Musicam Layer I-II Does all receivers support this?

[ussexplroer]

Musicam Layer I & II Does all receivers support this?

So I was hunting around about radio feeds and what music stations use. Most seem to use c-band. But what I came up with was this std. Musicam I & II. Is this what most FTA receivers use for the audio side?

Thanks,

Josh

 

[phlatwound]

Musicam Layer I & II Does all receivers support this?

So I was hunting around about radio feeds and what music stations use. Most seem to use c-band. But what I came up with was this std. Musicam I & II. Is this what most FTA receivers use for the audio side?

Thanks,

Josh

Not sure if this answers your question, but I think it applies:

".....DVB's primary audio format is MPEG-1 Level 2, also called Musicam. DVB optionally supports the AC3 standard from Dolby (otherwise known as Dolby Digital) but DCII requires AC3 for all audio streams. This doesn't mean that all DCII channels are using 5.1 surround - most channels transmit "2.0" format encoded with analog Dolby Suround....."

Great site here, with lots of info:

COOL.STF

 

[ussexplroer]

what I found last night

Since radiofeeds are not talked about much. Well as in say a specific radio talk show. I went hunting on how to get it. I ran across c-band lnb, musicam, and then some Addtional unit that hookup to a pro musicam receiver. I also ran across one that said DVB. But the on I was interested in was defently a proprietary box that seemed to be only putout by the publisher of the show. Then it hooked into your pc and a additional box. That in this case it didn't look like you needed since it was just ouputing R/L audio channels. Then I ran across another radio show that I swear we talked about before. Both places had instructions and settings on how to get there show. The one place looked like typical dvb setting via c-band you just use the l/r audio channel. Maybe somebody with DJ / Radio station experiance could chim in. I even found in both cases the sats you tuned too. THe pro musicam receivers I found are not cheap even used. Ouch. (epay)

later,

Josh

 

[techno935]

I work in radio. If you have C-band, scan AMC-8. Some will be FTA, some won't. Most of the material on there IS DVB/Musicam and all that, but there is a specific encryption system involved for these feeds.

Imagine if a competing radio station was able to pick up Rush Limbaugh freely without authorization? Not good!

Chances are if/when you scan AMC-8, you'll get a few things ITC but not many.

Hope this answers your question!

BTW: The receivers used in radio are called Starguide receivers. They are being phased out and there is a new line of receivers being used.

See below:


hxxp: www . xdigital.com/pages.asp?ID=204

Remove the xx's in the beginning and replace with tt. No live links allowed here.

 

[mbarnes]

I also work in radio as the technical director of a major network providing 12 satellite channels of programming. There are actually a number of receivers out there, the most popular are the Starguide III, some of which are being replaced by the new XDS receivers, and a lot of Wegener products including the Unity 4000/4600 and the iPump. Then there are some Comstream/Radyne/Tiernan and several more smaller systems. One of the most commonly used protocols is MPEG Layer 1 Level 2. This is a standard designated by the Motion Picture Engineering Group. It is also sometimes referred to as L2, MPEG L2, MPL2, or MP2. Musicam has modified the algorithm to create what, in their minds, is a higher quality signal. Musicam encoding is a proprietary format and must be licensed by Musicam for use. Normally, in my experience, Musicam is just used in point-to-point feeds to use Musicam enabled codecs at each end. I imagine a majority of distribution networks use the stock MPEG L2 format, which should be decodable by any DVB receiver.

Again, in my experience, there is not a lot of encryption in use in radio distribution feeds. A DVB carrier typically has a control channel which can permission receivers for what they can and cannot carry. However, that control format is not standardized and is unique to the equipment vendor. IOW, a Wegener Compel system cannot control a Starguide receiver. However, in many cases, a generic FTA DVB receiver can pick up all the channels, since it generally ignores the command stream.

While I have not tested this with Starguide distribution, I do know that on a Wegener system, almost any DVB receiver can get all the channels on a carrier with little or no problem if you can do a blind scan and pick up all the PIDs. For example, check at 4034 on AMC3 (87 degrees) and you should find about 30 channels of radio feeds on a 6Meg DVB carrier. It is possible the Starguide does not use a true DVB format. I only run two Starguide channels and I don't have to mess with them much. I'll have to dig out my manuals and research it more.

If you really want to play with Musicam, you'll need a Musicam codec like a CDQ Prima 110 series. Occasionally you can find these on eBay. But they're not cheap.

My $.0002

 

[ussexplroer]

Yes, that explains tons

Yes that tells me alot and seems to be on par with what I found. Either it is encrypted or in some cases signal changed to give better quality or it is just standard radio that FTA receivers can pickup.

Thanks,

Josh