09 February 2004, Cleveland, Ohio

With more than 10,000 Telos Zephyr ISDN Transceivers sold worldwide since 1994, Zephyr is the industry’s favorite remote codec. Zephyr Xstream is a particular favorite with sports broadcasters, who place high value on its rock-solid reliability and superior audio quality. Now, sportscasters have discovered Zephyr Xport, the portable codec that connects to any POTS or ISDN phone line to deliver stunning 15 kHz broadcast audio.

One example is Midwest Television’s 760/KFMB (www.760kfmb.com), home station for San Diego Chargers football. “We’ve used ISDN and Zephyr Xstream for a long time to broadcast Chargers play-by-play,” says John Rigg, Radio Engineering Supervisor for KFMB, “but we needed a way to streamline our post-game shows, which are done on-location from the stadium, and also to reduce the amount of remote gear we carried. Xport helped us do both.”

“When the game ends, there’s always a rush to pack up our broadcast booth, which travels with the Chargers’ equipment to the next venue. The Chargers begin loading their stuff for transport the second the game is over, and if our remote equipment isn’t on the truck with it, we have to carry it back ourselves on our return flight. Making this deadline was always a challenge because the post-game show kept our remote kit in use for at least an hour after the game.”

“Then we heard about Zephyr Xport, and it solved our problem perfectly,” says Rigg. “Xport can use ISDN or POTS; and it connects to the same Zephyr Xstream in our studio that we use for the ISDN remotes. So instead of waiting for the broadcast to finish, our road crew packs up the remote kit right after the end of the game while our host goes into the next room with his mic and headphones, plugs the Xport into the [POTS phone] jack in the wall, and does the post-game show. When he’s finished, he puts the Xport under his arm and catches his flight! Meanwhile, all the other remote gear is already on its way to the next stadium on the Chargers’ truck.”

“Xport also helped us cut in half the amount of remote gear we take on the road. We used to take a full second kit with us – another Zephyr in case the main was damaged, a POTS codec in case the ISDN line didn’t work – you get the idea. Now, we just keep the Xport on ‘hot’ standby in POTS mode during the game; it replaces all that redundant equipment. It’s light, too — only weighs a few pounds, compared to a 70-100 pound road case.”

“We love our Xport,” adds Rigg.

Zephyr Xport combines state-of-the-art aacPlus™ audio coding with a unique DSP-based modem architecture for rock-solid connections and 15 kHz audio using a standard analog (POTS) phone line. aacPlus has been described as “the best low-bitrate codec on Earth,” and has been chosen by XM Satellite Radio and Digital Radio Mondiale to ensure the highest possible audio quality over low-bit transmission paths. An ISDN option can be ordered at time of purchase or added later; ISDN-equipped units can use either Low-Delay MPEG AAC (MP4) or G.722 coding for connectivity to the widest variety of third-party ISDN codecs. Xport also contains a built-in mixer with mic and line inputs and selectable dynamics processing by Omnia Audio.

Zephyr Xstream owners can hear an instant demonstration of Zephyr Xport’s superior audio capabilities by connecting to the Zephyr Xport Demonstration line. For instructions and detailed information about Zephyr Xport, please visit www.telos-systems.com/xport/.

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Zephyr Xport — from Telos Systems

(You can download a print-quality version of this image at ftp://ftp.telos.cc/telos/pix/Xport_r-angle_black.tif)

Telos Systems, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio with offices in Europe and Canada, is a leading manufacturer of ISDN, coded audio and telephone interface products for talk-shows, teleconferencing, audio production, remote broadcasts, and intercom applications.