VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Dan-O]

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[bobsouer]

Dan,

Fascinating. And so the tide begins to turn.
_________________
Be well,
Bob Souer (just think of lemons)
The second nicest guy in voiceover.
+1-724-613-2749
Source Connect, phone patch, pony express

[ballenberg]

It's gonna be a slow tide, Bob. Very slow.

Last time I did an S-C session--it's been ages since anyone asked--there were at at least 4 dropouts in less than a half-hour.

I've got it. It works, kinda. But I'm certainly not impressed. Give me my ISDN any day.

[JTVG]

May that sort of thing continue, but may Source Connect and/or the infrastructure also evolve. I tried to do a session on the road last month with good cell service and a mobile card and it failed me pretty badly. Tried to do a couple of sessions from home more recently and it worked, kinda, to borrow the previous posters quote. My end was fine in terms of getting the audio there, but the producer had an upload speed issue that had them dropping out occasionally, even when sending "low" quality. (They upload video off and on, and share a connection between 9 workstations). And when he tried to disconnect to reset the connection, his ProTools crashed. You could tell he wasn't totally thrilled, but happy to be experimenting with the future.

But hey, even the first personal computers had some kinks to work out too.
_________________
Joe Szymanski
http://www.joethevoiceguy.com

[Bruce]

I had a little email exchange with Charlie Van Dyke the other day, who does TV station imaging for just about every major market in the country, after he FB'd about getting rid of his ISDN boxes for lack of use. I asked what he used instead and he replied "nothing". He just FTP's audio to the stations.

Of course he's got his unique style and people hire him specifically for that, so he doesn't need anyone listening in I gather.


B
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VO-BB Member #31 Enlisted June, 2005

I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .

[anthonyVO]

That's interesting, Bruce. Maybe the affiliates have gone that route, but the parent networks are still using ISDN. I would love to get rid of my ISDN, because it seems, one out of four times, either I or the other party has to "reboot" in order to lock.

I would love to see more Source Connect support and improvements, because of portability and ease of use (I have to reboot 1 out of 4 sessions with ISDN to get a lock sometimes.)

-Anthony

[DougVox]

Thankfully, I couldn't be happier with the stability of my ISDN service. I've got a client with whom I do two 2-hour sessions every week, and I can't remember the last time we had any connection problems whatsoever. The only issues we've ever had are those annoying line spikes (quick, loud burst of static), and those are extremely rare, probably less than once a month or so.
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Doug Turkel (tur-KELL)
Voiceover UNnouncer®
UNnouncer.com

[anthonyVO]

I don't think it's my service, Doug. Once we lock, the sessions always go smoothly without any problems - not even those spikes I've heard in other studios. I think it's a codec issue - either my box needs some service or the network's.

[Mike Harrison]

No ISDN problems to report here, either, for over seven years and counting. That is, other than the fact I have to deal with Verizon, a company whose management surprises me by getting their collective shoelaces tied every morning. And that's just an assumption.
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Mike
Male Voice Over Talent
I have taken leave of my sensors.

[anthonyVO]

I used to work for the company, Mike. It's more like Velcro than shoelaces.

[Mike Harrison]

Holy cow... and you've survived to tell about it. Good for you!

I'm just amazed (and saddened) by the fact that this company, whose roots are the very infrastructure of this country's telecommunications system, can't even transfer a call from a rep in one division to another rep in the same division. I think, today, if a call on the Verizon network gets completed, it's totally by accident.

For my money, bring back good ol' New Jersey Bell.
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Mike
Male Voice Over Talent
I have taken leave of my sensors.

[BenWils]

I don't use SC much at all....only as a back-up with certain studios...when their ISDN is having issues or whatever. It seems to work well when I have used it.

One thing that I have noticed with my Xstream (if you happen to use one) is setting it on Auto In is not always fool proof in establishing a locked connection. I've from time to time had to reboot and change to "L2 receive" to get a lock with certain studios.
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Ben


"To be really good at voiceover, you need to improve your footwork and hip snap."

[JTVG]

I tried auto in for awhile but the downside seems to be having to wait 10 or 15 seconds for it to lock once the producer dials in. I had too many producers thinking there was a connection problem since they had to wait to hear me, so I went back to L2 and called it good. I never have an issue locking with the Xstream , but the old classic Zephyr gave me tons of lock headaches, especially on warm days. They overheat easily and Telos keeps that secret pretty well.
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Joe Szymanski
http://www.joethevoiceguy.com

[KaraEdwards]

I do love me some ISDN!

That said...I've had 3 SC sessions in the past week. One drop out in 3 sessions and we quickly reconnected before the client even knew what happened.

And just an interesting point- one session had me on SC, and 2 guys on ISDN. The session was delayed 20 minutes because the boys were having issues connecting. I was on the line listening the whole time.

But again...I do love ISDN!
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Threadjackers local 420

Kara Edwards
http://www.karaedwards.com
kara@karaedwards.com

[Dan-O]

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