ZEPHYR XPORT USER’S GUIDE
A note from the CEO
It's been nearly 10 years since Telos brought you the original Zephyr – the first product in the world to use MP3, and the first to bring all the necessary pieces for ISDN remotes together in one easy- to- use and reliable package. In 2001, we offered you the latest MPEG technology and numerous improvements with the introduction of the Zephyr Xstream family of codecs. Together, these have become among the most successful and enabling tools in broadcasting’s digital era.
Unless you enjoy reading user manuals for the thrill, you presumably have the new Zephyr XPORT at hand, and you will be using it with an ordinary telephone line to
connect to a Zephyr Xstream ISDN codec. Prepare to hear the highest fidelity low- bitrate coding method on Earth, aacPlus, in action. For the first time, you will experience FM- like audio over analog telephone lines – with surprisingly detailed highs and fuzz- free clarity, on both speech and music. You will also experience remarkable stability. Because the studio side is connected digitally, modem performance is considerably more reliable than with POTS- only schemes.
Maybe you are thinking, "What took you so long?" Those with long memories may recall that we had a POTS codec prototype using MP3 at the NAB radio show many years ago, before any others were marketed. However interesting the demo, we decided MP3 and the other codecs around at that time were just not up to our snuff on quality over modems.
All the while since, we’ve been keeping our eyes and ears open. We knew POTS Telco, we knew codecs, and we knew ISDN, so we knew what we were looking for. Now, finally, all the pieces have come together to let us give you all the right stuff.
My guiding principle at Telos is to make the stuff I would have wanted for myself when I was in the CE game. So, here’s another one I sure could have used! It’s really cool when something like this one comes together so well.
So, go ahead and use this baby to shock and amaze. We are looking forward to hearing of your experiences using the Xport…
Steve Church
February 2003
