nam tempus turpis at metus scelerisque placerat nulla deumantos solicitud felis. Pellentesque diam dolor, elementum etos lobortis des mollis ut risus. Sedcus faucibus an sullamcorper mattis drostique des commodo pharetras loremos.

The main advantage of using Audio Bridge is its capacity to simplify complex routing setups. It allows for direct audio input from virtual instruments, external sound modules, or other digital audio workstations (DAWs) without needing physical cables or additional audio interfaces.

Audio Bridge basically enables users to achieve a seamless workflow between Pro Tools and various audio sources. This makes the production process more efficient by reducing setup time and hardware dependency and opens up new creative possibilities.

Using Pro Tools Audio Bridge begins with setting up virtual Input/Output (I/O) channels within Pro Tools. This setup is crucial for connecting Pro Tools and external applications or hardware devices.

3a8082e126