hd voice: the hurdles and how to overcome the codec war
DESCRIPTION
Global IP Solutions (GIPS) held a webinar on July 14, 2009. "It’s all Gone HD! Overcoming the hurdles to supplying HD Voice and resolving the Codec war"TRANSCRIPT
It’s all Gone HD!It s all Gone HD! Overcoming the hurdles
to supplying HD Voice andto supplying HD Voice and resolving the Codec war
July 14 2009
SpeakersSpeakers
Elliot GoldElliot Gold– President TeleSpan Publishing Corp
Dovid Coplon– Senior Director, Product Management, g
Why HD Voice is about to be “it”
I’ve learned something after 30+ years in the i d tindustry
• Early to market stake in the ground works• Early to market, stake in the ground works
– If you recognize the right trends
– If you team with the right people
f h b h l ll f– If you have common sense about how people really meet, face‐to‐face, or virtually
Allow me to tell you a story
• In the late 1970s, AT&T was testing PMS (not the disorder, the Picturephone Meeting Service)Picturephone Meeting Service)
• They wanted to deliver the best video, customers could afford
• So they ran focus groups
AT&T told the audience
• “Ok, you saw our first video quality”
• “Allow us to take a moment, and change the quality, and run the video by you again to see what you think.”
• AT&T then changed “the quality”, and ran it by the audience
• Overwhelmingly, the audience liked the second video qualityOverwhelmingly, the audience liked the second video quality
• What did AT&T change?
The Audio Fidelity!y
Then AT&T introduced Picturephone MeetingThen AT&T introduced Picturephone Meeting Service
And ended up with PMS, because they failed to increase the audio fidelity
The system is gone now
Spin the calendar forward 30 yearsk id % f lLook at HD Video as a % of Group Sales
70%80%90%100%
40%50%60%70%
Legacy
0%10%20%30%
g yTechnologyHD Video
0%
Q4 07 Q1 08 Q2 08 Q3 08 Q4 08 Q1 09
But…
• Video equipment is – Only 20.7% of revenues
• Video usage isg– Only 2.6% of revenues
• Audio usage on the other hand isAudio usage on the other hand is– 51% of revenues
• And over 25 billion minutes of audio conference call use• And, over 25 billion minutes of audio conference call use
Dovid CoplonSenior Director, Product Management
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives nor theIt is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change” – Charles Darwin
What is HD Voice?
Quality
CD ‐Audio
b d h
Std Wideband Speech(e g G 722 2)
Audio
GIPS Wideband Speech
GIPS Narrowband Speech (e.g. G.722.2)
Std Narrowband Speech Implementation (PSTN) Frequency
4 kHz 6.4‐7.0 kHz3.4 kHz 22.1 kHz8 kHz
Standard Technology has not Progressed by Leaps and Bounds over the yearsand Bounds over the years…
… and Traditional Technologies are not designed to run over IP networks
HD Brings Everything into Focus – Maximizing the User ExperienceUser Experience
HD Voice is Essential to Overall Experience especially when combined with videoespecially when combined with video
Here Comes HD Voice
May 2009 Industry Professional Poll Question
What has been your experience with HD‐Voice?
11%
13% Never Tried it47 %
47%
30%
11%
Have tried it once or twice
Use it all the time or whenever I can
Not sure if I've tried it
30%
11%
13% Not sure if I ve tried it
Potential of HD Voice Light Reading Webinar- May, 2009
13%
• 90 % of the audience had very limited HD Voice experience
g g y,
May 2009 Poll Questions
Where do you think HD‐Voice will make the biggest impact?
16%
45%
impact?
Call Centers16 %45%
33%
6%Conference calls
Video conferencing
International-placed phone calls
45%
33%
6% International-placed phone calls
Potential of HD Voice Light Reading Webinar- May, 2009
6%
• Highest expected impact on conference calls and video conferencing
g g y,
How to Get the Most Out of HD Voice
1. HD capable microphone2 High quality HD Voice codec2. High quality HD Voice codec
– Suitable for usage scenario3. HD Voice Quality Enhancement
– Echo cancellation, noise suppression, gain control…4. End‐to‐end network HD Voice support
– Preferably no transcoding– Absolutely no narrowband
5. Network clean‐up– Jitter buffer and packet loss concealmentp
6. HD capable speaker
So Many Codec Options
29RTAudio
iSAC
G.729.1
G.719iPCM‐WB
G 722 1 (Siren)BV 32
Speex
AAC‐LDG.722.2 (AMR‐WB)
G.722.1 (Siren)BV 32
G.718SILK
AAC LD G.722
SVOPCSVOPC G.711.1EVRC‐WB
HD Voice Codec Selection
• Not one codec fits all scenarios
• Packet loss robustness important for VoIP• Packet loss robustness important for VoIP
• Variable bit rate attractive for IP networks− Automatic adaption to available rate attractivep
• Packet overhead significant (5 – 32 kb/s)− Makes low bit rate codecs less attractive
• Low delay very important
• Standard versus proprietary− Standards usually come at a higher cost
• Complexity an important issue in Mobile VoIP
Codecs compared
MUSHRA test results for different codecs
708090
100
3040506070
0102030
VoIP Design Considerations
QualityCost
Speech Quality
Time to MarketEase of Use
Cost
SignalingCost
Flexibility
Ease of Use
Network Impairment
Signaling
Features
Infrastructure
ImpairmentPower Consumption
Device Considerations
Advancements in Speech Processing Design
More Than Just a Codec
Hardware Issues (Processor, OS, Acoustics etc )
Speech Codec Codec
VoIP Design
Coping with Network Power Consumption
Acoustics, etc.)Network Hardware
VoIP DesignChallengesDegredation
Echo CancellationEnvironment –
EchoPower
Additional Voice Processing Components
Background Noise, Room Acoustics, etc.Voice Environment
Why Bandwidth Estimation is Important
• When properly utilized, bandwidth estimation can ensure consistent, high quality experience
− Fixed bit rate solutions estimate bandwidth once at the beginning of the call (or not at all) – no flexibility
− Variable bit rate HD codecs adapt to the network
2) Then Determines Bit Rate1) Fixed Codec Detects Bandwidth 3) Begins Sending Media
32 kbps?32 kbps it is!
…but bottleneck appearance during the call can cause delays if bit rate is not adjusted
HD is Everywhere and the Benefits are ClearExcept for our Phones… Except for our Phones
• Better comprehension
• Identify who’s talking
• Higher productivity
• Lower fatigue
• Overcome accents
• Speakerphone solution!p p
Poll QuestionPoll Question
•When is your organization planning to utilize or deploy HD y g g y(wideband) voice?
• A) 6 - 12 months
• B) 1 - 2 years
• C) 2 - 3 years) y
• D) 3 - 5 years
• E) Don’t Know• E) Don t Know