Graves On SOHO Technology

After my little experimental effort with Opus in the freeware PhonerLite soft phone I reached out to a variety of people seeking advice about other software supporting this new codec. Someone suggested that I try Countherpath’s Bria.

Counterpath is the single most recognized name in the commercial soft phone space. Their Bria, Eyebeam and X-Lite products have a lengthy history. They have at various times graced several generations of my computers and handheld mobile devices.

Since their software is already on my Nexus 4 & 7 Android devices I had a quick look but found that Opus was not actually supported in the current releases. On that basis I contacted Todd Carothers, Executive Vice President, Marketing & Products at CounterPath Corporation.

Todd informed me that Opus support is presently limited to their soft clients on iOS, but that broad support for the codec is in the works. He advised that Opus support across their entire range of soft phones is expected in just a few weeks.

This news is certainly encouraging as I still would like to try some experimentation with the codec in support of some non-traditional applications. The availability of a commercial implementation will open doors to adoption by non-technical users like Mike Phillips.

I tweeted this fact, which just happened to catch the attention of Doug Mohney at HDVoiceNews.

A couple of weeks ago I was trying the RealPresence Mobile app from Polycom. I was trying it on my iPad since none of my various Android devices were officially supported.

JMR left a comment on the post saying that he had just installed the Android release on his Nexus 7. Since the Nexus 7 is my preferred tablet I decided that I’d give it a try on that device as well.

Happily, the app seems to work pretty well on the Nexus 7. I registered it with my OnSIP account from which point it could call my Polycom VVX phones. Next I used it to call a Polycom RMX 2000 video conference bridge.  That also worked nicely.

Read the rest of this entry »

Inspired by my earlier interaction with Mike Phillips I thought it would be interesting to get some hands on experience with Opus. It would be worthwhile staging a little test to better understand the audio path presented in one or more Opus implementations.

A quick Google search revealed that PhonerLite, the freeware Windows soft phone from Germany, includes Opus from the v1.92 release onward. According to the release notes support for Opus replaced support for CELT. The current release is v2.08 from April 16, 2013.

I had first encountered PhonerLite some time ago, when I was seeking a G.722 capable soft phone. It’s very functional but a bit quirky.

Read the rest of this entry »

Opus promises to be a great tool for online audio. In technology, as in music, not all opus are implemented equally. Allow me to explain.

Earlier this week I happened into a Twitter exchange with Mike Phillips. Mike is a podcaster. VUC founder Randy Resnick has introduced us once before. Mike is seeking a replacement for the role that Skype plays in his online toolbox.

It came to light that Mike has tried to leverage various soft phones, even giving some focus to finding one that implements the Opus codec. Opus is after all, open source, the current state-of-the-art in audio codecs, and a new IETF standard. However, in Mike’s attempts to tap its potential he has to date come up short relative to Skype.

Read the rest of this entry »

There have been quite a number of changes going on hereabouts, largely behind the scenes. Some have been mentioned in passing on recent VUC calls. I thought it was about time to break the news more generally.

On March 31st I left Pixel Power. After fourteen years on their staff, it was a very difficult decision to make. I had been in the broadcast business for over twenty years, and I still very much liked the work. Nonetheless, it was time for something new. I needed a change and a new challenge.

Early in April I began working with ZipDX. Friend and long-time VUC sponsor David Frankel has project that sounded interesting (pardon the HDVoice pun,) and gives me an opportunity to participate in the IP communications space in a more direct fashion.

Thus there have been a lot of changes going on over the past couple of months. A lot of broadcast-related hardware has left my office, destined for my former employers office in the west. Also, some interesting new hardware has arrived, which I will some day get around to describing here.

In a tweet some weeks ago I expressed the notion that “a new normal” was fast approaching. In recent weeks I’ve been trying to define that new normal. As I grow more accustomed to my new scope of activities I hope to re-engage on many different levels.

I’ve recently been reminded of the opening to the old Six Million Dollar Man TV Show, “We can rebuild him, we have the technology. We can make him better. Faster. Stronger…” and in my case, maybe just a bit bloggier, too.

Tuesday was a sad day indeed, for that was the day that my Nexus 4 was broken. I was out walking the dogs with the phone in  my pocket. I don’t think that there was anything else in my pocket. When I returned home I noticed that the back of the phone was literally shattered.

The phone was in a bumper but not otherwise protected. I suppose it’s possible that something struck my pocket, possibly the one of the dogs leashes. We use the fairly common retractable leashes that have a hard plastic handle.

The damage is only the glass back of the phone. Initially it was limited to the area just around the the slot where the speaker is located. Over time the cracks spread across most of the back of the phone.

I did a little Googling around to see if this was commonplace, and scope out possible solutions. I know that Karl Fife had to perform a repair on his Nexus 4.

Read the rest of this entry »