Microsoft have today announced Skype’s forthcoming introduction of Skype TX, a tool designed for broadcasters to enable use of studio quality audio and video streams into productions.
This could be brilliant news for voiceover artists and production houses around the globe, to be able to seamlessly dial into clients studios and vice versa, and record remotely as you would do with ISDN, without the costs and infrastructure associated with such a setup.
Pricing hasn’t been released yet, and the estimated rollout is ‘within the coming year’ – so stay tuned for more info. It looks like we’re in for a really interesting time with the advent of more and more IP-based connection tools, that could maybe see an end to ISDN within the next few years? Who knows….With SourceConnect/SourceConnect Now, SoundStreak, AudioTX, ipDTL et al, and now with Skype’s own offering, I think we will soon see a proper format war like we did with VHS/Betamax & HD-DVD/BluRay over the coming months.
Could Skype have the advantage given the fact they have an already massive user base for their regular software? I think it could give them a major head start at least.
Exciting times ahead!
More info:
What are your thoughts? Let me know below…
UPDATE (8th April):
The Engadget article now includes a brief video demo of SkypeTX, and the presenter does mention something to do with hardware – namely “…a Windows 8 machine that is included in the price…” – not good news for us Mac users! I was hoping this would be a case of needing to buy a simple box to enable it to work like ISDN – I’m kind of gutted at this revelation so far that it requires running a Windows 8 machine – I don’t want/need that kind of hardware! Let’s hope there will be a Mac version not too long post-release, or at least a software-only version so production houses can dial into VOs at their home studios etc.
Well that’s Microsoft for you!!
I’ll post more info as and when it becomes available.
From the Skype pages it appears that they require special hardware. That may limit the impact of their installed user base.
For some reason your form won’t accept my website: http://www.Ed-VO.com
Hi Ed,
Yes that’s true. Hopefully nothing too costly. Maybe just some kind of box to connect up like a Prima etc? Hopefully we’ll know before too long.
Not sure re. the form, pass!
What a bad start. Gotta be cross platform, affordable, excellent audio and NO STUPID HARDWARE! Performers don’t want that, nor do studios.
Quite agree Howard!!
I’m hoping they’re just making a point about Windows because it’s a whole Microsoft love-in etc. And yes the average home-based VO wouldn’t want extra hardware, regardless of their personal computing preferences – if it runs on a Windows8 machine (and by the looks of it, the demo was run on a Microsoft Surface tablet) then there’s no reason I can see why extra hardware is required at all.
I’d imagined hardware wise, upon first reading about it, something like a Prima box like ISDN uses etc. Not an extra computer. Seems nuts!
Let’s hope they see sense, otherwise it’s looking less and less attractive. They will HAVE to be competitive and sensible if they want to corner the market with this – it could mean hundreds of thousands of producers and VOs worldwide not wanting to use it!