Talk radio gets an upgrade with Telos VX VoIP phone system

Talk radio gets an upgrade with Telos VX VoIP phone system

30 March 2011, Cleveland Ohio, USA

Visitors to NAB 2011 in Las Vegas can see Telos’ VX multi-studio broadcast VoIP system. The Telos VX is the world’s first VoIP phone system engineered for the strenuous demands of broadcasting. Proven IP-Audio technology now makes it possible to move and share lines between studios at the touch of a button. Highly scalable and configurable,VX is at home in the largest of facilities with the most sophisticated needs, while also being surprisingly cost effective for even single stations with more modest talk shows.

The VX system’s standards-based VoIP connection to the Telco gives you a choice of using traditional POTS or ISDN lines via gateways for VoIP services via modern "SIP trunking," which can deliver substantial savings to stations that need a large number of lines.

In Livewire equipped facilities, the existing network can be used for the VX and its system components and the multiple audio channels can be accessed by any Livewire device. Of course, it works in non-Livewire studios too, via VX audio interfaces. And, in the same way that Livewire delivers full-fidelity studio audio, IP/Ethernet provides a secure, high-quality interconnect for VX system components.

The Telos VX system includes:

  • VX Engine: Audio Processing Engine.
  • VSet12: IP-based call controller.
  • VX Producer: Screening software.
  • VX Interfaces for Analog audio, AES/EBU and GPIO connections.

The Vx Engine is the heart of the system. It houses hybrids, manages call control, and processes audio. Because VX is an IP-based system, I/O is limited only by network bandwidth and throughput. The result: an unprecedented capacity of up to 50 available incoming lines.

VX is equipped with a rich toolbox to make caller audio sound its best, no matter what kind of line or phone the caller uses. Caller audio benefits from Smart AGC, Telos’ famous Digital Dynamic EQ, and a three-band adaptive spectral processor. Meanwhile, send audio gets its own sweetening with a frequency shifter, AGC/limiter and FhG’s Advanced Echo Cancellation.

Remote control and configuration is a snap. VX is web-based, so engineers can work with it from any place they can get online.

The new Telos VSet12 phone is as functional as it is beautiful. Its familiar phone-set design makes it easy to work with. Its big LCD color display keeps talent informed. When matched with VX Producer software, the display delivers detailed information for up to 12 lines, including line status, caller information, caller ID, time ringing-in or on-hold, and even screener comments.

VX lets users map groups of lines to a single fader, so it’s easy to take a queue of calls to air sequentially, for precise control of multi-call interviews or conferences. One-touch controls let talent step through queued calls, manage incoming lines, lock calls on-air, and even start an external recording device.

A built-in address book and call history log round out the VSet12’s features. As with the rest of the VX system, each VSet12 has its own web server for easy remote configuration and software updates.

VX Producer is a PC software application that streamlines call screening, recording, and editing with an intuitive user-friendly interface. VX Producer gives talk show producers plenty of information, including caller status, screener’s comments, caller ID, and time per call for up to 12 lines.

Like VSet12, VX Producer includes an address book and call history log. There’s also a Chat function that lets producers and talent communicate quickly off-air using VX Producer. But VX Producer is much more than just a call screening application. Plug a headset mic into your PC, and you can make and take phone calls directly from VX Producer – no phone set needed. Each VX system ships standard with VX Producer.

For even more control, Telos has partnered with Broadcast Bionics (www.bionics.co.uk) to offer PhoneBOX VX software to cover the most demanding of formats and the largest of networks. PhoneBOX VX software is an easy-to-use yet powerful interface for your studio communications offering an unrivalled feature set; phone integration, email, SMS, social media, database, call history, call recording and editing, codec control, stunning visual talkback. All harnessing the power of the Livewire network.

"The pairing of PhoneBOX software with Telos VX is pure genius. It has greatly streamlined production of our talk programming," states Joe Mauk, Director of Engineering, Peak Broadcasting KMJ-AM l KMJ-FM l KSKS l KWYE l KMGV. "The best part is, when it comes to people who use it on a daily bases, the producers and hosts, they really like it. That makes my job that much easier."

Each VX System includes PhoneBOX VX Lite at no-charge.

Telos Systems is the trusted world leader for broadcast telephony, IP & ISDN codecs, streaming audio and audio logging, with over 20,000 Zephyrs in use around the world, Telos is "The Best Way to Hear From There."

Experience the Telos VX paired with PhoneBOX VX in Las Vegas at NAB 2011 in the Telos/Omnia/Axia booth, Central Hall, Booth C3113.For more information, contact Angi Roberson via email at angi@Telos-Systems.com, or by phone at +1-216-241-7225.